Actual Freedom ~ Frequently Asked Questions

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, supernormal, preternatural, preter-normal, 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.

RESPONDENT: I do not understand the meaning of the terms starting with capital letters, Power, Authority, Love Agapé, Divine Compassion, Oneness, Unity and so on.

RICHARD: Capitalisation is an indication of religious, spiritual, mystical or metaphysical qualities being ascribed to everyday words (I am merely following a convention found in many, many spiritual books). Thus the word ‘Power’ means the god-like energies (omnipotence) felt psychically ... rather than ‘muscle power’, ‘horse power’, ‘electric power’ or ‘steam power’ and so on; the word ‘Authority’ means the ultimate dictator (a god or goddess) beyond which there is no recourse; ‘Love Agapé’ means the highest love (not an earthly love) ... it is a Greek phrase meaning ‘unconditional love’, ‘true love’, ‘pure love’ instead of carnal love, familial love, patriotic love; ‘Divine Compassion’ means an other-worldly compassion that is superior to pity, sympathy, empathy, solace, consolation, succour and so on; ‘Unity’ means union with the divine ... and if you do not know what ‘Oneness’ means then you have been wasting your time as a sannyasin!

RESPONDENT: I understand I have to experience them to understand them.

RICHARD: Oh yes ... to understand anything fully requires direct experience, of course. But one could not live long enough to experience everything first-hand ... are you going to volunteer for a war, for instance? Also, being a male, one cannot experience matters that are purely female (child-birth and so on) and vice versa. If each and every human being had to wait until they had personal experience of everything possible to experience as a human being, before doing something about their malice and sorrow, then one would never get anywhere worthwhile. The whole point of this Mailing List is to discuss together each others’ experience so as to clarify what oneself understands. There is enough written by enough people to find similarities that may be reliably taken as a prima facie case for investigation without having to believe anyone. It is called ‘establishing a working hypothesis’ ... and can further human knowledge and thus experience. One can read one Enlightened Masters’ words – and cross-reference them with other Enlightened Masters’ words – so as to gain a reasonable notion of what they are describing. This is the whole point of communication: to share experience so that another does not have to travel down the same-same path and find out for themselves what others have already discovered. For example: I do not have to personally experience schizophrenia in order to comprehend that it is undesirable as a modus operandi for living a salubrious life. I have read enough about it – and talked with enough people who do experience it – to ascertain that it is a living nightmare.

ALAN: We have also discussed the ‘vibes’, which some people may have and whether it is possible for another to sense them. I presume you consider these to fall within the realm of psychic powers?

RICHARD: No, emotional ‘vibes’ are fairly obvious as in you can feel another’s fear, anger, love and so on when in physical proximity. Whereas psychic ‘currents’ span distance instantly. This is where the power play really happens between sentient beings ... vibe violence and verbal abuse and physical aggression are the outcome of psychic power-tripping and not the source. The same applies to the ‘good’ side ... loving vibes and affectionate words and physical caresses are control measures – power-play – and originate in the psyche as psychic currents.

ALAN: While not 100% convinced, my view is that these do not exist, other than in the form of subtle body language.

RICHARD: Body language plays a part, yes, and tone of voice and so on ... but there is an undercurrent as is evidenced when sitting in silence with another whilst not facing each other. There is an ‘atmosphere’ as is expressed in ‘the air was so thick that you could cut it with a knife’.

ALAN: It would be easy to prove, or disprove, by setting up an experiment with one person blindfolded, not able to hear and not able to smell (as pheromones could be involved) and introducing others radiating love, anger etc into their presence. I am not aware of any research which has been done on ‘vibes’ – are you?

RICHARD: I have not looked for any research as it has been so obvious from personal experience and in discussing with others. For example: returning from a walk abroad one is in good spirits ... yet as one goes to open the front door to one’s house a feeling of unease, of disquietude may be felt. Upon entering the supposed safety and sanctity of one’s own house one finds one’s husband and/or wife and/or mother and/or father and/or brother and/or sister fuming and ready and willing to give one a serve for either deserved or undeserved wrongs that one may or may not have committed. One felt it through a closed door.

RESPONDENT: My husband recently returned from a weeklong retreat given by an American, who is an Eastern type spiritual teacher. One of the main premises of this man’s teaching is that he ‘transmits’ Being-force that then ‘templates’ on those who receive the transmission and catalyzes the recipient’s own realization of Being. My husband (...) asked me what I thought the phenomenon of experiencing ‘transmission’ really was. I said, I honestly don’t know for sure, possibly a form of hypnosis, group hypnosis, self-hypnosis. I wasn’t sure.

