March 25 2023:
QUESTION: Why do Richard and Vineeto discuss topics which are not related to actualism?
RICHARD: If a wannabe actualiser
– let alone a practicing actualist – cannot easily
differentiate between the facts and factoids which are so prolific in current-affairs and/or is unable to
readily descry factuality amidst fantasy in everyday interactions and/or is having difficulty in drawing distinctions
amongst the lies, the bull, and the truth in the political arena and/or is struggling with
discriminating betwixt scientism and scientolism in specialist
areas of human endeavour and/or is largely unaware of the operation of an oh-so-prevalent peasant-mentality defence of groupthink orthodoxy regarding
public policy
agendas – somewhat similar in manner to what is known in psychological and/or psychiatric terms as Capture-Bonding (popularly known as Stockholm Syndrome when localised, and Oslo Syndrome when
communalised) – and/or cannot distinguish in a ready manner how subjectivity differs from objectivity in daily appraisals of their outer-world reality,
then how is any such actualiser and/or actualist going to fare upon embarking on an exploration of their inner-world reality in order to determine how
they ‘tick’, so to speak, where all such real-world lines of demarcation
are blurred and/or non-existent?
As regards the specifics of discussing such topics the following observation from 2006 is as valid today, in 2023, as it was
seventeen years ago.
Viz.:
[Richard]: (...). I will leave you with a reminder of what I wrote to you five months ago:
• [Richard to Respondent]: Whilst on the topic of assumptive premises: more than a few of my correspondences involves getting the
other to see that their entire argument is an elaborate edifice resting upon an invalid
premise – somewhat akin to a pyramid teetering (upside-down) on its cap-stone – and that had they examined same for themselves they would not have needed
to write to me in the first place.
In other words, more often than not my communications are all about having my fellow human being think for themselves.
~ (‘Re: Some Other Question’; Thursday, 26/10/2006).
Just so that there is no misunderstanding: your futuristic scenario rests upon several invalid premises and many and various
unsupported assumptions and suppositions. (...).
(Richard, General Correspondence, Page14, 8Apr07).
Moreover, and pertinent to all this, is what feeling-being ‘Vineeto’ reported after the first few weeks of listening to Richard/
reading Richard’s words. Speaking in regards to the effects any and all attempts to fit this totally new paradigm into ‘her’ existing mindset were
having, ‘she’ explained the process as being ... (1.) as if ‘her’ brain was being turned upside-down ... and (2.) how ‘she’ was having to relearn how
to think all over again.
For instance:
8.5.1999.
RESPONDENT: Here are some questions that I have: [...]
VINEETO: Good to hear from you. So you have been reading the web-sites and experimenting enough
to come up with some very precise questions.
First, it is good to get some method in one’s way of thinking. When I met Richard, this is what I
remember as one of the first things we talked about – how to think, contemplate and inquire in a way that there is some result. He told me that
it is useful to always come back to the question or topic from where I started and not – as our untrained brains tend to do – get lost in the
different alleys and branches of speculation, imagination or irrelevant side-issues. Particularly when the subject is emotionally challenging,
when a dearly-held belief is questioned and when fear arises, we are usually very quick in changing the subject and steering away from the
‘dangerous’ area. But when investigating the Human Condition in oneself, there will be lots of ‘dangerous’ areas of contemplation, there
will be beliefs to be dismantled and emotions to unveil. That’s the whole purpose of the investigation in the first place, to discover the
underlying beliefs and instinctual passions of a certain behaviour or emotional reaction, to uncover and eliminate one’s very ‘self’.
(Vineeto, List AF, No 15, 08.5.1999)
*
24.5.2003
VINEETO: (...). Obviously, in order to learn something brand-new to human history you will have to put
aside any inkling of insistence that you ‘already know’ and that ‘you are right’ and consider the possibility that you
have been on the wrong track all along. This can, of course, be a devastating blow to one’s pride but, then again, the question
is ... would you let pride stand in the way of learning something new about the human condition? In order to understand actualism
it is vital that you are open to the possibility that all of humanity has got it 180 degrees wrong.
