Actual Freedom – Selected Correspondence by Topic

RICHARD: This is the way I have explained my usage of the word ‘magical’:

• [Richard]: ‘I was using the word ‘magical’ in its stage-magician sense of prestidigitation. Viz.: [quote] ‘all ‘I’ had to do for it [the meaning of life] to be apparent was to disappear. It is all rather magical’. [endquote]. Also, this actual world is rather magical in the way it is all just here right now of its own accord (without any cause)’. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 27b, 14 July 2002).

RESPONDENT: How does that work, if the ‘I’ ‘stands in the way’ of meaning?

RICHARD: Perhaps it would have been clearer if I had written that ‘... ‘I’ was standing in the way of meaning being apparent’ (quite a lot of ‘Richard’s Journal’ was cobbled together from snippets and jottings going back several years and I would write it differently today, as a result of the feedback I have received by writing on the internet, if I were starting from scratch).

The ‘meaning of life’ – or the ‘secret to life’ or the ‘riddle of existence’ or the ‘purpose of the universe’ or whatever the goal of one’s quest may be called – is already always just here right now in this actual world ... it is that identity (‘I’ as ego and ‘me’ as soul) is preventing that meaning from being open to view.

What I also recall is that, as an identity, ‘I’ would oft-times say ‘there must be more to life than this’ (‘this’ being the everyday reality of the ‘real world’) and when a memorable PCE occurred the reason for making that assertion became obvious: there had been numerous PCE’s scattered throughout my earlier life which ‘I’ had not consciously remembered until then – although a vague memory was evidently seeping through – and that it was these experiences that prompted ‘the more to life’ contention.

And as every time a PCE occurred the ‘meaning of life’ became apparent it was increasingly obvious to ‘me’ that it was here all the time – that it already had been and always would be irregardless of ‘my’ presence or absence – and that all ‘I’ had to do for it to be apparent was to disappear.

It is all rather magical. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 27b, 14 July 2002).

RESPONDENT: Funny Richard you are to mention this, as this brings me back to one of my very first posts which I wrote, when I was in Oz staying at No. 12’s and his spouse’s place. There I started to question this premise of being free from both I in toto. Basically I was agreeing that I as a Soul is complete nonsense yet, I brought up the question of the existence of the Soul obviously not as ‘I’ yet, definitely not non existent, far as I recall you have not commented on that.

RICHARD: I have just now read through all eleven of your early posts – up until your post of 1/3/2001 where you said that you were then writing from Harlem in The Netherlands – and have been unable to find any question about ‘the existence of the Soul’ ... maybe it became lost?

But to comment: what I mean when I refer to ‘me’ a soul is not just the religious/ spiritual concept but, more importantly, the feeling of being ‘me’ – which is a feeling of being in the heart rather than in the head – it is ‘me’ at the core of ‘my’ being ... which is ‘being’ itself (an inner ‘presence’).

RESPONDENT: So ... although I know that the concept of soul is and has been a so called spiritual concept, I am tempted to reintroduce it into Actualism as this Magical aspect.

RICHARD: Why on earth would you want to do that ... souls do not have the corner on the magical aspect do they?

Incidentally, I was using the word ‘magical’ in its stage-magician sense of prestidigitation. Viz.:

• [Richard]: ‘... all ‘I’ had to do for it [the meaning of life] to be apparent was to disappear. It is all rather magical’. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 27b, 14 July 2002).

Also, this actual world is rather magical in the way it is all just here right now of its own accord (without any cause).

RESPONDENT: Well I guess that is bit of the bottom line. And it [it is all rather magical] will be evaluated as such that ultimately, any occurrence/ event in one’s life has this implicit ‘quality’ of magic.

RICHARD: Good ... doing so can only assist in the reawakening of one’s innate naiveté (which is the closest one can get to innocence whilst being a ‘self’).

In the actualism process, as detailed on The Actual Freedom Trust web site:

CLAUDIU: [...] The prospect of our meeting [in Australia] has certainly spurred my practice onward, and it seems like things are falling into place more & more. I do want to maximize the benefit gained from this visit, so, is there anything in particular I should do up to then, besides practice as sincerely and naively and tapping into pure intent as much as humanly possible? [...]

RICHARD (to Claudiu): [...] the best way to maximise the benefit gained from this trip is, of course, none other than what has become known as the actualism method ... to wit: enjoying and appreciating being alive, each moment again, come what may.

It really is that simple: all the rest – such as feeling as happy and as harmless as is humanly possible, each moment again, by minimising both those futile malicious/ sorrowful feelings plus their antidotal loving/ compassionate feelings (and, thereby, maximising the felicitous/ innocuous feelings via this sensible utilisation of the potency of affective energy), for instance, and by being as naïve as is humanly possible, in order to be naiveté (and, hence, be sensitive to and receptive of the overarching pure intent), via being sincere about achieving one’s goal (in order to, thus, be sincerity in action) of peace-on-earth in this lifetime, for example, concomitant to coming to one’s senses both literally and metaphorically – are the various ways and means of effecting that very enjoyment and appreciation of being alive, each moment again, regardless of the situation and the circumstances.

Put succinctly: the means to the end – enjoying and appreciating being alive – are, therefore, no different to that end (the very enjoyment and appreciation of being alive) other than the former is, of course, affective in its nature and the latter is, quite obviously, actual by its very disposition.

