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Richard’s Selected Correspondence On Actualism
RICHARD: Not only is actualism not theory it is also not idea, belief, concept, conjecture, speculation, assumption,
presumption, supposition, surmise, inference, judgement, opinion, intellectualisation, imagination, a posit, a mind-set, a stance, an image, an
analysis, a philosophy, a psychology, a state-of-mind, a frame-of-mind, a perspective, a standpoint, a position, a view, a viewpoint, a point of
view, a world-view, a religion, a spirituality, a mysticism, a metaphysics, or a cult ... it is an intimate and thus direct experiencing that
matter is not merely passive. RESPONDENT No. 71: Richard, actualism is experiencing that matter is not merely passive ... what does it mean? RICHARD: Another way of saying it is that actualism is the direct experience that matter is not inert. RESPONDENT No. 71: If you have a stone in your hand (matter), it is passive right? RICHARD: Only in the real-world. RESPONDENT: [Merriam-Webster Dictionary]: passive: not acting or operating; inert’. [endquote]. The stone in the hand does not act or operate (at the moment you are holding in the hand), right? RICHARD: In the real-world ... yes; in actuality ... no. RESPONDENT: How is it not passive? RICHARD: In actuality matter is vibrant, potent ... literally everything material is intrinsically active, vigorous. This fundamental dynamism, this elemental efficacy, is the very actuality of all existence – the actualness of everything – as matter itself, being of infinite perpetuance/ eternal perdurability, is anything but inoperative (passive) or inactive (inert). And wherever/ whenever this perennial matter is sentient the potential exists for it to be conscious of its own essential
nature. RESPONDENT: In order for something to accepted as an actual fact it has to be corroborated. RICHARD: No ... a fact is where something actual is acknowledged as existing independent of belief. The first person to discover a fact is always on their own ... corroboration is when another or others also see the fact (thus making it a common fact). There are many, many things actual yet to be discovered (and thus established as fact). RESPONDENT: Indeed, including your hypothesis about ‘Actualism.’ RICHARD: Not so ... actualism is already established as fact. That not many see the fact only indicates that it is
early days, yet. RESPONDENT: In a PCE everything is magically animate, doing what it’s doing, in a backdrop of infinite depth and stillness. RICHARD: Hmm ... ‘doing what it’s doing’ is about as informative as ‘a rose is a rose’: in actuality (as evidenced in a PCE) it is stunningly apparent that everything is the perfection of the purity which infinitude is and, as such, is perfection personified. RESPONDENT: No principle, no agenda. RICHARD: Ahh ... there is an agenda inasmuch as everything growing (aka ‘life’) is growing in purity as that perfection personified. RESPONDENT: ‘Life’ or liveliness is the way everything exists. RICHARD: As maybe 99.99% (an arbitrary figure) of the universe is inanimate then ‘life’ is not the way everything exists. For example, when some people talk to me about ‘nature’ they become somewhat bemused when I suggest that, as far as space exploration has been able to ascertain, there is no nature on the moon ... meaning that what life actually is is what flora and fauna are and not what rocks are. Now, if by ‘nature’ a person means absolutely everything (as in ‘life’ is the way everything exists) then the glass ashtray on my desk (being mainly silica) is as much ‘nature’ as the trailing plant cascading down from the shelf above the desk next to mine ... yet when I offer such a person a drink from a polystyrene cup they tell me it is not natural. Generally speaking, materialism has that rocks are dead, lifeless (yet only something that was alive can ever be dead) whereas what actualism is on about is the direct experience that matter is not merely passive. I chose the name ‘actualism’ rather simply from a dictionary definition which said that actualism was ‘the theory that matter is not merely passive (now rare)’. That was all ... and I did not investigate any further for I did not want to know who formulated this theory. It was that description – and not the author’s theory – that appealed. And, as it said that its usage was now rare, I figured it was high-time it was brought out of obscurity, dusted off, re-vitalised ... and set loose upon the world (including upon those who have a conditioned abhorrence of categories and labels) as a third alternative to materialism and spiritualism. Thus (to parallel your phraseology): actuality, or actualness, is the way everything exists. 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’. 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 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 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:
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? RESPONDENT: You said actualism is an effective method compared with spiritual ones (that is, one which really works) if applied in practice (it’s probably a failed act ;)) with sufficient diligence and pure intent, in order to make one happy and harmless. RICHARD: The actualism method, first put into action in 1981, is indeed an effective method, when practiced with application and diligence and patience and perseverance, and guided by the pure intent to enable peace-on-earth in this lifetime as this flesh and blood body, as it resulted in this flesh and blood body being actually free of the human condition ... this is the method which delivered the goods. There is no valid comparison with spiritual methods ... spirituality does not have peace-on-earth on its agenda. RESPONDENT: First, how many people have attained virtual freedom apart from your close associates Peter and Vineeto? RICHARD: How each and every person is experiencing this moment of being alive, each moment again, is a matter for themselves to determine ... I long ago declined to be a probity policeman (for obvious reason). RESPONDENT: What do you think is the core reason that a person like Konrad hasn’t got it? RICHARD: The core reason why anyone does not ‘get it’ is because the actualism method does deliver the goods (total dedication to peace and harmony means that the end of ‘me’ in ‘my’ entirety is inevitable). RESPONDENT: I ask this as there are now almost 6 years since you went public with your discovery and the method to achieve it, you must have some feedback ... RICHARD: The only feedback is what can be read publicly ... I rarely, if ever, conduct a private correspondence these days. RESPONDENT: ... or is it a perfect method needing no improvement? RICHARD: There may be other methods, yet to be discovered, but this is the only one so far which has delivered the
goods. RESPONDENT: The body of observations and conclusions presented in the website is ‘actualism’ to me. RICHARD: Okay ... the use of -ism on the end of a word (from the Latin ‘isma’ meaning ‘of action, something done’) simply indicates the characteristics of a person or a thing. It is used to form a noun of action naming the process, the completed action or the result, with emphasis on character or conduct (it is the forming of a term denoting a trait or peculiarity). That it has popularly come to mean (chiefly derogatory) a form of doctrine, theory or principle, is the disparaging usage that many peoples think is its only usage. RESPONDENT: To the actualists this is ‘actuality’ and for somebody who is trying to understand, is it not a theory till (s)he verifies it for (him/ her)self? RICHARD: The words and writings on The Actual Freedom Website are sufficiently detailed and extensive enough in both
range and depth to present a prima facie case worthy of further investigation RESPONDENT: And won’t it take time to verify it? RICHARD: Only if one cannot recall a pure consciousness experience (PCE) or have one set-off whilst reading and/or reflecting ... in a PCE everything detailed by all the words on The Actual Freedom Website is startlingly self-evident. RESPONDENT: In that duration, is it not a theory for them? RICHARD: Presumably it could be going by some of the responses I have seen over the years ... but mostly it is peoples
