Actual Freedom ~ Frequently Asked Questions

RICHARD: The only conversations I have ever wanted to make public are already available on The Actual Freedom Trust web site in the form of transcribed audio-tape recordings.

RESPONDENT: Nowadays technology allows video and audio through the internet without too much cost?

RICHARD: I have never enquired ... the printed word takes far less bandwidth than the audio word, though, and the moving picture audio word takes even more.

RESPONDENT: That would help people judge you a little more accurately.

RICHARD: Ahh ... so although you started off by talking about me wanting to make my conversations public what you are really talking about is you wanting me to make my conversations public, eh?

What is it about my printed words you are having difficulty judging? Could it be because you received them as being [quote] ‘attacking or rebating everything’ [endquote] you wrote? If so, how would the audio word and the moving picture audio word ameliorate the way you receive them?

I only ask this because, if you are having some difficulty putting aside [quote] ‘your own opinions, your own ideas, the commitments that you have, the knowledge, the comparison that you make’ [endquote], in what way would the audio word and the moving picture audio word assist you in doing so?

RESPONDENT: This way we would have a chance to observe your reactions when questioned ...

RICHARD: What reactions are you referring to?

RESPONDENT: ... and without the time to ponder, which certainly the email allows you.

RICHARD: Would this pondering you are referring to have something to do with examining the problem of the complications of life within yourself that you proposed a method for (further above)?

RESPONDENT: At least we could see how you look like and how you sound!

RICHARD: Ha ... what I look and sound like adds nothing to the content of my words: the content of the words is what is important not the appearance of the body which utters them or the sound of them as produced by this voice box.

Of course any appreciation of the content requires objections to the way it is delivered to cease happening.

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RESPONDENT: First of all please try to avoid affected styles or mannerisms of speech; try very plain, neutral English; convey your thought as clearly as possible, use synonymous, even if you feel you are repeating yourself.

RICHARD: Hmm ... if I were so foolish as to arrange live dialogues would I have to brush my hair another way, wear a collar and tie, sit up straight and look right into the camera, enunciate each syllable without slurring and not pick my nose/ scratch my ear/ whatever?

RESPONDENT: Secondly, try to make your point without mentioning that everybody is wrong, particularly JK.

RICHARD: As my point is that everybody – including Mr. Jiddu Krishnamurti – has got it 180 degrees wrong how do you suggest I go about it without mentioning that?

RESPONDENT: But if you are afraid [apprehensive, embarrassed, concerned, have aversion] of using a video camera ...

RICHARD: If I may point out? There is no fear here in this actual world ... nor any disquiet, disquietude, inquietude, uneasiness, nervousness, nervous tension, apprehension, apprehensiveness, sheepishness, shyness, timidity, timidness, timorousness, butterflies in the stomach, embarrassment, anxiousness, fretfulness, funk, jitters, blue funk, quailing, quaking, quavering, heebie-jeebies, appalment, worry, worriment, insecurity, anxiety, angst, alarm, agitation, palpitation, perturbation, trepidation, fright, affright, being scared, being frightened, being afraid, being spooked, fearfulness, awe, foreboding, panic, terror, horror, horrification, petrifaction or dread.

RESPONDENT: ... why don’t you continue using your audio recorder and make the files available, as you do with the zip files?

RICHARD: Because it is the content of the words which is important and not the sound of them as produced by this voice box.

RESPONDENT: Wouldn’t it be easier than transcribing them?

RICHARD: The only conversations I have ever recorded are the ones already transcribed – and which are available on The Actual Freedom Trust web site – and I have never recorded any more since then (May – July 1997).

That experiment is over, finished, done with.

RESPONDENT: If bandwidth is your concern, or you don’t want to do that in your computer, I can make your files available in my PC as a 24 hrs ftp server, after converting your tapes to a low size audio format (mp3). I do that for you as a favour, free of charge.

RICHARD: It has never been an issue of bandwidth or computer capability ... it is simply a case of the printed word being my chosen medium.