Lastly, the actualism method segues into what has become known as the actualism process when the actualism method has become so automatic, via habituation, that one is walking about in a state of wide-eyed wonder (naiveté) simply marvelling at being alive (sensuosity) and being amazed/ delighted that all this – the world about/the universe itself – is occurring in the first place; the actualism process is when it becomes more and more difficult to distinguish the difference between one doing it (doing this business called being alive) and it happening of its own accord; when one becomes the experiencing of being alive/of it all occurring of its own accord one is then out-from-control (not ‘out of control’ as in wayward) and a different-way-of-being has ensued.

It all becomes rather magical (‘magical’ as in prestidigitation) after that. (Private correspondence with Claudiu, 29 February 2012).

RICHARD: Be duly advised how the portrayal of the out-of-the-ordinary experience which follows this indispensable preface will have diverse effect dependent upon where the reader/ the listener is coming from, where the reader/ the listener is at, and where the reader/ the listener is heading for ... namely: if the reader/ the listener is of a materialistic conviction it will be an account of a weird and whacky event; if the reader/ the listener is of a spiritualist persuasion it will be testimony to a miraculous and magnipotent manifestation; if the reader/ the listener is of an actualistic attitude it will be a report of a marvellous and magical prodigy.

*

The reason why the word ‘magic’ is utilised (magic as in prestidigitation and not as in a sorcerer’s magic) is because no other word currently exists to adequately convey how a lifetime of cares and woes – all the misery and mayhem which epitomises the human condition – can vanish in an instant (and vanish so completely as to have never been in the first place).

• [Richard]: (...) it has to be experienced, as a flesh and blood body only (as in here in this actual world) in order to understand how things operate in actuality. And, just as stone-age natives thought of cameras/ photographs as ‘magic’ boxes/ ‘magic’ pictures (and not as the readily explicable technology it is) so too is the way in which things can operate here quite ‘magical’. (Richard, List D, No. 12, 7 January 2010).

In other words, just as it took millennia for humankind collectively to comprehend heliocentricity, for instance, so too may it be ages before the way things operate in actuality – how things function here in this actual world – be properly examined, be hypothesised about, be rigorously tested and, thus, explained in such a manner that the word ‘magical’ (as in ‘magic’ boxes/ ‘magic’ pictures) need never be utilised again.

Ain’t life grand! (Announcement Page, #sweetness, Tooltips)

The Floating Convivium Project

[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 interaction with several other actualists as well. (Richard, List D, No. 19, 30 November 2009).

RICHARD: (...) To explain: although I had declined each and every personal-meeting request for twelve years, for a number of reasons, I was not oblivious to the fact how the persons concerned might benefit, in whatever way it may be for them individually, from personally interacting (rather than just by either the written or spoken words in pixels/ print or video format).

There were, quite obviously, several factors to take into account if such interactions to occur:

1. I have never been keen on either formal meetings or scheduled appointments.

2. Given the costs involved in somebody taking time off work and travelling, say, halfway around the world and back then a single meeting comprising of, say, an hour or two might be too little for too much.

3. A series of meetings would, of necessity, involve securing accommodation, food and beverages over that extended period.

4. It is common practice for peoples to annually take a vacation.

As it had become increasingly apparent to all the directors of The Actual Freedom Trust how it would be benefactive, for those appreciative of having their actualism practice intensified by physical proximity, it was deemed eminently sensible to make available a venue wherein it would be possible to interact for a prearranged period, on a daily basis and as a part of everyday life, with not only myself but other actualists as well (with fellow travellers). The reasons for considering such a course of events arose out of the following:

1. As I was no longer engaged in sharing my discovery with my fellow human being via a keyboard my days were now fully available to do something else with.

2. I had been contemplating a lifestyle change, since turning sixty, which involved relocating to the coral reefs, tropical islands and turquoise lagoons off the north-eastern seaboard of Australia.

3. As my third wife had been the sole beneficiary of interacting with me on a daily basis, over the last decade, it became quite pointedly apparent that this exclusivity was effectively denying my other fellow human beings of the advantage which live-in or daily-living company brings.

4. My select associates had expressed an abiding interest in both the unique opportunity of a more intimate acquaintance as well as the idyllic lifestyle change to those paradisiacal environs ... complete with an affective vibe- and psychic current-free ambience such as to be conducive to the generation or maintenance of a felicitous and innocuous out-from-control/ different-way-of-being atmosphere so as to foster a happy and harmless milieu.

Accordingly, plans were set afoot to someday sell-up all our individual assets and collectively purchase, build, or have custom-built, an ocean-going vessel of suitable dimensions and capacity whereon the aforementioned holiday accommodation, food and beverages could be obtained via an informal reciprocal gifting arrangement comparable to what it would commercially cost a vacationer anyway.

(Please note that no additional monetary outlay was countenanced – not even that well-nigh ubiquitous ‘donation’ incumbent upon those guru-circuit peoples – as the equivalent-to-commercial vacation-style exchange would be sufficient unto itself).

(...)

As the ship (the MS Actualis) will serve as a residence as well as a venue, with the potential to travel virtually anywhere in the world if need be, it was apposite to call it ‘The Floating Convivium Project’ (from the Latin for ‘feast’ as in the enjoyment of jovial banquets and good company; the quality of being convivial; the relishing of festivity and so on).