who object to be happy and harmless who see it is ‘a theory’ only. RESPONDENT: All I can say is that you seem to have taken a totally empiricist’s materialism and somehow mixed it up with spiritual realization, which is a very odd combination, if you ask me. RICHARD: Yet what I experience is neither materialism To be actualistic is to be living the infinitude of this fairy-tale-like actual world with its sensuous quality of magical perfection and purity: where everything and everyone has a lustre, a brilliance, a vividness, an intensity and a marvellous, wondrous, scintillating vitality that makes everything alive and sparkling ... even the very earth beneath one’s feet. The rocks, the concrete buildings, a piece of paper ... literally everything is as if it were alive (a rock is not, of course, alive as humans are, or as animals are, or as trees are). This ‘aliveness’ is the very actuality of all existence ... the actualness of everything and everyone. We do not live in an inert universe ... but one cannot experience this whilst clinging to immortality. I am mortal. RESPONDENT: I roughly discern what you say, but could you give me a route through your web-pages or a way to learn more? RICHARD: The Actual Freedom Web Page is designed to allow one to meander ... experience has shown that peoples pick more up via snippets here and there over time and upon repeated visits. However, there is ‘An Introduction To Actual Freedom’ for a simple over-all explication and ‘A Précis Of Actual Freedom’ for a precise exposition. The nuts and bolts of the major differences betwixt spiritual freedom and actual freedom are to be found in ‘180 Degrees Opposite’. RESPONDENT: I found this all too technical to be easily digested. RICHARD: Then I would recommend ‘Peter’s Journal’ * RESPONDENT: Do you ever travel overseas. RICHARD: No. I travelled a lot in my youth, but these days I am entirely content with the one kilometre walk to the village centre. RESPONDENT: Isn’t it better to meet in person to progress? How can words be enough? RICHARD: Words are words, whether they be thought, spoken, printed or appear as pixels on a screen. Ultimately it is what is being said or written, by the writer or the speaker that lives what is being expressed, that is important ... and facts and actuality then speak for themselves. * RESPONDENT: Do you ever give talks? Do you charge? RICHARD: No. There are approximately 1.5 million words on the ‘Actual Freedom Web Page’ available for free ... the only charge is for ‘Richard’s Journal’ and for the paper-back versions of any books. Words are words, whether they be thought, spoken, printed or appear as pixels on a screen. Ultimately it is what is being said or written, by the writer or the speaker that lives what is being expressed, that is important ... and facts and actuality then speak for themselves. Anyone who has met me face-to-face only gets verification that there is actually a flesh and blood body that lives what these words say. I am a fellow human being sans identity ... there is no ‘charisma’ nor any ‘energy-field’ here. RESPONDENT: One would expect a certain energy field. RICHARD: The affective faculty – the entire psyche itself – is eradicated: I have no ‘energies’ ... no power or powers whatsoever. There is no ‘good’ and ‘evil’ here in this actual world. * RICHARD: I am not required for the process of understanding (as in a ‘personality cult’ that can grow around a ‘charismatic leader’). As facts and actuality can be commonsensically conveyed by the written word, this means that the third alternative can be accessed by anyone discriminating enough long after I am physically dead. RESPONDENT: This is heroic but perhaps difficult to achieve. RICHARD: As fear is non-existent in this flesh and blood body there is no way I can be either a hero or ‘heroic’. And it is not at all ‘difficult to achieve’ due to the ease of mass-communication outside of the traditional publishers (who self-censor books). Desk-top publishing and the rapid copying capacity of computers in combination with world-wide distribution via the Internet means that copies of the words on the ‘Actual Freedom Web Page’ are already tucked away on computers in different parts of the globe already. It will only increase and cannot be stopped. It will indeed be accessed by anyone discriminating enough long after I am physically dead. RESPONDENT: How do you measure your success so far? RICHARD: All I have ever wished for is for the words and writings of an actual freedom from the human condition to exist in the world so that they are available long after I am dead. This is so that a third alternative to being either ‘human’ or ‘divine’ is available for anyone who comes across it, in any indeterminate future, to draw affirmation and confirmation from ... for anyone to avail themselves of if it be in accord with their own experience and/or aspirations. That is, it is an affirmation that their experience is not only valid but a confirmation in that a fellow human being has traversed this territory in an eminently satisfactory way. For nineteen years I have scoured the books ... to no avail. Now the information exists – and has taken on a life of its own – and I am well content and having so much fun. And as I measure success by quality and not quantity it has exceeded my expectations already. * RICHARD: With an actualism spread like a chain-letter, in the due course of time, global freedom would revolutionise the concept of humanity. RESPONDENT: Would it spread and would it be effective? RICHARD: I used to jokingly say that global peace on earth would possibly take 5,000 years (a round figure plucked at random). Given the level of objections to being happy and harmless that I have received since I went public three years ago I would be inclined to say: never. As to whether it would be effective if it did spread? Yes. * RICHARD: Pollution and its cause – over-population – would be set to rights without effort, as competition would be replaced by cooperation. It would be the stuff of all the pipe-dreams come true. RESPONDENT: How would over-population be set to rights ... by ‘contraception for all’? Though you have decided to have no more children others have not. RICHARD: In an actual freedom from the human condition one actually cares – not merely feel that one cares – thus any of the environmental issues, that dominate the modern conscious, would cease to exist in a very short time as competition would automatically be replaced by actual cooperation. The result would, of course, be an increased prosperity for all – not just some – which would result in a world-wide occurrence of what is already happening of its own accord in the more developed countries: ZPG. Thus I am only observing an already-existing fact ... nowhere am I making speculative predictions. * RICHARD: But none of this matters much when one is already living freely in the actual world. RESPONDENT: That would mean nothing need be done. RICHARD: Indeed. Even if global peace on earth was a long time coming – as is most probable due to stubbornly recalcitrant egos and selfishly compliant souls – the most appealing aspect of actual freedom is its instant bestowal of universal peace upon the individual daring enough to go all the way. Thus the reward is immediate and nothing more needs to be done other than to joyfully participate in another person’s voyage of exploration and discovery – freely facilitating their personal quest – if that be mutually agreeable. * RICHARD: I am supremely content with life as-it-is, for perfection can be found in what others call imperfection ... and I have no desire to change anything. RESPONDENT: And no desires? RICHARD: None whatsoever. * RICHARD: To be here, intimately here at this moment in time, where this actual world is such a marvellous place to be alive in, is a satisfaction and fulfilment unparalleled in the chronicles of antiquity. RESPONDENT: If you have no desire to change anything then are you an observer and not a participant? RICHARD: As far as I have been able to ascertain, after nineteen years of scouring the books and talking with people from all walks of live, 6.0 billion peoples are ‘observers’ and I am the only ‘participant’ . * RESPONDENT: I found your biography of enlightenment interesting in that it apparently corresponds with the path described by various gurus thus giving them validity, and then you take it that little bit further. RICHARD: Yes, to become enlightened is to stop half-way: to go all the way not only does the ego have to die (spiritual freedom), so to does the soul (actual freedom). To put it in the mystical terminology of the East (terminology recently resurrected and made popular by Mr. Mohan ‘Rajneesh’ Jain), there is the ‘Known’, the ‘Unknown’ and the ‘Unknowable’. Thus the Eastern mystical wisdom hold the tenets that the ‘normal-world’ reality (where 6.0 billion people live) is the ‘Known’ and the ‘abnormal-world’ Greater Reality (where 0.0000001 of the population live) is the ‘Unknown’ ... and the ‘Unknowable’ lies beyond physical death (Mahasamadhi, Parinirvana and so on). Therefore, in those terms, the actual world (where Richard lives) is the ‘Unknowable’. KONRAD: ... the ‘I’-ness of your I is the actualism you talk about with others. For this vision of Actualism is the source of the actions of your body. RICHARD: Actualism is not a vision of mine, it is simply an accurate description of the actual world of sensual
