# Actual Freedom ~ Frequently Asked Questions Frequently Asked Questions ## Public Talks, Personal Contact? 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. RESPONDENT: Do you think it would be a good thing for ‘Richard’ to be more widely known? RICHARD: It is a good thing for actual freedom to be more widely known ... which is why I first put up my Web Page at Peter’s suggestion. I have only ever wanted the words and writings of the third alternative to exist in the world – I scoured the books for eighteen years to no avail – so that anyone who finds themselves travelling this path will have the assurance that another has successfully traversed the terrain. The words and writings now exist in the world – and are taking on a life of their own beyond my direction – and I have no further wishes in the matter. I value my privacy very highly and have no desire for a public profile. RESPONDENT: My question is: could I write to you personally, by e-mail? RICHARD: Thank you for taking the time to write ... I read it thoroughly and with interest. In response to your query as to a private correspondence (‘could I write to you personally, by e-mail’ ) I very rarely do so ... just as I hardly ever have private face-to-face discussions. Despite your reservations regarding The Actual Freedom Mailing List, it is the most suitable forum for airing these matters as all peoples interested can read and/or join in, thus ensuring maximum input and diverse approaches and/or experiences. This also has the effect of exposing any flaws or weakness in what is being presented – a peer-group review as it were – and can only serve to further the establishment of anything factual. Also, an actual freedom from the human condition works in the market place – and not behind cloistered walls – and the relative anonymity of the internet medium allows for an uninhibited expression that is unequalled anywhere else. I do not respond to each and every e-mail posted, of course, but I am always willing to meet whatever query and/or objection ... I take each person as they come and set no rules as to what a person can or cannot express. Therefore, now that I am cognisant of some of your background and experiences and understanding from reading your explanatory e-mail, if you would care to re-present your queries regarding the question ‘how am I experiencing this moment of being alive’ on the Mailing List, or any other query, I would be only too happy to respond (just the gist of the last few paragraphs in your e-mail would do). Alternatively, if such a course of action is not what you would prefer, I would refer you to the following URL’s which deal specifically with what is involved in asking the question: www.actualfreedom.com.au/library/method.htm And: www.actualfreedom.com.au/richard/articles/thismomentofbeingalive.htm Suffice is it to say for now that the question is not a mantra ... it is a simple question which eventually becomes a wordless attitude, an awareness-only approach to living life. Again ... thank you for being interested enough to write to me. RESPONDENT: I live in Manly, Sydney NSW and would like to talk more on these things, do you have a phone number I could ring? As I am using the local library internet computer and don’t get much time to use it. Maybe I can come up there to visit one day? Anyway thanks. RICHARD: No, I currently live a very simple lifestyle and intend to keep it schedule-free ... I am retired and on a pension and instead of pottering around in the garden I am pottering around the internet as the whim takes me. Besides which, there is nothing to be gained by talking to me in person anyway – other than to verify there actually is a flesh and blood body that types these words – as everything has already been put into words many times over ... and it is the words that convey, be it spoken words, printed words, or words appearing as pixels on a monitor. Also, if actualism does appeal, I am sure you will solve your computer access problem somehow ... I know I would have had there been somebody else before me to read about. RESPONDENT: Kindly let me know if it is possible for me to meet you in person at Byron Bay. RICHARD: As what I have to report/ describe/ explain is conveyed by words – and words are words be they spoken, printed, or digitalised – there is no need for anyone to expend their time and resources on travel. RESPONDENT: I would like to gain insight and knowledge and I believe that listening to and discussing with a person would be quite rewarding. RICHARD: One of the advantages the printed or digitalised word has over the spoken word is that it can be revisited again and again until comprehension is complete ... something not understood, or misconstrued, the first time around can always be examined and re-examined at a later convenience. RESPONDENT: I agree with Richard in one of his writings that the master needs to make himself available 24/7 to show all that he