# Actual Freedom – Selected Correspondence by Topic

Richard’s Selected Correspondence ## On The Actual Freedom Trust RESPONDENT: Richard, have you given any thought that your past state (enlightenment) and present state might have been caused by what is known as Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE) or any other affection of the Temporal Lobe? (snip). RICHARD: No 25, have you given any thought to doing a site-search, not only before asking a question, but also before copy-pasting such random, by no means exhaustive or precise, collections of available information pointing to a possibility that it accords with the descriptions of my experience (now snipped)? It is this easy: type, or copy-paste, the following into the box provided at a search engine of your choice: jamais vu site:www.actualfreedom.com.au Or even this: TLE site:www.actualfreedom.com.au Here is an example of what that very useful function of the search engine finds (in 0.06 seconds): • [Richard]: ‘... that [jamais vu] is how I first described what I would now call pure consciousness experiences back in 1980-1981. (...) while jamais vu (‘never seen’) is not so common as déjà vu (‘already seen’), it can be just as compelling. Jamais vu is the opposite of déjà vu: instead of being extra familiar, as in déjà vu, a familiar situation seems totally unfamiliar. The world of people, things and events are experienced as for the first time ... there is little or no connection between long-term memory and perceptions from this moment. When a person is in this state nothing they experience seems to have anything to do with the past; everything suddenly becomes novel, totally new. The sense of knowing people or things or events – and knowing how to relate to them – simply vanishes. Details one has seen a thousand times suddenly become engaging; the background is as equally important as the figure that occupies centre-stage. Or, as someone wrote on a now-defunct mailing list some time ago: ‘jamais vu is a feeling that you have never seen anything around you; it seems like everything around you is new and you’ve never been there before – as opposed to déjà vu when everything seems like you’ve lived it before – and you feel that you’ve never done this particular thing before, even when you know you have’. [endquote]. This odd, uncanny, surreal experience can happen to people who temporarily lose their memory or, more commonly, in an epileptic seizure (psychiatrically known as ‘temporal lobe epilepsy’ or TLE). For example, one such epilepsy sufferer wrote: • [quote]: ‘I wonder, along with the doctors, if these mighty episodes which are so intimate yet so strange and autonomous for us epileptics, are after all just the random detour of chemicals and brain voltage caused by circuitry problems. Quite a few of us who have already-seen’ would dare to see even more; would actually follow that dangerous, disappearing, inbound road consciously and witness for the first time what is usually jamais-vu and hidden, and I mean the steady dark frolic of neurons and the ghost that is called ego’. (http://neuro-www.mgh.harvard.edu/neurowebforum/GeneralFeedbackArticles/YellowBrickRoad.html) Incidentally, there are four types of déjà vu that clearly delineate between associated, but different, neurological experiences. These are déjà vecu (already experienced), déjà senti (already felt) and déjà visité (already visited) and déjà entendu (already heard). Déjà vecu is the most common déjà vu experience and involves the sensation of having done something or having been in an identical situation before and knowing what will happen next. These sensations are not only experienced as the outstanding sensations – seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching – but can also include the proprioceptive sensations. So ‘jamais vu’ was my original nomenclature ... and yet another way of describing the pure consciousness experience is with the psychiatric terms ‘depersonalisation’, ‘derealisation’, alexithymia’ and ‘anhedonia’ ... which descriptions I have scattered throughout my correspondence. The article ‘Attentiveness And Sensuousness And Apperceptiveness’ may be well worth a visit in this regard. The characteristics already detailed (‘depersonalisation’, ‘alexithymia’, ‘derealisation’, ‘anhedonia’) are the result of expressing actual freedom in the psychiatric models of the human condition – which reflects the ‘human’ struggle to understand this fundamentally simple process called consciousness – and are inherently arbitrary in that they do not exist as separate items. The extinction of identity in its totality with its ensuing loss of reality coupled with the inability to affectively feel pleasure along with the ending of the feeling faculty all takes place in the space of a few glorious moments. Peace-on-earth is the certain result ... because it is already always just here right now. Then one is this universe experiencing itself as an apperceptive human being. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, Alan-b, 25 June 2000). * RESPONDENT: Richard, have you given any thought that your past state (enlightenment) and present state might have been caused by what is known as Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE) or any other affection of the Temporal Lobe? (snip). RICHARD: No. 25, have you given any thought to doing a site-search, not only before asking a question, but also before copy-pasting such random, by no means exhaustive or precise, collections of available information pointing to a possibility that it accords with the descriptions of my experience (now snipped)? RESPONDENT: Yes ... of course. Jamais vu is identical to a PCE. RICHARD: Surely you are not suggesting that everybody – absolutely everybody – who has had, or is having, a pure consciousness experience (PCE) has had/is having a temporal lobe epileptic (TLE) episode? RESPONDENT: The passage you posted is in no way showing that you are not suffering from TLE or any other Temporal Lobe disorder. (snip). RICHARD: And the copy-pasted short collection of symptoms and/or the random, by no means exhaustive or precise, collection of available information you posted, both this time around and the previous, is in no way showing that I am suffering from TLE or any other temporal lobe disorder. Whereas the passage I quoted shows that I am, and have been for many a year, well aware of TLE ... do you really think I would not have considered such a thing before this exchange? RESPONDENT: (...) Perhaps you should arrange a meeting with a psychiatrist because if your condition is indeed linked to (Right) Temporal Lobe damage, the + 4 million words on the website might prove to be more harmful than harmless. RICHARD: Ha ... nice try, No. 25, nice try indeed. * RICHARD: Surely you are not suggesting that everybody – absolutely everybody – who has had, or is having, a pure consciousness experience (PCE) has had/is having a temporal lobe epileptic (TLE) episode? RESPONDENT: What I’m suggesting is that altered and pure states are triggered by this part of the brain (which is involved in processing emotion and sensation) ... RICHARD: As the temporal lobes are situated on each side of the brain, at about the level of the ears, you may find the following to be of interest (from the quote you provided in the previous e-mail): • [Richard]: ‘The night before [the 6th of September 1981] I could hardly maintain myself as a thinking, functioning human being as a blistering hot and cold burning sensation crept *up the back of my spine and entered into the base of my neck just under the brain itself*. (...) something turned over *in the base of my brain – in the top of the brain-stem*. I likened it to turning over a long-playing record in order to play the other side ... with the vital exception that it would never, ever turn back again’. [emphases added]. (Richard, Articles, a Brief Personal History#1). There are many, many more descriptions all throughout my portion of The Actual Freedom Trust web site describing the very same thing ... for instance: • [Co-Respondent]: ‘When you ended the second self (or when it ended), was there any physical brain sensation? • [Richard]: ‘Yes ... an intense pressure-pain in the base of the brain/nape of the neck which continued, with varying intensities, for 30+ months’. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 66, 3 April 2004). Here is another: • [Co-Respondent]: ‘And an actual freedom from the human condition results in a reduced amygdala activity or even ends it? • [Richard]: ‘If I may ask? Why the focus upon the amygdalae (two almond-shaped organs in from and just to the back of and below the ears) when I specifically report that the pressure-pain happened in the base of the brain/nape of the neck? (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 66, 13 April 2004). And another: • [Co-Respondent]: ‘You said that you felt a brain change. • [Richard]: ‘More specifically: I said that there was a physical sensation in the brain-stem (at the base of the brain/nape of the neck). • [Co-Respondent]: Did you ever thought that you might altered your brain? • [Richard]: ‘No ... all the activity occurred in the brain-stem. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 44a, 11 June 2003). And again: • [Co-Respondent]: ‘You admitted that something happened in your brain ... • [Richard]: ‘No, I acknowledged that something happened in the brain-stem. Viz.: • [Co-Respondent]: ‘You said that you felt a brain change’. • [Richard]: ‘More specifically: I said that there was a physical sensation in the brain-stem (at the base of the brain/nape of the neck)’. • [Co-Respondent]: ‘Did you ever thought that you might altered your brain? • [Richard]: ‘No ... all the activity occurred in the brain-stem. I was saying what I meant and meaning what I said. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 44a, 10 July 2003). And yet again (this one is a classic): • [Co-Respondent]: ‘So after the change took place in your brain, you are experiencing another world. Or if you like the world in a different way. Not necessarily everybody else is experiencing it this way. So the difference between before the change and now, is due to your brain. If was possible to reverse the process then you should be like before. That means that your brain is creating your world. • [Richard]: ‘This is the information I have suppled to you: • [Co-Respondent]: ‘You said that you felt a brain change’. • [Richard]: ‘More specifically: I said that there was a physical sensation in the brain-stem (at the base of the brain/nape of the neck)’. And: • [Co-Respondent]: ‘Did you ever thought that you might altered your brain? • [Richard]: ‘No ... all the activity occurred in the brain-stem’. And: • [Co-Respondent]: ‘You admitted that something happened in your brain ... • [Richard]: ‘No, I acknowledged that something happened in the brain-stem’. Yet what is your response to these three clear and unambiguous replies? Viz.: • [Co-Respondent]: ‘So after the change took place in your brain ...’. You even asked if I could explain what happened scientifically so I referred you to two areas of the brain-stem I had gleaned some information about from an ad hoc reading of scientific texts: • [Co-Respondent]: ‘... but could you explain scientifically what? • [Richard]: ‘As far as I have been able to ascertain from an ad hoc reading of scientific texts it was most probably in the Reticular Activating System (RAS), in general, and quite possibly in the Substantia Nigra, in particular (arguably the seat of consciousness) that the identity in toto expired’. Why you choose to ignore what I have to report I cannot know, of course, yet it may very well be that the reason why lies at the end of your paragraph (above) where, after three assumptions, a preliminary judgement, and a speculation, your final conclusion is to be found: • [Co-Respondent]: ‘... your brain is creating your world’. As this is the theme you have been running all through these e-mail exchanges it may help to put it this way: when the identity expired, in toto, ‘his’ world (the reality ‘he’ pasted as a veneer over this actual world) also ceased to exist ... there is no ‘your world’ in actuality. There is only this actual world (...)’. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 44b, 17 July 2003). There are more ... but maybe that will do for now. RESPONDENT: ... why is it that an accidental PCE (everyone has experienced and remembers at least one, making for an estimated .... umm ... 100 billion ‘za best’ experiences) cannot become permanent the same way as enlightenment or an ASC? RICHARD: For the same reason an intentional PCE cannot become permanent ... the persistence of identity (who is only in abeyance in a PCE). * RESPONDENT: The passage you posted is in no way showing that you are not suffering from TLE or any other Temporal Lobe disorder. (snip). RICHARD: And the copy-pasted short collection of symptoms and/or the random, by no means exhaustive or precise, collection of available information you posted, both this time around and the previous, is in no way showing that I am suffering from TLE or any other temporal lobe disorder. RESPONDENT: Is it all just a big coincidence then? RICHARD: There is no ‘coincidence’ – be it either big or small – outside of your imagination. For example: • [Respondent]: ‘Extensive day-dreaming as a child is a good indication of TLE (you were known as a ‘dreamer’ at school, teachers brutally had to wake you up). You would have to be referring to the following (re-posted only five days before your first e-mail in this thread): • [Richard]: ‘The various people I have discussed these matters [remembering a PCE] with have invariably recalled similar ‘Technicolor Land’ experiences in childhood ... sometimes referred to as a ‘nature experience’, a ‘peak experience’, a ‘jamais vu experience’, or even an ‘aesthetic experience’. And not only have I witnessed children having such an experience, and spoken with them about while it is happening, but recall having the same myself on many an occasion: often in early childhood there would be a ‘slippage’ of the brain, somewhat analogous to an automatic transmission changing into a higher gear too soon, and the magical world where time had no workaday meaning would emerge in all its sparkling wonder ... where I could wander for hours at a time in gay abandon with whatever was happening. They were the pre-school years: soon such experiences would occur of a weekend (at school I became known as ‘the dreamer’ and had many a rude awakening to everyday reality by various teachers) ... so much so that I would later on call them ‘Saturday Morning’ experiences where, contrary to having to be dragged out of bed during the week, I would be up and about at first light, traipsing through the fields and the forests with the early morning rays of sunshine dancing their magic on the glistening dew-drops suspended from the greenery everywhere; where kookaburras are echoing their laughing-like calls to one another and magpies are warbling their liquid sounds; where an abundance of aromas and scents are drifting fragrantly all about; where every pore of the skin is being caressed by the friendly ambience of the balmy air; where benevolence and benignity streams endlessly bathing all in its impeccable integrity. (...)’. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 66, 11 December 2004). * What you say is ‘extensive day-dreaming as a child’ is actually ‘many an occasion’ of experiencing ‘the magical world where time had no workaday meaning’ (aka PCE’s) ... just because various school-teachers classified me as being a dreamer, upon rudely awakening me to everyday reality, does not mean that those PCE’s were day-dreams. Here is the very next example you proffer as ‘a good indication of TLE’ (immediately after the first example above): • [Respondent]: ‘Experiencing unprovoked panic attacks to the point that one feels he is going to die (your experience back in 1981, the pillows and all the dread, feeling that you were going to die the next morning)’. [endquote]. I was neither experiencing ‘panic attacks’ nor was the intense fear/stark terror I did experience ‘unprovoked’ ... see for yourself (from the quote you provided): • [Richard]: ‘I lay back on my pillows to watch the rising sun (my bedroom faced east) through the large bedroom windows. All of a sudden I was gripped with the realisation that this was the moment! I was going to die! An intense fear raced throughout my body, rising in crescendo until I could scarcely take any more. As it reached a peak of stark terror, I realised that I had nothing to worry about and that I was to go with the ‘process’. In an instant all fear left me and I travelled deep into the depths of my very being’. (Richard, Articles, A Brief Personal History). Incidentally, what you say is ‘the feeling’ I was going to die ‘tomorrow’ was actually a revelation six weeks prior ... see for yourself (from the quote you provided): • [Richard]: ‘About six weeks prior to 6th September 1981 I had a revelation that I was going to really die this time, not become catatonic again, and that I was to prepare myself for it’. (Richard, Articles, A Brief Personal History). And here is the third example you provide as ‘a good indication of TLE’ (immediately after the second example above): • [Respondent]: ‘The hippocampus involves both intense positive and negative experiences (some patients with hippocampus disorders report laughing without any reason)’. I was not ‘laughing without any reason’ ... see for yourself (from the quote you provided): • [Richard]: ‘All of a sudden I was sitting bolt upright, laughing, as I realised that this that was IT! was such a simple thing ... all I had to do was die ... and that was the easiest thing in the world to do’. (Richard, Articles, A Brief Personal History #1). * RICHARD: [The ... information you posted ... is in no way showing that I am suffering from TLE or any other temporal lobe disorder] whereas the passage I quoted shows that I am, and have been for many a year, well aware of TLE ... do you really think I would not have considered such a thing before this exchange? RESPONDENT: So did your psychiatrist at the time? RICHARD: There were no psychiatrists (or a psychologist for that matter) ‘at the time’ ... the following is from the passage being discussed (above): • [Richard]: ‘... that [jamais vu] is how I first described what I would now call pure consciousness experiences back in 1980-1981’. The psychiatric assessment (and the psychological monitoring) occurred 13-14 years later. Viz.: • [Richard]: ‘No one has been able to observe any trace of a feeling – an emotion or a passion or calenture – in me since 1992. I have been examined by two accredited psychiatrists (and by one of them every three months for more than three years) and found to have alexithymia – amongst other detailed psychiatric findings – which means no affective faculties whatsoever. Also, a psychologist has been following my condition at three-weekly intervals since March 1994 ...’. (Richard, List B, No. 19a, 21 July 1998). Although, in light of the following, why you would ask such a question anyway has got me beat: • [Respondent]: ‘... TLE is not included on the DSM IV psychiatric manual (it’s a neurological condition), so the psychiatrist consulting you at the time didn’t have all the necessary ‘tools’ to conduct a correct investigation and thus come with an informed diagnosis’. (‘Jamais vu’; Friday 17/12/2004 1217AM AEDST). And: • [Respondent]: ‘I repeat that such disorder is difficult to diagnose and is NOT included in DSM IV, the manual currently used by all psychiatrists around the world’. (‘Re: Jamais vu’; Fri 17/12/2004 10:42 PM AEDST). The following one, coming as it does from the very-same post as your ‘I repeat ...’ admonition, is a real doozie: • [Respondent]: ‘Perhaps you should arrange a meeting with a psychiatrist because if your condition is indeed linked to (Right) Temporal Lobe damage, the + 4 million words on the website might prove to be more harmful’. (‘Re: Jamais vu’; Fri 17/12/2004 10:42 PM AEDST). * RESPONDENT: (...) Perhaps you should arrange a meeting with a psychiatrist because if your condition is indeed linked to (Right) Temporal Lobe damage, the + 4 million words on the website might prove to be more harmful than harmless. RICHARD: Ha ... nice try, No. 25, nice try indeed. RESPONDENT: I wish it to be just that, a nice try. RICHARD: Well, your wish is granted as that is all it is ... no amount of words, no matter how eloquent or erudite they may be, could possibly bring about a *neurological* condition (aka an *organic* disorder) in anybody. Here is an example of what does cause TLE: (Temporal Lobe Epilepsy) Causes: • Approximately two thirds of patients with TLE treated surgically have hippocampal sclerosis as the pathologic substrate. • The etiologies of TLE include the following: • Past infections, eg, herpes encephalitis or bacterial meningitis. • Trauma producing contusion or haemorrhage that results in encephalomalacia or cortical scarring. • Hamartomas [a focal malformation that resembles a neoplasm, grossly and even microscopically, but results from faulty development in an organ]. • Gliomas [any neoplasm derived from one of the various types of cells that form the interstitial tissue of the brain, spinal cord, pineal gland, posterior pituitary gland, and retina]. • Vascular malformations (ie, arteriovenous malformation, cavernous angioma). • Cryptogenic: A cause is presumed but has not been identified. • Idiopathic (genetic): This is rare. Familial TLE was described by Berkovic and colleagues, and partial epilepsy with auditory features was described by Scheffer and colleagues. • Hippocampal sclerosis produces a clinical syndrome called mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). MTLE begins in late childhood, then remits, but reappears in adolescence or early adulthood in a refractory form. • Febrile seizures: The association of simple febrile seizure with TLE has been controversial. However, a subset of children with complex febrile convulsions appear to be at risk of developing TLE in later life. Complex febrile seizures are febrile seizures that last longer than 15 minutes, have focal features, or recur within 24 hours. (www.emedicine.com/neuro/topic365.htm). RESPONDENT: For now the evidence points in the opposite direction ... RICHARD: There is no ‘the evidence’ – be it either for now or earlier – outside of your imagination. * RESPONDENT: Richard, have you given any thought that your past state (enlightenment) and present state might have been caused by what is known as Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE) or any other affection of the Temporal Lobe? (snip). (...) RICHARD: [The ... information you posted ... is in no way showing that I am suffering from TLE or any other temporal lobe disorder] whereas the passage I quoted shows that I am, and have been for many a year, well aware of TLE ... do you really think I would not have considered such a thing before this exchange? RESPONDENT: So did your psychiatrist at the time? RICHARD: There were no psychiatrists (or a psychologist for that matter) ‘at the time’ ... the following is from the passage being discussed (above): • [Richard]: ‘... that [jamais vu] is how I first described what I would now call pure consciousness experiences back in 1980-1981’. The psychiatric assessment (and the psychological monitoring) occurred 13-14 years later. Viz.: • [Richard]: ‘No one has been able to observe any trace of a feeling – an emotion or a passion or calenture – in me since 1992. I have been examined by two accredited psychiatrists (and by one of them every three months for more than three years) and found to have alexithymia – amongst other detailed psychiatric findings – which means no affective faculties whatsoever. Also, a psychologist has been following my condition at three-weekly intervals since March 1994 ...’. RESPONDENT: I meant ‘at the time’ of the consultation(s) not at the time of your experiences. RICHARD: The title you gave to this thread is ‘Jamais Vu’ – and not ‘Temporal Lobe Epilepsy’ (TLE) – thus I could only presume you had made a (tenuous) connection between the fact I had provided, in a re-post of a passage of mine five days previous to you posting your initial e-mail, the name ‘jamais vu experiences’ (amidst the names ‘‘Technicolor Land’ experiences’, ‘nature experiences’, ‘peak experiences’, and ‘aesthetic experiences’) as being descriptive of the same/similar experience as what the moments of perfection I nowadays describe as ‘pure consciousness experiences’ (PCE’s) are and had, as a consequence, asked me whether I had given any thought to having been both spiritually enlightened/ mystically awakened for eleven years, and being currently actually free from the human condition for twelve years, as the result of temporal lobe epilepsy or any other affliction of the temporal lobe for no other reason than the fact that some of the peoples who have jamais vu experiences are suffering from TLE. Amnesiacs, for instance, are another grouping which tend to have jamais vu experiences. So I provided a passage of mine which