delight. I chose the name rather simply from the Oxford Dictionary. It said: ‘Actualism: the theory that matter is not merely passive’. * KONRAD: Now let me return to you and your Actualism. Actualism is the ultimate outcome of the Western orientation on existence. The west has made a subdivision between the outside world and the inside world. Now what you have done is incorporating Man himself, as individuals, into the outside world, by pointing out that we are not psychological entities ‘trapped’ in our bodies, but we ARE these bodies. And therefore we are existents, like rocks, plants, and animals. In your words, we are not WHO’s, but we are WHAT’s that believe to be who’s. And by stating it in these terms you point out, that the division the west has made between the inside world and the outside world is false. There is only an outside world, and we are part of it. We are ‘what’s, and not ‘who’s. RICHARD: Indeed ... I am this flesh and blood body being conscious. I am the carrots and the beans and the cheese eaten and the air breathed and the water drunk. There is no separation whatsoever betwixt this body and anything or anyone else. Everything and everyone is the very self-same stuff that this physical world – and this material universe – are. I did not come from outside this universe – there being no outside to infinity – nor was I put here by some metaphysical god for some inscrutable reason. We all come out of the ground ... and this earth is the very stuff that this universe is. We are as infinite and eternal as the universe that we are made up of ... and we can be conscious of this as an actuality. I am this very tangible universe experiencing itself as a sensate and reflective human being. KONRAD: This vision leads to a complete revaluation of our inner life. For, seen from this metaphysics, everything that happens inside of us, including the capability to act purposefully, is looked upon to be no more and no less than a tool of the body. The body is the important thing, and everything else that is imagined is just confusion. RICHARD: What else is there but this very palpable physical existence ... except fanciful abstraction? KONRAD: Especially the idea that we are ‘who’s’. You represent the ultimate step of a philosophy that is totally existence oriented. RICHARD: It is not a philosophy ... it is an accurate description of an on-going and fully-lived experiencing of life
... complete with consciousness operating perfectly well as apperceptive awareness. RESPONDENT: I see you are giving me an opportunity to study your discussion with Konrad. Thank you for that. As actualism itself cannot or may not contain any – thing, I probably have nothing to talk about with you. RICHARD: I am somewhat nonplussed that you can write that actualism cannot or may not contain ‘any – thing’ ... why the use of the word ‘thing’ ? The word ‘thing’ refers to material objects ... physical, concrete and tangible things. It is the spirituality which meditation brings that states that you are not the body and that the primal substance is formless ... that is not ‘any – thing’ . I must ask: Do you know what actualism actually is? It is all about being here now – as this flesh and blood body – here on earth as an ultimate experience. To be able to be the personified perfection of the infinitude of this very material universe ... in this life-time and as this body. I ask this because you made a similar comment in your last E-Mail. Viz.:
Do you see the words ‘no – body’ ? Whereas I state firmly and clearly that I am this flesh and blood body ... and
nothing else. No ‘I’ or ‘Self’ ... no spiritual entity whatsoever. RESPONDENT: What does your experience in ‘actualism’ say? RICHARD: My personal experience says pretty well what I have been saying in all my posts since I came onto this List. Namely that to stop at dissolving the ego and becoming enlightened is to stop half-way. One needs to end the soul as well, then any identity whatsoever becomes extirpated, extinguished, eliminated, annihilated ... in other words: extinct. To be as dead as the dodo but with no skeletal remains. To vanish without a trace ... there will be no phoenix to rise from the ashes. Finished. Kaput. Then there is peace-on-earth. If one is not at all alert, then one will conveniently over-look the strange goings-on that are the consequences of the strangle-hold that divinity has upon one who has surrendered their will – romantically believing that they have surrendered their ego – to the ‘Unmanifest Power’ that inhabits the psychic world. In order to feel that one has arrived one cannot afford to know the ‘Unknowable’ because the ‘Authority and Power’ that makes up the ‘Cosmic Energy’ is dependent upon mystique for its perpetuation, its strength and its survival. Its apparitions – either godly or devilish – rely entirely upon remaining a mysterious intuition of ‘being’ ... that which is ‘sacred, holy’ ... that which is beyond thought. Such an inscrutable ‘otherness’ cannot endure exposure as it crumples like a leaky balloon when faced up to squarely ... the success of all esotericism depends upon the maintenance an enigmatic ‘Presence’ which thus preserves a cryptic ‘Essence’ or ‘Source’. The psychic world is hatched from the intuitive faculties which, coupled with a feverish imagination, rules the human psyche with the extrasensory powers born of awe and dread. Knowing all this is the beginning of the extinction of the psyche and all its contents. For eleven years I lived in an Altered State Of Consciousness, so I had plenty of time to examine all its nooks and crannies ... and I found much that was murky and dirty lurking around in the outer darkness. Bewitched and beguiled by the glamour and glory and glitz of the seductive ‘State Of Being’ that ensues when one surrenders to that ‘Power and Authority’, I spent the first three years swanning along in a state of ‘Oneness with everything’. I was Love Agapé and Divine Compassion all rolled up into one ... and my reward for being the latest ‘Saviour Of Humankind’ was to be able to live in ‘Rapturous Bliss’, ‘Ineffable Ecstasy’ and ‘Exalted Euphoria’. However, my native intelligence would not let me get away with anything false and I soon found enough to make me start suspecting something very serious was wrong with Spiritual Enlightenment. To start off with was the inescapable fact that I had a ‘Sense Of Mission’ to bring ‘Peace and Love’ to a suffering humanity – I was driven to spread ‘The Word’ and to disseminate ‘The Truth’ – and this imposition did not sit well with me. In my fourth year I started to question the efficacy of Divine Compassion as a means of resolving sorrow once and for all. As a palliative for suffering it was beyond compare – it superseded pity, sympathy and empathy by a mile – but it remained forever a panacea only. Consolation for sorrow, no matter how divine that solace may be, is not a cure that lasts. In my sixth year I was ready to examine Love Agapé – which up until then had been far to sacred to put under the microscope – and I soon found enough to warrant further investigation. If Divine Compassion had been found to be murky and dirty, I was to go on to discover that Love Agapé was sordid and squalid to the extreme. Just as compassion has its roots in sorrow, so too has love its origin in malice. Hatred is the essential companion to love; the one cannot exist without the other. When I first saw the other face of love I was horrified ... for I was in the grip of a ‘Demonic Power’ disguised as ‘Divine Authority’. The diabolical is but the essential sub-stratum for the righteous; the sinister for the good; the fiendish for the glorious; the infernal for the heavenly; the wicked for the charitable ... and so on. Love Agapé – which has been touted as the cure-all for the ills of humankind for thousands of years – was hand-in-glove with evil. No wonder that religious wars have beset this planet for aeons, for the central tenet of any religious or spiritual path is love ... and love is the very element that will sabotage any well-meant endeavour with its secret agenda. A loving self is still a self, nevertheless. And a self is made out of the sorrow and malice that are generated by the instinctual aggression and fear that humans are born with in order for the species to survive. In my eighth year I turned my attention to the ‘Timeless and Spaceless’ aspect of being enlightened, for although that was my inner experience of myself, I found that I was occupying space as a body moving from place to place – and it took time to do this. The clock kept ticking the hours away and