It is vital to understand that the word ‘wrong’ has nothing to do with a moral or
ethical judgement as in ‘you have been a bad person’ but that it is a simple statement of fact that none of the traditional
real-world methods or spiritual beliefs and teachings has brought peace on earth, i.e. they are wrong in that they don’t work.
Despite their perpetual promises, none of the religious and spiritual movements, none of the self-help-therapies and none of the
revered philosophies has come up with a practical down-to-earth, workable solution to eliminate malice and sorrow in human
existence. Their solutions do not work, basta [=enough! stop!]. So the first requirement is to overcome the hurdle of pride so that you are able to admit that you know nothing about what actualism is on about.
The next requirement of learning something new is to become aware of and reign in one’s initial automatic reaction of ‘self’-defence – an instinctual knee-jerk reaction, which sabotages any intelligent inquiry into facts before one has even started. This almost-instantaneous reaction is always thoughtless, as it is activated prior to the possibility of any thinking happening, be the thinking sensible or otherwise. This ‘quick and dirty processing pathway’ results not only in a direct automatic bodily response, but the Amygdala’s direct connection to the neo-cortex is much slower – causing us to then emotionally experience the instinctually-perceived danger – i.e. we feel the fear a split-second later than the bodily reaction.
This is crucial to understand in order to be able to gather some factual information as opposed to merely having an intuitive-instinctual thoughtless gut-feeling of what feels ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. In order to be able to think clearly – free from the grip of one’s own instinctual passions – one first needs to decide to let one’s initial instinctual thoughtless reactions pass by and then assess carefully the facts of what is being said.
The third requirement of learning something new is to dust off and polish one’s somewhat rusty capacity to think and reflect in a less ‘self’-centred set-in-your-ways manner, to contemplate and question, to inquire and explore, in short, to develop one’s non-affective intelligence. When I first discovered actualism, I had to re-learn how to think, to contemplate and inquire in a way that produced some tangible result from the effort. For instance I learnt that it is useful to always come back to the original question or issue from where I started and not – as our usually untrained brains tend to do – get lost in different alleys and branches of speculation, imagination or irrelevant side issues. Prior to discovering actualism, I was usually very quick in inadvertently changing the subject and steering away from ‘dangerous’ areas, particularly when one of my dearly held beliefs was in question.
When I started investigating the Human Condition in myself, there were lots of ‘dangerous’ areas of contemplation, beliefs to be dismantled and feelings to be unveiled, lots of issues that I felt needed to be avoided at all costs. I remember I was literally stunned by the outcome of applying straightforward thinking and I was also surprised to find out how roundabout my usual way of thinking had been, particularly as I had been so totally influenced by Eastern spiritual teachings of ‘above all, do not think’. Autonomous thinking has such a bad press in the spiritual world where one is taught that the gateway to heaven is to ‘follow your feelings’, ‘trust you intuition’ and ‘leave your mind at the door’, some of Mohan Rajneesh’s favourite admonishments.
When I started on the path to Actual Freedom it was an adventure and a delight to re-instate, lubricate and develop my common sense, autonomous thinking and intelligence in order to understand the actual and factual world, to make sense of all of the beliefs that I had adopted that were the very substance of my social identity, and to study and examine the instinctual passions that are the very substance of my instinctual identity or ‘being’.
It was fascinating to observe and experience my brain clicking into crystal clear functioning – at first only once in a while with what one would call a ‘striking thought’ or realisation and then I soon noticed that I could actually make sense of the down-to-earth conversations about Actual Freedom I had with Richard or Peter. Eventually I was able to think straightforward autonomous thoughts, unclouded by fear or imagination and come to startlingly obvious conclusions and realisations. The outcome of such applications of common sense was often very staggering, new, fresh, shockingly different to what I had believed, ‘felt’ or ‘intuitively known’ to be true.
