Ep. 198 (Part 2 of 3) | Polarity management pioneer and author Barry Johnson and adult development expert Beena Sharma are masterful teachers on the subject of polarities and what polarity thinking can bring to the world, benefitting our well-being at every level. Together they explain what polarities are, why they matter, how to apply and leverage them, and the essence of polarity wisdom: pursuing the upsides of opposite poles. Barry is careful to explain that although either/or thinking is the root of our troubles, both/and thinking by itself isn’t the answer either. Integrating either/or with both/and thinking and recognizing the interdependence of all things is the road to transformation and, Beena adds, the engine of human development, of human maturity.

Barry explains the profound spiritual understanding foundational to polarity wisdom and Beena details how polarities shift according to our developmental stage. Each of the polarities discussed—justice/mercy, claiming power/sharing power, being/doing, to name a few—illuminates its sphere, whether it relates to democracy, social justice, or spiritual practice. Barry and Beena are passionate about the promise of polarity thinking and their excitement is contagious in this fast-paced, delightfully lucid dialogue, jam-packed with information that is practical, inspiring, and potentially life changing. Recorded May 22, 2025.

“Love is a natural byproduct of seeing completely.”

• Looking at the pole preferences that show up at each stage of development (00:37)
• The integrative stage of development doesn’t reject either/or thinking or both/and thinking (04:42)
• Embracing polarities’ upsides elevates you; you come to a higher place (08:05)
• Tyranny and democracy: how do you both provide direction and encourage participation? (08:54)
• The spiritual polarity of doing and being and Martin Buber’s I and thou (14:08)
• How polarities nest and stack: Beena leads a nesting and upleveling exercise (18:10)
• Relating polarity thinking to quantum physics & the richness of the subject of universal interdependence (22:32)
• How do we respond to opposition at different developmental stages? (24:33)
• Jack Gibb’s trust theory: love is a natural byproduct of seeing completely (28:24)
• Seeing life and death as two poles and the violence in nature (29:28)
• Enhancing our capacity to love: individuals, enemies, countries; universal interdependence is a manifestation of divine love (32:44)
• Taking radical responsibility for our own incapacity to see (36:42)
• Love as a natural response to seeing fully and defenselessly (38:23)
• Barry’s profound realization about heaven, hell, and universal love (40:14)

• Barry Johnson, And: Making a Difference by Leveraging Polarity, Paradox, or Dilemma
• Barry Johnson, Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems
• Beena Sharma, founder

Ep. 197 (Part 1 of 3) | Polarity management pioneer and author Barry Johnson and adult development expert Beena Sharma are masterful teachers on the subject of polarities and what polarity thinking can bring to the world, benefitting our well-being at every level. Together they explain what polarities are, why they matter, how to apply and leverage them, and the essence of polarity wisdom: pursuing the upsides of opposite poles. Barry is careful to explain that although either/or thinking is the root of our troubles, both/and thinking by itself isn’t the answer either. Integrating either/or with both/and thinking and recognizing the interdependence of all things is the road to transformation and, Beena adds, the engine of human development, of human maturity.

Barry explains the profound spiritual understanding foundational to polarity wisdom and Beena details how polarities shift according to our developmental stage. Each of the polarities discussed—justice/mercy, claiming power/sharing power, being/doing, to name a few—illuminates its sphere, whether it relates to democracy, social justice, or spiritual practice. Barry and Beena are passionate about the promise of polarity thinking and their excitement is contagious in this fast-paced, delightfully lucid dialogue, jam-packed with information that is practical, inspiring, and potentially life changing. Recorded May 22, 2025.

“Either/or thinking without both/and thinking is the root cause of poverty, racism, sexism, and war.”

• Introducing polarity management pioneer & author Barry Johnson and adult development expert Beena Sharma (00:48)
• How did Barry discover polarities? (02:15)
• The essential dimension of polarities—interdependent pairs—and the universal interdependence of all of life (03:08)
• The capacity to integrate and recognize interdependence is the driving force of adult human development (03:47)
• The difference between polarity management and polarity wisdom (05:37)
• A key polarity in leadership and democracy: claiming power & sharing power (07:20)
• Experiential exercise: the infinity loop (08:11)
• What is true for all polarities: each pole brings something special that is essential to the relationship (11:15)
• The integrating wisdom that includes and transcends both polarities encompasses all dualities, reflecting traditional East Indian wisdom (12:12)
• As a leader, how can we be both clear & flexible, self-assured & humble, and as an organization, centralized & decentralized? (13:51)
• The oscillation between activity and rest (14:55)
• Leveraging polarities: maximizing upsides and minimizing downsides (16:22)
• Either/or thinking is essential, but it needs to be supplemented with both/and thinking (16:34)
• Privileging one pole as better, you enter into dysfunction (19:33)
• Interpersonal relationships: we see the positive value of our preferred pole but the downside of the other’s opposite preferred pole (20:56)
• The essence of polarity wisdom: embracing the wisdom of the opposite pole (21:41)
• Polarity thinking is an antidote to rigidity; it heals polarization (22:25)
• Either/or thinking without both/and thinking is the root cause of evil (23:09)
• Pursuing justice to the neglect of mercy (its interdependent pole) (26:47)
• Does both/and thinking require a certain level of...

Ep. 196 (Part 2 of 2) | n the twelfth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali guides us into the profound experience of pure being, which lies at the core of all mystical teachings. There are two nondual ways of experiencing the fullness of being, he explains. We can recognize we are infinite and boundless—as if we were the sky, but still experiencing this through our being—or, we can experience the oneness of being from the perspective of all manifestation: the mountain, the rocks, the molecules and atoms... “Wherever you go, physically or mentally, is pure being.” Hameed calls the first recognition “unity,” and the latter “oneness.”

Hameed clarifies the paradox of nothingness: “being and nothing are two ways of knowing the same thing; you can feel it as a fullness or you can feel it as an emptiness.” And he explains that being being and knowing being are the same thing, when knowing is understood in its deeper sense as gnosis. “Awakening is knowing our being or our awareness for what it is,” he says. Why is Hameed so uniquely articulate in talking about the experience of pure being? John asks him. This talk is an amazing teaching—visual and sensory, scientific and mathematical, deeply mystical and spiritual—Hameed comes at the subject of pure being from all angles. Recorded June 26, 2025.

“Practice is clearing the way, but whether awakening emerges or not is not up to you.”

• Why Hameed is so uniquely articulate talking about these experiences, and why some teachers don’t talk about these things (00:27)
• The nothingness side of pure presence (04:28)
• The spaciousness here appears different; it is non-Euclidean (07:44)
• Being and nothing are two ways of knowing the same thing; you can feel it as a fullness or you can feel it as an emptiness (09:22)
• What other traditions teach about emptiness (11:34)
• Awareness is pure beingness too (13:53)
• Awareness is an ontological reality; it is an “is-ness” we can recognize and it includes knowing (18:14)
• Being being is the same thing as knowing being; this is gnosis: knowing by being (20:23)
• Awakening is knowing our being or our awareness for what it is (23:44)
• Knowing and mind are fundamental, not just intellectual (25:52)
• Awakened awareness: realizing that awareness is the nature of everything (27:10)
• Awakening cannot be earned; it is a recognition, but there are obstacles in the way (29:37)
• We’ll get into knowing and reification next time (32:45)
• This teaching affirms you are a real being, and you are an expression of the being of God (33:55)

• A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond Approach
• A. H. Almaas,