the sun consistently rose in the east, traversed the sky throughout the course of the day and then set in the west. I could clearly observe that time and space were definitely an actuality, despite the feeling that they were an illusion. I also had the sure ‘knowledge’ that I was ‘Deathless’ ... or as they say in the eastern tradition: I was ‘Unborn and Undying’. Had I lost my marbles completely? I would go around telling people that I could not die as I was dead already! Yet what was this corporeal body doing if not eating and drinking, urinating and defecating, waking and sleeping, walking and talking ... and so on? I had to be deluding myself to say that all this gigantic happening called the universe was nothing but an illusion. The eastern philosophy of Maya – although very real – did not hold up in actuality. Then one day, as a result of my deep questioning of my state of being, I was able to experience that without these senses I would not know that I exist. I was the sense organs and these sense organs were me. I was mortal. Immortality was nothing but a self-centred escape from the actual. It was all a case of the persistence of identity. In my tenth year I tentatively approached one of the last bastions of spiritual enlightenment: pacifism. Almost all of the other attributes of what I called an ‘Absolute Freedom’ had been stripped away and if I was to undo what is called Ahimsa in the east – non-violence – then there would not be much left of my precious ‘Peace On Earth’ that I was charged to bring. I found a strong resistance within myself to contemplate letting go of the scriptural adage: ‘Turn the other cheek’ ... even though I intellectually considered it to be nonsense. If an entire country held such a belief it would be akin to hanging out a sign saying: ‘Please feel free to invade, we will not fight back’. Also, I personally relied upon the police to protect me and mine from any personal attack or robbery – what if they adopted this principle? By the time I had worked my way through this philosophical dilemma I had to turn my sights upon the last thing that stood between me and an actual freedom. I would have to let go of the deeply ingrained concept of ‘The Good’. For this to happen I would have to eliminate ‘The Bad’ in me, or else I would be likely to go off the rails and run amok. Little did I realise that it was ‘The Good’ that kept ‘The Bad’ in place. I was soon to find this out. The Altered State of Consciousness – in particular, spiritual enlightenment – needs to be talked about and exposed for what it is so that nobody need venture up that blind alley ever again. There is another way and another goal. The main trouble with the enlightenment is that whilst the ego dissolves, the identity as a soul remains intact. No longer identifying as a personal ego-bound identity, one then identifies as an impersonal soul-bound identity – ‘I am That’, ‘I am God’, ‘I am The Supreme’, ‘I am The Absolute’ and so on. This is the delusion, the mirage, the deception ... and it is extremely difficult to see it for oneself, for one is in an august state. This second identity – the second ‘I’ of Mr. Venkataraman Aiyer (aka Ramana) fame – is a difficult one to shake, maybe more difficult than the first; for who is brave enough to voluntarily give up fame and fortune, reverence and worship, status and security? One has to be scrupulously honest with oneself to go all the way and no longer be a someone, a somebody of importance. One faces extinction; ‘I’ will cease to be, there will be no ‘being’ whatsoever, no ‘presence’ at all. It is impossible to imagine, not only the complete and utter cessation of ‘me’ in ‘my’ entirety, but the end of any ‘Ultimate Being’ or ‘Absolute Presence’ in any way, shape or form. It means that no one or no thing is in charge of the universe ... that there is no ‘Ultimate Authority’. It means that all values are but human values, with no absolute values at all to fall back upon. It is impossible for ‘me’ to conceive that without a wayward ‘me’ there is no need for any values whatsoever ... or an ‘Ultimate Authority’. Thus I find myself here, in the world as-it-is. A vast stillness lies all around, a perfection that is abounding with purity. Beneficence, an active kindness, overflows in all directions, imbuing everything with unimaginable fairytale-like quality. For me to be able to be here at all is a blessing that only ‘I’ could grant, because nobody else could do it for me. I am full of admiration for the ‘me’ that dared to do such a thing. I owe all that I experience now to ‘me’. I salute ‘my’ audacity. And what an adventure it was ... and still is. These are the wondrous workings of the exquisite nature of life – who would have it any other way? RESPONDENT: Due to this boundless nature (which you point to), we cannot say there is any truly existing separate thing such ‘as-this-body’. RICHARD: Easy on the use of < we >, eh? You can say that if it pleases you to say so ... but I do not. This flesh and blood body is actual. RESPONDENT: It seems like you would like this ‘actualism’ to be something special or new or different than enlightenment. RICHARD: Right on, for once. It is indeed special ... because it is new and different. RESPONDENT: Ah ... Nothing special. RICHARD: Ah so ... something very special. RESPONDENT: No becoming free. RICHARD: Magnificently becoming free of the human condition. RESPONDENT: No becoming enlightened. RICHARD: Indeed ... going beyond enlightenment. RESPONDENT: No attainment. RICHARD: Agreed ... I can see that you have not attained anything. RESPONDENT: No birth. RICHARD: I do not know about you ... I was born in 1947. RESPONDENT: No death. RICHARD: I do not know about you ... but based on current estimates I can reasonably expect to die somewhere before 2028 RESPONDENT: But apparently you have become actually free by virtue of a ‘me’ and a soul dying. RICHARD: No ‘apparently’ about it ... it is actually so (and it was ‘I’ as ego and ‘me’ as soul that died ... not ‘a ‘me’ and a soul dying’ ). There is no anger or sadness here. RICHARD: It is not enlightenment that I am speaking of ... it is all about going beyond enlightenment into the actuality of being here on this very physical planet that is meandering about in a very actual universe. Not only must the ego dissolve (like his did) but the soul must die as well (which his did not). Then one is here in this actual world – not the real world that five point eight billion people are living in – but the actual world that is accessible only when ‘I’ as ego and ‘me’ as soul become extinct. RESPONDENT: There is a penetration and finally a break through the ground of false, limited, ‘normal’ mental consciousness into the vast and luminous nectar of awakened consciousness or awareness. This lasts for only a few seconds at first. Later a sweet, harmonious, luminous, dimension is seen as a constancy. With undivided awareness, there is much more stability in the normal mental and emotional processes than in the original, pre-meditation ‘self’. This transparency is not ‘me’ or mine but it does indeed remain as foundation for seeing. RICHARD: It is vitally important to look at and touch physical things – trees, armchairs, ashtrays, flowers, whatever – otherwise one goes into an inner state, a trance state. One then enters into a mystical state of being ... which is to be of this world but not in it ... or in this world or not of it ... or whatever nonsense people come out with dressed up as sagacity. This is the mistake all religious and spiritual people make. One needs to come to one’s senses – both literally and figuratively – and then the ‘vast and luminous nectar of awakened consciousness or awareness’ becomes actual. Never mind that it lasts but a few seconds ... one second is enough to encourage one to proceed. Nothing is gained without effort, and application and diligence, coupled with pure intent, gives rise to patience and perseverance. By staying in the actual world of the senses, this ‘foundation for seeing’ will enable you to apperceive this world of people, things and events as-it-is. And what is as-it-is, is what I call actualism ... and actualism is not a vision of mine, it is simply an accurate description of the actual world of sensual delight. The Oxford Dictionary says: ‘actualism; the theory that matter is not merely passive’. That is all ... and I have not investigated any further for I do not want to know who formulated this theory. It is that description – and not the author’s theory – that appeals to me. For, living as I do in the fairy-tale-like actual world with its quality of magical perfection and purity, everything and everyone takes on a lustre, a brilliance, a vividness, an intensity and a marvellous, wondrous vitality that makes everything alive