RESPONDENT: But I am sure the same thing could be done by some of your disciples happily and free.

RICHARD: As an observation only: most of the Richard-is-a-guru/ Richard-has-disciples fantasies come from spiritualists.

RESPONDENT: Well, it’s your business if it is more convenient for you to remain hidden behind the monitor ...

RICHARD: I wonder if I may point out something so obvious that you may be overlooking it? If I were actually publishing media images and sound bytes, as you are so insistent that I do, what you might very well be likely to be saying now – instead of written jibes about being ‘hidden behind the monitor’ – would be verbal jibes about setting myself up as some sort of down-to-earth ... um ... actualism master replete with beaming photographic images for the adoring actualists, live actualism discourses, actualism workshops and ... and the whole kit and caboodle.

RESPONDENT: ... instead of talking to people, in person or over the phone.

RICHARD: A private conversation is only between two people – and can vanish into the air – whereas on a public mailing list anyone else can join in ... plus the words continue to exist long after the initial conversation. There are literally millions of words, that have vanished forever, from past private conversations I have had ... whereas all these discussions, whether they be with peoples in alignment with the actual, opposed to the actual, or anywhere in between, are archived for ease of access and for leisurely perusal and re-perusal.

This way everyone benefits as anybody can make a fully-informed appraisal of what is on offer.

RESPONDENT: You’ll reach just those worth reaching anyways.

RICHARD: Ha ... my words reached you, did they not?

PETER: ... the following link which may be of interest:   http://www.actualfreedom.com.au/sundry/orderformpaypal.htm

As you can see the video dialogues ‘Conversations about the human condition and how to become free of it’ are coming soon but we thought to post a sample excerpt of one of the conversations as a preview of what is to come.

RESPONDENT: I’m looking forward to seeing this. Unfortunately, the video codecs used by Windows Media Player 10 (and above) are proprietary and cannot be viewed by people who use alternative operating systems, e.g., Mac, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, etc.

PETER: The sample will play in Windows Media Player 9 – and we have corrected this information on the website – and WMP 9 is available for the commonly-used domestic computer operating systems.

I also noticed that your post was entitled ‘Actually Free of Microsoft’. I am well aware that there are those who are antagonistic towards Microsoft and hence Microsoft products – and I have recently discovered a good deal of Sony-bashing and a good deal of entrenched resistance to the newly emerging HDV format – but it strikes me that your desire to be actually free of Microsoft is an exercise in futility in your lifetime as Microsoft seems to me to be doing rather well. Almost a century ago a man called Henry Ford had an idea to standardize automobile production in order that automobiles would be more widely affordable and accessible and the Ford Motor Company is still going strong … which in of itself may well indicate that you could have a long wait ahead of you in order to become ‘actually free of Microsoft’.

RESPONDENT: If the AF Trust has made a conscious decision to limit its publications to Microsoft-only document formats, it is of course none of my business.

PETER: There are many computer operating systems in the world ranging from the popular/domestic to the obscure/specialist but a multitude of other factors come into play as well – there are apparently over 300 media players available and at least 11 different video formats, 33 different video codecs not to mention at least 27 different audio codecs. The approach I took when considering producing videos for the Actual Freedom Trust was to chose a video format that offered the best quality that I could afford which would play on a freely available mainstream media player on an operating system that was the most widely used in order to make the information available to as many people as possible. I was well pleased when I found that I could afford to film in the newly emerging HDV (High Definition Video) format that is currently replacing the previous DV format as not only is the quality superior to DV but it also provides a degree of future proofing for the videos.

If one follows your line of reasoning about the Actual Freedom Trust ‘making a conscious decision to limit its publication’ because the Trust happens to chose to offer the video conversations in the best consumer quality currently available able to be played on a freely-available media player that is compatible with the most widely-used computer operating system currently used throughout the world, the very same objection could be made that the writings happen to be in the English language which – although it is rapidly becoming the de facto universal language on the planet – does mean that the Actual Freedom Trust publications are in fact limited to those who can read and understand words written in the English language.