Anyone have any ideas of the how we humans actually produce the astoundingly real when you have them spiritual phenomena?

VINEETO: The idea of the psychic world had captivated me for years and the mystical-psychic playground was a big attraction on the spiritual path at the time. Consequently, when I took up actualism, I was immensely curious to really find out as much as there is to know about psychic phenomena, psychic powers and the ‘rules’ of the psychic world. I was fascinated to learn that Richard not only said he lived without feelings and emotions but also admitted to not having any psychic powers like telepathy, ‘energy’, psychic influence or mystical secret knowledge.

One area of my investigation was how I was influenced by, and connected with, other people’s vibes and feelings. I remember one incident with the woman I had lived and worked with for several years. One day in the office she received a phone call and, being the secretary, I took it, recognized her partner’s voice and transferred it to her into the next room, saying nothing but hello to the man. I didn’t hear the conversation as my door was closed, and just kept working on the daily accounts. From the moment of the call I had fierce pain in my stomach and thoughts of intense fear racing through my head that had nothing to do with my personal situation. After two hours it finally clicked – I went over to ask her if she had a fight with her partner on the phone. She said they did. My pain disappeared immediately. After this incident I investigated what made me so receptive to her vibes and feelings and I came to understand that my feelings of love for her were enough for me to be psychically connected to her fears and pain.

I see the psychic world as an invisible spider’s web that connects people together via their fervent beliefs, feelings and passions. The key to understanding and breaking out of the psychic web was questioning love and, in the spiritual world, my love for and the authority of those ‘who know’, the revered and adored masters. I began to understand that the feeling of love based on the instinctual passions of nurture and desire is just as much part of ‘my’ identity as the opposite passions of fear and aggression. Slowly, I started to see the psychic power battle that goes on between ‘good’ and ‘evil’, higher powers and lower powers, master and disciple, between teachers and between disciples of various ranks. Just as normal reality is a dog-eat-dog world, spiritual reality is a God-eat-God world and the fight is fuelled by the same merciless survival instincts.

Seeing that the psychic web is about transmitting or exchanging vibes, feelings and emotions in order to gain power and influence over others, I was then only interested how I to disentangle myself from this insidious web that tied me to authorities, groups and friends, engulfing me in invisible power struggles and everyone else’s beliefs, feelings and instinctual passions.

When I experienced my first full-blown Altered State of Consciousness replete with feeling Love for all, with Truth continuously streaming into my head and the bliss of unlimited psychic power and knowledge, I came to understand even more how this whole psychic world works. In such a state one can tap into the pond of all of humanity’s so-called wisdom – the collection of ancient religions, beliefs, superstitions, atavistic feelings and passions. That ‘pond’ provides the ‘knowledge’ and ‘wisdom’ for spiritual teachers – the very reason why their teachings seem to be so true and familiar. Having risen to the top of the psychic ladder, God-men can choose to swan along in the ‘good’ feelings and push the ‘evil’ passions to the bottom – or blame their disciples for causing their anxiety and divine anger.

The transmission of Energy – a feature of all master-disciple relationships – can only work because the disciples are looking for a short-cut to happiness and love by receiving seemingly ‘free gifts’ from the master and thus get trapped into the addictive bargain of giving love and gratitude in return for dependency on his or her authority.

In actualism there is no such thing as psychic transmission of energy because to become free of the Human Condition is to become free of the psychic web itself and this can only be done by oneself and for oneself. Such perfect freedom.

*

VINEETO: I see the psychic world as an invisible spider’s web that connects people together via their fervent beliefs, feelings and passions.

RESPONDENT: Do you see this web as an actual structure, or an imaginary, albeit real structure?

VINEETO: It is a psychic web and as such not actual as in tangible, audible, visible or tastable. But it is very, very real because every human being is a psychic entity and therefore connected through this psychic web.

RESPONDENT: Re: The web and pond idea analogies. For most of my life, I considered myself to be very intuitive or psychic. I had a strong ability to ‘feel the shape’ of someone. I didn’t predict things for people, like she’s going to marry a tall, rich man, etc., but I could feel where people were coming from, what motivated them, and pretty well predict what their most obvious responses would be to a situation based on their feeling configuration. During my 20’s and 30’s I felt that this was quite a gift.