and sparkling ... even the very earth beneath my feet. The rocks, the concrete buildings, a piece of paper ... literally everything is as if it were alive. A rock is not, of course, alive as humans are, or as animals are, or as trees are. This ‘aliveness’ is the very actuality of all existence ... the actualness of everything and everyone. We do not live in an inert universe ... but one cannot experience this whilst clinging to immortality. I am mortal. RESPONDENT: The point of the things you have told us could only be to convince us that you have the answer and we should come to you for it. RICHARD: But I do not want you (or anybody) ‘coming to me’ – for their own freedom – as I am having too much fun, living my life in the way I see fit, to clutter up my lifestyle with ‘guru-circuit’ peoples, who cannot think for themselves, trooping daily through my front door. The Internet is my chosen means of dissemination for the obvious reason of being interactive and rapid. The electronic copying and distribution capacity of a mailing list service – with it’s multiple feed-back capability – is second to none. Words are words, whether they be thought, spoken, printed or appear as pixels on a screen. Ultimately it is what is being said or written, by the writer or the speaker that lives what is being expressed, that is important ... and facts and actuality then speak for themselves. Anyone who has met me face-to-face only gets verification that there is actually a flesh and blood body that lives what these words say. I am a fellow human being sans identity ... there is no ‘charisma’ nor any ‘energy-field’ here. The affective faculty – the entire psyche itself – is eradicated: I have no ‘energies’ ... no power or powers whatsoever. There is no ‘good’ and ‘evil’ here in this actual world. RESPONDENT: How many have you taught successfully? RICHARD: First, I do not teach anyone ... the PCE does that. I am not required for the process of understanding (as in a ‘personality cult’ that can grow around a ‘charismatic leader’) <SNIP> As far as I have been able to ascertain there is nobody else living an actual freedom from the human condition ... RESPONDENT: How did you ascertain that? RICHARD: The same way that I ascertain anything about anybody and everybody ... I ask and I listen. Plus I read about other people’s experiences in books, journals, magazines, newspapers and on the internet. I watch TV, videos, films ... whatever media is available. I have been scouring the books and talking with many and varied peoples from all walks of life for nineteen years now for information on an actual freedom from the human condition ... but to no avail. Now the information exists – and has taken on a life of its own – and I am well content and having so much fun. As facts and actuality can be commonsensically conveyed by the written word, this means that the third alternative to being either ‘human’ or ‘divine’ can be accessed by anyone discriminating enough long after I am physically dead. All I have ever wished for is for the words and writings of an actual freedom from the human condition to exist in the world so that they are available for anyone who comes across it, in any indeterminate future, to draw affirmation and confirmation from ... for anyone to avail themselves of if it be in accord with their own experience and/or aspirations. That is, it is an affirmation that their experience is not only valid but a confirmation in that a fellow human being has traversed this territory in an eminently satisfactory way. I just happened to discover the already always existing peace-on-earth, the purity of which is so perfect that I am reporting my experience to my fellow human beings. The ‘flow-on’ effect from reading actual freedom writings is that if one minimises the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ feelings (as explained further above) and activates the felicitous/ innocuous feelings in conjunction with sensuousness then the ensuing sense of amazement, marvel and wonder can result in apperceptiveness. If it does not ... then one is way ahead of normal human expectations anyway as the aim is to enjoy and appreciate being just here right now for as much as is possible. It is a win/win situation. RICHARD: ... I am only too happy to rephrase what I originally wrote so that it be in accordance with your own nomenclature:
RESPONDENT: I think No. 97 basically wants you to inform people that what this (‘actualism’) is about is ‘superstition of facts’. RICHARD: It does look to be more like something that you would want to inform me about ... be that as it may: when Mr. Henry Thoreau used that term in ‘The Spirit of the Times’ (15 February 1848), nearly forty years before Mr. Rene Guenon was born (1886), he had the following to say:
I mention this because actualism, being experiential, is not a matter for science ... nor are my reports/ descriptions/ explanations scientifical. For an unambiguous explication of this:
RESPONDENT: It is, to quote Rene Guenon, a ‘peculiar delusion, typical of modern ‘experimentalism’, to suppose that a theory can be proved by facts whereas really the same facts can always be equally well explained by a variety of different theories’. RICHARD: As actualism – the direct experience that matter is not merely passive – is experiential, not theoretical, there is no theory to be proved. RESPONDENT: Your facts might be right ... RICHARD: If I may interject? As there are no such things as ‘your facts’ (or ‘my facts’ or ‘his facts’ or ‘her facts’, and so on) and neither is a fact either ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ – a fact is nothing other than that (a fact) – might it be possible that you are really referring to ‘truths’? RESPONDENT: ... but your theories about what these facts mean, and your conclusions regards the ‘ultimate questions’ still can be utterly wrong. RICHARD: Perhaps if you were to specify what those [quote] ‘ultimate questions’ [endquote] are then whatever it is
you are wanting to convey might be more comprehensible. RESPONDENT: Richard, I came across this statement of yours while reading in the Actual Freedom Trust website – ‘It is this simple: eliminate the instinctual passions and you are free.’ RICHARD: You must be referring to this:
Of course, as ‘I’ am the instinctual passions, and as the instinctual passions are ‘me’, then the elimination of the one is the elimination of the other – they are the one and the same thing – and, as ‘I’ cannot eliminate the instinctual passions and yet still stay in existence, any attempt to eliminate the one without eliminating the other can only result in (at best) detachment or (at worst) dissociation. RESPONDENT: (Using pieced-together segments of sentences you’ve written): In order to bring about the possibility of ‘enabling the already always existing’ ‘peace-on-earth’ ‘into being apparent’ ‘for this body, that body, and everybody’ – it seems to me that I must reach the point of seeing myself in my entirety, all at once. RICHARD: Many years ago the identity inhabiting this flesh and blood body was wont to say, after having had the memorable pure consciousness experience (PCE) which set what has nowadays become known as the actualism process in action, that it is normally impossible to see oneself, in one’s entirety, all at once because the part of oneself which would be doing the seeing was itself unable to be seen ... and would liken the various aspects of an identity to the wedges of a sliced pie, or a cake, wherein one could slice the wedges ever thinner and thinner and yet still not see that last remaining, and oh-so-thin, wedge. And ‘he’ would say this because, at the very instant of that seminal PCE happening, ‘he’ did see himself, in ‘his’ entirety, all at once and that very seeing was the end of ‘him’ (albeit for the duration of the PCE). In other words, and speaking generally, mostly people do not dare to see themselves, in their entirety, all at once and elect instead for the detached/dissociated way of seeing ... it being a whole lot safer, so to speak. RESPONDENT: At that point, it seems everything will be clear. RICHARD: Provided it be the end-of-oneself type of seeing ... yes. RESPONDENT: And it seems, in order to ‘eliminate the instinctual passions’, I will have to reach the point of seeing them in their entirety, all at once. Seeing them in their entirety – is, it seems to me, seeing myself in my entirety. RICHARD: As they are both one and the same thing ... indeed so. RESPONDENT: I wonder if all of that is correct. RICHARD: Yes ... and having said all this it must be pointed out that one does not actually ever see oneself, in one’s entirety, all at once because the identity who would do the seeing has to cease to exist for that seeing to occur (whereupon there is no