The same objection could be levelled that The Actual Freedom Trust is limiting its publications by choosing to publish its writings on a website which means that one first needs to have access to a computer which has access to the World Wide Web … and then one needs the ability to operate the computer and utilize a web browser. The list goes on of course – we have even had objections to the font size on the website as we are apparently discriminating against those who don’t have reading glasses – or if they have reading glasses, don’t want to use them – despite the fact that the size of text can be easily altered in most, if not all, browsers and operating systems.

It’s a fascinating business being one of a few people presenting a totally new paradigm to their fellow human beings, in this case the possibility that one can now become actually free from the current universally-accepted human condition. Whilst I do acknowledge the inherent difficulties in understanding any new paradigm – the first difficulty being coming to grips with the fact that it is new – I do find it curious that not only do some people go out of their way to publicly denigrate those who offer this new information to their fellow human beings for their consideration but also that there are some who go out of their way to publicly criticize the manner, style and format in which those people choose to present the information to their fellow human beings.

RESPONDENT: I just thought it worth mentioning that an open data format would reach a wider audience.

PETER: I did a good deal of research before setting off on this enterprise and it became very clear to me that the onus lies on the minority of people who chose to use more obscure formats and less popular operating systems to find ways to utilize the vast amount of content that is provided for the majority who choose to use proprietary formats and popular operating systems. Indeed my research revealed not only a flourishing industry of ‘alternate’ computer technologies but an equally flourishing industry that provides products and services that allows ‘the alternatives’ to enjoy the products of ‘the mainstream’.

RESPONDENT: The same could be said about your journal samples using MS Word / MS Reader format instead of the ubiquitous and portable PDF, or even plain HTML.

PETER: We did look into PDF format but the cost of buying the PDF-publishing program was prohibitive, whereas the MS Reader program is free, both to the publisher and to the reader.

As for your suggestion that we provide the Journals in HTML format, it is not something we considered as the E-book format is the most common non-paper format in use that also manages to retain the experience that one is in fact reading a book – given that a book is something that offers a front-to-back coherent whole story.

RESPONDENT: But there are some open standards and free software that works in most if not all OS; so choosing them would enable everybody to work with these.

PETER: You have lost me here. In my investigations as to the best, easiest and most widely accessible format to offer the video conversations what I continually came across was the seasoned advice of long time practitioners in the field of videography who apparently had no axe to grind as it were – which is why I choose to do what I happened to choose to do.

Personally I have no knowledge or interest in ‘open standards’ nor any interest in learning about them and nor do I think the average person would … which leaves me at a loss in trying to follow your line of thinking, let alone the point you are making.

RESPONDENT: Also another point: English to all the language conversions will be time consuming and impractical ...

PETER: But then again there are a multitude of English-to-other-language dictionaries available, many of which are but a few mouse clicks away.

RESPONDENT: But locating software that converts one format (this WMV) to other formats... particularly some open formats maybe practical (particularly if the software that plays WMV in other OS is not to be found). I can try to help with those who genuinely face this problem; please let me know if your OS doesn’t have facility to view it. And also, if the viewer is not free. I shall try to locate information regarding this.

PETER: When I used to run building sites, I was the one who everybody turned to whenever a problem arose. After a while, rather than resent the fact that everyone came to me with their problems, I came to understand that not only was this my job on the site, but also that problem solving was something that I was good at it. Eventually it came to the point where I liked the challenge of finding the best way to do something within the parameters of the given circumstances, so much so that I would I would say to the tradesman ‘We haven’t got a problem, we have got a creative opportunity’. Pretty soon those same tradesman were doing their own thinking about the problems and challenges that inevitably arose such that they did their own thinking about what was the best solution prior to coming to me to check it out whether I had a better idea in mind. In due course I realized I had became redundant as it became clear to me that I had passed on all that I knew to my co-workers about thinking a problem through whilst taking into account all the pertinent aspects of the particular situation.