VINEETO: I can relate to this from similar experiences, although I am not quite sure what you mean by ‘feel the shape’. The more I learnt about my emotions and reactions, gathered intimate knowledge about friends and observed other people’s behaviour, the more I ‘intuitively’ assessed others and even dabbled a bit in Tarot-reading. In fact, what people usually call intuition is an assessment of another’s feelings and behaviour based one’s own collected experience and observations. The rest tends to be 50-50 guesses, with the failed 50% ignored and the successful 50% given undue credence. However, I was always wary to use my intuition as a power over others. In the end I came to see that every power used is misuse of power.

RESPONDENT: However, into my 40’s I started looking at this ‘gift’ and realized that my feeling into a person was a way to protect myself, to know ahead of time how a person would most likely act and react, so that there would be no unpleasant surprises. I found I had a strong need to ‘know ahead of time’ so that I wouldn’t find myself in situations where I would feel vulnerable and not know what to do to keep the situation under control, to keep myself intact, unharmed, safe. I pretty much stopped my deliberate reading of people when I began to see it not as a gift, or power, but as a strategy for protecting a very demanding and voracious self.

VINEETO: The most I learnt about using and misusing power was in my longstanding relationship with my former boyfriend, as in a man-woman relationship there are usually no holds barred and our extensive power battles were rather overt than covert. By using every psychic weapon to win a battle I came to know about my female psychic weaponry, consisting of my instinctive intuition to create emotional confusion, to blackmail with guilt, to make unsubstantiated accusations and to use my seduction. Needless to say moments of intimacy were very rare.

It was painful to see myself over and over again trapped in the same instinctual reactions of jealousy, fear, hate, comparison, resentment, etc. and, despite years of spiritual group-therapy and meditation, there was no sign of resolving my re-occurring instinctual reactions. When we finally, after 11 years, we both gave up trying and separated, I vowed to never ever have this kind of power battle again with a man. This determination to find a peaceful way of living with a man gave me the necessary backpressure to question love itself and to leave the old familiar spiritual environment.

RESPONDENT: From what you’ve written, I think I got pretty adept at dipping into that web or pond as you also describe it. I think what I was, was very observant, out of fear and necessity, rather than ‘psychic’ or special.

VINEETO: Yet that is exactly what ‘psychic’ is – the usually fearful feelings arising from the survival mechanism that some people manage to develop and hone as a skill more than others. This observing, however, is only partly physical – often the main part of ‘checking out’ happens on a feeling level, where one uses one’s instinctive psychic antenna to ‘feel out’ the vibes, the alleged approaching danger in order to be able to react at earliest convenience.

However, my experience in several Altered States of Consciousness has taught me that there is a psychic perception and power that lies far beyond mere survival mechanisms – there can be an extended sensitivity of what people think and feel. When one leaves one’s personal worries – ego or personal ‘self’ – behind, the sensitivity for atavistic and collective feelings is greatly enhanced and is generally used to manipulate others towards ‘the good’. Hence the immense psychic power that Enlightened Masters have over their disciples, for becoming enlightened gets you to the top of the psychic power tree.

RESPONDENT: While we’re on this topic – I recently read where you (Richard) regard having an ‘I’ as socially reprehensible – as in blameworthy. I’m curious as to just what constitutes being ‘socially reprehensible’ for you ... a mere thought or ‘temptation’ – or more concrete action. You have even gone to the point of using the term ‘guilty at conception’. I wonder what guilt could possibly consist of if not in action? To take this to the extreme – would an aborted foetus be ‘guilty’? Or possibly ‘socially reprehensible’? Is one guilty just because they have the potential to do harm?

RICHARD: First of all a normal person does not have an ‘I’ (or have a ‘me’) as they are an ‘I’ (or are a ‘me’) ... and ‘I’ exist inside the body only because all human beings are genetically endowed at conception with a package of instinctual survival passions (such as fear and aggression and nurture and desire) which gives rise to emotions (such as malice and sorrow and their antidotal pacifiers love and compassion) and this emotional and passional package is ‘me’ (‘I’ am ‘my’ feelings and ‘my’ feelings are ‘me’).

