Dissolving into Bliss: The Ecstasy of Ego Death

Ep. 230 (Part 1 of 2) | The third dialogue in the Path of Love Series with A. H. Almaas opens with co-host Roger Walsh commenting that in reading Hameed’s most recent book, The Inner Beloved, he is struck by how different the Diamond Approach’s path of love is from those in other traditions. Hameed explains that, indeed, his path is different in that it addresses the sequence of events on the path of love systematically, using contemporary psychological language to describe the difficulties and barriers that arise, and further, that he includes not only obstacles that come up in the mind (concepts and beliefs), but emotional pain and woundings, abandonments and betrayals, which is something other traditions don’t often talk about. Why are our hearts not open? Because opening to such painful emotions is scary; our fear blocks us from opening to the vastness of divine love. The secret to moving forward on the path of love, Hameed says, is to love more intensely, more deeply. Love itself is the fuel that gets us through the obstacles to union with the inner beloved.

Hameed speaks of the “death wish” that happens along the path, referring to our desire to dissolve completely into the beloved. “The deep heart loves the prospect of melting away and being nothing, being annihilated, completely absorbed into the beloved,” he explains. The death wish is a common reference in other paths of love, too—the Buddha calls this annihilation of self “emptiness”—and interestingly, Freud recognized it as a universal human characteristic, calling it the nirvana principle. “A deep intuition resides in every human heart,” Hameed continues, “a need for unification with what we love.” This can be small things—chocolate ice cream, our cell phone—which are legitimate objects of love, but in the end, only the inner beloved calls. Once again, Hameed gifts us with an illuminating teaching about the path of love, our desire for nonbeing, the hidden essence of love, and the integration of all we have let go of that happens after we awaken—all coming directly from his own lived experience. Recorded January 29, 2026.

“It is inherent to the human being… the movement to dissolve into bliss, into the beloved.”

Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

• Introducing the 3rd dialogue in the Path of Love Series with A. H. Almaas, where we continue to explore Hameed’s latest book, The Inner Beloved (00:41)
• How Hameed’s path of love differs from other traditions (02:03)
• One difference is Hameed addresses the sequence of events on the path of love systematically, using psychological language to describe the difficulties & barriers that arise (05:27)
• On this path, obstacles are not just in the mind but include woundings that occur in relationships (08:09)
• After union with the beloved comes integration; here is where the nondual connection between the beloved and the world comes in (09:52)
• The state of desirelessness (10:36)
• The death wish: the yearning to be completely absorbed into the beloved (11:58)
• Freud called this deep, universal death wish in humans the nirvana principle (13:53)
• Buddha called this annihilation of self “emptiness” (18:28)
• The secret to moving the process along is to intensify our love (20:26)
• A deep intuition resides in every human heart: a need for unification with what you love (22:46)
• There is a kind of love where the yearning and wanting is just as ecstatic as loving itself—this is the hidden essence of love (26:45)
• Why are some called to the path of love yet others keep grasping for more substitute gratification? (28:50)
• There are 4 paths of yoga but the end is the same; the 4 suits of the tarot tell the stages of each yoga path (30:27)
• Coming out of the divine “coma,” the whole world is ablaze with love (33:02)
• The descent is not a loss of the realization, it is a further integration of what we have let go of (35:10)

Resources & References – Part 1

• A. H. Almaas, The Inner Beloved: The Heart’s Journey to Divine Unity
• Previous Deep Transformation Path of Love dialogues: Entering the Path of Heart & Emptying the Heart of All that Obscures the Inner Beloved
• Plato’s Symposium
• Freud’s nirvana principle was introduced in Beyond the Pleasure Principle
• His Holiness the Dalai Lama & Thubten Chodron speak about the absence of inherent existence in Searching for the Self
• Ken Wilber’s core text on substitute gratification is in The Atman Project: A Transpersonal View of Human Development
• The 4 paths of yoga: Karma, Bhakti, Raja and Jnana (Yoga Easy)
• Mystical Origins of the Tarot by Paul Huson
• St. John of the Cross writes about ascent in Ascent of Mount Carmel and descent in The Dark Night of the Soul

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Deep Transformation’s Path of Love Series with A. H. Almaas

Deep Transformation’s Path of Love Series with A. H. Almaas begins with an overview of Hameed Ali’s Love Trilogy — Love Unveiled, Nondual Love, and The Inner Beloved — to orient us on the spiritual path of love unique to Hameed Ali and the Diamond Approach, then delves into the profound and deeply touching topics Hameed addresses in his most recent book, The Inner Beloved, published in February 2026. Listeners may want to get a copy of this book, to study and follow along on this extraordinary path of awakening. Also, if you are interested in taking a course on The Inner Beloved in the fall of 2026, you can register your interest here: https://da.pages.ontraport.net/inner-beloved-interest.

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Special Diamond Approach Course Discount for Deep Transformation Listeners

If you are interested in taking a course offered by Diamond Approach Online, Hameed’s team at the Ridhwan School have offered a special 20% discount for Deep Transformation listeners. You can access the Course Catalog here: https://online.diamondapproach.org/catalog/. And enter the code DTP20 to receive your discount when you sign...