There is more to both an actual and a virtual freedom from the human condition than nuclear couples living in separate homes; the overall aim is to provide the genesis of peoples living peacefully and harmoniously together on a community-wide basis.

I just happen to particularly like the boating life-style.

Regards, Richard.

*

RICHARD: Please stand by for a long-awaited public announcement, due to be made early in the new year, the consequences of which will have far-reaching implications and ramifications for anyone vitally interested in both an actual and a virtual freedom from the human condition. (Richard, List D at Large, 30 December 2009).

RICHARD: That long-awaited public announcement can now be accessed by clicking on the heading ‘A Long-Awaited Public Announcement’ (to be found only three paragraphs below the ‘Actual Freedom’ logo).

Please be prepared to be either shocked, appalled or delighted.

(It depends upon whether the title ‘The Third Alternative’, and all what it signifies, has been properly understood, in view of the truly magical nature of a PCE, or not).

DIRECTORS: The directors of The Actual Freedom Trust take great pleasure in making public knowledge of a direct route at the end of the wide and wondrous path (now both gentrified and rendered secure) to an actual freedom from the human condition – a down-to-earth manumission hitherto only available dangerously via spiritual enlightenment/ mystical awakenment – which has been pioneered by Peter, on the 30th of December 2009, thus making him the first person to become actually free of the instinctual passions/ the identity formed thereof  after Richard’s paradigm-shattering breakthrough in 1992.

The directors are also as equally pleased in making public knowledge of how Vineeto experientially confirmed the accessibility, safety and utter simplicity of this direct route, on the 4^th of January 2010, thus making her the first woman to be actually free of the instinctual passions/ the identity formed thereof. (It is now readily apparent that, where the menfolk went, there too did a woman go ... and sooner rather than eventually)!

As such, these two once-in-a-lifetime altruistic actions have ushered in a brand new era in human experience/ human history. (...)

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Addendum 2: The directors of The Actual Freedom Trust take great pleasure in announcing that Pamela became actually free of the instinctual passions/ the identity formed thereof on the 27^th of January 2010. (...)

Addendum 4: The directors of The Actual Freedom Trust take great pleasure in announcing that [name withheld] became actually free of the instinctual passions/ the identity formed thereof on the 30^th of January 2010.

RICHARD: Before applying the actualism method – the ongoing enjoyment and appreciation of this moment of being alive – it is essential for success to grasp the fact that this very moment which is happening now is your only moment of being alive. The past, although it did happen, is not actual now. The future, though it will happen, is not actual now. Only now is actual.

Yesterday’s happiness and harmlessness does not mean a thing if one is miserable and malicious now and a hoped-for happiness and harmlessness tomorrow is to but waste this moment of being alive in waiting. All one gets by waiting is more waiting. Thus any ‘change’ can only happen now. The jumping in point is always here; it is at this moment in time and this place in space. Thus, if one misses it this time around, hey presto, one has another chance immediately. Life is excellent at providing opportunities like this.

What ‘I’ did, all those years ago, was to devise a remarkably effective way to be able to enjoy and appreciate this moment of being alive each moment again (I know that methods are to be actively discouraged, in some people’s eyes, but this one worked). It does take some doing to start off with but, as success after success starts to multiply exponentially, it becomes progressively easier to enjoy and appreciate being here each moment again. One begins by asking, each moment again, ‘How am I experiencing this moment of being alive’?

Note: asking how one is experiencing this moment of being alive is not the actualism method; consistently enjoying and appreciating this moment of being alive is what the actualism method is. And this is because the actualism method is all about consciously and knowingly imitating life in the actual world. Also, by virtue of proceeding in this manner the means to the end – an ongoing enjoyment and appreciation – are no different to the end itself. (...)

As one knows from the pure consciousness experiences (PCE’s), which are moments of perfection everybody has at some stage in their life, that it is possible to experience this moment in time and this place in space as perfection personified, ‘I’ set the minimum standard of experience for myself: feeling good. If ‘I’ am not feeling good then ‘I’ have something to look at to find out why. What has happened, between the last time ‘I’ felt good and now? When did ‘I’ feel good last? Five minutes ago? Five hours ago? What happened to end those felicitous feelings? Ahh ... yes: ‘He said that and I ...’. Or: ‘She didn’t do this and I ...’. Or: ‘What I wanted was ...’. Or: ‘I didn’t do ...’. And so on and so on ... one does not have to trace back into one’s childhood ... usually no more than yesterday afternoon at the most (‘feeling good’ is an unambiguous term – it is a general sense of well-being – and if anyone wants to argue about what feeling good means ... then do not even bother trying to do this at all).

Once the specific moment of ceasing to feel good is pin-pointed, and the silliness of having such an incident as that (no matter what it is) take away one’s enjoyment and appreciation of this only moment of being alive is seen for what it is – usually some habitual reactive response – one is once more feeling good ... but with a pin-pointed cue to watch out for next time so as to not have that trigger off yet another bout of the same-old same-old. This is called nipping it in the bud before it gets out of hand ... with application and diligence and patience and perseverance one soon gets the knack of this and more and more time is spent enjoying and appreciating this moment of being alive. And, of course, once one does get the knack of this, one up-levels ‘feeling good’, as a bottom line each moment again, to ‘feeling happy and harmless’ ... and after that to ‘feeling perfect’.

