August 26, 2025

JESUSCARLOS: Thanks for your kind and detailed reply Vineeto.

VINEETO: Have you ever thought that it might be the other way round, that your fear is created by ‘me’ wanting to force ‘me’ to do something ‘I’ am not ready to voluntarily do?

JESUSCARLOS: This makes a lot of sense. And now I can see that in the last 2-3 weeks I’ve pushing myself to feel good when not. Or I have been reproaching myself for not being able to feel good in the midst of the sea of ​​difficulties I am facing now. So it makes sense to me to think that I caused that fear myself by trying despite everything to feel good, excellent, perfect and to become extinct. (…)

VINEETO: Hi JesusCarlos,

You are welcome.

When you notice not feeling good, instead of “pushing myself to feel good”, stand still and let the feelings ebb away, perhaps go back before the trigger event until you get back to feeling good again. Then you can look at the cause which triggered the diminishment of feeling good. Here is what Chrono reported –

Chrono: Something I re-read a few days ago that helped immensely as well was tracing back to feeling good before the trigger which caused a diminishment in feeling good. That itself automatically restores feeling good and when look at the trigger after that, it amounts to almost nothing and easily seen as habitual. [Emphasis added].

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VINEETO: I don’t know the film but this is not synchronicity but real-world sentimental fantasy for bitter-sweet feel-good effect.

JESUSCARLOS: I didn’t realize it until I read it, and now I can see it clearly. It makes sense to me, especially because at that moment I felt very different than I did after the PCE a year ago. This time there was no lightness, but rather a kind of feeling of shock after the trauma, and with that feeling I fell into the trap of seeking shelter in good feelings…

Thanks to this feedback, I see that I need to further refine my differentiation between good feelings and happy, harmless feelings.

VINEETO: I am pleased you can see that. Of course, one notices the bad feelings first, and now you can refine your attentiveness to distinguish “between good feelings and happy, harmless feelings”, which in normal-day parlance are lumped together in one category.

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VINEETO: ‘I’ am feeding the fear, either by fighting against it or by wanting to have something immediately which needs a gentler more friendly approach, especially when it comes to ‘my’ extinction.

JESUSCARLOS: Of course! I can see that this way of wanting something immediately is an old, tantrum-like pattern of my personality. The other side of the coin, or the other extreme, is believing that achieving something will take forever, which turns me into a passive entity waiting for salvation.

VINEETO: Indeed. Here is how feeling-being ‘Vineeto’ put it –

‘Vineeto’: Expectation is certainly not the full description of my attitude towards extinction, obsession is a more appropriate word to use. It is one of the widespread spiritual requirements that one should not aspire, desire, expect but wait for the grace of Existence to grant fulfillment of one’s dreams. But as actualism is about the actual and not about some spurious feeling-state granted by some even more spurious Energy, I can be straight forward with wanting Actual Freedom, desiring it, expecting it to happen and doing everything I can to achieve it, just like people in the normal world aspire tangible, non-spiritual values like riches, a car, a position or a woman. What I mean is that I am the only person who can bring about my freedom from malice and sorrow and I am the only one who can rewire my brain to facilitate self-immolation. (Actualism, Vineeto, Actual Freedom List, Gary-b, 19.8.2000).

This recent exchange may also help –

Kuba: Which is to say that at the core of it there is no pre-set list of conditions which ‘I’ have to tick off as the ‘doer’ before felicity and innocuity is granted to ‘me’ – this is completely the wrong paradigm. It pre-supposes that felicity and innocuity is something that is granted as an end result of some kind of deterministic domino effect, all the while ‘I’ remain passive, waiting.

Vineeto: You put it well – this is the difference between actively taken life into your hands and changing yourself fundamentally, rather than following the reward/ punishment template and therefore passively wait for an authority, ‘mother nature’, karma or some supernatural force/ entity to capriciously dish out the rewards. In fact, this is one big difference between the straight and narrow path and the wide and wondrous path. (Actualism, Actualvineeto, Kuba9, 23 August 2025).

