Actual Freedom – The Actual Freedom Mailing List Correspondence

April 25 2003

RESPONDENT: I went through your website, spent couple of hours and decided that this is one more BS for seekers.

RICHARD: Welcome to The Actual Freedom Mailing List ... maybe you missed the very first sentence on The Actual Freedom Trust home page?

RESPONDENT: I dare the authors for a discussion to my questions/doubts or observations.

RICHARD: As this is a discussion list you have come to the right place to discuss any questions and/or doubts and/or observations ... the more relevant point, though, might be whether you dare to discuss.

Speaking personally, I have nothing to lose.

RESPONDENT: Question 1: let me start by asking you ‘what is your intent in parading your PCE experiences to fellow humans?’

RICHARD: First and foremost, a pure consciousness experience (PCE) reveals where ‘the meaning of life’, or ‘the riddle of existence’, or ‘the purpose of the universe’, or whatever a person’s quest may be called, is to be found ... just here right now in this actual world, the world of sensate delight.

A fringe benefit, or side effect as it were, of the direct experience of the meaning of life is peace-on-earth, in this lifetime as this flesh and blood body only, in the peerless perfection of the purity of the infinitude this material universe indubitably is.

As the salubrity and irreprehensibility of life in this actual world is pristine ‘tis fellowship regard which prompts a sharing of the experience ... what the other does with the information is their business.

*

RESPONDENT: Question 2: I found this piece in your web site: ‘Given the human elaboration of the instinctual animal ‘self’ into a sophisticated and cunning psychological and psychic identity that appears to live in, and be trapped within, the flesh and blood body, the instinctual animal passions can only be eradicated by totally eliminating both the psychological ‘self’ and the instinctual ‘self’. The bad news is that the elimination of one’s ‘self’ needs to be total – both ‘who’ society has taught you to be and ‘who’ blind nature has programmed you to instinctively feel you are – or in spiritual terms, both the ‘ego’ and the ‘soul’. The good news is that what you are will emerge – a flesh and blood human being, free of malice and sorrow and free of any metaphysical delusions whatsoever’.??? Can you explain what is the scientific nature of THAT ‘I’ which is supposed to remain after eliminating the above said ‘both the psychological ‘self’ and the instinctual ‘self’ ... (Introduction, Actual Freedom 1)

RICHARD: Sure ... there are three I’s altogether but only one is actual (sensate) and not an identity: scientifically speaking what one actually is, sans both ‘I’ as ego and ‘I’ as soul (the freed ‘flesh and blood human being’ mentioned in the quote), could be described as a sentient creature, an intelligent vertebrate, a mammalian animal in general and a bipedal primate with opposable thumbs in particular, that is apperceptively aware .

RESPONDENT: ... and which portion of the brain is responsible for the so called PCE ...

RICHARD: If I may interject? There is nothing ‘so-called’ about a pure consciousness experience (PCE) ... it is indeed called a PCE.

RESPONDENT: ... [and which portion of the brain is responsible for the so called PCE] experience resulting.

RICHARD: It is the brain-stem, primarily, which is the source of the PCE ... most probably in the Reticular Activating System (RAS), in general, and quite possibly in the Substantia Nigra, in particular (arguably the seat of consciousness).

*

RESPONDENT: Question 3: your theory ...

RICHARD: If I may interject again? An actual freedom from the human condition is not theory ... it is experiential.

RESPONDENT: ... [your theory] seems to be based on the assumption ...

RICHARD: If I may interject yet again? There is no assumption ... it is an on-going experiencing, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.

Put simply: it is, as the name says, actual.

RESPONDENT: ... [your theory seems to be based on the assumption] that ‘survival as species, not individuals ...’.

RICHARD: I copy-pasted the quote ‘survival as species, not individuals’ into a search engine and sent it through The Actual Freedom Trust web site only to have it return nil hits; I copy-pasted ‘survival as species’ and it also returned nil hits; I copy-pasted ‘not individuals’ and it too returned nil hits ... if you could provide the paragraph you obtained the quote from it may throw some light upon what you are referring to.

Meanwhile, or in case you do not get around to it, it may be pertinent to point out that the following phrase appears at least 761 times on The Actual Freedom Trust web site:

• [Richard]: ‘Discarding all of the beliefs that have held humankind in thralldom for aeons, the way has now been discovered that cuts through the ‘Tried and True’ and enables anyone to be, for the first time, a fully free and autonomous *individual* living in utter peace and tranquillity, beholden to no-one. [emphasis added].

RESPONDENT: This is highly debatable.

RICHARD: If I may point out? It could very well be your assumption, that an actual freedom from the human condition is a theory based upon an assumption, which is highly debatable.

In other words: you may just be having a discussion with yourself ... and finding one side of your mentation decidedly dubious.

RESPONDENT: Have you read ‘the red queen’ by an evolutionary biologist who shows many evidence contrary to this?

RICHARD: No.

RESPONDENT: What do you say?

RICHARD: Is the evolutionary biologist in question free from the human condition?

RESPONDENT: Unfortunately PROVOKED.

RICHARD: Why unfortunately? With a name like ‘Myth Destroyer’, and an email address such as ‘fightmyth@whatevername.com, it would appear that you are surfing the net just gunning for provocation.

But, then again, maybe you have met your match here, eh?