The more one enjoys and appreciates being just here right now – to the point of excellence being the norm – the greater the likelihood of a PCE happening ... a grim and/or glum person has no chance whatsoever of allowing the magical event, which indubitably shows where everyone has being going awry, to occur. Plus any analysing and/or psychologising and/or philosophising whilst one is in the grip of debilitating feelings usually does not achieve much (other than spiralling around and around in varying degrees of despair and despondency or whatever) anyway.
The wide and wondrous path to an actual freedom from the human condition is marked by enjoyment and appreciation – the sheer delight of being as happy and harmless as is humanly possible whilst remaining a ‘self’ – and the slightest diminishment of such felicity/ innocuity is a warning signal (a flashing red light as it were) that one has inadvertently wandered off the way.
One is thus soon back on track ... and all because of everyday events. (Richard, Articles, This Moment of Being Alive).

RESPONDENT: Richard, I was wondering if you have experientially noticed whether or not your body responds more favourably towards certain foods. It would seem common sense to me that if one is serious about becoming free one would want all the vitality possible in order to fuel this pursuit.

RICHARD: I have indeed noticed whether or not I respond more favourably towards certain foods (in terms of being able to have all the vitality possible in order to become actually free from the human condition) .... else I would never have written the following:

• [Richard]: ‘The words and writings promulgated and promoted by The Actual Freedom Trust explicate the workings of an actual freedom from the human condition and a virtual freedom in practice in the market place. There is no meditating in silence or living in a monastery shut away from the world. There are no celibacy or obedience requirements. There are *no dietary demands* or daily regimes of exercise. No one is excluded by age or racial or gender origins. There are no prescribed books to study ... upwards of maybe two million words are available [in the year 2000] for free on The Actual Freedom Web Page. There are no courses to follow or therapies to undergo or workshops to endure. There are no fees to pay or any clique to join ... there are no rules at all’. [emphasis added]. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 12d, 23 November 2000).

I expressly mentioned what provides all the vitality possible (‘energises’ = ‘vitalises’) only the day before you posted this e-mail I am responding to:

• [Richard]: ‘If there is no vital interest in peace-on-earth, or were that vital interest to fade away such that the pure intent to attain to one’s destiny dissipates, then the actualism method would fail, or begin to fail, like any other action done within the human condition as it is the end which energises the means (and which is why the means needs not to be dissimilar from the end) (...) the identity inhabiting this flesh and blood body all those years ago had that magic elixir (so to speak) by the bucket-load for the meaning of life had become stunningly apparent in that 1980 PCE which set the entire process in motion ... peace-on-earth is a fringe-benefit, a side-effect, of living in this actual world’. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, Rick-a, 21 January 2006).

And the following has been re-posted twice this week by others (‘vivacity’ = ‘vitality’):

• [Richard]: ‘(...) To live a virtual freedom one knowingly and deliberately imitates the actual inasmuch as is possible given that one is still human. It is the pure intent to ingenuously live the actual that imbues virtual freedom with its feeling of perfection and subsequent delight and joy. To be without this connection betwixt naiveté and the perfection of the infinitude of this very material universe, then any freedom loses its dynamism, its lustre, its brilliance, its vivacity ... ’. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, Irene, 11 October 1998).

RESPONDENT: One thing that I have found is it is indeed ‘pure intent’ that makes the difference between ‘stunning success’ and ‘so-so success’ in my practice of the actualism method.

RICHARD: The pure intent to ... to what?

RESPONDENT: Sometimes my intent is a bit grey.

RICHARD: Why is your intent sometimes a bit grey ... is it because of having lapsed from a [quote] ‘whole foods’ [endquote] diet into eating processed meat and pasteurised/ homogenised dairy products (for instance) or is it because it has waned-declined and/or flagged-deteriorated and/or faded-degenerated and/or decayed-disappeared through the lack of having that ‘magic elixir’ (one’s destiny) inexorably drawing one on, like a moth to a candle, in the first place?

(...)

RESPONDENT: I am surprised that your body seemingly is equally vital, no matter what you ingest (that is what I gather from your above requotes).

RICHARD: I never said that I was equally vital (seemingly or otherwise) no matter what I ingest ... I was speaking in terms of an identity having [quote] ‘all the vitality possible’ [endquote], in order for an actual freedom from the human condition to come about, as I was answering your query to that very effect.

To explain: the identity in residence all those years ago had me ingest all manner of different diets (such as vegetarianism, veganism, and fruitarianism, for instance), in place of the common or garden variety of omnivorism prevalent in mainstream western societies, and it made absolutely no difference – none whatsoever – in regards to ‘him’ having [quote] ‘all the vitality possible’ [endquote] so as to bring about an actual freedom from the human condition for me.

In other words, ‘he’ could have put me on a bread-and-water diet (as in solitary confinement in some insalubrious penitentiary) and yet, because there was that ‘magic elixir’ energising the means, ‘he’ would still have had all the vitality necessary – bucket-loads of it in fact – in order for an actual freedom from the human condition to come about for me.

