Actual Freedom – Selected Correspondence by Topic

RESPONDENT: [...] I can tell you that the odds of achieving actual freedom, to make the identity disappear completely, is next to impossible.

RICHARD: G’day No. 11, If, as you say, the odds of achieving actual freedom are next to impossible then it implies that the odds of human beings destroying every man, woman and child on the planet are actually impossible as there is a precedent for the former and no precedent whatsoever for the latter.

Be that as it may be ... the identity inhabiting this flesh and blood body all those years ago had no precedent to assure ‘him’ it was possible yet ‘he’ was entirely confident – with the certainty pure consciousness experiences (PCE’s) confer that it be ‘his’ destiny to manumit the body ‘he’ held in bondage.

Thus ‘he’ never had any doubt – ‘he’ was freed of doubt by that very absence of choice – an actual freedom was possible, in ‘his’ lifetime, for this flesh and blood body. (Any doubt comes from choice; for most people choice implies freedom – the freedom to chose – yet as choice means options there is always doubt; an actual freedom comes about by there being no choice whatsoever ... hence the word destiny).

I only mention this as you have made it clear, both in your postings prior to that frontal leucotome/ transorbital lobotomy email and after it, that you want your path to be the short-cut path – not via a virtual freedom – which means you have no other option but to invoke destiny.

However (and here comes the ‘but’ and it is a big one), your destiny cannot be invoked as long as you cling to an attitude such as the following:

RESPONDENT: I doubt everything you say in keeping in line with that advice from K to ‘doubt everything.’

RICHARD: Uh huh ... Mr. Jiddu Krishnamurti says ‘question everything; doubt everything; including the speaker’ and what you see fit to doubt is everything Richard says instead.

Well done, Admiral Nelson.

RICHARD: Having the ‘courage of your convictions’ has nothing to do with believing, trusting, hoping or having faith that it be possible. I, for one, never believed, trusted, hoped or had faith that it was possible, for such an action of believing, trusting, hoping and having faith perpetuates the believer, the truster, the hoper and the faithful. On the contrary, I could no longer believe that it was not possible – which is a different action entirely to believing, trusting, hoping and having faith that it is possible – thus dispensing with the believer, the truster, the hoper and the faithful. Do you see this?

For example: Doubt is believing it not to be possible ... doubt is actually an action of believing, which supports the believer. Faith is believing that it is possible ... which also supports the believer ... and thus, either way, the believer pushes freedom away into an ever elusive future.

All this stemmed from my peak experience in which I experienced the purity and the perfection of life itself – here and now – and thus saw that what others had perceived as being our reward after physical death already existed ... at this moment in time and this place in space. Thus I ceased believing that life on earth was a grim business with only scant moments of reprieve ... yet I did not start believing in perfection. To repeat: I stopped believing, period. All sorrow and malice stems from the activity of believing ... which arises from the believer. ‘I’, as a psychological entity, can only believe – or disbelieve – in possibilities and impossibilities. In the peak experience ‘I’ temporarily abdicated the throne and I knew, by direct experience, that freedom was already actual. It was ‘I’ that was the problem, not the absence of perfection. When ‘I’ ceased to be, perfection became, as always, apparent. By believing perfection to be possible ‘I’ perpetuate ‘myself’. ‘I’, by ‘my’ very presence, inhibit that splendid perfection becoming apparent.

Perfection is already always here. Yet ‘I’, by believing in a remembered perfection, chase an ever-elusive chimera into an ever-receding future. Thus one stands still and does nothing but watch the dust settle all around ... and perfection, which is only of the moment, becomes apparent. ‘I’ have ceased to be. By ‘doing nothing’ I mean neither believing nor disbelieving; neither having faith nor having doubt; neither trusting nor distrusting; neither hoping nor despairing. In short, one’s superb confidence and overweening optimism precipitates ‘my’ demise ... ‘I’ do not make freedom happen ... ‘I’ allow the universe to ‘disappear’ the ‘me’ that I was ... and perfection has become apparent. ‘I’ did not invoke perfection, for it already is here ... and it is here now, not off into the future. It may have taken some time to eventuate, as ‘I’ got whittled away, yet when that time came, it was already here ... because it is always now.

To sum up: ‘I’ do not make perfection happen because it is already always here. What ‘I’ do is to ‘stand still’ and unreservedly allow ‘my’ eventual demise to occur. To do this, ‘I’ cease believing, hoping, trusting and having faith ... without falling into disbelief, despair, distrust or doubt. ‘I’, having the courage of ‘my’ convictions – which is the confidence born out of the solid knowing as evidenced in the peak experience – thus developing a superb confidence and an overweening optimism. Thus nothing can stand in ‘my’ way in this, the adventure of a life-time. It is not for the faint of heart or the weak of knee ... but pure intent, born out of the connection between one’s inherent naiveté and the perfection of the infinitude of this physical universe, will provide one with the necessary intestinal fortitude. Private Correspondence

RESPONDENT: Let me make this clear: Richard, you said, ‘... it is a fact that the writers of ‘The Bible’ thought that the earth was flat. They lived before modern technology – like telescopes and satellite photographs and so on – so they had no way of knowing otherwise’.

RICHARD: Yes, that is indeed what I said, because there is a difference between ‘knowing’ as a certainty – seeing a satellite photograph is factual knowing – and ‘knowing’ as a certitude – observing various phenomenon is theoretical knowing.