identity to be seen, in its entirety, all at once). And I am neither being tricky nor mystical in saying this ... it is factually so. RESPONDENT: If so, those two ways of looking at the objective seem to mutually feed off of and support each other. This moment strikes me as one of such a giant wide-open possibility that I have to slam my accelerator to the floor in order to fly into it fast enough to keep up with it. RICHARD: Ha ... if the experience of the identity who used to inhabit this flesh and blood body all those years ago is anything to go by the opposite occurs as ‘he’ would oft-times reach for the brake-pedal, in order to slow down the rocketing momentum unleashed upon giving ‘himself’ permission to go all the way, only to find (with a sinking feeling of alarum/a thrilling feeling of gay abandon) that ‘his’ foot went all the way to the floor. Put simply: once launched there is no way of stopping the process ... it is the ride of a lifetime. RESPONDENT: Putting this here so that what I’m doing is on display to maximize the possibility of receiving input from you. RICHARD: Sure ... one of the reasons this mailing list exists is so that my fellow human being can tease out of me items that may not occur to me to write otherwise (as in writing an impromptu article). RESPONDENT: If you have any input, it will be greatly appreciated. RICHARD: You are very welcome ... please bear in mind that all I can do is offer hints, tips, suggestions, clues, and so on, born out of personal experience – insider information as it were – and anything I have to report/ describe/ explain must, of necessity, be verified experientially in order to be of effect. Merely believing me will get one nowhere ... and fast. RESPONDENT: Tell me, what is the point of telling people about actualism? RICHARD: Has it ever occurred to you that if nobody passed-on what they discovered we would all still be sitting in caves or bough shelters, dressed in animal skins and covered with lice, gnawing on raw brontosaurus bones? Here are a few examples of how I have responded to such a question (you can take your pick):
And:
And:
And:
And:
RESPONDENT: I would think that sitting on the back porch, listening to birds, looking at the wind blow through trees, and sipping on some herbal tea would provide a much better series of moments than the ones spent haggling with so many dolts who have it 180 degrees wrong. RICHARD: As an actual freedom from the human condition is an unconditional happiness and harmlessness no such conditions are required. Viz.:
In short: I like my fellow human being … no matter what mischief they get up to. RESPONDENT: Implicit in actualism is the value judgement that the physical is superior to the metaphysical. RICHARD: Ha ... implicit in actualism (the direct experience that matter is not merely passive) is that there is only the physical in actuality and, as an appraisal requires comparison, no such value judgement as you speak of can take place in this actual world. RESPONDENT: ‘You’ (the metaphysical entity) decide this. RICHARD: If I may point out? In the direct experience that matter is not merely passive there is no ‘you’ (no ‘metaphysical entity’ whatsoever) ... there is only this actual world (aka this actual universe). RESPONDENT: And having decided this, the totality of the universe is then divided up into the ‘actual’ and the ‘real’. RICHARD: I would hazard a guess that it is ‘you’ (the ‘metaphysical entity’ who decides) who has decided that ‘the ‘actual’’ and ‘the ‘real’’ together make up a whole ... otherwise known as ‘the totality of the universe’. RESPONDENT: The ‘real’ is minimised to the point where only the ‘actual’ remains. RICHARD: In the actualism process, as detailed on The Actual Freedom Trust web site Hence, with the actualism method, when one deactivates the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ feelings and activates the felicitous/ innocuous feelings (happiness, delight, joie de vivre/ bonhomie, friendliness, amiability and so on) then with this freed-up affective energy, in conjunction with sensuousness (delectation, enjoyment, appreciation, relish, zest, gusto and so on), the ensuing sense of amazement, marvel and wonder can result in apperceptiveness (unmediated perception) ... and apperception reveals that there is only this actual world/universe. In short: there is no ‘the ‘real’’ in actuality to minimise (let alone to the point that only ‘the ‘actual’’ remains). RESPONDENT: So this (actually non-existent) division between the physical and the metaphysical becomes a concept in the mind of ‘you’, a metaphysical entity. RICHARD: As there is no ‘the metaphysical’ in actuality, as evidenced in a pure consciousness experience
(PCE), there is no division to be either existent or non-existent ... the entire argument being presented (above) is but a conceptual contention
created in the feeling-fed mind of ‘you’ – ‘a metaphysical entity’ – for reasons as yet unstated but bearing at least
some of the hall-marks of the ‘Tried and True’ (as in when the division is seen to be false there is only the totality/whole) as made popular
by Mr. Jiddu Krishnamurti. RESPONDENT: You say it’s all fun now but on the way it took ‘nerves of steel’ so there was a considerable amount of work involved. What are the nerves of steel needed for? Dread? Or taking the chance of alienating your friends and family due to a turn in behaviour, like no longer being able to empathize or sympathize or share beliefs? RICHARD: Oh, it was a lot of fun along the way too ... the ‘nerves of steel’ phrase is a common expression, along with ‘not for the faint of heart or weak of knee’, which I co-opted to describe what is involved in the deep-sea diving that is an inevitable part of exploring the stygian depths of the human condition (where an aqua-lung is essential in contrast to using a snorkel in order to explore the human conditioning which was inculcated from birth onwards so to somewhat ameliorate the effects of the human condition). The aqua-lung is, of course, analogous to pure intent. Dread is a common occurrence in the real-world (else the word would not exist) so ‘nerves of steel’ does not specifically refer to that ... nor does it specifically refer to alienating loved one’s as that too is a common occurrence in the real-world (as evidenced by de-programming for example). I mainly used the expression so as to make it clear that the going can get a bit rocky at times – that the process of becoming actually free is not something one is going to breeze through without mishap – as I have no interest whatsoever in misleading my fellow human being. To be forewarned is to be forearmed, in other words. RESPONDENT No. 59: Vineeto, here in Mexico people are No. 1 at seeing words as having double meaning ... this is mainly how humour is expressed here, it is even seen as a desirable quality, and there are contests where people try to convey the best hidden meaning in words which imply something else. I have seen that taking words at face value gives others the impression of me being innocent but in an ignorant way ... and thus they sometimes try to take advantage of me; however, at the same time, most feel they can trust me. The thing is, I have seen how Actualists always take words for exactly what they mean, should I continue strictly attending to the words of others without ‘imagining’ or trying to find out what the hidden double meaning is? What others are really thinking? I am still distrustful of the words of some but because of several past and present experiences. VINEETO: I remember that in the early years of writing about actualism I tried to figure out ‘the hidden double meaning’, the emotional agenda, the context of feelings and beliefs in which the post was written and I got hopelessly entangled in the psychic web of other people’s malice and sorrow and was consequently unable to give a clear response. I found I first had to untangle myself from the emotional web in order to be able to think straight and write clearly about my experience of freeing myself from my spiritual beliefs and emotional burdens. Taking people’s word’s at face value has nothing to do with trust or mistrust, but is a matter of a simple and straight-forward way to communicate. A ‘hidden double meaning’ is almost always an emotionally charged meaning and trying to second-guess what this is in any situation does nothing to enhance sensible communication. Nowadays I always assume that if people find it important that I take notice of any ‘hidden’ meaning then they will tell me – it is not my responsibility to discern what another is trying to convey through unmentioned hints and allusions. As for being ‘distrustful of the words of some’ – the good news for me was that by examining and understanding my own social