With regard to the comments thus far about difficulties that some people have with the format and with the quality of the videos my bottom line is … if someone really wants to watch them then they will find a way to watch them.

Have you not noticed that interest begets intent and that it is intent that begets the means?

RESPONDENT: Peter, unfortunately that link’s content doesn’t work for me. I have win player 10, Win XP, 2.40GB, but it won’t play, worse computer crashes and reboots. It has occurred thrice already.

PETER: As you may have noticed we also provided a link to the MS website which gives minimum system requirements for playing HDV in WMP9/10. Given that your computer system appears to be powerful enough on the face of it, I cannot help you further as I am by no means a computer technician, nor do I plan to learn to be one.

As a suggestion, maybe someone more qualified and more local to where you live may be able to help you out with your problem.

RESPONDENT: Would appreciate if you could offer something simpler than this as an alternative.

PETER: I have had from time to time similar requests made to me with regard to my architectural work, most noticeably from those who are shopping around for the cheapest price, regardless of quality. Nowadays I have a stock standard response – ‘you will always find someone cheaper than me who is willing to do work to a lesser standard, but I like to do good quality work’. Having spent years in the trade and gained all the experience I have gained it would be silly of me to do otherwise.

In this particular case, the only reason I was attracted to buy the necessary hardware and software and go to the effort of learning a whole new technology was the possibility of producing something of good quality – if you want an inferior quality to that which is on offer, I can only suggest you look elsewhere.

RESPONDENT: Will the videos be made available to buy as dvd/vhs for those of us who can/will not afford the necessary computer equipment to view the free samples?

PETER: I take it you missed my recent post on the same topic –

[Respondent No 84]: I would appreciate if you could offer something simpler than this as an alternative.

[Peter:] I have had from time to time similar requests made to me with regard to my architectural work, most noticeably from those who are shopping around for the cheapest price, regardless of quality. Nowadays I have a stock standard response – ‘you will always find someone cheaper than me who is willing to do work to a lesser standard, but I like to do good quality work’. Having spent years in the trade and gained all the experience I have gained it would be silly of me to do otherwise.

In this particular case, the only reason I was attracted to buy the necessary hardware and software and go to the effort of learning a whole new technology was the possibility of producing something of good quality – if you want an inferior quality to that which is on offer, I can only suggest you look elsewhere. ‘Conversations sample’ 11.7.05

RESPONDENT: Hmm. I don’t see how that relates to making a DVD ... as I thought DVD was *high* quality.

PETER: Given that your query mentioned both DVD and VHS, it will be useful to understand that VHS is a magnetic tape system designed to deliver analogue signals to standard definition television sets. As such the vertical resolution of VHS (and all other analogue recording methods) is determined by the TV standard – a maximum of 486 lines are visible in NTSC and a maximum of 576 lines in PAL.

DVD on the other hand is the currently-new generation of optical disc storage technology. DVD is essentially a bigger, faster CD that can hold cinema-like video, better-than-CD audio, still photos, and computer data. DVD aims to encompass home entertainment, computers, and business information with a single digital format. It has replaced laserdisc, is well on the way to replacing videotape and video game cartridges, and could eventually replace audio CD and CD-ROM. DVD has widespread support from all major electronics companies, all major computer hardware companies, and all major movie and music studios. With this unprecedented support, DVD became the most successful consumer electronic product of all time in less than three years of its introduction. In 2003, six years after introduction, there were over 250 million DVD playback devices worldwide, counting DVD players, DVD PCs, and DVD game consoles. This was more than half the numbers of VCRs, setting DVD up to become the new standard for video publishing.

All of which is why we have chosen to offer the video series ‘Conversations about the human condition and how to become free from it’ on DVD as distinct from VHS.