It is useful to recognize the typical real-world affective paradigm of swinging from one side to its affective opposite while in actualism, when you get back to feeling good, you look for the third alternative using pure intent as your guide.

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VINEETO: As you might have gathered by now, when you are a friend to yourself and look at/ sort out the various obstacles to being happy and harmless, enjoying and appreciating each moment of being alive, when you become more and more naïve, like yourself and others, then you can follow the wide and wondrous path of felicitous discoveries and appreciative amazement, then there is no need to get lost in the scary thicket of self-created fear, sorrow and bitter-sweet fantasy.

Then, following pure intent, one day the choice is so crystal-clear and irresistibly attractive, then the facts speak for themselves and inevitably trigger ‘my’ permission to the only obvious action which is not of ‘my’ doing.

JESUSCARLOS: Thanks for the “wall of fear” quote! I’ll read all the correspondence you mention.

VINEETO: It’s good to be up to date with the descriptions, reports and explanations about self-immolation because before the direct route was opened in January 2010 Richard had only his own path to an actual freedom to describe what happened for the first pioneer. It is a lot easier now to become actually free.

JESUSCARLOS: And I really appreciate this last summary of the method you’ve given me. I see that where I’m failing the most is in being a friend to myself. Especially this weekend, I was noticing that I don’t like myself, or that I’ve returned to that point I thought I’d overcome.

Thank you so much, Vineeto. Your feedback helps me a lot to correct my course and avoid getting lost in more mazes.

VINEETO: Indeed, being a friend to yourself is vital and helps you to uproot the detrimental habits of blaming and berating oneself, or others, being resentful, angry, lost or sad as reaction to unexpected events. Then naively enjoying and appreciating each moment of being alive comes more naturally, and you recognize you live in a friendly world, all the while imitating actuality as much as possible.

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KUBA: So I wonder is this just another aspect of the “straight and narrow path”, a tenet which holds that suffering is required to succeed, that one’s success is predicated on how much pain they are willing to endure in the process etc.

JESUSCARLOS: An ancient belief, both Christian and Buddhist! Perhaps older than religions themselves. And a mantra of today’s world, of meritocracy that justifies inequality between human beings.

VINEETO: Here is a question for you – if meritocracy is the cause which “justifies inequality between human beings”, then why do you value the expertise, reports and explanations how to become actually free from those fellow human beings who have succeeded?

When you choose expertise and competence over ineptitude and incompetence then you choose merit over inadequacy (in a particular field). Whereas the “mantra of today’s world” is equality – ‘all are born equal’ – now cunningly renamed equity, which detrimental results of implementing this belief in law and regulations can be seen in many areas of human endeavour.

Note, Richard talked about “equity[1] and parity[2]”, for peace and harmony to flourish amongst human beings. (see The Formation and Persistence of the Social Identity, #04).

[1] Equity: the state, action or quality of even-handed dealing, even-handedness; fairness, justness; impartiality; unbiased;
[2] Parity: the state, action or quality of being on a par; an equivalence of status, level or value; correspondence, similarity;
(Adapted from Oxford Dictionary, see Neoteric Online Dictionary).

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Richard: ‘It is important to remember, that when one questions a principle (such as equality) and its opposite (inequality) becomes obvious as a result of the question, that nothing has changed except that a belief has disappeared ... inequality was always happening anyway. (Richard, List B, No. 37, 20 March 2000).

Cheers Vineeto (Actualism, Actualvineeto, JesusCarlos, 26 August 2025).

February 12 2026

ANDREW:  

‘Vineeto’: If one wants to be actually free of the Human Condition, one has to examine and recognize that ‘good’ simply means ‘morally acceptable’ and ‘right’ is just another ethical value, both of which vary from tribe to tribe and from society to society. (Actualism, Vineeto, Actual Freedom List, James, 11.1.2000)

This reaffirms the startling and terrible premise; if for the most extreme, and historically accurate example, a child is sexually exploited and then slaughtered on an altar, both the child and the sexual exploiter and slaughterer would have experienced good feelings.