and instinctual identity I had less and less reason to fear that people would emotionally hurt me with insinuations or outright sarcasm – identity-slashing intimations from others now rarely reach a target. RESPONDENT No. 59: Understood. My problem is that I sometimes forget to focus on the content because of distractions of how it is conveyed. VINEETO: Of course, that is the very purpose of people conveying a message in an emotional way. Those ‘distractions’ are the very stuff to explore in order to determine how you are in relation to other people. Other than the words themselves there is usually a whole layer of invisible and inaudible interaction happening and this is how Richard explained it: [quote] ‘All sentient beings, to a greater or lesser extent, are connected via a psychic web ... a network of energies or currents that range from ‘good’ to ‘bad’. Feeling threatened or intimidated can result from the obvious cues – the offering of physical violence and/or verbal violence – or from the less obvious ... ‘vibe’ violence (to use a ‘60’s term) and/or psychic violence. Similarly, feeling accepted can occur via the same signals or intimations. Power trips – coercion or manipulation of any kind – whether for ‘good’ or ‘bad’ purposes, are all psychic at root ... the psychic currents are the most effective power plays for they are the most insidious (charisma, for example).’ [endquote]. RESPONDENT No. 23: This could explain why I have a sense of not belonging here or anywhere else for that matter because there is no psychic connection. I am an actualist in the sense that I have seen that matter is animate thru a PCE although I am not positive of this because it could be a physiological process in my own body that makes matter look that way. Also, I don’t practice Actualism per se because it seems that would connect me to the group I see here. I also don’t feel I belong on any spiritual list or group. Not having any psychic connection could explain why I don’t belong and don’t want to belong as opposed to the usual use of belonging which means one wants to belong. Makes sense? RESPONDENT: I think that’s a legitimate question. The PCE could be, in fact, what else could it be, a product of my own body experiencing itself without the usual imaginary filters. A question to Richard: What about this psychic web? It seems at odds with the here and now down to earth stuff. Especially when it refers to ‘vibes’ between people who are present. I was taught in psychology classes that the verbal message is only 20 percent of the message, the rest being expression and body language. I do think I’ve observed some patterns that aren’t explainable by obvious physical forces such as synchronicity – the seeming grouping of events in themes, sometimes seeming to have meaning, sometimes not, but this is a separate subject. RICHARD: As I am none too sure what your question to me is actually about I have situated the quote of mine back into the discussion it was first used in as it is quite self-explanatory in reference to the subject then under discussion ... please correct me if I am in error but you do seem to have taken it as a given that there is in fact [quote] ‘the group’ [endquote] which another sees which does in fact require a [quote] ‘psychic connection’ [endquote] in order to in fact [quote] ‘belong’ [endquote] to and are then asking me if this is not at odds with the ‘here and now down to earth stuff’ as if it were a legitimate question I can meaningfully respond to. There is no group (aka ‘cult’) to connect with/belong to – either emotionally/ passionally or intuitively/ psychically – as the word ‘actualism’ refers to the direct experience that matter is not merely passive (which, incidentally, does not mean that matter is animate) and the word ‘actualist’ refers to the experient. Viz.:
Put succinctly: there is no psychic web in this actual world – the world of this body and that body and every body; the world of the mountains and the streams; the world of the trees and the flowers; the world of the clouds in the sky by day and the stars in the firmament by night and so on and so on ad infinitum – to be at odds with the ‘here and now down to earth stuff’. Your co-respondent is but tilting at windmills (again). RESPONDENT: There are hints pointing towards your actual state in the 4th way system as well (one of its major sources are esoteric Sufi teachings), but it is said that it can only be achieved when ‘enjoying’ a fully operational Self already in place, not before. RICHARD: If you could provide the hints about achieving an actual freedom from the human condition, which you say are in the 4th way system and/or esoteric Sufi teachings, I would be only too happy to read them. RESPONDENT: So this being an already difficult thing to achieve for most people, it probably seemed pointless to develop the idea even further or to convey/design any specific method when there was no case. RICHARD: Let me see if I comprehend what you are saying here: Mr. Georges Gurdjieff and/or Mr. Petyr Ouspensky, and some un-named esoteric Sufi teachers, achieved an actual freedom from the human condition, whilst ‘enjoying’ a fully operational Self already in place, but it probably seemed to them pointless to convey to other human beings how they achieved it (let alone developing/designing anything else) as being a fully operational Self was already a difficult thing to achieve for most people. Am I understanding you correctly? RESPONDENT: Your case seems to prove that ... RICHARD: If I may interject? It would help considerably to read the hints, about achieving an actual freedom from the human condition which you state are in the 4th way system and/or esoteric Sufi teachings, that say such a condition can only be achieved when ‘enjoying’ a fully operational Self already in place, not before, before coming to the conclusion that my case seems to prove that it probably seemed pointless to Mr. Georges Gurdjieff and/or Mr. Petyr Ouspensky, and some un-named esoteric Sufi teachers, to tell other human beings about how they achieved it – let alone developing/designing anything else – as being a fully operational Self was already a difficult thing to achieve for most people. And referenced quotes would help even more. RESPONDENT: ... and any evidence for a more direct route is still to come. RICHARD: If by this you mean that it is yet to be demonstrated, that one can proceed direct to an actual freedom from the human condition without passing ‘Go’ again and winding up in gaol, by somebody actually doing it then that is (to use a colloquialism) a no-brainer as nobody has done that yet – as far as I have been able to ascertain – but the pure consciousness experience (PCE) patently provides the necessary evidence that such an action is possible. RESPONDENT: How can you eliminate something if you don’t fully (experientially) know it, in this case the soul? RICHARD: As the soul can be experienced in an altered state of consciousness (ASC), and drops into the waste-bin of its own accord in a PCE, it does not require enlightenment to be experientially known that it has no existence here in this actual world. RESPONDENT: Why not experience it and then throw it to the waste-bin when Experientially understood for what it is, as when dealing with the social identity? RICHARD: As the soul drops into the waste-bin of its own accord in a PCE it does not need to be thrown there. RESPONDENT: Why not applying the same measure for both? RICHARD: The social identity, otherwise known as a conscience (a moral/ethical and principled entity, with inculcated societal knowledge of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, overlaid upon the identity within), being a cultural construct requires a different way of being dealt with than the genetically inherited ‘being’ or ‘presence’ which the identity is at root. Or, to put that another way, the core of the identity within (‘me’ at the core of ‘my’ being is ‘being’ itself) cannot be whittled away, via the hands-on examination of various beliefs and truths and so on, like the overlaid social identity (and many aspects of the ego-self and some aspects of the feeling-self) can be. RESPONDENT: And why are you so persistent in saying to those walking this path to stay away from enlightenment? RICHARD: Perhaps if I were to draw your attention to a previous discussion? Viz.:
Can you not see that the reason why I am ‘so persistent in saying to those walking this path to stay away from
enlightenment’ is because (a) it is too traumatic ... and (b) it is just plain silly ... and (c) as it is exceedingly difficult to live in
the massive delusion that spiritual enlightenment is the ratio of success can easily be estimated to be much less – much, much less – for those
that would go directly?