And irregardless of whether ‘I’, who am the emotional and passional impulses, persuade the body to physically act or not ‘I’ involuntarily transmit emotional and passional vibes (to use a 60’s term) into the human world in particular and the animal world in general: therefore ‘I’ am not harmless even when ‘I’ refrain from inducing the body into physical action ... which is why pacifism (non-violence) is not a viable solution.

Children also involuntarily transmit emotional and passional vibes (thus they are not born innocent as certain peoples maintain) ... and a foetus would too (albeit in a very rudimentary form).

There is nothing that can stop other sentient beings picking up these vibes and/or picking up what are sometimes called psychic currents. This is because there is an interconnectedness between all the emotional and passional entities – all emotional and passional entities are connected via a psychic web – a network of invisible vibes and currents. This interconnectedness in action is a powerful force – colloquially called ‘energy’ or ‘energies’ – wherein one entity can either seek power over another entity or seek communion with another entity by affective and/or psychic influence.

For example, these interconnecting ‘energies’ can be experienced in a group high, a community spirit, a mass hysteria, a communion meeting, a mob riot, a political rally and so on ... it is well known that charismatic leaders ride to power on such ‘energies’.

Put simply: it is not violence per se (as in physical force/restraint) or the potential for violence which is the problem: it is ‘me’ as the emotions and passions fuelling the violence, or fuelling the potential for violence, who begets all the misery and mayhem. Violence itself (as in physical force/restraint) is essential lest the bully-boys and feisty-femmes would rule the world. And if all 6.0 billion peoples were to become happy and harmless overnight (via altruistic ‘self’-immolation) it would still be essential lest the predator animals should have the human animal for its next meal. Yet even if all the predator animals were to cease being predatory (à la the ‘lion shall lay down with child’ ancient wisdom) it would still be essential if the crops in the field be not stripped bare by the insect world. And so on and so on: taking medication – even traditional medicine – does violence to the whole host of bacterial life; so too does drinking water as one drop contains at least 1,000-10,000 tiny shrimp-like and crab-like creatures; even breathing does violence as a breath of air contains untold numbers of microscopic life-forms.

RESPONDENT: I’m never quite sure how to take the word, ‘actually’ when you use it – whether it’s sometimes the normal usage – or whether it’s always the ‘actualism’ usage. For example, I am tempted to say that even when one is empathetic and works to resolve another’s suffering – then one actually cared about their suffering – about the other person – again admittedly, via one’s own suffering, yet there is caring taking place – but it’s not actual caring (in the ‘actualism’ usage).

RICHARD: When empathy works to resolve another’s suffering an empathetic caring occurs – this is not under dispute – but it is occurring as a feeling activity ... in the form of affective vibes and/or psychic currents. However, it is only occurring in the real world – there is no empathetic caring here in this actual world – which is a salutary point few comprehend.

For instance, some ‘born-again’ people bailed me up in the street some time ago in order to save me from their devil (only they called it ‘The Devil’ so as to make their fantasy universal): as the conversation waxed they grew more and more intense, their words became loving words, their eyes became radiant eyes, their faces became soft and suffused with a glowing shade of pink, and if my companion had been with me at the time she could have verified, as she has on other occasions, that feeling vibes and psychic currents were swirling and eddying all about.

Eventually they gave up as they could not ‘reach’ me (aka establish a feeling connection).

RESPONDENT: Richard, I would like to bring your attention to the following: [quote] ‘Of course I could go with her to the protest rally for it is not against any principle that I hold. I readily concede that demonstrations can ‘get things done’. That is not my point ... my point is the unwholesome atmosphere inhering at these rallies that reinforces the identity. The insalubrious ambience is always thick with ‘vibes’ that are palpable and factually unpleasant; be they going under the name of hate or love. Apparently she gets a ‘high’ from this, as further discussion with her elucidates the actual reason – the secretive motivation – for her attraction to these events. She admits, rather shame-facedly, that the ‘high’ makes her feel ‘alive’; by which she indicates that her daily life is dull, boring. She finds it thrilling to be at a confrontation; the adrenaline ‘buzz’ of a perceived imminent danger is irresistible to an addict. She does not appreciate the implied suggestion that she might very well be a ‘junkie’ herself, however.’ [from www.actualfreedom.com.au/richard/selectedwriting/sw-feelings.htm]. So, if no ‘vibes’ exist in the actual world, then how can they be ‘factually unpleasant’ to you?

RICHARD: If you could point out where I said that the insalubrious vibes inhering at protest rallies are factually unpleasant to me I would be only too happy to answer your query.

