Actual Freedom ~ Frequently Asked Questions

RICHARD: It is the legal entity officially registered as ‘The Actual Freedom Trust’ which holds the copyright to all the actualism writings – which includes both of the journals currently available – thus it is the directors of the Trust, both current and future, who decide which material is to be available, and in what format, and whether or not to charge for them ... there are some vague notions, for instance, of eventually making a CD/DVD for sale.

As to why ... any monies received go towards defraying the costs of both maintaining the Trust and publishing – which costs have been, and are, mostly met out of the pockets of three suburbanites – and neither Peter nor I receive any. For example (circa 1999):

• [Co-Respondent]: ‘Concern? How does ‘concern’ manifest itself? With selling PCE over the internet at $35.00 a whack?
• [Richard]: ‘If you are referring to the semi-autobiographical novel ‘Richard’s Journal’ ... it is AUS $29.95 and constitutes 114,000 words, of a more personal type, out of the more than 1,000,000 words about the human condition that are available for free on the web-site. It is not essential reading at all and any sales go to meet the overheads of legally maintaining and expanding the Trust ... I never personally receive any money from it. Also, by latest count, 576,000 words have appeared on this Mailing List and the Actual Freedom Trust Mailing List ... also gratis. I am retired and on a pension and have more than sufficient for my needs for the remainder of my life.
Just what is the point you are trying to make?

RESPONDENT: Why are you guys (Peter and Richard) charging money for online journals?

PETER: The obvious answer is because The Actual Freedom Trust is charging for the journals. The Actual Freedom Trust made the decision to publish both journals as paperback books before the idea of the establishing a website came about. Since the establishment of the website we have also taken the opportunity of offering both journals in electronic form as a way of offering an alternative format.

Perhaps you would like to flesh out the thrust of your question, given that your question focuses on some thousands of words whereas the Actual Freedom Trust makes freely available millions of words on the Actual Freedom Trust website.

See also –

• [Co-Respondent]: Have donations been made by the way?

• [Richard]: Yes ... the various directors of The Actual Freedom Trust have, to differing degrees and according to their inclination and/or interest, either donated umpteen hours of time and expertise to researching, writing, composing, formatting, uploading, downloading and so on or have put-up differing amounts of cash out of their own pockets as required (legal expenses, book-printing outlays, bank charges, registration fees, equipment costs and so on).

The purchase, upgrades and maintenance of all the computers and software alone amounts to over AUS$35,000.00. It would be well nigh impossible to put an accurate monetary value upon the time and expertise: the accountant who attended to the legalities of establishing The Actual Freedom Trust has, as a going rate, AUS$120.00 per hour for their time and expertise ... therefore, over the last three or so years, a conservative estimate (5,000 hours at $100.00 per hour) would put the donated time and expertise in researching, writing, composing, formatting, uploading, downloading and so on somewhere in the vicinity of AUS$500,000.00.

‘Tis only an approximate guess, though. Richard, The Actual Freedom Trust Mailing List, No. 12, 18.12.2000

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PETER: Perhaps you would like to flesh out the thrust of your question, given that your question focuses on some thousands of words whereas the Actual Freedom Trust makes freely available millions of words on the Actual Freedom Trust website.

RESPONDENT: No I would not, as you are inferring something I did not intend. Actually, I do not think the journals would be as valuable to me as the website itself. You definitely read something other than what I asked.

PETER: On the basis of this further information, it appears that your question was not specifically related to ‘online journals’ but was related to the worth of the journals per se, regardless of their format. Your additional comment – ‘I do not think the journals would be as valuable to me as the website itself’ – now makes it clear that you think that the journals are worth less to you compared to words on the Actual Freedom website, hence your initial question.

Personally I regard both journals as being priceless as reading Richard’s Journal inspired me to dare to begin the adventure of putting actualism into practice and writing my journal was instrumental in my becoming virtually free of malice and sorrow.

RESPONDENT: I think that it is completely sensible to charge for the cost of publishing + materials and also distribution.

PETER: It makes sense to me as well, however I do find it odd that many people not only have issues around the fact that the Actual Freedom Trust charges for the journals but also that so few people who purport to be interested in actualism seem interested in reading personal accounts of others who have actually trod the path to becoming free of the human condition. But then again sense is nowhere to be found whenever feelings rule the roost.