I do not know how much more clearer I can put it than this ... but I will give it a go (further below). RESPONDENT: How can you speak of a way towards ‘actual freedom’ not via the ‘Rock of Enlightenment’ if you haven’t walked that route yourself? RICHARD: It is quite simple: provided the soul is not resurrected/does not resurrect itself from the waste-bin (and that proviso is of vital importance) there is then only a direct route to an actual freedom from the human condition ... thus no need for me to have walked that route myself. RESPONDENT: There is still proof to come for this route to actually exist ... RICHARD: If I may interject again? As you say (further below) that you can ‘can intellectually figure out a major difference between a PCE and an ASC’ can you not also intellectually figure out that the proof for the direct route lies in the very fact that a PCE can happen in the first place? RESPONDENT: ... and then we can speak of an efficient viable method of riding ourselves from the human condition. RICHARD: And just what is not efficient and viable about altruistic ‘self’-immolation, for the benefit of this body and that body and every body, brought about by asking oneself, each moment again, how one is experiencing this moment of being alive (the only moment one is ever alive) with the pure intent to have the already always existing peace-on-earth stunningly evident in the PCE become apparent sooner rather than later? RESPONDENT: Till now the logical conclusion based on ‘facts’ is that there will be no ‘peace-on earth’ if this is a method unintentionally designed for the One in 10.000.000. RICHARD: The actualism method, first put into practice in 1981 by a normal person with a normal wife and a normal family and a normal mortgage and so on, is not designed for the ‘One in 10,000,000’ person (not even unintentionally) as it was born out of the initial four-hour PCE in June 1980, which set the whole process in motion in January 1981, and not out of the enlightened state which came about in September 1981 as a result of the vitally important proviso not yet being known (someone has to be the first to discover something new in any field of human endeavour) let alone being remembered/applied under all circumstances ... circumstances such as falling in love, for example, and being bitten badly by the enlightenment bug as a direct result of the love being unrequited. I kid you not ... the only danger on the wide and wondrous path to an actual freedom is that one may become enlightened instead. RESPONDENT: There is still evidence to come for a person to safely arrive to ‘actual freedom’ and then to convey how it was ‘via the non-enlightenment route’. RICHARD: As I safely arrived via the massive delusion called spiritual enlightenment why would arriving via a non-delusory path be any less safe? I would easily estimate it to be more safe ... far, far more safe. RESPONDENT: I bet it would be a very interesting account. RICHARD: The account of the next person to become actually free would indeed be interesting ... maybe this is an apt moment to put this hoary subject to bed, pat it on the head and send it to sleep, until somebody new to this mailing list raises it again as if it has never occurred to Richard that an actual freedom from the human condition has not yet been replicated (even though they may say, in the next breath, that it has been lived before)? Viz.:
Those words were spoken somewhere between May-July 1997 ... and even before I went public I wrote the following in my journal:
And even more explicitly:
Furthermore I have acknowledged there may be other methods:
And:
And:
There are other references but maybe these will do for now ... put succinctly the replication of my condition presently calls for pioneers, people with the necessary derring-do to pilot a one-seater aeroplane by the seat of their pants to this pristine wonderland, and not for those who will follow in their wake in air-conditioned comfort, eating hygienically prepared food and watching an in-flight movie into the bargain. And nobody knows who that pioneer aviator is until that person actually lands here ... not even me. RESPONDENT: It’s the reason why I’ve asked about Alan (a practicing actualist), as his site (www.actualfreedom.co.uk) is out-of-reach. RICHARD: As it is a reasonable assumption to make, that if somebody subscribed to this mailing list (or even anybody previously subscribed) has become actually free from the human condition they will present an account of it, I do not see the point in writing to somebody – let alone anybody – every now and again only to ask if it has happened yet. Furthermore, it is pointless to ask why another person is not yet actually free because if another person – any person – knew why they were not yet actually free they would be actually free ... and there is something strange, almost to the point of being weird, about an attitude which has it that until somebody else has walked a path one will not walk that path because such a path has not yet been demonstrated to exist. Put simply: how on earth can something be done if nobody will do it because it has not yet been done? * RESPONDENT: Concerning the distinction between ASC and PCE and taking into account that you experientially (via direct perception) know that this Universe is infinite, I wonder if it is not consciousness that let you know this to be a fact. RICHARD: I have made it clear on many occasions that unmediated perception (aka apperceptive awareness) is how infinitude is directly experienced. RESPONDENT: I don’t think you have arrived at this thanks to one of your senses. RICHARD: You may find the following exchange to be of interest, then:
And by ‘standing naked’ I mean sans identity in toto (unmediated perception/apperceptive awareness): the direct experience of infinitude thanks to visual perception first happened one night in early 1981 whilst looking at the space between the stars, and not the stars themselves as one might normally do (due to the preponderance figure usually takes over background), and when more stars became apparent in that space, looking into the space between them, and so on, and so on, until infinitude became apparent as an experience of itself ... or, to put that another way, being the actual experiencing of infinitude (which is what all flesh and blood bodies are anyway) as a sensory organism. Further to this point, six e-mails after the e-mail the above excerpt is from the following line, which refers to visually seeing infinitude wherever one looks, may very well give pause to reflect upon just what it is that is being conveyed by the term ‘unmediated perception’ (aka apperceptive awareness):
The entire discussion about the direct experience of infinitude thanks to visual perception may be of further interest if only
because of the dominance abstract logic can have over sensible reason (especially when acting in concert with spirituality). The full exchange
starts here: It may take some wading through. RESPONDENT: Otherwise would have not been such a ‘hot topic’ on this mailing list as a fact is out in the open, cannot be argued with, etc. RICHARD: It is only a ‘hot topic’ for those who want scientific proof of something experiential (whilst oft-times proffering mathematical proof, as to why the experiential evidence is invalid, in lieu of scientific proof – as if they were one and the same thing – into the bargain). I have never made any secret of the fact that actualism is experiential ... for just one example out of many:
In what way is infinitude not out in the open, and thus able to be argued with, etcetera, in a PCE? RESPONDENT: I do intellectually understand that the universe is infinite (the spear analogy) but I also experientially know the limits of our intellect. RICHARD: It is not so much that the intellect has limits in regards to infinitude per se as it is, rather, that (a) the extent of its grasp is usually circumscribed by a centre (the ‘self’ by any name) in cognisance ... and (b) its intelligence is usually crippled by the affective faculty ... and (c) its ability to sensibly reason is often dominated by abstract logic (mathematical equations have no existence outside of the ratiocinative process for example) ... and (d) it is not an experiential faculty anyway (the wrong tool for the job, as it were, just as is the affective faculty). Howsoever, in conjunction with apperception the intellect has no difficulty ... else how would these descriptions/explanations
get written?
RETURN TO RICHARD’S SELECTED CORRESPONDENCE INDEX The Third Alternative (Peace On Earth In This Life Time As This Flesh And Blood Body) Here is an actual freedom from the Human Condition, surpassing Spiritual Enlightenment and any other Altered State Of Consciousness, and challenging all philosophy, psychiatry, metaphysics (including quantum physics with its mystic cosmogony), anthropology, sociology ... and any religion along with its paranormal theology. 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.
Richard’s Text ©The
Actual Freedom Trust: 1997-. All Rights Reserved.
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