Or is that a misunderstanding?

VINEETO: Hi Andrew,

Why do you find it bizarre that ‘good’ feelings arise from feeling virtuous (obeying the general moral (and ethical) code of the tribe?

Have you really understood what the aim of the actualism method is – being happy and harmless (experiencing the felicitous and innocuous feelings)? You cannot be genuinely happy unless you are harmless. ‘Good’ feelings, such as love, compassion or being virtuous is not equivalent to feeling good the way it is used on the AFT site.

Richard: (‘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). (Richard, Articles, This Moment of Being Alive).

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Richard: Here it is, again, at its most basic: it is nice to feel good (whereas feeling bad is not nice).

Many years ago, now, I was sitting out to the side of my cave-site on a steep hillside, in the rain-forested hinterland to the north-west of where my dwelling is currently located, conversing with someone known to me from my art-college days – we had met-up on the Indian sub-continent a year or so before and had travelled together up into the foothills of the Himalayas (staying for a few months on a ridge about ten kilometres above Almora, Uttarakhand, known as Kasar Devi after a 2nd Century temple situated there) where many a deep and meaningful discussion had taken place (about life, the cosmos, and what it was to be spiritually enlightened/ mystically awakened, as he had been a spiritual-seeker of many years standing) with some profound experiences happening for him, thereof, including a three-day peak experience which settled into an unmistakable ASC thereafter – when all-of-a-sudden he stopped mid-sentence and, looking at me with head tilted quizzically, asked: ‘Why would you want to feel good all the time’?

Quite frankly, I sat there in near-astonishment, for a moment, before answering with what probably sounded to him somewhat tautologous: ‘Because it feels good to feel good’, and then adding, upon seeing him looking askance as if at listening to a simpleton, ‘whereas feeling bad doesn’t feel good, it feels bad; feeling good doesn’t feel bad, it feels good’. And, furthermore, for good measure: ‘It really is as simple as that ... and, as feeling good is a nice feeling to be feeling, all of the time, why would you want to feel bad instead’?

To this very day, thirty years hence, it is still somewhat astounding that there be so many who do not grasp this simple fact which the naïve boy from the farm had embraced whole-heartedly. (Richard, List D, No. 4b, 4 July 2015).

ANDREW: To go further, to prove this isn’t written with an adversarial intent; I have never examined “good feelings”.

Thanks for the quote. Hopefully all can see my smiling and perplexed face in writing this.

VINEETO: To save you further speculations here is what Richard has to say –

Richard: The words ‘good feelings’ – which refer to the affectionate and desirable emotions and passions (those that are loving and trusting) – and the words ‘bad feelings’ – which refer to the hostile and invidious emotions and passions (those that are hateful and fearful) – are but a way of describing the effect of those feelings both on oneself and others.

Sometimes they are called the positive and negative feelings. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, No. 44e, 1 October 2003a).

And to make the difference clear between feeling good and ‘good’ feelings –

Jonathan: [Richard]: What actualism – the wide and wondrous path to actual freedom – is on about is a ‘virtual freedom’ (which is not to be confused with cyber-space’s ‘virtual reality’) wherein the ‘good’ feelings – the affectionate and desirable emotions and passions (those that are loving and trusting) are minimised along with the ‘bad’ feelings – the hostile and invidious emotions and passions (those that are hateful and fearful) – so that one is free to feel good, feel happy and feel perfect for 99% of the time. I make this very clear in my writing: [snip]. What I am reading here is, ‘good feelings along with bad feelings are minimized so that one is free to feel good feelings and thereby make a PCE more likely. Could you clarify?