And speaking of distribution – we did initially make attempts to interest publishers in the journals but none would touch them given the heretical nature of the writings and after we self-published the journals none of the distributors we approached would handle them nor would any of the bookshops we approached stock them.

RESPONDENT: A co-respondent mentioned getting an electronic version for free; is that still possible? Let me know if there is anything that can be done.

RICHARD: As for the electronic version being free of charge: that was several years ago (in the earlier days of being on-line) and solely as a promotional exercise ... the electronic version ‘Peter’s Journal’, by way of example, is now no longer available gratis either. Respondent to Richard, 6.1.2005

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RESPONDENT: I paid for a paperback version. Would you consider sending me the email version also? (I’m real keen to dig in to it).

VINEETO: Seeing you are ‘real keen to dig in to it’, I can recommend Richard’s Selected Writings, they are excerpts from his Journal.

RESPONDENT: Ok sounds good. Never hurts to ask.

VINEETO: May I remind you of the following post Richard wrote to you only 50 days ago –

• [Richard]: As for the electronic version being free of charge: that was several years ago (in the earlier days of being on-line) and solely as a promotional exercise ... the electronic version ‘Peter’s Journal’, by way of example, is now no longer available gratis either.

Would you ask Amazon (twice) if you can have one of their books electronically for free?

RESPONDENT: Here is how I was looking at it:

2) this time I paid the $ for the paper version and as sending the e-version would cost you zero, I decided to ask (actual companies do ‘deals’ like this all the time, so the question was far from unreasonable).

VINEETO: You were still asking ‘for something for nothing’ – the e-version of Richard’s Journal which, given that you have asked for it more than once, is apparently of considerable value to you.

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VINEETO: Would you ask Amazon (twice) if you can have one of their books electronically for free?

RESPONDENT: As to the ‘Amazon’ question, I would have never considered the ‘AF Trust’ and ‘Amazon’ to be comparable entities, …

VINEETO: You just said that ‘actual companies do ‘deals’ like this all the time, so the question was far from unreasonable’ – so you do in fact compare the AFT Trust to actual companies.

RESPONDENT: … but if that’s the way you choose it to be, so be it.

VINEETO: The way the AFT Trust is different to a company like Amazon on a business level is that Amazon is a company set up for the sake of doing business and making profit whereas the expenses for the AFT Trust’s publishing activities – creating, maintaining and hosting a website, book-printing outlays, overheads of running the Trust such as legal expenses, bookkeeping fees, bank charges, registration fees, equipment costs and so on, are mainly paid out of the pockets of 3 suburbanites.

RESPONDENT: I have no problem whatsoever supporting the AF Trust with buying an e-version when I have some extra cash.

VINEETO: Whereas you seem to be saying that you wouldn’t ask a free copy from a profit-making company but with the AFT Trust it is a ‘ok’ to (repeatedly) ask for something for nothing.

I’m only pointing this out because you also said that you are ready to begin practicing actualism – the process of ridding oneself from the Human Condition – and the desire of wanting something for nothing from one’s fellow human beings plays a major part within the Human Condition, so much so in fact societies have chosen to employ armies and police force, establish laws and gaols, teach morals and ethics in order that anarchy does not rule the roost.

RESPONDENT: As too ‘digging into it’, I’d say I’m past the prima case, and spiritual values stage, and I’m busily looking into my social identity right now. I have found the AF Trust website to be far more than adequate in this investigation. Perhaps this desire to have the journal is another manifestation of being a ‘seeker’ rather than a ‘finder?’ I need to look into that.

VINEETO: If by being a ‘finder’ you mean that you start doing it rather than thinking about it I fully agree.

Nevertheless, there is nothing wrong with the desire to have Richard’s Journal – it is the primary source amongst all of his writings, his life’s story, so to speak. I have always been fascinated by the life story of people who had achieved what I wanted to achieve because I wanted to know how they reached their goal and in that respect I have learnt heaps from reading Richard’s Journal, over and over.