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PETER: The first job I did where I was involved in the complete building process (design, pricing and construction) was a small house extension for a couple with two young children. As the job progressed on-site they asked if we could do several additional items of work for them . Given that they constantly emphasized how much the job was costing them and how stretched they were financially, I decided to do the additional work and not charge them so as to ‘help them out’ as it were. By the time the job finished a few additional items were added to the free list and being the ‘good guy’ that I was I even called around the morning they moved back in to see if they needed any help. I remember being somewhat stunned to find that they had bought a new set of furniture for the house, new electrical appliances and a new home entertainment centre and a brand new car sat in the driveway – so much for their crying poor.

RESPONDENT: Whereas I’m asking if your making a dvd and willing to pay for a DVD.

PETER: I was relating a story that had to do with the human condition as it has become a habit of mine to dig beneath the so-called problems that people have with what other people choose to do and investigate the underlying social and instinctual basis of the misunderstandings, resentments and conflicts that plague human interactions.

In answer to your interjection, the videos will be offered on DVD in HD-WMV format which will allow a maximum of approximately one hour of 720P high definition video on a 4.7GB single-layer DVD disc and The Actual Freedom Trust is not only willing to pay for but indeed already has paid for the necessary hardware and software necessary to produce the DVDs.

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PETER: The experience was an eye-opener for me as to the extent of the demands that some people will place on others in order to exploit them for their own ends ... as well as the fact that the only reason the ploy works is because there are some people who are gullible enough to fall for it.

RESPONDENT: Whereas I’m asking if your making a dvd and willing to pay for a DVD.

PETER: Given that you have repeated the question, it is apt to point out that this was not the question you originally asked of me. This is the question you asked –

[Respondent]: ‘Will the videos be made available to buy as dvd/vhs for those of us who can/will not afford the necessary computer equipment to view the free samples?’ Re Videos, 12.7.2005 3:07 PM AEST

I can only answer the question you asked, not the question you claim to have asked.

From the thrust of your original question it appears that you were saying that you have not been able to view the free sample HD-WMV download but according to a more recent post I take it that you have since been able to do so –

[Respondent]: … since seeing that brief clip of R any substantial doubts about him not being what he claims have flown out the window. Paradigm Tilt 18.7.2005 9.56AM AEST

If you have been able to play the HD-WMV sample video on your computer, then your computer should also be able to play the HD-WMV on the DVDs when they become available and the only issue that remains is whether you are sufficiently interested in the particular video-taped conversation such that you are willing to pay for it.

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PETER: Needless to say – and yet apparently it needs to be said – when I became an actualist my intent to become both happy and harmless in the world as-it-is with people as-they-are compelled me to stop exploiting others and to stop allowing myself to be exploited hence bringing an end to the feeling of resentment that being a player in this particular social/instinctual game inevitably brings.

RESPONDENT: Needless to say, if your going by my post alone, then it *does not need to be said* as I fail to see how it relates to my query of whether or not you will be making a DVD.

PETER: Again, the story I told had to do with my previous experience of being an unwitting player in the habitual game of continually interfering in others’ lives or of allowing others to interfere in my life or of expecting others to comply with my whims and my demands or of living my life in accord with the whims and demands of others, a story which I thought relevant to the discussions on this list about the topic at hand.

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PETER: With regard to your particular question, I don’t have a VHS recorder – a necessary piece of equipment if I were to consider producing the videos in a superseded low quality format – and nor do I see the necessity for purchasing one as I never intended to produce the videos in a superseded low quality format and nor do I intend to in the future.

RESPONDENT: I don’t have a vhs either,

PETER: Given that it appears you have been able to view the sample HDWMV video, I take it you were talking on behalf of other people – taking it upon yourself to be a spokesman for other people as it were by voicing concern about something that does not relate to you personally nor to your current circumstances.

I can only suggest that there is a wealth of information about the human condition to be had from exploring matters such as these, which by the way is why I told the story that I did in answer to your original question about ‘those (of us) who can/will not afford the necessary computer equipment to view the free samples’.

Attentiveness reveals that one does not have to look further than oneself in order to study the human condition in action.

RESPONDENT: I was more interested in dvd format.