RESPONDENT: I cannot, I only assumed you were referring to yourself. Who exactly were those vibes at that place factually unpleasant for?

RICHARD: Specifically ... the person whom I was discussing the matter with; generally ... anyone and everyone who attended that rally.

RESPONDENT: This is an excellent topic, and one I constantly drilled ‘Spiritual Teachers’ on. The answers I always received were unsatisfactory, explaining to me that I need be a victim of circumstances. (ex. bad vibrations here, watch out! ...

RICHARD: Ha ... as I understood it, from previous correspondence, you were not taught Vipassana Bhavana (aka ‘Insight Meditation’) by quacks. Vis.:

• [Respondent]: ‘I think Vineeto (and perhaps Richard) do not know what they are talking about when they speak of Vipassana (...) Maybe you guys just know Vipassana as taught by quacks’. (‘Misunderstanding of Vipassana by Actualists’; Thursday 28/10/2004 AEST).

Vibes – both the good and the bad vibrations – are central to Mr. Satya Goenka’s teaching ... for just one instance (from the web site you provided a link to previously):

• [Question]: What are vibrations? How do they affect us?
• [Mr. Satya Goenka]: Everything in the Universe is vibrating. This is no theory, it is a fact. The entire Universe is nothing but vibrations. The good vibrations make us happy, the unwholesome vibrations cause misery. Vipassana will help you come out of effect of bad vibrations – the vibrations caused by a mind full of craving and aversion. When the mind is perfectly balanced, the vibrations become good. And these good or bad vibrations you generate start influencing the atmosphere all around you. Vipassana helps you generate vibrations of purity, compassion and goodwill – beneficial for yourself and all others’. (www.vri.dhamma.org/general/question.html#vibrations).

RESPONDENT: ... (ex. bad vibrations here, watch out! (quite silly, like a haunted house)).

RICHARD: Oh? Am I to take it, then, that you sat for hours ‘doing’ the Vipassana Bhavana Mr. Satya Goenka made popular in the west completely dismissive of that which is central to it?

RESPONDENT: Your writings make much more sense to me, but this time I can only make guesses on how you find these ‘vibes’ to be factually unpleasant.

RICHARD: Both by observation of, and by asking, my fellow human (plus, of course, an intellectual memory of once being the same). Vis.:

• [Richard]: ‘(...) Apparently she gets a ‘high’ from this, as *further discussion with her* elucidates the actual reason – the secretive motivation – for her attraction to these events. She admits, rather shame-facedly, that the ‘high’ makes her feel ‘alive’; by which she indicates that her daily life is dull, boring. She finds it thrilling to be at a confrontation; the adrenaline ‘buzz’ of a perceived imminent danger is irresistible to an addict’. [emphasis added].

All vibes are factually unpleasant – both the good and the bad vibrations – inasmuch they reinforce the identity and thus perpetuate all the misery and mayhem, which epitomises the human condition, forever and a day ... and it cannot get much more unpleasant than that.

RESPONDENT: And you can eliminate malice and sorrow all you want, but it does not change the fact that life is interconnected.

RICHARD: As for ‘the fact that life is interconnected’ ... well that is the problem, is it not? Humans are all connected via a psychic web – a network of invisible ‘vibes’ – that leads to incredible power-trips between competing members of society. A person may be nice to your face, for example, but the intuitive feeling is that they hate your guts ... this is the interconnectedness in action. It is a powerful force – an ‘energy’ – that seeks to control by psychic manipulation and leads to the most horrific consequences ... as has been the sorry demonstration of history. The elimination of the psychic entity – ‘I’ the self as an ego and a soul – is the ending of interconnectedness. One is then, for the first time, a free individual beholden to no one ... and free from both being controlled and being a controller. In other words, one is happy and harmless ... by having extirpated malice and sorrow completely. The enlightened people merely transcend malice and sorrow – they sit above it in a cocoon of love and compassion – and never eliminate them. And so the wars go on ... and on and on.

VINEETO: As you say you quite enjoy the practice of ‘grooving on ecstatic vibes’ then clearly actualism is not for you because, as the very term expressively states, actualism is all about what is actual whereas vibes, being feelings, are not actual.

RESPONDENT: Sorry I’m not hip to your lingo ...