Put simply: ‘you’ are not the body ‘you’ are inhabiting – never have been and never will be – despite any and all attempts to identify as same.

RESPONDENT: I have my OWN commitment to integrity in this investigation, that depends not a whit upon yours.

RICHARD: If I may suggest? Sincerity is the key to unlock one’s innate naiveté, the nourishing of which is essential if the wondrous magic of life itself is to be apparent, which naiveté effortlessly provides the ‘integrity’ you say you have your own commitment to.

Speaking of which ... did you not notice that I said the commitment was a ‘total dedication to global peace and harmony’ (and not the ‘commitment to integrity’ you make it out to be)?

Just curious.

RESPONDENT: If, as time unfolds, your commitment, or anyone else’s should appear less that 100% ...

RICHARD: Again (and put differently for emphasis) my commitment is 0.00%.

RESPONDENT: ... my commitment to doing this investigation with integrity will be unaffected.

RICHARD: So be it ... you stay with your commitment to ‘doing this investigation with integrity’ then, and let other people, who have twigged to the fact that naïveté is the closest that one can come to innocence (which is where integrity lies) whilst remaining a ‘self’, proceed on their way so that the results of your experiment can be assessed for viability against this salient bench mark.

I might add, though, that naïveté does away with all that ‘heavy lifting’ you spoke of in an earlier e-mail. Viz.:

• [Respondent]: ‘From what I can glean so far, virtual freedom is a period of ‘heavy lifting’. (‘Introduction’; Friday, 27 July 2003).

Where you have gleaned this diaphoretic impression from has got me stumped ... here is but one of the many ways I describe the actualism practice:

• [Richard]: ‘... the wide and wondrous path to an actual freedom from the human condition is marked by enjoyment and appreciation – the sheer delight of being as happy and harmless as is humanly possible whilst remaining a ‘self’ – and the slightest diminishment of such felicity/ innocuity is a warning signal (a flashing red light as it were) that one has inadvertently wandered off the way.
One is thus soon back on track ... and all because of everyday events. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 38, 20 February 2003).

Or even more specifically to the point of your ‘heavy lifting’ comment:

• [Co-Respondent]: ‘If it is the experiencer that makes efforts to be aware and stay aware, the centre is strengthened, not dissolved, right?
• [Richard]: ‘Since when has naiveté been sudorific? (Richard, List B, No 12q, 5 January 2003).

In short: if it be not either easy (effortless) or fun (enjoyable) then there is something to look at until it is again.

RICHARD: (...) 8. There is a wide and wondrous path to actual freedom: One asks oneself, each moment again, ‘how am I experiencing this moment of being alive’? This gives rise to apperception. Apperception is the outcome of the exclusive attention paid to being alive right here and now. Apperception is to be the senses as a bare awareness, a pure consciousness experience (PCE) of the world as-it-is, which happens when the mind becomes aware of itself. Apperception is an awareness of consciousness. It is not ‘I’ being aware of ‘me’ being conscious; it is the mind’s awareness of itself.

9. The day finally dawns where the definitive moment of being here, right now, conclusively arrives; something irrevocable takes place and every thing and every body and every event is different, somehow, although the same physically; something immutable occurs and every thing and every body and every event is all-of-a-sudden undeniably actual, in and of itself, as a fact; something irreversible happens and an immaculate perfection and a pristine purity permeates every thing and every body and every event; something has changed forever, although it is as if nothing has happened, except that the entire world is a magical fairytale-like playground full of incredible gladness and a delight which is never-ending.

Put succinctly: ‘my’ demise was as fictitious as ‘my’ apparent presence; I have always been here, in this actual world of sensorial delight, one realises, for it was that ‘I’ only imagined ‘I’ existed; ‘my’ presence had been but an emotional/ passional play in a fertile imagination; an emotional/ passional play which fuelled actual hormonal substances, however, triggered off from within the brain-stem by the instinctual emotions/ passions bestowed per favour blind nature. Thus the psyche – the entire affective faculty born of the survival instincts themselves – is wiped out forever and one is finally what one has actually been all along: a sensitive and reflective flesh-and-blood body simply brimming with sense organs revelling in this sensuous world of immediate experience. As this flesh-and-blood body only one is this infinite, eternal, and perdurable universe experiencing itself as an apperceptive human being ... as such it is stunningly aware of its own infinitude. And this is truly wonderful.

RICHARD (to Alan): 

• [Richard]: ‘One cannot think or feel one’s way into this magical world – the world as-it-is in actuality – but one does need an absolute conviction that such a world exists. This conviction comes out of the pure consciousness experience ... and these peak experiences are momentary glimpses into the actual, the world of pristine perfection. To reiterate: in the PCE, it is immediately seen that ‘I’ do not actually exist’. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, Alan-a, #Peak Experience).

I see that this naming dialogue was re-opened when Peter suggested introducing the phrase ‘excellence experience’ to describe the penultimate virtual freedom experience ... and all this discussion is well worthwhile, eh? My companion, who is exacting when it comes to grading herself/ her experiences, has classifications ranging from good, very good, very, very good, excellent ... and the perfection peak experience (PCE). She is most particular to not confuse an excellence experience with a perfection experience ... and the most outstanding distinction in the excellence experience is the marked absence of what I call the ‘magical’ element. What I describe as ‘magical’ she prefers to call ‘entering into the fourth dimension’ (not to be confused with the Hindu fourth state known as ‘Turiya’).