Down-to-earth practical common sense, of course, has nothing to do with theoretical rationalisation, useless philosophising, cerebral masturbation and conceptual imagination. For me, the crucial test always is – how can I put my sensible understanding into practice, how can I put my realisation into practice, how can I act on the ‘striking thought’. I enjoy the astonishing clarity that the human brain is capable of and I have applied it to my behaviour in order to become free from malice and sorrow. The outcome is dazzling, to say the least.
(Vineeto, List AF, No 52, 24.5.2003
*
24.4.2002
RESPONDENT:
VINEETO: When I came across actualism, the first thing I had to do was dust off my brain and shift it back into thinking gear – discovering how to think, contemplate and inquire in a way that there is some result. I found it useful in my contemplations to always remember to keep coming back to the question or issue, and not – as our usually untrained brains tend to do – get lost in the different alleys and branches of speculation, imagination or irrelevant side issues. I became aware that whenever the subject was too close to the bone, whenever a dearly held belief was questioned, I was usually very quick in changing the subject and steering away from the ‘dangerous’ area. I remember being surprised to discover how roundabout and aversely my way of thinking often had been.
Mind and thinking has such a bad press in the spiritual world where one is taught that the gateway to ‘inner peace’ is to ‘follow your feelings, trust you intuition and leave your mind at the door’. When I started on the path to Actual Freedom it was a pleasure and delight to re-instate, lubricate and develop my common sense and intelligence in order to make sense of all the beliefs that I had adopted, the instinctual passions that I was driven by and begin to understand the actual world.
It was fascinating to observe and experience my brain clicking into clear function – at first only once in a while with what one would call a ‘striking thought’ and then I noticed that I could actually make sense of a down-to-earth conversation about Actual Freedom I had with either Richard or Peter. Eventually I was able to think straightforward thoughts, unclouded by fear or imagination and come to startlingly obvious conclusions. The outcome of such application of common sense was often very staggering, new, fresh and shockingly different to what I had believed, ‘felt’ or ‘intuited’.
Down-to-earth practical common sense, of course, has nothing to do with rational theorising, useless philosophising, cerebral masturbation or conceptual imagination.
For me, the crucial test of common sense always is – how can I put my understanding into practice, how can I actualise my realisation, how can I act on the ‘striking thought’. In my spiritual days, striking thoughts would come and go and I did nothing but revel in the feeling of ‘knowing’. Those insights, even when they were sensible realisations, disappeared without a trace after a few hours or days and didn’t have any impact on solving my problems. Nowadays, because I am vitally interested in being here, I enjoy the stunning clarity that the human brain is capable of and I also put my understanding into action – and what excellence, what a thrill!
(...).
In actualism I learned to question my learned notions of right and wrong, good and bad and slowly replaced them with a common sense assessments of what is silly and what is sensible. Instead of intuition and gut feelings I looked for the unmistakable certainty of facts, which is far more accurate than any intuition can ever be.
But you are right that ‘what am I experiencing’ is indeed a different kettle of fish. Using the actualism method is a matter of intent – what is my aim, what do I want to achieve by questioning how I experience this moment? Sometimes I would get lost in following my affective experiences down the garden path, making them bigger and more intense the more I provided indulging attention. But whenever I remembered my goal to become free from malice and sorrow, my wandering observations changed into the search to find out how to get out of this insidious self-centredness of feeling-experiences and come back to being happy and the sensate experiencing of being alive. Unless you have an intent or reason for asking how am I experiencing this moment of being alive you will have neither the motivation to make it your first priority in life nor the impetus to overcome the reluctance to admit to unpleasant or undesirable answers.
The cute thing is that you don’t learn anything new but rather unlearn everything you’ve been told since the day you were born and then you even get to undo the genetic programme of the instinctual survival passions. It is a fascinating journey, full of wonderful adventures, thrilling realisations and life-changing discoveries.
(Vineeto, List AF, No