RICHARD: It is quite commonplace ‘lingo’ actually. Vis.:

• ecstatic: of the nature of, characterized by, or producing ecstasy [the state of being distracted by some emotion; a frenzy, a stupor; (now the usual sense) an exalted state of feeling]. (Oxford Dictionary).
• ecstatic: of, relating to, or marked by ecstasy [a state of being beyond reason and self-control; a state of overwhelming emotion; trance, especially: a mystic or prophetic trance]. (Merriam Webster Dictionary).
• ecstatic: feeling or characterized by ecstasy [an overwhelming feeling of great happiness or joyful excitement; an emotional or religious frenzy or trancelike state]. (Compact Oxford English Dictionary).
• ecstatic: showing or feeling great pleasure or delight; completely dominated by an intense emotion; (plural) somebody who undergoes spells of intense emotion. (Encarta® World English Dictionary).
• ecstatic: enraptured, rapturous, rhapsodic; feeling great rapture or delight. (WordNet® 2.0).
• ecstatic: marked by or expressing ecstasy [a state of emotion so intense that one is carried beyond rational thought and self-control]. (American Heritage® Dictionary).

And:

• vibes: a distinctive emotional atmosphere; sensed intuitively; synonym: vibration. (WordNet® 2.0).
• vibe: (slang) an emotional quality believed to be detectable in a person or thing by intuition; vibration; often plural; related word: intuition. (Wordsmyth Dictionary).
• vibe: (slang) a vibration; often used in the plural; short for vibration [a distinctive emotional aura or atmosphere regarded as being instinctively sensed or experienced; often used in the plural]. (American Heritage® Dictionary).
• vibes: (slang) the feeling you get from being in a particular place or situation or from being with a particular person. (Cambridge Dictionary of American English).
• vibe: (informal) the atmosphere or aura of a person or place as communicated to and felt by others. (Compact Oxford English Dictionary).
• vibes: (slang) atmosphere or feeling: a particular kind of atmosphere, feeling, or ambience; plural: vibes. (Encarta® World English Dictionary).
• vibe: mood or atmosphere; feeling; (plural) signals or messages sent out to someone. (Macquarie Dictionary).
• vibe: (slang) transmit in the form of vibrations [characteristic signals or impressions about a person or thing, regarded as communicable to others; (an) atmosphere: also, a mental (esp. occult) influence]; affect in a specified way by means of vibrations. (Oxford Dictionary).
• vibe: a characteristic emanation, aura, or spirit that infuses or vitalizes someone or something and that can be instinctively sensed or experienced – often used in plural; a distinctive usually emotional atmosphere capable of being sensed – usually used in plural. (Merriam Webster Dictionary).

RESPONDENT: (...) I was not referring to ‘Psychic Vibes’ or vibes as ‘feelings’, sorry.

RICHARD: That being the case then, for the sake of clarity in communication, it would be handy to use some other expression than ‘grooving on ecstatic vibes’ as that phraseology does not convey what you explain it to mean in this e-mail (more on this below).

RESPONDENT: As you continue to put (unintended) meaning into my words you will continue to misunderstand me, making effective communication impossible. This has happened countless times now.

RICHARD: As I also took your ‘grooving on ecstatic vibes’ as to be conveying that you were intensely enjoying (as in ‘grooving’) exalted (as in ‘ecstatic’) feelings (as in ‘vibes’) I checked with a wide range of dictionaries to see why I too had taken it that way ... given the (further above) definitions it is a quite understandable take and thus your remonstrations (above) are most definitely uncalled for.

Here is what you say, in this e-mail, that you were conveying (from the parenthesised snip above):

• [Respondent]: ‘What I am referring to is the utter delight in experiencing the universe as it actually is’.

And the following is how the universe ‘actually is’ (also from the parenthesised snip) according to you:

• [Respondent]: ‘... as I recall, the whole universe is vibrating. Atoms are themselves harmonic oscillators, same for molecules, etc. Molecules are constantly vibrating in your body, and effective chemical signalling between neurons would be impossible with out vibration (diatomic, etc.). So, when you are sensately experiencing the universe, this input can only come in the form of vibration (sensation, sight, sound, even taste and smell)’.

Thus ‘grooving on ecstatic vibes’ is your way of conveying that you are utterly delighting (as in ‘grooving’) in experiencing exalted (as in ‘ecstatic’) vibrations (as in ‘vibes’) of the nature proposed by theoretical physicists ... which, being but a mathematical model of the universe, cannot be experienced sensately.