This magical ‘other dimension’ is where time has no duration as the normal ‘now’ and ‘then’ and space has no distance as the normal ‘here’ and ‘there’ and form has no distinction as the normal ‘was’ and ‘will be’ ... there is only this moment in eternal time at this place in infinite space as this flesh and blood body being apperceptively aware (a three hundred and sixty degree awareness, as it were). Everything and everyone is transparently and sparklingly obvious, up-front and out-in-the open ... there is nowhere to hide and no reason to hide as there is no ‘me’ to hide. One is totally exposed and open to the universe: one is perennially just here right now ... actually in time and actually in space as actual form. This apperception (selfless awareness) is an unmediated perspicacity wherein one is this universe experiencing itself as a sensate and reflective human being; as such the universe is stunningly aware of its own infinitude.

It may or may not be a useful phrase to others ... which is what Peter was asking. I cannot definitively say one way or the other as I am not an expert on virtual freedom ... virtual freedom is derived from what the ‘I’ that was lived from March to September in 1981 and was first put into practice by my previous companion. When she dropped the baton, so as to pursue other avenues, Peter and Vineeto had already taken up the challenge to pioneer the wide and wondrous path. They are the first couple to live together in peace and harmony – by being as happy and harmless as is humanly possible for twenty three hours and fifty nine minutes a day – and both they and Grace intimately know far, far more about the intricacies of the daily living of it than I do.

By and large I go by their reports as to how effective it is.

RESPONDENT: Hey Big Boy,

RICHARD: G’day No. 12, I have re-inserted a preceding exchange solely so as to facilitate my response to your queries (further below).

• [Respondent No. 2]: By the way, how did you conclude that the striking event was a consequence of your wife’s ‘Being’ and not simply due to her influence, so to speak?

• [Richard]: An apperceptive awareness of the nuances in the way or manner in which this flesh and blood body operates and functions – which the awareness of the actualism method seeks to imitate – whilst interacting with fellow human beings is more than sufficient to conclude what the striking event was a consequence of. Viz.:

[Richard]: ‘( ... ) although I was not advised of her death until the following day within the hour I was as if lifted forward by a cresting wave (to utilise surfing terminology), impressing upon Vineeto the necessity of being out-from-control/ in a different-way-of-being (most unusual of me to do so) ...’. (Richard, List D, No. 22, 5 January 2010).

*

• [Respondent No. 2]: As an (ostensibly) actually free person, how do you deduce the psychic causation in the real world?

• [Richard]: :-))))))))))))))))(((((((((((((((((-: Ha ... magically, of course. :-))))))))))))))))(((((((((((((((((-:

<< o >>

~~~~~~~~~~_/)~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~after~actual~freedom~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (Richard, List D, No. 2, 6 January 2010).

RESPONDENT: While a gather all the above is said jokingly ...

RICHARD: The Q&A immediately above my signature/ sign-off is indeed said jokingly – hence the 4 (slightly hypnotic) big smilies top and bottom – but the ASCII art signature line is most certainly not a joke. And the reason why I replied jokingly is because I had already answered that query with my response in the (re-inserted exchange) preceding it.

What I should have said is that it has to be experienced, as a flesh and blood body only (as in here in this actual world) in order to understand how things operate in actuality. And, just as stone-age natives thought of cameras/ photographs as ‘magic’ boxes/ ‘magic’ pictures (and not as the readily explicable technology it is) so too is the way in which things can operate here quite ‘magical’.

*

RICHARD: 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).

Generally speaking, the word psychic or psychical in virtually any context refers to anything of or pertaining to the energies of the psyche or being itself – the soul, the spirit or the self parasitically inhabiting the flesh and blood body – any non-material, incorporeal, other-worldly, unworldly, unearthly, non-human or inhuman currents or emanations. Any energy flow which is ethereal, ephemeral, intangible, cryptic, inexplicable, enigmatic, unfathomable and which is instinctual, intuitive prescient, telekinetic, telepathic or clairvoyant ... anything extrasensory.

It can refer to anything occult, arcane, esoteric or ghostly – anything to do with witchcraft, sorcery or wizardry (be it either white magic or black magic) – everything supernatural, super-normal, preternatural, preternormal, transcendental or numinous ... anything religious, spiritual, mystical or metaphysical. The metaphysical includes the hallowed, consecrated, sanctified, deified, beatific, holy, divine, heavenly and sacred – including anything saintly, cherubic or angelic – and the sinful, black-hearted, damnable, sinister, fiendish, infernal, diabolical ... anything demonic, devilish, hellish, satanic and evil.

Terror and respect – awe and dread – are the ultimate rule in the human world. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 12c, #Energies).

RESPONDENT: Was it mere coincide that you were impressing upon Vineeto the importance if being out-from-control within the hour of her death, even though you were not notified of her death until the next day?

RICHARD: No, it was no coincidence that I impressed upon Vineeto the necessity of being out-from-control/ in a different-way-of being (which was most unusual of me to do so) but it was only with the benefit of hindsight, of course, that it was specifically because of Devika’s/ Irene’s death that all what thereafter ensued came about.

‘Tis amazing how quick its effect was ... within the very hour.

RESPONDENT: Or what mechanism prompted you?

RICHARD: No mechanism prompted me; it was my select associates at the time – feeling-beings all of them – who all-of-a-sudden no longer had an impenetrable psychic force-field barring their access or blocking them from getting (existentially) close to me.

Thus the impetus for me being as if lifted forward by a cresting wave (to utilise surfing terminology) came from them; after all, setting into motion plans for intensifying their actualism practice is what we had all gathered together there for, in that remote river wilderness area on that weekend in November, 2009 (in what became known as ‘The First Convivium Gathering’), and it was Vineeto’s existential proximity in particular which was the keenest impetus.

(Hence me impressing upon her, and not another, the necessity of being out-from-control/ in a different-way-of being).

*

On the following Monday (the 16th of November), the day after being notified of my second wife’s death, shortly after that ‘First Convivium Gathering’ had concluded and my select associates had all gone back to their respective residences thus leaving me once again on my own at the navigable head of that remote river system, this impetus resulted in a profound event occurring – the first of what became known as magical prodigies – whilst I was contemplating the significance of her death; a tremendous surge of calorific energy travelled from the lower solar-plexus, from just above the sex-centre, up through the rib-cage diaphragm, suffusing the entire thoracic region with a sparkling effervescence and generating a golden hue in the visual field; this prodigy, which came to be known as ‘the quickening’, remained operating 24/7 all through both the epoch-changing events of late 2009/ early 2010 and those other magical prodigies, already made public knowledge, which enabled/ facilitated those events.

These last few months, beginning in the morning of Friday the 7th of October 2011, a clearer, finer version of ‘the quickening’ has been subtly making itself noticed more and more; by ‘clearer, finer’ I mean the visual field is marked by a distinct crystalline character, rather than a golden hue, and the sparkling effervescence, which is more full-body this time around, has a much finer quality to it such that a fine-champagne-bubbles type of word Devika made-up all those years ago – ‘tintling’ – seems to be most apt.

‘Tis all quite marvellous.

*

RESPONDENT: You are also writing that Vineeto was able to pick up on a sense of ‘sweetness’ of the ‘quickening.’ Considering that I don’t know of any scientific evidence for such communication at a distance ...

RICHARD: As an actual freedom from the human condition is entirely new to human experience/ human history how on earth could there possibly be any scientific evidence yet for the way of enabling/ facilitating access to this completely new consciousness – a totally original way of flesh-and-blood bodies being conscious – for all humankind to avail themselves of?

Are you really saying I should wait for some boffin in a white coat in a laboratory somewhere to provide scientific evidence for that way of enabling/ facilitating this access before ... um ... proceeding with enabling/ facilitating that access?

*

Look, I wrote about this very topic, on The Actual Freedom Trust website, over two years ago. Viz.:

• [Richard]: ‘(...) the reason why the word ‘magic’ is utilised (magic as in prestidigitation and not as in a sorcerer’s magic) is because no other word currently exists to adequately convey how a lifetime of cares and woes – all the misery and mayhem which epitomises the human condition – can vanish in an instant (and vanish so completely as to have never been in the first place).

What I have written elsewhere may be of some assistance in comprehension. Viz.:

• [Richard]: ‘(...) it has to be experienced, as a flesh and blood body only (as in here in this actual world) in order to understand how things operate in actuality. And, just as stone-age natives thought of cameras/ photographs as ‘magic’ boxes/ ‘magic’ pictures (and not as the readily explicable technology it is) so too is the way in which things can operate here quite ‘magical’. [07 January 2010].

In other words, just as it took millennia for humankind collectively to comprehend heliocentricity, for instance, so too may it be ages before the way things operate in actuality – how things function here in this actual world – be properly examined, be hypothesised about, be rigorously tested and, thus, explained in such a manner that the word ‘magical’ (as in ‘magic’ boxes/ ‘magic’ pictures) need never be utilised again’. (Announcement1, Tool-tip).

