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Peter’s Correspondence on the Actual Freedom List with Correspondent No 42
PETER: Welcome to the mailing list. RESPONDENT: The difficulty of finding a teacher is great. It is great because in the first place we have been educated not to trust our own judgement. From our earliest years we are told that our opinions have little value. Most of us are treated like chattels. We learn that all wisdom and truth come from others. Teachers have to make their teaching attractive to bring pupils who will pay. PETER: All of which means that it is high time human beings grew up and stopped seeking teachers of a metaphysical Wisdom and Truth and started to investigate their own malice and their own sorrow. RESPONDENT: I have only in depth experience of two. The first was Gurdjieff. His wonderful account of the creation as published by P.D Ouspensky completely took my eye off the ball. When I met him I was completely overcome by his presence and the adulation offered by his followers. He was surely the man. I stayed with him for 20 years. The second was Rajneesh. His PR, the romantic trip to India, the prospect of good sex, the enormous range of his talks and his personal charisma persuaded me that he was the man. I stayed with him another 20 years! In fact you had to be very hungry if you could choose between the rich crumbs from his table and persist with them long enough to find answers you can accept. PETER: I also ‘did’ two spiritual teachers and checked out some others. It was only when I found myself about to make the same mistake for a third time that I came to my senses and bailed out of the spiritual world. To make the same mistake twice is silly – three times and the warning bells ring real loud. Most people I know gave up at this stage and went back to the real-world, some wallowed in cynicism, whilst others who found a way of making a living off the sorrow and discontent of others stayed in the spiritual world. RESPONDENT: Few of us can forego the hand-holding of a personal teacher. Now Richard offers a ‘better life’? I am not sure I am wiser, but I do have the calluses I call experience. PETER: When I came across actualism, I too had long personal experience of what didn’t work. As you know by now, there is nothing to be found in picking over the remains of ancient beliefs, fairy tales, legends and superstitions but ancient beliefs, fairy tales, legends and superstitions. And as you would also know by now, there is neither happiness nor peace to be found in the materialistic pursuit of fame, wealth or power. Knowing by experience that neither spiritualism nor materialism brings peace and happiness meant I had no alternative but to try something completely new. And now, after some 5 years of practicing the actualism method, I am so radically changed that I fail to see how anyone who has had similar experiences can refuse the offer of a do-it-yourself means to become both happy and harmless.
Peter’s Text ©The Actual Freedom
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