Actual Freedom ~ Frequently Asked Questions

RICHARD: As a generalisation it has been traditionally held that there are three ways: 1. Jnani (cognitive realisation as epitomised by the ‘neti-neti’ or ‘not this; not this’ approach). 2. Bhakti (affective realisation as epitomised by devotional worship and surrender of will). 3. Yoga (bodily realisation as epitomised by the raising of ‘kundalini’ and the opening of ‘chakras’).

RESPONDENT: Richard, I’ve been following this discussion with interest and have a couple of questions for you: Which of the 3 ways did you use to achieve spiritual enlightenment in 1981?

RICHARD: Well, none of those 3 ways, actually ... I inadvertently ‘discovered’ another way: ignorance. I was aiming for the pure consciousness experience (PCE) and landed short of my goal ... and it took another 11 years to get here.

To explain: I have never followed anyone; I have never been part of any religious, spiritual, mystical or metaphysical group; I have never done any disciplines, practices or exercises at all; I have never done any meditation, any yoga, any chanting of mantras, any tai chi, any breathing exercises, any praying, any fasting, any flagellations, any ... any of those ‘Tried and True’ inanities; nor did I endlessly analyse my childhood for ever and a day; nor did I do never-ending therapies wherein one expresses oneself again and again ... and again and again. By being born and raised in the West I was not steeped in the mystical religious tradition of the East and was thus able to escape the trap of centuries of eastern spiritual conditioning.

I had never heard the words ‘Enlightenment’ or ‘Nirvana’ and so on until 1982 when talking to a man about my breakthrough, into what I called an ‘Absolute Freedom’ via the death of ‘myself’, in September 1981. He listened – he questioned me rigorously until well after midnight – and then declared me to be ‘Enlightened’. I had to ask him what that was, such was my ignorance of all things spiritual. He – being a nine-year spiritual seeker fresh from his latest trip to India – gave me a book to read by someone called Mr. Jiddu Krishnamurti. That was to be the beginning of what was to become a long learning curve of all things religious, spiritual, mystical and metaphysical for me. I studied all this because I sought to understand what other peoples had made of such spontaneous experiences and to find out where human endeavour had been going wrong.

I found out where I had been going wrong for eleven years ... self-aggrandisement is so seductive.

RESPONDENT: If people can use any of these three techniques, and I’m thinking in particular of the 3rd via raising of the kundalini, doesn’t this verify part of the spiritual theory?

RICHARD: The ‘spiritual theory’ needs no further verification than that it is indeed possible to become illuminated or enlightened. Similarly, it is also possible to become angry or sad or loving or compassionate ... and so on. It is also possible to be intuitive, to be telepathic, to be clairvoyant (not accurately though). As well as that it is possible to see fairies or sprites or goblins ... the whole range of psychic phenomena.

RESPONDENT: Does anybody else describe ‘Enlightenment’ as a turning over in the brain stem?

RICHARD: I have not read of anybody else using that description.

RESPONDENT: If that is the case, is it possible that your experience of it and other’s experience can be of different quality, though described with similar words?

RICHARD: The experience of something turning over in the base of the brain/ in the top of the brain-stem in 1981 was for me a feature of becoming actually free from the human condition, not of spiritual enlightenment/ mystical awakenment per se, and had the identity in residence back then known what is known nowadays ‘he’ would not have let the process stop halfway through its happening ... by my reckoning it would have all been over in a matter of maybe 6-10 seconds (rather than 6 seconds plus eleven years).

RESPONDENT: Richard, you wrote [quote] ‘Becoming free of the human condition is a physiological occurrence, centred at the nape of the neck (the top of the brain-stem/ base of the brain), wherein the ‘lizard-brain’ mutates out of its primeval state ... but if this mutation is not allowed its completion one becomes enlightened’ [endquote]. What do you mean by [quote] ‘but if this mutation is not allowed its completion one becomes enlightened’ [endquote].

RICHARD: What I mean is that if the identity does not allow the process to run its full course an actual freedom from the human condition will be still-born and spiritual enlightenment/ mystical awakenment will ensue (the survival instinct runs deep).

Speaking from personal experience: had the identity in residence in 1981 known what is known nowadays ‘he’ would not have let the process stop halfway through ... by my reckoning it would have all been over in a matter of maybe 6-10 seconds (rather than 6 seconds plus eleven years).

RESPONDENT: Is it physically not possible for some for this mutation to be allowed completion?

RICHARD: No ... that quote is clearly about not allowing the occurrence its completion.

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