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Neal Allen's avatar

Hi Jean,

Thank you! I’m blown away to hear that Mate is a DA student. He often says he doesn’t connect with spiritual experiences. I guess he must mean special effects.

One thing I’ve noticed is that while knowledge is stored for later use, I have to abandon any piece of wisdom, to make room for the next wisdom. The next one might have shown up before, but it’s not emerging from memory. That allows for anything to get properly deconstructed through examination.

Warmly,

Neal

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Jean Fouilloux's avatar

I have encountered a number of videos where Gabor Mate refers to “his teacher.” I was surprised to learn it’s Hameed. I presume Gabor Mate’s “Compassionate Inquiry” has roots (shares roots?—like your super-ego work) with the Diamond Approach.

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Jean Fouilloux's avatar

I didn’t notice the date on this post. My second comment referred to the post that appeared today, “My Life Lacks Purpose.” I loved it. Thanks!

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Jean Fouilloux's avatar

I am a current Diamond Approach student (for 20-ish years). I see Richard Schwartz and Gabor Mate (also a DA student) have teamed up to connect IFS and inquiry.

What I am enjoying most about your work, Neal, is your undefended quietly iconoclastic approach—which subtly takes on deeply engrained spiritual “positions.” (I.e., “Being of Service” vs following the promptings of one’s nature—your mentioned curiosity in particular). Here’s where a lot of sincere students (like me) deal with super-ego battles.

Thank you for shining light into this corner.

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MC McDonald, PhD's avatar

This bit is so important and I’m going to be thinking about it for a long while, so thank you: “But this is different in what you might see as a significant or a trivial way. In this theory, the inner critic itself is not a part of you, is not real, and does not deserve your love.”

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