Here is what you go on to say:

• [Respondent]: ‘If you insist that vibrations are feelings and you have no part of them I wonder in what realm your experience happens’.

Going by what your co-respondent has written it is most certainly not the realm where the following occurs (from the web site you provided a link to previously):

• [Question]: What are vibrations? How do they affect us?
• [Mr. Satya Goenka]: Everything in the Universe is vibrating. This is no theory, it is a fact. The entire Universe is nothing but vibrations. The good vibrations make us happy, the unwholesome vibrations cause misery. Vipassana will help you come out of effect of bad vibrations – the vibrations caused by a mind full of craving and aversion. When the mind is perfectly balanced, the vibrations become good. And these good or bad vibrations you generate start influencing the atmosphere all around you. Vipassana helps you generate vibrations of purity, compassion and goodwill – beneficial for yourself and all others’. (www.vri.dhamma.org/general/question.html#vibrations).

As compassion is unambiguously a passion it would appear that the [quote] ‘good vibrations’ [endquote] of the entire universe are affective in character ... as is evidenced by the following:

• [Mr. Satya Goenka]: ‘... at the end of a 10-day Vipassana course, you are taught how to send metta, the vibrations of love and compassion. He or she [the deceased person being referred to in the question being answered] will be happy. Wherever you are, your metta vibrations will touch this person’. (www.vri.dhamma.org/general/question.html#emotion).

Thus the [quote] ‘metta vibrations’ [endquote] are indeed the ‘good vibrations’ being referred to and, furthermore, like all such vibes, are both transmittable and receivable. Vis.:

• [Question]: ‘Are there Dhamma forces that support us as we develop on the Path?
• [Mr. Satya Goenka]: ‘Certainly – visible as well as invisible ones. (...) If we develop love, compassion and goodwill, we will get tuned up with all beings, visible or invisible, that have these positive vibrations, and we will start getting support from them. It is like tuning a radio to receive waves of a certain meter band from a distant broadcasting station. Similarly, we tune ourselves to vibrations of the type we generate; and so we receive the benefit of those vibrations’. (www.vri.dhamma.org/general/question.html#dhammaforces).

And: (...)

• [Mr. Satya Goenka]: ‘This is how mara (which is nothing but the manifestation of your own impurities) gets into the centre; you start fighting with each other and generating bad vibrations of anger and hatred and this spoils the entire atmosphere of the centre. You have come to help develop good vibrations of love and compassion and peace, and in the name of Dhamma you have started harming the centre and also harming yourselves. Be careful to see that you do not fight with each other; you must live together in peace and harmony’. (www.vri.dhamma.org/general/dgedays.html).

And:

• [Mr. Satya Goenka]: ‘Vipassana wants you to observe the natural vibration that you have – in the form of sensations – vibrations when you become angry, or when you are full of passion, or fear, or hatred, so that you can come out of them’. (www.vri.dhamma.org/general/question.html#mantras).

Needless is it to add there there are no such vibrations, be they either ‘good’ or ‘bad’ vibrations, here in the actual world (the world of the senses)?

I have provided those detailed quotes because the problem with the peoples who discard the Christian/Judaic/Islamic god is they do not realise that by turning to the eastern spiritual philosophy they have effectively jumped out of the frying pan into the fire. Eastern spirituality is religion ... merely in a different form to what people in the west have been raised to believe in. Eastern spiritual philosophy sounds so convincing to the western mind which is desperately looking for answers. The Christian/Judaic/Islamic conditioning actually sets up the situation for a thinking person to be susceptible to the esoteric doctrines of the east. It is sobering to realise that the intelligentsia of the west are eagerly following the east down the slippery slope of striving to attain to a self-seeking divine immortality ... to the detriment of life on earth. At the end of the line there is always a god/goddess/truth, of some description, lurking in disguise wreaking its havoc with its ‘ancient wisdom’.

Have you ever been to India to see for yourself the results of what they claim are tens of thousands of years of devotional spiritual living?

I did, back when there was a full suite of affections in this body, and it was hideous.

RESPONDENT: I’m aware that it [telepathy] is not a sympathetic subject here, but I still would very much care to talk about it. I had a few experiences with telepathy, and I just can’t deny them and what happened.

RICHARD: Nobody is asking you to deny them ... on the contrary:

• [Co-Respondent]: ‘Please, could you bring some examples of siddhis that came and went to/ from your experience?
• [Richard]: ‘Sure ... telepathy, telemetry and psychometry are the ones that immediately spring to mind’.