is practicing what he is saying, in the flesh. RICHARD: What those writings are actually about is the archetypal masters’ practice of formal discourse and monologue, once or twice a day, and thus not being able to be [quote] ‘scrupulously observed by their disciples, twenty-four-hours-a-day, day-in-day-out, to ascertain the validity of their Divine State’ [endquote]. RESPONDENT: Thanks for telling me what those writings are actually about, Richard. RICHARD: All I did was re-present the exact-same words from those writings. RESPONDENT: All I have is your online writings. RICHARD: Indeed ... and they are the exact-same words I re-presented above. RESPONDENT: I don’t know what is actually going on. RICHARD: What is actually going on is what those exact-same words say ... to wit: that the validity of Divine State cannot be readily ascertained at formal discourses and monologues, once or twice a day, as its requires scrupulous observation, twenty-four-hours-a-day, day-in-day-out, before its flaws become apparent. RESPONDENT: Only you know whether you are telling the truth. RICHARD: No, I have been closely observed, twenty-four-hours-a-day, day-in-day-out, and not once in 13+ years have ever been found to be even irritable (for example) let alone angry ... whereas the Divine State cannot stand such continuous close inspection. * RICHARD: How that can be translated into meaning being available 24/7 to show the six billion peoples on this planet that what is said is being practiced simply defies sensibility. RESPONDENT: I said nothing about six billion people. RICHARD: What does [quote] ‘all’ [endquote] refer to in your neck of the woods, then? Viz.: • [Respondent]: ‘(...) the master needs to make himself available 24/7 to show *all* that he is practicing what he is saying, in the flesh’ [emphasis added]. More to the point, those writings you referred to specifically say [quote] ‘their disciples’ [endquote] ... the word ‘all’ is your interpolation. RESPONDENT: Just one invited you to coffee and the other six billion minus one, can do what the like. RICHARD: And, as there is no correspondence whatsoever between a one-off partaking of a coffee and being scrupulously observed, twenty-four-hours-a-day, day-in-day-out, so as to have the validity of what is reported/ described/ explained ascertained you would be well-advised to cease trying another tack and turn completely around (aka ‘come about’ in nautical terms) and run with the wind. In other words, as this forum is the only venue for discussing matters pertaining to what is on offer on The Actual Freedom Trust web site you will get nowhere fast with your current line of approach. RESPONDENT: How do you eat an elephant, Richard? RICHARD: I have no intention of eating an elephant ... were such a thing ever to happen it would be one bite at a time. RESPONDENT: I invite you to have a coffee with me, Richard. RICHARD: As there is no correspondence whatsoever between a one-off partaking of a coffee and being scrupulously observed, twenty-four-hours-a-day, day-in-day-out, so as to have the validity of what is reported/ described/ explained ascertained you would be well-advised to abort that tack and come about instead as you are bound to be taken aback if you persist in sailing into the wind. RESPONDENT: Scrupulous observation doesn’t need 24/7, Richard. RICHARD: As I lived that/ was that Divine State, night and day for eleven years, I intimately know that scrupulous observation twenty-four-hours-a-day, day-in-day-out, is indeed required before its flaws become apparent. RESPONDENT: I just used one of your quotes ... RICHARD: You did nothing of the sort ... you misconstrued what those writings are about (and even then misapplied that misconstrual) and then said that you agree with them. RESPONDENT: ... and you appear to be taking it literally. RICHARD: There is no [quote] ‘appear’ [endquote] about it ... I do indeed take what you say literally. RESPONDENT: I don’t need 24/7, I can usually get what I’m looking for in the space what it takes to drink a cup of coffee. RICHARD: Yet what you are looking for is not, repeat not, what those writings are about. RESPONDENT: Meanwhile; could you send me a photo of yourself for me to publish on my website. I am curious also how come you do not actually have a photo of yourself on your site. RICHARD: What this body physically looks like is neither here nor there. It is the words written that convey the information. (Richard, Articles, A Brief Personal History). RESPONDENT: And, also; what is your surname? I am sure that living on this very planet rather than in the spiritual realms where a lot of folk live you know that existing as a body at a particular location in time and space is a fact. I fail to see your willingness to show that aspect of yourself on the website. RICHARD: I am a fellow human being sans identity: the affective faculty – the entire psyche itself – is eradicated. There is no ‘charisma’ nor any ‘energy-field’ here as I have no ‘energies’ ... no power or powers whatsoever. Therefore it is the words that convey ... words are words, whether they be 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. Now the words exist – as the actual freedom writings – and I am not necessary for the process at all. It is entirely possible that I will cease writing one day and go and live on a tropical island and watch the fish leap in the lagoon. RESPONDENT: You said once that you value your privacy. RICHARD: Yes ... 