The Libidinal Soul as the Primary Barrier to Spiritual Development

In Spacecruiser Inquiry you refer to the libidinal soul as "the primary barrier to spiritual development."  The spiritual traditions I have studied offer very little practical teaching about this critical barrier, and the consequences can be disastrous. Can you say more about the actual process of transforming the animal soul? More specifically, how do we confront our most primal and powerful drives, which are usually distorted and damaged by inner and outer coercion, and hold the ground of truth? What are the dynamics of this transformation? How is this different from sublimation?

 Actually, the ancient traditions deal with the animal soul in a major way, but within their own cultures and contexts. It is usually done through renunciation, ascetism, moral discipline and monastic rules of conduct. Also, through the relationship between teacher and student.  When these traditional teachings are taught in our modern culture the cultural norms and contexts are not present, and hence there is no good way to deal with such deep and central obstacle to realization.

In the Diamond Approach, we recognize the absence of cultural supports for work with the animal soul, and the inadequacy of the traditional method of renunciation in our secular culture. Instead we use inquiry and understanding, combined with presence and some form of capacity for experience without discharge. In other words, we first need to become aware of such deep and basic drives, and understand the distortion and suppression that they have gone through in our personal development. This will need to happen in conjunction with the practice and realization of presence, which will help as a support to deal with such forces. As our presence strengthens and deepens we are more able to face the full power of these drives without them overwhelming us. But such presence also implies a continuing commitment to and steadfastness in the truth and its orientation. Therefore, presence, commitment to the truth, and capacity to inquire and understand are all necessary to deal with these primal forces.

Part of our work is to learn to open up to our emotions and feelings without immediately discharging them through an impulsive action. This actually is a kind of a renunciation practice, renouncing the immediate satisfaction of expressing our feelings. We need to develop this capacity because we will need it when it comes to the instinctual drives of the animal soul. Developing this capacity, which is a form of developing an inner vessel that can hold our process, is primary in dealing with the animal soul. This capacity allows us to experience these drives in a way that does not overwhelm our commitment to the truth.

The confluence of all of these develops as part of our ongoing unfoldment, and it is an important part of our approach. The process is then a gradual opening up of the instinctual drives of the animal soul, understanding them, purifying them of historical distortions, and then learning to live with them in such a way where we only act them out appropriately in our lives. This way they gradually integrate into our realization and ultimately begin to serve it.

Our approach is different from the traditional teachings, where the purification of the soul from these drives needs to happen at the beginning stages of the path. In our approach, we work with them along the whole path, not at just at the beginning stages, and our intention is not eliminating them but integrating them into our overall development. The love and commitment to the truth becomes our central drive, and all others subordinated to it.