Nor will you be asked, for that matter, to deny ASC’s/ CCE’s, OBE’s/ NDE’s, egos/ souls, gods/ goddesses, imagination/ intuition, emotions/ passions, and so on, and so forth, either as such events/ entities/ experiences are all too real to be invalidated by mere denial.

RESPONDENT: There was one time when I’ve dreamt about something very, very precise that actually happened in the future, and few other incidents, that just can’t be random, like synchronous me-calling-to-a-friend that haven’t been in touch with for some time, and he-calling-to-me. I’m a very critical person when it comes to these issues and spirituality.

So how does Actual Freedom explains these phenomenon?

RICHARD: As the words ‘Actual Freedom’ are a shortened way of saying ‘an actual freedom from the human condition’ then what you are actually asking is how do I explain intuitive/ psychic phenomena.

RESPONDENT: It says that thought originates in the brain ...

RICHARD: As that is something I wrote then, presumably, you are referring to this:

• [Richard]: ‘... if I sit here writing this e-mail and the bladder indicates that it is full and there is the thought ‘shall I finish writing this paragraph and then go and relieve the pressure or shall I go now’ that thought is originating in this human brain and in this human skull (not in some abstract ‘thought sphere’ which exists outside of this brain). Vis.: [Mr. Uppaluri Krishnamurti]: ‘The thoughts do not come from here [pointing to his head], they are coming from outside’. [endquote]. This now reads like a nonsense statement. (...) The brain inside this skull does not pick-up thoughts from outside that exist in some abstract ‘thought sphere’ ... it originates its own thoughts as occasioned by the current situation and circumstances’.

RESPONDENT: ... [It says that thought originates in the brain], and that everyone creates them ...

RICHARD: As that is something I wrote then, presumably, you are referring to this:

• [Richard]: ‘.... thoughts originate in a particular human brain in a particular human skull at a particular time at a particular place’.

RESPONDENT: ... [It says that thought originates in the brain, and that everyone creates them], so how can telepathy be explained?

RICHARD: Quite simply: telepathy is a function of the affective faculty’s intuitive/ psychic facility.

RESPONDENT: Yes, I’m aware that for actual freedom one doesn’t need telepathy.

RICHARD: It is not a case of it being needed or not ... intuitive/ psychic phenomena have no existence in this actual world (the world of the senses).

RESPONDENT: I’m struggling to glue the telepathy experienced and the Actual Freedom view of things that says thoughts are created within us ...

RICHARD: It has nothing to do with any [quote] ‘view of things’ [endquote] ... it is an observable fact that a particular human brain in a particular human skull at a particular time at a particular place originates thought.

RESPONDENT: ... [I’m struggling to glue the telepathy experienced and the Actual Freedom view of things that says thoughts are created within us], and so thought processes can’t be interconnected in between humanity.

RICHARD: Perhaps the following exchange (posted four days before this e-mail of yours) will throw some light upon the matter:

• [Co-Respondent]: ‘Can one feel other’s feelings?
• [Richard]: ‘Only if one is a feeling being.
• [Co-Respondent]: ‘Thoughts?
• [Richard]: ‘Only if one is a feeling being with developed psychic abilities.
• [Co-Respondent]: ‘From a distance?
• [Richard]: ‘In the first instance ... yes, from a near-distance; in the latter instance ... yes, from a far-distance’.

RESPONDENT: Confused, please help.

RICHARD: By way of explanation I will first draw your attention to this quote (also posted four days before this e-mail of yours):

• [Richard]: ‘... there is an interconnectedness between all the emotional and passional entities – all emotional and passional entities are connected via a psychic web – a network of invisible vibes and currents. This interconnectedness in action is a powerful force – colloquially called ‘energy’ or ‘energies’ – wherein one entity can either seek power over another entity or seek communion with another entity by affective and/or psychic influence’.

Put briefly: a feeling being (an emotional/ passional entity within a body) imbues thought with affectivity and those affectively-tinged/ affectively-charged thoughts are involuntarily broadcast, as psychic currents/ energies, into the real world (the world of the psyche) ... thus another feeling being does not pick-up thoughts as such but, rather, intuitively feels what those psychic currents/ energies convey.

Hence the inaccuracy inherent to psychic phenomena ... but that is another topic.

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