Richard: Sure ... the [quote] ‘good’ [endquote] feelings mentioned are the affectionate and desirable emotions and passions (those that are loving and trusting) and the [quote] ‘bad’ [endquote] feelings mentioned are the hostile and invidious emotions and passions (those that are hateful and fearful) whereas feeling good/ feeling happy/ feeling perfect are the felicitous and innocuous feelings (those that are delightful and harmonious).

Thus what you are reading – ‘good feelings along with bad feelings are minimised so that one is free to feel good feelings and thereby make a PCE more likely’ – would look something like this when spelled-out in full:

• [example only]: ‘the affectionate and desirable emotions and passions (those that are loving and trusting), along with the hostile and invidious emotions and passions (those that are hateful and fearful), are minimised so that one is free to feel the felicitous and innocuous feelings (those that are delightful and harmonious) and thereby make a pure consciousness experience (PCE) more likely’. [end example].

Furthermore, as I say in that text of mine you quoted, I make this very clear in my writing:

• [Richard]: ‘... by asking ‘how am I experiencing this moment of being alive’ the reward is immediate; by finding out what triggered off the loss of the felicitous/ innocuous feelings, one commences another period of enjoying and appreciating this moment of being alive. It is all about being here at this moment in time and this place in space ... and if you are not feeling happy and harmless you have no chance whatsoever of being here in this actual world (a glum and/or grumpy person locks themselves out of the perfect purity of this moment and place). And by having already established feeling good (a general sense of well-being) as the bottom line for moment-to-moment experiencing then if, or when, feeling happy and harmless fades there is that comfortable baseline from which to suss out where, when, how, why – and what for – the feeling of being happy and harmless ceased happening ... and all the while feeling good whilst going about it. (...) These are all feelings, this is not perfection personified yet ... but then again, feeling perfect for twenty three hours and fifty nine minutes a day (a virtual freedom) is way beyond normal human expectations anyway. Also, it is a very tricky way of both getting men fully into their feelings for the first time in their life and getting women to examine their feelings one by one instead of being run by a basketful of them all at once. One starts to feel ‘alive’. Being ‘alive’ is to be paying attention – exclusive attention – to this moment in time and this place in space (...)’. (Richard, Articles, This Moment of Being Alive).

(Richard, Actual Freedom List, Jonathan, 4 January 2006).

The admission that “The thought being, I find anger so refreshing! Sadness too. I have not had motivation to be free of being “mad” and “sad” as they are a holiday for me” may well be an explanation why you have a certain resistance to examine “good feelings”.

I have given you these extensive quotes so that you can base your exploration on factual information and experiential reports, and thus your investigation into your psyche can be more sincere (in accord with the facts).

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ANDREW:  

‘Vineeto’: As humans we don’t want to lose the other’s affection and reassurance, the appreciation of our peers, the cozy safety of being part of a family or group, the comforting knowledge of doing what everyone considers the ‘right’ thing or the ‘good’ deed.

Freedom lies in the opposite direction. (Actualism, Vineeto, Actual Freedom List, James, 11.1.2000)

So, there is something missing in this thought between the “cozy safety” and the thought that one would want to be “free” from it.

Where is the trigger that anyone would want to be free?

VINEETO: This is such a silly question. Have you been having continuous ‘good’ feelings doing “the right or good deed”? If not, why not? I am genuinely wondering about your intent of writing this?

Weren’t you once relieved to understand your guilt, the feeling of not “good”?

Andrew: It’s always been a huge source of guilt, that I would desire there to be something “wrong” with me. Whilst these entire time, there was indeed always something that was “off” but it was not directly those things at all. (Actualism, Actualvineeto, Andrew 2, 21 October 2025)

Andrew: Thank you Vineeto!

I appreciate your time on this topic, as it has been so central to me, even when I didn’t know it was!

