{"id":583,"date":"2013-05-08T18:11:17","date_gmt":"2013-05-09T01:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elizabethbader.com\/elizabethbadersblog\/?p=583"},"modified":"2017-02-28T14:29:01","modified_gmt":"2017-02-28T22:29:01","slug":"recovering-essence-spiritual-journey-almaas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elizabethbader.com\/elizabethbadersblog\/recovering-essence-spiritual-journey-almaas\/","title":{"rendered":"Recovering Essence on the Spiritual Journey (Almaas, Muqaddam and the Theory of Holes)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the 1970s and ’80s Hameed Ali (pen name: A. H. Almaas) and Faisal Muqaddam, working with Karen Johnson, explored the psychology of the spiritual journey.<\/p>\n

The \u201cTheory of Holes\u201d they developed provides a deep, highly specific map of the way psychology and spirituality relate. Later, Muqaddam left to teach on his own.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Bader worked with the teachers and\/or founders of both schools over the course\u00a0of approximately 24 years. Elizabeth is now working independently, with a special emphasis on understanding the relationship of the theory to trauma.<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2014,\u00a0Elizabeth\u00a0was awarded a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner certificate by the Institute on trauma founded by Dr. Peter Levine.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Theory of Holes<\/em><\/p>\n

\"fire<\/a><\/p>\n

Roughly, the theory can be summarized as follows:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A person\u2019s essence \u2014 their fundamental being or true nature \u2014 rests unacknowledged underneath all the psychological content of the ego.<\/li>\n
  2. \u00a0A \u201chole\u201d is the absence of a specific aspect of our essence. For example, we may have a hole in the area of love or joy or kindness.<\/li>\n
  3. \u00a0The hole is created during childhood by the development of ego structure over the initial, simple, precognitive, open awareness experienced by the infant during infancy and childhood.<\/li>\n
  4. Usually we are unaware of the \u201chole\u201d in its full sense. We are only aware of the defensive or compensatory psychological structures which block the hole from awareness.<\/li>\n
  5. We can become conscious of the \u201chole\u201d by increasing our awareness, that is by being present and engaging in certain forms of inquiry.<\/li>\n
  6. At that point, if we can remain present with the hole, the part of us that is lost can be retrieved, or more precisely, it surfaces spontaneously from the depth of the hole.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    See, e.g., A. H. Almaas (the pen name of Hameed Ali), Diamond Heart, Book One, Chapter 2, The Theory of Holes.<\/p>\n

    The Somatic Nature of “Holes”<\/em><\/p>\n

    A\u00a0“hole” leaves its residue and signature within the body.\u00a0 This means that through inquiry and somatic awareness it may be possible to\u00a0recover awareness of the hole through awareness of the body.<\/p>\n

    The Problem of Trauma<\/em><\/p>\n

    \"Electricity<\/a><\/p>\n

    As both Ali (Almaas) and Muqaddam have acknowledged, their work is not designed to deal with trauma.\u00a0\u00a0Thus the theory\u00a0does not easily account for traumatic residues or blockages.<\/p>\n

    Stated another way, many if not most people have places in the body and the mind more akin to crossed wires\u00a0 or lightening bolts than “holes.”\u00a0 A hole would be a welcome relief for some trauma sufferers.\u00a0 \u00a0In\u00a0fact, treating trauma as a “hole” may be highly counterproductive for some people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The \u201cTheory of Holes\u201d developed by Hameed Ali (pen name, A. H. Almaas) and Faisal Muqaddam with Karen Johnson provides a map for the process of recovering essence on the spiritual journey. Limitations in cases of trauma are noted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,55,52],"tags":[58,25,53,54,35,60,59,51,62,108,109,61,63,30],"class_list":["post-583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spirituality-and-trauma","category-the-spiritual-journey","category-theory-of-holes","tag-a-h-almaas","tag-almaas","tag-diamond-heart","tag-diamondlogos","tag-ego","tag-essence","tag-faisal-muqaddam","tag-muqqadam","tag-ptsd","tag-spirituality-and-trauma","tag-theory-of-holes","tag-trauma","tag-true-nature","tag-true-self","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"yoast_head":"\nThe Spiritual Journey and the Theory of Holes (Almaas, Muqaddam)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Theory of Holes by Hameed Ali (Almaas) and Faisal Muqaddam maps the recovery of essence on the spiritual journey; should be cautiously applied with trauma.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.elizabethbader.com\/elizabethbadersblog\/recovering-essence-spiritual-journey-almaas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Spiritual Journey and the Theory of Holes (Almaas, Muqaddam)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Theory of Holes by Hameed Ali (Almaas) and Faisal Muqaddam maps the recovery of essence on the spiritual journey; should be cautiously applied with trauma.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.elizabethbader.com\/elizabethbadersblog\/recovering-essence-spiritual-journey-almaas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Elizabeth Bader's Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-05-09T01:11:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-02-28T22:29:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.elizabethbader.com\/elizabethbadersblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/iStock_000003561448XSmall.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"425\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"282\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Bader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Bader\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.elizabethbader.com\/elizabethbadersblog\/recovering-essence-spiritual-journey-almaas\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.elizabethbader.com\/elizabethbadersblog\/recovering-essence-spiritual-journey-almaas\/\",\"name\":\"The Spiritual Journey and the Theory of Holes (Almaas, Muqaddam)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.elizabethbader.com\/elizabethbadersblog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.elizabethbader.com\/elizabethbadersblog\/recovering-essence-spiritual-journey-almaas\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.elizabethbader.com\/elizabethbadersblog\/recovering-essence-spiritual-journey-almaas\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.elizabethbader.com\/elizabethbadersblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/iStock_000003561448XSmall.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-09T01:11:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-02-28T22:29:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.elizabethbader.com\/elizabethbadersblog\/#\/schema\/person\/41d3176e64f7394851d174a433d0ede1\"},\"description\":\"Theory of Holes by Hameed Ali (Almaas) and Faisal Muqaddam maps the recovery of essence on the spiritual journey; 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