PETER: As I have said, if you have been able to play the sample video on your own computer then your computer will be able to play the HD-WMV on the DVD. On the other hand if you don’t have and cannot afford a computer capable of playing HD-WMV files as your original question implied, then I would suggest simply doing whatever you did that enabled you to view the sample.

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RESPONDENT: Peter, in regards to the HD video clips that will be available online, how are they coming?

PETER: I think they are coming along very well, particularly given that I am a part-time hobbyist attempting to do something that is at what is sometimes referred to as the ‘bleeding edge’ of current technology.

RESPONDENT: They are pretty much the only reason I’ve been online for a month or so now, and I’m just wondering if they are a few months (or weeks) away.

PETER: My original estimate was ‘before the end of the year’, but it was after all only an estimate.

The videoed ‘Conversation about the human condition and how to become free of it’ will only be a part of each DVD as we also aim to provide other information that puts the ‘Conversations’ into context. One aspect of this additional information that we are currently working on is a PowerPoint presentation of ‘An Introduction to Actual Freedom’ and I am particularly pleased about this as I always intended the Introduction to be available in this format.

RESPONDENT: If so, I won’t be checking the list weekly, but rather monthly.

PETER: How often you check the list is your call entirely. I know for myself that I am currently very interested in HDV and as a consequence I have many discussion forums in my Favourites list on my browser in order that I can easily check in to catch up with the latest developments. As such it takes me no time at all to keep abreast with the latest developments. 

RESPONDENT: Suggestions and comments: 1. The video clip resolution should be adjustable (or multiple resolution choices should be provided). 80 megabytes containing only two minutes is way beyond the reach of most internet consumers even today (especially in the third world).

RICHARD: The 720p resolution on the ‘Out from Control Sample’ WMV HD (‘Windows Media Video High Definition’) is already as low as HD can go ... 1080i is the optimum resolution.

RESPONDENT: Okay, I was not aware that HD was the only option. It is certainly the best, but whether it is the most expedient is the question I was asking.

RICHARD: The HD video format was chosen for its quality (the qualitative difference between 480p Standard Definition Video and 1080i High Definition Video is of a magnitude up to six times better) and not its expediency – the 4.0+ million freely available words on The Actual Freedom Trust web site already provide that – just as the screensaver was ... where upwards of 50 different screensavers were trialled so as to select the highest quality available at the time. (Editor’s note: The screensaver is no longer available due to its incompatibility with Windows 8)

All of the items on that order-form page you downloaded the sample from, none of which are essential reading/viewing, are optional extras ... luxury items, as it were, and go towards defraying the costs associated with both maintaining The Actual Freedom Trust and its publishing operations.

It pleases me immensely that all the necessary words explicating both an actual freedom from the human condition and a virtual freedom in practice be available free of charge for anyone to access anywhere in the world.

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RESPONDENT: 2. As suggested by others, stills can be provided for the videos.

RICHARD: Stills are redundant for any spoken dialogue which has been transcribed to text as posture, facial expressions/eye-movement, gesticulations, tone of voice, and so forth, all require moving pictures for their conveyance.

RESPONDENT: No, facial expressions in still images can express irritation, or anger.

RICHARD: Although you said ‘as suggested by others’ there was, unless I have missed some e-mails, only one person who wondered if it is possible to [quote] ‘post pictures of *the* video clip with a text dialogue’ [emphasis added] ... thus my response to your observation that stills can be provided for *the videos* was written in that context.

Of course, as a generalisation, a still image of a person’s facial expression can communicate a feeling – just as a still image shows a posture, an eye-position, and a gesticulation – yet stills are redundant for any spoken dialogue which has been transcribed to text as all those components require moving pictures for their conveyance.

RESPONDENT: However, my offer of putting up still images was just so that those who could not download the whole of the clip could at least see what you look like, in case they were curious.

RICHARD: The physiognomy – the general appearance – of this flesh and blood body (just as it would be for any other body) is irrelevant to this flesh and blood body’s actual freedom from the human condition.