showed that it was in 1980-81 when I was describing such moments of perfection as ‘jamais vu experiences’ and made the observation that this, plus the detailed reference therein to TLE (amongst references to acute psychotic diagnoses such as ‘depersonalisation’, ‘alexithymia’, ‘derealisation’, ‘anhedonia’), clearly showed how I am, and have been for many a year, well aware of TLE and asked whether you really thought I would not have considered such a thing before the exchange you had initiated by starting this thread ... to which you replied by asking whether one of the two psychiatrists I consulted 13-14 years later had considered such a thing ‘at the time’. Now you inform me you meant at the time of the consultations (1994-97) – and not at the time when I was describing such moments of perfection as ‘jamais vu experiences’ (1980-81) – as if there were/was some other time, than at the time of consultation, which the psychiatrists in question might have/could have considered it and, presumably, got in touch with me in these latter years (1997-2004) to inform me of their considerations. Bearing in mind that you have just recently expressed reservations about one of those psychiatrist’s expertise I must enquire, at this stage, just what issue it is that you have with these two professionals whom you have never met and who you have scant information about? * RICHARD: Although, in light of the following, why you would ask such a question anyway has got me beat: • [Respondent]: ‘... TLE is not included on the DSM IV psychiatric manual (it’s a neurological condition), so the psychiatrist consulting you at the time didn’t have all the necessary ‘tools’ to conduct a correct investigation and thus come with an informed diagnosis’. And: • [Respondent]: ‘I repeat that such disorder is difficult to diagnose and is NOT included in DSM IV, the manual currently used by all psychiatrists around the world’. The following one, coming as it does from the very-same post as your ‘I repeat ...’ admonition, is a real doozie: • [Respondent]: ‘Perhaps you should arrange a meeting with a psychiatrist because if your condition is indeed linked to (Right) Temporal Lobe damage, the + 4 million words on the website might prove to be more harmful’. RESPONDENT: TLE or any other temporal lobe affection not being included in DSM IV, they have missed taking into account a possible cause for your condition. RICHARD: Golly ... psychiatrists (and psychologists for that matter) can, and do, have a mind of their own ... they are not necessarily ruled by a manual which is not at all scientific in its formulation (specific mental disorders get included/ excluded from that manual by the vote of a select group). RESPONDENT: Is it clear now? RICHARD: It is about as clear as mud ... do you think there is some kind of demarcation dispute, as it were, between the psychiatric profession and the neurological profession (so much so that I ought to hot-foot it to a neurologist on the basis of your amateur diagnosis)? RESPONDENT: Why were you taking that drug (psylocibin) for? RICHARD: I was not ‘taking’ psylocibin ... I (mistakenly) took it on the advice of an (erstwhile) associate under the (misguided) impression it was similar in effect to tetrahydrocannabinol (only much stronger). For your information: having personal acquaintance with a person who has suffered from epilepsy all their adult life I was sufficiently well-enough informed about such neurological conditions before both 1980-81 and 1994-97 to make my own appraisal ... even so it was a possibility I raised with the psychiatrist whose expertise you questioned in that other thread and had extensive and free-ranging discussions about same (just as I canvassed many other possibilities with them and they with me). All-in-all it was a most informative and productive association for the entire three-year period ... for example, I subscribed to an on-line university-based ‘Consciousness Studies’ forum at their suggestion after they had initiated discussion into matters pertaining to consciousness in general and pure consciousness events (aka altered states of consciousness) in particular. They were most bemused that various professors, and the ilk, on that forum were of the opinion that consciousness per se did not exist. * RESPONDENT: I’ve had basically two questions in regard to a possible neurological condition for your current state. 