This quote above, supports something that has been in my thinking lately, at least it’s a similar insight. That ‘being’ uses ‘morality’ and indeed any ‘value’ system at all, as a tool. the ‘self’ is surviving through the very tools which are “supposedly” keeping it in check! (Actualism, Actualvineeto, Andrew 2, 22 October 2025)

I can somehow understand you are not interested enough to read other people’s posts here on the forum, who lately talked a lot about the role ‘good’ feelings play in the scheme of their investigations of being able to enjoy and appreciate being alive, but to forget your own significant insights is quite an achievement.

Cheers Vineeto (Actualism, Actualvineeto, Andrew 3, 12 February 2026).

February 24 2026

SYD: Hi Vineeto – With Ms. Morel (formerly ‘WomanFromNov’), right after falling in love, I was more than putting my personal happiness first, in fact that’s all (my own emotions) I could think of. She felt that caring and sharing from my part was lacking, and I didn’t consider her perspective much (which is no wonder as I was panicking all the time). So yes, that’s a stellar example putting personal happiness over harmlessness. (…)

VINEETO: Hi Syd,

I will stop you right here. When you say you have been “putting personal happiness over harmlessness” you are under the erroneous impression that you have done half of what the actualism of becoming happy and harmless represents by simply following your drives and urges.

I wonder if you read, and digested, what Claudiu wrote to you –

Claudiu: I want to add to what Vineeto wrote, which is that you’re even though you say that happiness and harmlessness are two different elements of the same thing, you’re nevertheless establishing a sequence of happiness first, then harmlessness second.

In practice, as they are both different ways to describe the same “motion”, there is no intrinsic sequence like you say here..

In other words, if being happy does not contain being harmless, or if being harmless does not contain feeling happy, it ain’t actualism. It is what everybody is already doing, and it hasn’t worked.

I can only recommend to read my post and Claudiu’s post again, and again, until you comprehend the fundamental change that is required in your thinking and assessment in order to understand what we are talking about.

Until then there is no benefit for me to comment further on your writing. I cannot do the thinking for you.

Cheers Vineeto (Actualism, Actualvineeto, Syd 2, 24 February 2026).

February 28 2026

ANDREW: (…) People who explored and found this obscure “cult” where feeling good is the ultimate entry point!

VINEETO: Hi Andrew,

As you enjoy writing on this forum and, besides “cringing”, consider it an achievement that you are doing it, perhaps it is beneficial to look closer at the above statement.

Recently I had long discussions with Syd because I discovered that for him ‘feeling good’ initially included all the feelings which hedonically feel good, i.e. the ‘good feelings’. He even tried to make out that actually free people said so – and before others are infected with the same misunderstanding I want to make sure that this short-cut representation of “this obscure ”cult“ where feeling good is the ultimate entry point” is not misunderstood in the same way.

I also had a detailed discussion with you about the nature of ‘good’ feelings and how they, being ‘self’-enhancing, have nothing to do with the term feeling good as explicated in This Moment of Being Alive. I am putting in this note of caution because after you expressed interest in information for putting “everything on an ‘it-doesn’t-really-matter’ basis”, and you now titled your new thread “Unlocking the power of being empowered to be you”, which somehow seems to contradict your previous intent. Viz.:

Richard: A general rule of thumb is: if it is a preference it is a self-less inclination; if it is an urge it is a self-centred desire. [Emphases added]. (Richard, Actual Freedom List, 25d, 14 Jan 2004)

As this title sounds more self-aggrandising or at least ‘self’-enhancing, in contrast to putting everything on an ‘it-doesn’t-really-matter’ basis, I am rather baffled as to your intentions and your understanding of the term ‘feeling good’.

Perhaps all is well and you are throwing off old cobwebs of the past because you also say, in the middle of it all –

Andrew: “I had a wonderful walk today. It was vibrant. I was perky and energetic. Great times!”

Just checking.

Cheers Vineeto (Actualism, Actualvineeto, Andrew 2, 28 February 2026).