The whole purpose of making the videos publicly available is so that the visual/audile interaction of the parties concerned can be seen/heard – rather than just the written word interaction on this mailing list – so that (just for a topical example) those who claim there is an attitude of arrogance in my written communication style can see/hear for themself whether it be factual or just another fantasy.

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RESPONDENT: I will create some and put it up on a website, if that is allowed by the AF webmasters.

RICHARD: Just for the record: so as to preserve the integrity of content the copyright for all material is held by The Actual Freedom Trust – which has its own domain (actualfreedom.com.au) – and the web site is currently being hosted on an off-shore high-tech server with more than enough space available for any material the directors of The Actual Freedom Trust collectively decide to put on offer.

RESPONDENT: Ok. How does one contact the AF trustees? Aren’t Vineeto, Peter who are also the webmasters also the trustees? Can we have a list of all the trustees?

RICHARD: The directors of The Actual Freedom Trust can be contacted at the following address:

The Directors,
The Actual Freedom Trust.
P.O. Box 686
Ballina NSW 2478
Australia

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RESPONDENT: 3. The ending shot of the sunset is remarkable.

RICHARD: The ending shot is actually a fade-out into a sunrise ... yet, be that as it may, there is more to observe than just the behaviour of the sun.

RESPONDENT: :-)

RICHARD: It is fun, is it not, finding out just what makes one tick?

RESPONDENT: What I did observe was your sense of pleasure when the lady you are talking to, said that she saw how staying in the real world was selfish.

RICHARD: I am always pleased when someone – anyone – profoundly understands something vital to their well-being ... peace-on-earth is at stake. Vis.:

• [Richard]: ‘My keenness for another’s experience always accords to the following sequence:
1. I am primarily interested for your sake (for the sake of the particular flesh and blood body) as you are a fellow human being.
2. I am secondarily interested for everybody’s sake (for the sake of flesh and blood bodies in general) as another person being actually free increases the possibility of setting a chain-reaction in process.
3. I am lastly interested for my own sake (for then not only am I am no longer arguably a ‘freak of nature’ but I can compare notes, as it were, so as to more reliably separate out what is species specific from that which is idiosyncratic)’.

Just substitute the word ‘pleased’ for ‘interested’ ... it amounts to the same thing.

RESPONDENT: Your pleasure had a facial expression of, what one might consider, self-satisfaction.

RICHARD: I am sure peoples are going to impute all manner of things into the postures, the facial expressions/ eye-movements, the gesticulations, the tones of voice, and so forth ... just as they do with the written word.

It is not for nothing I say that experiential proof is the only proof worthy of the name. Vis.:

• [Richard]: ‘I invite anyone to make a critical examination of all the words I advance so as to ascertain if they be intrinsically self-explanatory ... and if they are all seen to be inherently consistent with what is being spoken about, then the facts speak for themselves. Then one will have reason to remember a pure conscious experience (PCE), which all peoples I have spoken to at length have had, and thus verify by direct experience the facticity of what is written (which personal experiencing is the only proof worthy of the name)’.

Alternatively, if one were to read/listen with all their being they may very well find themself being catapulted into the magical wonder-land that this verdant and azure planet actually is.

‘Tis the ‘all their being’ which is the key.

RESPONDENT: I think it strange that I can buy a movie on DVD that took millions to make for 15 to 20 bucks but this actualism DVD is 77 bucks. WTF?

RESPONDENT No 37: Where do you live? IOW, what kind of bucks are you talking about? Keep in mind that it is AUS $77. For example, that $77 comes out to $56.85 in US currency. Yes, a bit on the pricey side, yet distribution & overhead influence the cost. As always, the decision to buy is in the consumer’s hands – much the same as what each person will do with actualism itself.

RESPONDENT: Could someone just explain that to me? You have to take out a goddamn loan for this DVD which is as I understand it nothing new that cannot be obtained from the site.

RESPONDENT No 37: This is just plain silly. I would suggest not believing what you read, but finding out for yourself.

RESPONDENT: Why not audiotapes? Is it really that important that we see these people and their beautiful beards?