As for dealing with ‘desire’ – for me it was rather a matter of reshuffling my priorities of how to spend my time and my money after it became clear to me that becoming actually free from the Human Condition was – and is – my prime target. A lot of other pursuits then fell by the wayside and left both time and money (and money buys time) to spend on becoming free from the Human Condition. Re: Something for Nothing, Respondent No. 68 to the Administrator of The Actual Freedom Trust, 25.2.2005

PETER: I thought to respond to you as I have had the most involvement in the production of videos that the Actual Freedom Trust has recently made available.

RESPONDENT (to Vineeto): … a question about the DVD’s: is the reason the DVD files are not available for download (at a lower price, or free of charge) because hosting costs are prohibitive, or is it something else (such as selling DVD’s is a good source of income for maintaining the site)? I ask because a – I’d like to watch them but they are too costly to buy, and – I could mirror host them for download without bandwidth restrictions.

VINEETO: The directors of the Actual Freedom Trust made a decision to offer the videos with additional information, including The Actual Freedom Trust Screensaver, Correspondence on Selected Topics and the Introduction to Actual Freedom as a PowerPoint Slideshow. Another reason for choosing to distribute the videos on DVDs is that the videos are produced in HD and are 1.35 - 1.5 GB each, and this would be an unrealistic download in many parts of the world.

RESPONDENT: How familiar you are with file-sharing nowadays?

PETER: Not at all familiar and I must say that with all I have had to learn in order to produce the videos, I have no inclination to familiarize myself with anything new … unless there be a very good reason, that is.

RESPONDENT: A gig file is not considered that big anymore.

PETER: As I understand it, the both the possibility and affordability of downloading large files is very much dependant on (a) where you happen to live in the world and (b) how well-healed you happen to be.

RESPONDENT: Do you know about bit-torrent?

PETER: No.

RESPONDENT: It’s a swarm transfer protocol that has been every bit as revolutionary for peer-to-peer file-sharing, as the file-sharing has been for overall media distribution, particularly with large file sizes. It’s estimated that bit-torrent transfers account for about a third of all internet traffic. I could be a host to both the torrent seed as well as the file(s). A torrent seed can ‘contain’ any number of files, to be transferred together… ensuring that the additional information, screensaver, correspondence, and PowerPoint format introduction are included, as well as the fidelity of the image and sound maintained. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bittorrent. Bring it up with the rest of the trust.

PETER: Vineeto did ‘bring it up with the rest of the trust’, which is precisely why you received the considered reply you got first time around.

RESPONDENT: I know online distribution offers little or no revenue, but it wouldn’t cost you anything further either.

PETER: Is not the point you are making that it would not cost you anything if the Actual Freedom Trust arranged things to suit you rather than have the Actual Freedom Trust continue to do what it has chosen to do?

RESPONDENT: It’s admittedly not a viable option for people who use dial-up modems but broadband – which can download a gig of data quickly – has outstripped dial-up in the developed countries. As of 2005, the 30 most connected countries accounted for almost 160 million broadband subscribers: http://www.oecd.org/document/39/0,2340,en_2649_34225_36459431_1_1_1_1,00.html. While this does not account for all internet subscribers and users worldwide, I think it would be a safe guess that the majority of unique hits to the AF site come from these countries (if you had a web counter you could verify this). Therefore, it would be a realistic download for those most likely to download the DVDs, were they to become available.

PETER: From what you say, it appears that you may well be fortunate enough to be one of those, presumably less than five percent of the worlds population, who has personal use of broadband Internet access.

If so, may I ask if you are also fortunate enough to have a PC, or access to a PC, that has a DVD player and is capable of playing WMVHD files from a DVD?

Should this be the case, it would then appear that the only reason you would have the Actual Freedom Trust abandon all the work it has done in producing and making available the DVDs – purchasing computer hardware and software, designing and having covers printed, purchasing discs and cases, learning new programmes and so on – and then forego any subsequent income from sales of the DVDs that may go towards offsetting these costs, simply because you say the DVDs ‘are too costly for you to buy’?

This has to be a joke, right?

I don’t know whether you have noticed or not, but there is a much, much, much bigger world out here than ‘[Respondent]-ville’.

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