About the Exhibit
Guest House Retreat & Conference Center at 318 West Main Street, Chester, CT 06412 presents Ben Goldman’s seven-painting Lataif Series from May 4 through October 6, 2024. Works are available for sale and 20% of all proceeds support Guesthouse’s charitable mission to support opportunities for transformational work and provide a nurturing environment for those seeking to develop human potential and enrich the world. For more information about sales and Guesthouse, contact info@guesthousecenter.org or (860) 322-5770.
About the Series
Lataif is an Arabic word that refers to subtle organs of perception in Sufi spiritual psychology. In the Diamond Approach, each latifa is a subtle quality of being, an indestructible aspect—joy, will, peace, courage, compassion, and so on—of who and what we are.
— https://www.diamondapproach.org/glossary/refinery_phrases/lataif
The seven factors are called the lataif, the seven elements of subtle consciousness. The energy is the red latifa, the determination is the white latifa, the joy is the yellow latifa, the kindness or compassion is the green latifa, peacefulness is the black latifa, the absorption is the blue latifa, the awakeness that can free us from desires is what we call the clear latifa. The lataif are a very subtle kind of presence; some people say it’s like air, a subtle air that produces those qualities in you.
The consciousness now is objective because it balances the seven factors, and is exactly what is needed to be free from the attachment and grasping that are the most basic characteristics of the personality. The objective consciousness, what we call the diamond consciousness, allows freedom from these aspects of the personality. The diamond consciousness is a panoramic consciousness, in contrast to the fixated focus of the personality.
If you could look at your difficulties and conflicts objectively, you would see they are nothing but resistance against that objectivity, against seeing things as they really are. You are attached to your attachments and you don’t want to see things as they are.
— A.H. Almaas, Diamond Heart Book Two: The Freedom to Be (Boulder, CO: Shambhala, 2000), p. 8.
About the Artist
Ben Goldman is an award-winning artist, author and entrepreneur. His work in the fields of technology, sustainability and art has led to a Presidential Executive Order, a Supreme Court victory, and a new social movement. His paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the world, including Berlin’s Allied Museum and Istanbul’s Topkapi Palace. Dr. Goldman served as an advisor to the Clinton Administration and is currently founder and president of United Visual Arts LLC, where he invented the patented defEYE® frame sold by The Museum of Modern Art. He previously directed City Without Walls, which The New York Times called "one of the most socially engaged and dynamic art spaces." His many publications include Nature Breakthroughs, The Truth about Where You Live, and Sustainable America. His PhD is from New York University and AB from Vassar College. More information is available at www.naturebreakthroughs.com. Ben can be reached at ben@bengoldmanart.com.