RESPONDENT No 37: The funny part about all this is that people have been requesting videos for quite a while now. Finally, when the actualists put a couple videos out – others come out of the woodwork to complain about it.

Par for the course, I suppose. 25.11.2005

PETER: I thought to respond to you as I have had the most involvement in the production of videos that The Actual Freedom Trust has recently made available.

RESPONDENT (to Vineeto): … a question about the DVD’s: is the reason the DVD files are not available for download (at a lower price, or free of charge) because hosting costs are prohibitive, or is it something else (such as selling DVD’s is a good source of income for maintaining the site)? I ask because a – I’d like to watch them but they are too costly to buy, and – I could mirror host them for download without bandwidth restrictions.

VINEETO: The directors of The Actual Freedom Trust made a decision to offer the videos with additional information, including The Actual Freedom Trust Screensaver, Correspondence on Selected Topics and the Introduction to Actual Freedom as a PowerPoint Slideshow. Another reason for choosing to distribute the videos on DVDs is that the videos are produced in HD and are 1.35 - 1.5 GB each, and this would be an unrealistic download in many parts of the world.

RESPONDENT: How familiar you are with file-sharing nowadays?

PETER: Not at all familiar and I must say that with all I have had to learn in order to produce the videos, I have no inclination to familiarize myself with anything new … unless there be a very good reason, that is.

RESPONDENT: A gig file is not considered that big anymore.

PETER: As I understand it, the both the possibility and affordability of downloading large files is very much dependant on (a) where you happen to live in the world and (b) how well-healed you happen to be.

RESPONDENT: Do you know about bit-torrent?

PETER: No.

RESPONDENT: It’s a swarm transfer protocol that has been every bit as revolutionary for peer-to-peer file-sharing, as the file-sharing has been for overall media distribution, particularly with large file sizes. It’s estimated that bit-torrent transfers account for about a third of all internet traffic. I could be a host to both the torrent seed as well as the file(s). A torrent seed can ‘contain’ any number of files, to be transferred together… ensuring that the additional information, screensaver, correspondence, and PowerPoint format introduction are included, as well as the fidelity of the image and sound maintained. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bittorrent. Bring it up with the rest of the trust.

PETER: Vineeto did ‘bring it up with the rest of the trust’, which is precisely why you received the considered reply you got first time around.

RESPONDENT: I know online distribution offers little or no revenue, but it wouldn’t cost you anything further either.

PETER: Is not the point you are making that it would not cost you anything if The Actual Freedom Trust arranged things to suit you rather than have The Actual Freedom Trust continue to do what it has chosen to do?

RESPONDENT: It’s admittedly not a viable option for people who use dial-up modems but broadband – which can download a gig of data quickly – has outstripped dial-up in the developed countries. As of 2005, the 30 most connected countries accounted for almost 160 million broadband subscribers: http://www.oecd.org/document/39/0,2340,en_2649_34225_36459431_1_1_1_1,00.html. While this does not account for all internet subscribers and users worldwide, I think it would be a safe guess that the majority of unique hits to the AF site come from these countries (if you had a web counter you could verify this). Therefore, it would be a realistic download for those most likely to download the DVDs, were they to become available.

PETER: From what you say, it appears that you may well be fortunate enough to be one of those, presumably less than five percent of the worlds population, who has personal use of broadband Internet access.

If so, may I ask if you are also fortunate enough to have a PC, or access to a PC, that has a DVD player and is capable of playing WMVHD files from a DVD?

Should this be the case, it would then appear that the only reason you would have The Actual Freedom Trust abandon all the work it has done in producing and making available the DVDs – purchasing computer hardware and software, designing and having covers printed, purchasing discs and cases, learning new programmes and so on – and then forego any subsequent income from sales of the DVDs that may go towards offsetting these costs, simply because you say the DVDs ‘are too costly for you to buy’?

This has to be a joke, right?

I don’t know whether you have noticed or not, but there is a much, much, much bigger world out here than ‘[Respondent]-ville’.

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