You must surely have read those words as Vineeto quoted them to you in a private email she sent to you (on Wednesday the 25th of January, 2012, at 9:19 PM) in response to your private requests for clarification about ‘magic’ and ‘paranormal powers’.

RICHARD: G’day Rick, As the operative-word in all the above is ‘self-worth’ (and self-worth as derived from others’ opinion at that) perhaps a personal anecdote may be of assistance.

(If nothing else it will provide some light relief/ entertainment).

Many years ago, back when I was a normal bloke and making my living as a practising artist, a minor art gallery in a major city approached me with a proposition to stage a one-man exhibition of my idiosyncratic ceramic work – with the selection to be entirely of my own choice – complete with metropolis-wide advertising, an opening night with the usual razzamatazz (wine and cheese, etc.), invitations to various art-critics, quite liberal terms of commission, and a guaranteed-to-be-exclusive three-week run.

I was a big frog in a small provincial pond, at the time, and this was an opportunity to be a small frog in a large urban pond – to put one foot on the bottom rung of a potential ladder of national success – so the rather generous offer with its opportune entrée into the inner-city art establishment was readily accepted and a firm date was set for three months hence.

Without any thought at all it was obvious to me the exhibition would comprise entirely of fresh pieces – even though there was already more than enough high quality items at hand (which the art gallery had in mind) – as that way a cohesive body of work, with a yet to be discovered theme, would bring about the integrity necessary to carry the day.

Now, with ceramics there is normally a five-to-six week lead-in time (due to the process of making, carving, drying, first-firing, glazing, decorating, and second-firing) yet the days became weeks until, despite the frequent reminders and promptings of my then-wife, only three weeks remained before the big night.

And three weeks was the absolute minimum time-span; if the eighty-odd pieces were not formed today then the afore-mentioned hodgepodge stock-at-hand would have to be pressed into service.

Not that the art-gallery would mind, of course, but I would.

For most of the morning I wedged, kneaded and balled the highest quality (the most-aged and ripened) clay from my extensive stocks of hand-dug and hand-mixed local clays; it was one of those quite marvellous days of lightly overcast skies and a gentle, misty rain; there was no wind at all, not even the slightest zephyr of a breeze; the quietly gleaming hand-made copper kettle was sitting, steaming gently atop the cheery pot-bellied stove in my studio; music from a nowadays-superseded four-track cartridge player was piping through all its strategically placed speakers; the dank, swampy aroma of the well-matured clay was filling the nostrils as it began to bounce elastically beneath my well-practiced kneading hands; and soon all was well, within my world, as any and all stress from time-pressure softly ebbed away.

Settling myself onto my home-made pottery wheel, and kicking it into action, I swiftly and easily formed a few small throwaway pieces so as to get my hand in.

Then, without any further ado, I reached for the first of the eighty-odd different-sized balls of finely-prepared clay; dropping it onto the still slowing-turning wheel-head I kicked up the momentum of the heavy wheel beneath my feet; moistening my hands in the bowls of warm, muddy water to either side I then centred the clay ball and began throwing the first of the many individual pieces which would eventually comprise the whole.

Being well-dug, well-prepared, well-aged, well-wedged and well-kneaded, the clay, whilst supremely elastic, was taut and springy beneath the hands; there would be no slumping, no sagging, no bulging, just this easy pulling up to maximum height; just this graceful setting of bellied form; just this elegant rolling of lip; just this effortless forming of the base; just this ready pass of the cutting thread detaching it from the wheel-head; just this gentle placing of it on the ready-to-hand shelf-tray nearby; just this regular reaching for the next ball; just this easy kicking keeping the momentum rolling.

Upon placing the third or fourth newly-formed piece alongside its predecessors, and whilst reaching for the next ball, it is evident the clouds are clearing a trifle; the sun is shining fitfully through a gap onto the translucent full-height screens immediately to the front; some chickens are clucking and scratching around in the ground just beyond them; ducks are quacking and nosing into the mud of the small pond nearby; off in the near-distance the pigs are snorting and snuffling for roots; one of the goats is bleating; a couple of the geese are honking; and ... and a by-now-familiar and oh-so-subtle shift is occurring in the brain-stem.

All-of-a-sudden there is a vast stillness – there is absolutely no movement of time – and in that perfect peace the piece of pottery is making itself.

The foot is kicking the massive wheel of its own accord; the hands are dipping themselves into the warm, muddy water; the eyes are eying the bellied form all on their own; the hands, one on the inside and the other on the outside just below the former, are gently coaxing the perfect shape without command (or is the perfect form gently coaxing the hands to its bidding); and the whole world – nay, the entire universe, itself – is a magical fairytale-like wonderland where nothing, but nothing, ever ultimately goes wrong.

*

And then, with the sun sinking spectacularly in the west behind banked clouds, the one-hundredth pot has made itself (so much for the planned eighty-odd) and the one-man exhibition is in the bag ... guaranteed to be a fantastic success.

*

It is now three weeks later: all the pieces have been carved, dried, first-fired, glazed, decorated, second-fired, packed, transported, unpacked and selectively placed upon their pedestals in the major city art gallery.

It is opening night and the place is packed with peoples from many walks of life; all milling around, glasses in hand, seeing and being seen. Being the star of the show I am, accordingly, a trifle late in arriving (as is the fashion). With orange juice in hand I mix and mingle; a word or two here; a tilt of the head there; a small chat here; a wink and a grin there; a murmured response here; and all the while noticing those little red stickers appearing, first on this piece, then on that piece, more on those pieces, until almost every single piece is snapped-up.

It is shaping up to be a sell-out ... and all on opening night!

The curator is tapping on his glass, calling for attention, and the speechifying begins; soon it is my turn to speak and every eye is turned toward me, every ear is listening to me, everybody’s rapt attention is directed towards the ... well, towards the star of the show, of course.

But I am not the star of the show – the pieces made themselves, remember, back in that magical wonderland – and yet all of the accolades, all of the applause, all of the (yes) adulation, is centred solely upon me.

It was at that moment I understood something so profound it is permanently etched into the memory banks ... to wit: I did not and could not value their collective/ individual opinions one iota, one jot, for they knew not of what they spoke.

And even if they were to be told, that the pieces magically made themselves, they would lavish praise for being so gifted/ so blessed/ so whatever.

Moreover, they did not, and would not ever, comprehend that the esteem they bestowed so lavishly slid straight off me like that proverbial water off a duck’s back ... as, at that very moment, self-esteem and all its associated vanity and humility vanished out of my life forever, never to return, even unto this very day.