1. Were the psychiatrists aware of the possibility of TLE or any other Temporal lobe affection ... RICHARD: You do have a strange way of putting such a question, then, as this is what you actually wrote: • [Respondent]: ‘Richard, have you given any thought that your past state (enlightenment) and present state might have been caused by what is known as Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE) or any other affection of the Temporal Lobe? The problem is TLE is not included on the DSM-IV psychiatric manual (it’s a neurological condition), so the psychiatrist consulting you at the time didn’t have all the necessary ‘tools’ to conduct a correct investigation and thus come with an informed diagnosis’. (‘Jamais vu’; Friday 17/12/2004 12:17 AM AEDST). In other words what you asked was if I were aware of the possibility of TLE or any other temporal lobe affliction, not if the psychiatrists were, and then specifically stated that the psychiatrists did not have all the necessary tools to make such a diagnosis as TLE is not included in the DSM-IV ... a statement you repeated in your next e-mail: • [Respondent]: ‘I repeat that such disorder is (...) NOT included in DSM IV, the manual currently used by all psychiatrists around the world’. (‘Re: Jamais vu’; Fri 17/12/2004 10:42 PM AEDST). Yet a simple search shows that the DSM-IV, under the heading ‘Personality Change Due to a General Medical Condition’ and the coding note 310.1, has the following words: • ‘Personality Change Due to Temporal Lobe Epilepsy’. (http://behavenet.com/capsules/disorders/pcd.htm). RESPONDENT: ... [1. Were the psychiatrists aware of the possibility of TLE or any other Temporal lobe affection] and whether or not you have discussed the matter? I understand a ‘yes’ from your below response. RICHARD: I presume you are referring to this: • [Richard]: ‘... having personal acquaintance with a person who has suffered from epilepsy all their adult life I was sufficiently well-enough informed about such neurological conditions before both 1980-81 and 1994-97 to make my own appraisal ... even so it was a possibly I raised with the psychiatrist whose expertise you questioned in that other thread and had extensive and free-ranging discussions about same (just as I canvassed many other possibilities with them and they with me)’. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 25h, 23 December 2004). RESPONDENT: 2. Have you had/have they recommended a brain scan? RICHARD: Before advocating specialist tests of any description a psychiatrist (who, unlike a psychologist, is a duly qualified medical doctor) has to first make their diagnosis from the symptoms and signs being presented in order to warrant such a course of action ... and to recommend a (as yet undesignated) ‘brain scan’ to test for the organic basis – the neurological cause – of TLE, or any other temporal lobe affliction, there does need to be evidence symptomatic of such afflictions so as to reasonably make such a diagnosis. Perhaps if I were to spell it out in no uncertain terms you may finally desist with this beat-up: I have never had, nor am I currently having, any epileptic seizures/ auras of any description ... and neither am I about to go scampering off to a neurologist on the basis of someone’s – anyone’s – amateurish diagnoses, conducted solely via e-mail, when I have been closely examined, face-to-face in their rooms, by accredited professionals in the field who, despite your ill-advised disparagement, are well aware that more than a few ‘mental disorders’ have an organic basis. Indeed, the DSM-III-R, which was replaced by the DSM-IV in 1994, the very year I first consulted the psychiatrist in question, specifically used the term ‘Organic Medical Disorders’ for those ailments (whereas both the DSM-IV and the current manual, DSM-IV-TR, use the phrase already mentioned ‘Due To A General Medical Condition’). * RESPONDENT: I’ve had basically two questions in regard to a possible neurological condition for your current state. 1. Were the psychiatrists aware of the possibility of TLE or any other Temporal lobe affection ... RICHARD: You do have a strange way of putting such a question, then, as this is what you actually wrote: (snip). RESPONDENT: (...) 2. Have you had/have they recommended a brain scan? RICHARD: Before advocating specialist tests of any description a psychiatrist (who, unlike a psychologist, is a duly qualified medical doctor) has to first make their diagnosis from the symptoms and signs being presented in order to warrant such a course of action ... and to recommend a (as yet undesignated) ‘brain scan’ to test for the organic basis – the neurological cause – of TLE, or any other temporal lobe affliction, there does need to be evidence symptomatic of such afflictions so as to reasonably make such a diagnosis. Perhaps if I were to spell it out in no uncertain terms you may finally desist with this beat-up: I have never had, nor am I currently having, any epileptic seizures/auras of any description (...) Apart from the fact that a simple search shows the DSM-IV does indeed refer to Temporal Lobe Epilepsy mystical experiences are not the inevitable and/or only outcome of TLE auras ... according to a source you initially quoted they are rarer than four percent of the cases. Viz.: (snip). RESPONDENT: I see your point, I guess I was carried out by the wave. In retrospect ... I saw myself quietly ignoring/ dismissing the data pointing to the contrary, but that’s probably the case when emotions get involved and set on a course to prove something ... RICHARD: Aye ... it is known as ‘cherry-picking the data’ in the lingo. RESPONDENT: ... even though with the justification/ g-rationalization of