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. RESPONDENT: Let us get to some facts Richard. You have been on the internet how many years? Your email address has been available to how many people in that time (in your estimation – approximately)? How many of those people have emailed you asking to come and ‘troop through your front door’ to get a more close up delivery of your wisdom? In other words; is it happening already that people are using the communication channel you do have open (email) to request a meeting with you in Byron Bay? How many people have done that already Richard? You can count me as one (and I still cherish the times we spent together discussing this and that and eating fish). Now, since you state already you are having fun living the way you see fit without the ‘‘guru-circuit’ peoples’ cluttering up your lifestyle we must assume either that not many people have made the request thru email; or you have refused many requests. Could you document the facts on this matter? Then we may be in a position to establish some projection about the likely number of guru seekers who would come to you if your name and photo were also available to the public. RICHARD: Before you go on to develop your thesis further with the collation of statistics, the plotting of graphs, considering appropriate interpolations, adding projections, contemplating bell curves and so forth, I wonder if I may point out something so obvious that you may be overlooking it? If I were actually publicising myself as you are so insistent that I do, before you first heard about an actual freedom from the human condition per Peter’s and Vineeto’s posts to the sannyas list you were subscribed to, what you would be likely to be saying now instead of the above would be demanding to know why I have set myself up as some sort of here-on-earth ... um ... actualism master replete with name, an advertised address, beaming photographs for the adoring actualists, actualism discourses, actualism workshops and ... and the whole kit and caboodle. You only have to look at some of your own correspondence (starting 6/06/2000 in the List Bot archives) to see this very accusation in full flower anyway ... and without all the publicity photographs and so on. I also recall that on 14/06/2000 you were proposing ‘... an actual freedom workshop, a weekend of exploring together what it means to be actually free on this planet in the year 2000 ... Byron Bay in the Spring’. This came just after your circular advertising and promoting a spiritually-based tantric-sex workshop that you were collecting the $375.00 participation fee for. You are not the only person to try to turn an actual freedom into a pay-as-you-participate religion ... and you will not be the last. RESPONDENT: By implication from your above writing; you imagine, or know, or have the point of view, or directly perceive, (which?), that the publication of your surname and your photo would dramatically increase the number of people who cannot think for themselves wanting to meet you. Is that how you think about it? RICHARD: No. How I think about it is how I explained it to you in this very E-Mail you are responding to: • [Richard]: ‘I am a fellow human being sans identity: the affective faculty – the entire psyche itself – is eradicated. There is no ‘charisma’ nor any ‘energy-field’ here as I have no ‘energies’ ... no power or powers whatsoever. Therefore it is the words that convey ... words are words, whether they be spoken, printed or appear as pixels on a screen. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 12d, 22 November 2000). • [Richard]: ‘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. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 12d, 23 November 2000). • [Richard]: ‘What this body physically looks like is neither here nor there. It is the words written that convey the information’. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 12d, 23 November 2000). • [Richard]: ‘Now the words exist – as the actual freedom writings – and I am not necessary for the process at all. It is entirely possible that I will cease writing one day and go and live on a tropical island and watch the fish leap in the lagoon. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 12d, 23 November 2000). • [Richard]: ‘The Internet is my chosen means of dissemination for the obvious reason of being interactive and rapid. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, Alan, 12 January 1999). • [Richard]: ‘The words ‘connect up’ with the person reading them with both eyes open ... I am not necessary for the process’. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 12d, 23 November 2000). • [Richard]: ‘It is the words that communicate what needs to be said and not me. Nor is the number of words presented ... I initially presented 114,000 words’. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 12d, 23 November 2000). • [Richard]: ‘As it is the words that express what a human being has discovered then where this body is means nothing at all’. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 12d, 23 November 2000). • [Richard]: ‘The electronic copying and distribution capacity of a mailing list service – with its multiple feed-back capability – is second to none’. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 12d, 23 November 2000). RESPONDENT: In fact, in around 48 hours, it is highly likely that a friend and I will begin driving north to Byron Bay and I would like to meet you once again for the enjoyment of each others company; and my friend, [name witheld] from Holland, has expressed interest in meeting the Richard I have been corresponding with. Would you like that? RICHARD: I have experimented, over the three years or so since I went public with my discovery on the internet, to see whether I am correct or incorrect (and not merely theorising) in saying that it is the words that convey an actual freedom from the human condition, and to thus find out for myself as to whether it is pointless coming to see me in person or not. It is indeed pointless coming to see me in person. RESPONDENT: When I return, I will most like continue my examination of the human condition by setting up some even newer ‘Viewpoint into’ sites by Respondent. There are many possibilities. At some time I would like to come back and be involved intensely again on this list; I will keep reading the most interesting contributions until that time. Once again; I politely and genuinely thank you for engaging with me in this online examination of actual freedom. RICHARD: You are very welcome ... it is what The Actual Freedom Mailing List is set up for. * RESPONDENT: Great. I will ring your answering machine if and when my friend [name witheld] and I arrive; and ‘we’ can perhaps arrange a lunch or coffee ‘together’. I can imagine that the ‘flesh and blood body’ would enjoy ‘being apperceptively aware’ in the beach hotel restaurant or some such. RICHARD: Yet I already enjoy my current lifestyle, as it is, totally, completely, utterly. I fully enjoy my own company; I fully enjoy the company of a choice companion; I fully enjoy the company of select associates; I fully enjoy all current associations ... my social calendar is thus fully booked out by simply living. I live a normal lifestyle: this is the lifestyle I have chosen; this is the lifestyle I wish to live; this is the lifestyle I am living. I enjoy normal things: I live in a normal suburban duplex; I eat at normal restaurants; I meet normal people at cafés; I chat about normal things; I have normal pastimes ... to be able to freely live this normal lifestyle in a seaside village is why I set out to become free of the human condition all those years ago. I never intended – and I do not intend – to become some sort of latter-day atheistic-saviour of humankind wherein I cannot live a normal lifestyle. I do indeed value my privacy highly ... which is one of the reasons why I chose the internet to share my discovery of peace-on-earth with my fellow human beings. * With reference to your private communication yesterday (11.59 AM Thursday 7 December 2000) I would suggest that you make use of the forum set-up specifically for such a conversation ... to wit: The Actual Freedom Mailing List. As you also say that a friend of yours from another country is likewise interested in such discussions I would ask that you pass on this suggestion ... anyone and everyone is welcome to discuss any aspect of an actual freedom from the human condition on this freely available venue. Apart from the reasons I have already provided in previous E-Mails, the final reason for the public discussion being preferable can perhaps be best summed up this way: 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 ... and the words continue to exist long after the initial conversation. There are literally millions of words, that have vanished forever, from past private conversations ... therefore this way everyone benefits whether the words be in alignment with the actual, opposed to the actual, or anywhere in between. The reader can then make a fully-informed appraisal of what is on offer ... hence all public discussions are archived for ease of access (rather than endlessly scrolling through the mailing list archives in the public domain) and for leisurely perusal and re-perusal. I do appreciate your