(The word ‘certainty’ means a state of being free from doubt whereas the word ‘certitude’ means a state of being with some doubt. Merriam-Webster Dictionary states: ‘whilst ‘certainty’ and ‘certitude’ are very close in meaning, ‘certainty’ stresses the existence of objective proof; e.g.: that which can be confirmed with scientific certainty, while ‘certitude’ emphasises a faith in something not capable of proof. e.g.: to believe with certitude in an afterlife’).

RESPONDENT: There is a body and brain which has been conditioned, genetically, physically and psychologically. The question is whether that particular conditioning which is a structuring in memory that we call ‘me’ can be dissolved.

RICHARD: Can the identity – ‘I’ as ego and the ‘me’ as soul – cease to exist? Yes.

RESPONDENT: It is clear that it will never be dissolved through its own operation, i.e. by ‘my’ effort. Is that what you claim?

RICHARD: Yes and no ... and I am not being tricky here. Yes, in that ‘I’ bring about this ‘death’ in that ‘I’ deliberately and consciously and with knowledge aforethought set in motion a ‘process’ that will ensure ‘my’ demise. And no, in that ‘I’ do not do the deed itself for an ‘I’ cannot end itself. What ‘I’ do, voluntarily and willingly, is to press the button which precipitates an – oft-times alarming but always thrilling – momentum that will result in ‘my’ inevitable self-immolation. What one does is that one dedicates oneself to the challenge of being here as the universe’s experience of itself. When ‘I’ freely and intentionally sacrifice ‘myself’ – the psychological and psychic entities residing inside this body – ‘I’ am gladly making ‘my’ most supreme donation, for ‘I’ am what ‘I’ hold most dear.

The extinction of identity – both an ego death and a soul death – is a welcome release into actuality. I am finally here. I discover that I have always been here ... I have never been anywhere else for there is nowhere else ... except illusion and into delusion. The ‘real world’ and the ‘Greater Reality’ had their existence only in ‘my’ fertile imagination. Only this, the actual world, genuinely exists. This exquisite surprise brings with it ecstatic relief at the moment of mutation ... life is perfect after all. But, then again, has one not suspected this to be so all along? At the moment of freedom from the Human Condition there is a clear sense of ‘I have always known this’. Doubt is banished forever ... no more verification is required. All is self-evidently pure and perfect. Everything is indeed well.

It is the greatest gift one can bestow upon oneself and others.

RESPONDENT: You said that there is an insight which is not knowledge: ‘When one has an insight into an aspect of the Human Condition, there is action ... and this action is the actualising of the experience so that one’s personality is changed, irrevocably’. Can we look a little closer at this?

RICHARD: We surely can. The insight reveals what conceptual thinking was unable to arrive at by the use of – sometimes laborious – sequential thought. An insight is direct seeing, unmediated by a ‘thinker’ ... and when the moment of insight is over, then the fun begins. Because one must start from where one is at and move towards what the insight disclosed. However, one has had the insight, and the insight galvanises one into matter-of-fact thought instead of merely conceptual thought. Thinking is still linear, of course, but one now has the advantage of being able to see the obvious.

Seeing the obvious relieves one from believing, trusting, hoping and having faith. There is now a confidence, born out of the certainty of the insight, that enables one to actualise the insight in one’s daily life ... and this actualisation means that one’s personality is changed, irrevocably. (This is a potential sticking point, incidentally, for people want to be free without having to change ... but that is another topic). It is this confidence that effects actual change, for there is an impelling movement of actualisation ... being pulled from ahead ... which is what comes from the choiceless action that ensues with being activated from the insight. This is qualitatively different from a propelling movement ... being pushed from behind ... which is what comes from the disciplined action that eventuates with being motivated by conceptual thought.

There is always a smidgen or two of doubt in conceptual thought, you see.

RICHARD: Trust is but the antidote to doubt ... without doubt, where is the need for trust? And, as doubt arises out of insecurity, then your trust is based on – and fuelled by – uncertainty and lack of confidence in your ability to discern and appraise.

RESPONDENT: No, you have offered a mistaken assumption. Trust can only be based on one’s confidence in one’s ability to discern and appraise. Being doubtful of one’s ability to discern and appraise is already a lack of trust.

RICHARD: Unlike you, I start from a dictionary definition ... it makes life so much easier. Trust is the ‘faith or conviction in the loyalty, strength, veracity, etc., of a person or thing; reliance on the truth of a statement etc., without examination’ ... and faith is ‘belief, especially without evidence or proof’.

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RICHARD: Therefore, I will clear up this misunderstanding – and receive your response – before proceeding to the original answer to your query on my resolution of your first question to me at the top of the list of 93 puzzled reservations. This way I will know that we are not going too fast for your comprehension ...

RESPONDENT: Thank you for your concern, but as I stated above, the honesty and integrity of the thoughts you offer is now established here, and I am very clear about what I can trust of your offerings. As to the subject matter, you were very clear in your explanation of your perspective, and I indicated this in my last reply. I see no reason to keep from moving on without delay.

RICHARD: It is important, is it not, to not take another’s words on trust?

RESPONDENT: If one has confidence in their ability to discern and appraise, and observes carefully, trust is a very useful and efficient tool.

RICHARD: Yet if one ‘has confidence in their ability to discern and appraise’ then what is the need for a tool that uses faith or conviction in the loyalty, strength, veracity, etc., of a person or thing and reliance on the truth of a statement etc., without examination and, further, to have belief ... especially without evidence or proof?