playing the ‘devil’s advocate’. RICHARD: Yet is the ‘Advocatus Diaboli’ (a role adopted by the promoter of the faith in the Roman Catholic Church who critically examines the life of and miracles attributed to an individual proposed for beatification or canonisation and who presents all the facts including everything unfavourable to the candidate) a person set on a course of proving something? Is it not beholden upon them to examine all the data impartially so as to be able to conduct an open investigation, in the manner of a magistrate or scientist, inasmuch as the facts then speak for themselves? Never mind that such impartiality is, quite possibly, observed more in the breach than in practice in real-life ... I am talking of a person sincerely examining such data. RESPONDENT: Before we close the subject of pathology, do you remember when you discussed TLE (Temporal Lobe Epilepsy) with No. 25 recently? RICHARD: Aye, that was the discussion which elucidated how mystical experiences are not the inevitable and/or only outcome of TLE auras ... according to the source my co-respondent initially quoted they are rarer than four percent of the cases. Viz.: • [Mr. Peter Fenwick]: ‘Feelings of ecstasy [during a temporal lobe type of attack] are uncommon but they do occur, in fact about 4% of all temporal lobe auras which have an emotional content are positive in quality. Some auras have the quality of a mystical experience *but these are much rarer*. [emphasis added]. (http://scienceandreligion.com/b_myst_2.html). More to the point, however, is nowhere was it ever explicated that actual experiences have anything to do with the temporal lobe. RESPONDENT: In wrapping up the discussion, you mentioned that the issue had been tabled with your psychiatrist ... RICHARD: I canvassed numerous issues, of course, yet the only issue professionally diagnosed by two specialists in the field as having a demonstrable causative effect was my war-time experiences ... a diagnosis – ‘the process of determining the nature of a disease etc.; the identification of a disease from a patient’s symptoms etc.; a formal statement of this’ (Oxford Dictionary) – which clearly illustrates, by the way, that your older sibling’s assertion that Richard has [quote] ‘a severe and incurable psychotic disorder of *unknown aetiology*’ [emphasis added] is nothing but rhetoric (the art of using language so as to persuade or influence others). RESPONDENT: ... and, I can’t quite remember how you put it, but I was left with the impression that you were somehow familiar with TLE at the time. RICHARD: Just as I was familiar with a momentary other-worldly crystalline-like clarity which can immediately precede an acute migraine attack (for example) via extensive discussions with a next-door neighbour of my first wife’s parents ... or just as I was familiar with a similar uncanny acuity which can occur in persistent malarial attacks (for another instance) from numerous ad hoc discussions with quite a few peoples over many years. RESPONDENT: Are you able to say whether you have a close blood relative with TLE? Or a close blood relative with some other significant neurological abnormality? RICHARD: For obvious reasons I will not be responding, either in the negative or the affirmative, to any such queries about any living person having a genealogical linkage ... what I will say, though, is this: I do find it cute that both you and your elder sibling are saying, in effect, that peace-on-earth is a disease, an illness, with an unidentified cause. RESPONDENT: As for my ‘near certainty’ that your condition is pathological, I am of course talking through my hat. RICHARD: I see ... and were you also talking ‘foolishly, wildly, or ignorantly; bluffly, exaggeratedly’ (Oxford Dictionary) when you wrote the following? Viz.: • [Respondent]: ‘I think there is every possibility (for me it is almost a certainty now) that Richard’s ‘pure intent’ was itself pathological, a part of the same pathology that eventually did ‘him’ in. (Sunday 15/05/2005 5:22 PM AEST). The reason I ask is that, otherwise, not only is peace-on-earth a disease, an illness, with an unidentified cause but even the very intent itself to actually be peaceful and harmonious is just as much a sickness. RESPONDENT: Instead of saying I am ‘nearly certain’ that your condition is/was pathological, I should say that I simply have not ruled it out ... RICHARD: I see ... so you have not ruled out that neither the intent itself, to actually be peaceful and harmonious, nor the outcome of that intention involves, is caused by, or is of the nature of disease or illness, then? RESPONDENT: ... and its degree of likelihood mysteriously increases when I am throwing a tantrum. RICHARD: Okay ... what happened, then, between Saturday 5/03/2005 10:38 AM AEST and Friday 13/05/2005 12:47 PM AEST such as to set-off this latest tantrum? RETURN TO RICHARD’S SELECTED CORRESPONDENCE INDEX RICHARD’S HOME PAGE 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. Disclaimer and Use Restrictions and Guarantee of Authenticity