continued interest. RESPONDENT: However I do recognize you as a fellow human being (that at least gives it a shot to improve the quality of living) along this wonderful journey and I sincerely regret that when I was in Byron that we have not met personally. RICHARD: Why? It is pointless coming to see me in person. I am a fellow human being sans identity: the affective faculty – the entire psyche itself – is eradicated. There is no ‘charisma’ nor any ‘energy-field’ here as I have no ‘energies’ ... no power or powers whatsoever. Therefore it is the words that convey ... words are words, whether they be 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. It is to no avail, of no use, of no benefit, of no value to come and meet me ... if a person reads my words there is no need to come and see me. It is all so very simple. 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 long will you continue writing and answering questions? RICHARD: I do not know ... somewhere along the line it would be more useful for me to go through all my words so as to re-present them in a book format, rather than adding more to the already almost labyrinthine web site, and I do have a vague plan to leave suburbia, some time before 2007, for a ready-made retreat where I can live out my days in paradisaical obscurity whilst doing just that (yet even so wireless computer technology is advancing at such a pace that by then a copper-wire connection to the internet will no longer be needed). RESPONDENT: Btw has Richard ever appeared on a telly show or radio in Australia or elsewhere? Has he gone public with AF in any other form than this site? VINEETO: Richard has published a book, now in its 2nd edition, and has written on several mailing lists in the past years, the correspondence of which can be found on The Actual Freedom Trust website. The written word is proving adequate to pass on the message that one can become free from the human condition, given sufficient intent and diligence. RESPONDENT: Richard, I visited your taped dialogues section on your homepage, but could only access the transcribed versions. How could I get any of the actual *taped* dialogues, as I prefer listening to reading? RICHARD: The quality of the recordings those transcripts came from is so poor as to be barely legible ... the conversations were recorded via the in-built microphone of a $25 cassette machine sitting on a coffee-table in the middle of a room during an ad hoc experiment conducted immediately prior to going public on the internet in 1997 and for the sole purpose of gathering some material quickly as all what was available, then, for on-line reading were the first rough drafts of a collection of miscellaneous articles eventually strung-together and published under the title ‘Richard’s Journal’. In other words, they were never intended for public listening. What I would suggest, as you prefer listening to reading, is to run the transcripts through a text-to-speech programme. RESPONDENT: The fact remains that you said you rarely socialize and don’t do dinner parties ... RICHARD: And the fact remains you said that I *do not* interact in-person with my fellow human being. RESPONDENT: ... although your 7 week hiatus was chock full of socializing, including during dinner. RICHARD: As I never said it was [quote] ‘chock full’ [endquote] of socialising, including the dining out I mentioned, you are again indulging in fabulation. Viz.: • [Richard to Respondent]: ‘The main reason why I am not about to provide a day-to-day description of what occupied me for the remaining five weeks (other than my *normal* activities such as watching television/ cruising the internet, swimming/ boating, dining out/ interacting with others, and so forth) is contained in the phrase [quote] ‘it was as much a case of days becoming weeks as anything else’ [endquote] ... to wit: I actually cannot recall just what I did, other than *the norm*, on just what day as there are no reference points, such as the dated contents of e-mails, to refresh my memory with’ . [emphases added]. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 53j, 12 January 2006). RESPONDENT: You have yet to clear up just how much you meet with your fellow humans interested in your words? RICHARD: And as I maintain no diary of my day-to-day activities it will remain so: suffice is it to say it is more than what you erroneously claimed (which was that I *do not* interact in-person at all). RESPONDENT: I am sure there are a few here who may be interested in meeting with the One, the Only, free human this universe has ever had the privilege of hosting. RICHARD: Words are words whether they be spoken, printed or appear as pixels on a screen. It is what is being conveyed by those words which is important, not the writer/ speaker. Anybody who meets me face-to-face only gets verification that there actually is a flesh and blood body living what these words say ... as there is no ‘energy-field’ here in this actual world it is impossible to get any charismatic enhancement of what is being said. RICHARD: Also, a certain event has shown to me that my experience and, thus, expertise in matters pertaining to consciousness may nowadays be put to better effect (now that millions of words are freely available online) when on a one-to-one basis. I am, of course, referring to a near-five month PCE incurred by such an interaction. RICK: Richard, are you altering your stance that it is indeed pointless coming to see you vis-a-vis? • [Richard]: ‘I have experimented, over the three years or so since I went public with my discovery on the internet, to see whether I am correct or incorrect (and not merely theorising) in saying that it is the words that convey an actual freedom from the human condition, and to thus find out for myself as to whether it is pointless coming to see me in person or not. It is indeed pointless coming to see me in person’. Richard, Selected Correspondence, Authority RICHARD: G’day Rick, Ha ... a fuller exposition of the theme expressed in that quote can be found where the following quote resides: • [Richard]: ‘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’. Richard, The Actual Freedom Trust Mailing List, No. 12g, 29 Nov 2000 And this one (also at that link) explains why I wrote that: [Richard]: ‘A self-confessed guru-seeker from the other side of the world came to see me, having had some contact with the actual freedom writings, with the view of being able to be finished with gurus forever. Every afternoon for nearly six weeks this person had a private face-to-face interaction - for four to six hours every afternoon for 39 days this person had a one-on-one intimacy – and then this guru-seeker went back to their guru’. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 12g, 29 November 2000). Be that as it may ... the main reason I declined each and every personal-meeting request for twelve years is because words expressed thataway could vanish into the air whereas words written publicly – where others could join in – continued to exist after the initial conversation. That way everyone benefited (including future readers). Now that a vast body of actualism writings exist it does not matter if verbally expressed words were to vanish ... which is one of the reasons why I finally agreed to such a request earlier on this year (in March 2009) and another one only a month or so ago (for January 2010). (Plus, of course, my public offer on this forum, to another outstanding fellow human being, back in May this year). The main reason, however, is the undeniable benefit of the event already mentioned (further above) ... to wit: a near-five month PCE incurred solely by such an interaction. Please note how it is all experimental at this stage – and I do not now have an open-door policy – as there is no guarantee of anything of similar nature occurring (it may very well be a one-off event). What this means in effect is that, as I will not be agreeing to any more requests (or at least not until after Jan-Feb next year), there is no point in anyone else asking. RESPONDENT No. 19: [...] apart from the videos, it is primarily through the mails and the articles I know about you. RICHARD: As the mailing list format had reached its use-by date more than a few years ago (having out-lived its usefulness), and as already signalled, it is more than likely that the personal way of knowing about me will become available, albeit selectively, some time in the new year; although it is way too early to publicly say more, at this stage, plans are afoot (subject to the funding being finalised) to not only facilitate this direct access but enable an informal inter-action with several other actualists as well. (Richard, List D, No. 19, 30 November 2009). RESPONDENT: From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_experience: ‘Recent Developments: Prof. Gad Yair from The Hebrew University has developed a line of research on Key Experiences, especially relating to educational events. His papers on Key experiences in higher education and on the role of those experiences in educational turning points are readily available over the net. The concept of key educational experiences refers to singular, short and intense educational encounters that proved to have strong and long- lasting effects on adults. These encounters are at times associated with a specific person who led them (e.g. teacher, parent, youth leader), at others with the structure of the episode itself (e.g. progress toward a peak event which is then associated with insight and hindsight). Indeed, many respondents speak of their key educational experiences in terms of sight: Exceptional activities cause prior blinders to be suddenly lifted off, producing clear vision and insight, notably about students’ own selves.’ Richard, is this your intention? RICHARD: No, not educational as such as all the reports/ descriptions/ explanations freely available online are already of a sufficiently informative nature as to render any further instructive material superfluous to requirements. (Items for sale are optional extras – luxury items as it were – and are not at all necessary in order to be fully-informed of just what is involved in becoming either actually or virtually free). As to my intention in regards not only facilitating direct access to me but also enabling an informal interaction with some other actualists as well: being sans identity in toto/ the entire affective faculty (plus its epiphenomenal psychic facility) any residence or venue of mine is marked by an absence of both affective vibes and psychic currents ... a pristine ambience made all the more marked, for many a person, upon returning from the ‘real-world’ environs after a previous visit. (For instance, my second wife would say, upon her return after an outing on her own into town, that it was like coming back in to a sanctuary. Even a stranger, a real-estate agent (known as a realtor in some places), after showing some potential clients around the duplex I was at the time renting, took me aside and told me how fresh and clean the ambience was; I said it must be because of no children, no cats or dogs, no wild parties, etc., but she looked straight into my eyes and said, ‘no, it’s you; it’s you who makes the ambience clean and fresh’). Now, this pristine ambience is conducive to a sincere actualist activating their potential – albeit temporarily – as in some form of an out-from-control/ different-way-of-being (to whatever degree of intimacy they be comfortable with at the time). Furthermore, experience has shown that these intimacy experiences can be contagious, so to speak, for other sincere actualists also present as the atmosphere generated affectively/ psychically by the first to be out-from-control/ in a different-way-of-being can propagate a flow-on effect, on occasion. In short: a felicitous and innocuous atmosphere, begotten in an ever-fresh affectless/ selfless ambience, fosters a milieu where happiness and harmlessness can be the norm rather than the exception. As I have already provided one of the reasons why I finally agreed to a personal-meeting request earlier on this year (in March 2009) and another one only a couple of months ago (for January 2010) – after declining each and every such request for twelve years – it is apropos to mention that the pivotal factor in my turnabout was the incontrovertible fact that a fellow human being had a 5-month PCE which was triggered solely by, and during, a personal conversation with me in a casual setting. There was no way I could deny it/ ignore it/ dismiss it and/or brush it aside – even if I had wanted to – as she was quite clear to others that, were it not for this interaction, it would never have happened. It thus became obvious that by continuing to keep myself locked away, so to speak, in an exclusive nuclear couple/ nuclear family type of living arrangement there would continue to be a denial of access, to my fellow human beings at large, for any such potentially potent interactions. (Please note that nothing is guaranteed, however, as anything of such a nature is entirely dependent upon where the other is currently at, where they are coming from, and what their overall intent is). RESPONDENT: I ask this because you (or Peter, I don’t remember) also wrote about the mentorship in actualism practice. RICHARD: Maybe you are referring to this: • [Respondent]: ‘Do you think you’re the best guru ever? • [Peter]: ‘No. If you had read anything of what I have written, you would have realised I regard Guru-ship as a demeaning profession, both for the disciple and He/She who swans around demanding trust, surrender and worship by others. The whole rotten set up has had its day. It was so good to get out of it and regain my will that I had surrendered. P.S. What I found with Richard was a mentor, a guide, an expert on the Human Condition – and a fellow human being’. (Peter, List C, No 12, 05.12.1998). I speak of acting as a mentor in Article 19, of ‘Richard’s Journal’, entitled ‘War is the inevitable outcome of being ‘human’ (The inhumanity of humankind is legendary)’ and a copy of the three relevant paragraphs can be found here (fourth section down): (Richard, Selected Writing, Peace). Incidentally, for those who find the word mentor off-putting the following is worth a read: (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 12k, 12 July 2001). Basically, what I mean is a sharing of experience with my fellow human being – a comparing of notes as it were – and whatever understanding arising from that is open to discussion ... as in reports/ descriptions/ explanations and clarifications of any and all misunderstanding which may ensure. Nothing at all formal ... just an easy chat about whatever. Actual Freedom Homepage
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