these points and instructions, from two of richard's correspondences, served 'me' well, and so i deem them worth reprinting here (in the actualism/actual freedom section of the discussion forum) in full, particularly as they are relevant to both practitioners who have not yet recalled/not yet had a pce and those who have had a pce but do not understand how to make use of its memory.
i have entitled the below selections in bold, have made a few formatting changes to accomodate the bulletin board code, and have included a substitution for context {in curly brackets}. otherwise, texts are reprinted as they appear on the af trust website.
--
on pure intent and the memory of a PCERESPONDENT: (...) I do know that what I’m doing is not what is propagated by the af-website. I’m not too worried about it, as I’m sure this is just part of the process, which will eventually make me discover pure intent and put me on the path to actual freedom. (...) I’ve been wondering about this statement of Richard:
: ‘An actualist’s intent is a pure intent and discovering how to blend this pure intent – via attentiveness – into one’s conscious life is the process that places one on the wide and wondrous path to actual freedom’. (
link)
How did you get the pure intent or how did you keep the intent running? Are there certain events that lead to it’s discovery? Is there are a particular approach you would advise other to get pure intent?
RICHARD: G’day No. 13, Just putting in a plug for what is propagated by the website.
The ultimate source of an actualist’s pure intent is, of course, the pristine purity of the innocence which prevails in the pure consciousness experience (PCE).
For those who are unable to recall/ unable to trigger a PCE there is the near-purity of the sincerity which inheres in naiveté – the nearest a ‘self’ can get to innocence whilst remaining a ‘self’ – which naiveté is an aspect of oneself locked away in childhood through ridicule, derision, and so on, that one has dared not to resurrect for fear of appearing foolish, a simpleton in both others’ eyes and, thus, one’s own.
(Because ‘naïve’ and ‘gullible’ are so closely linked – via the trusting nature of a child in concert with the lack of knowledge inherent to childhood – in the now-adult mind most peoples initially have difficulty separating the one from another).
Now, seeing the fact (as ‘I’ am ‘my’ feelings and ‘my’ feelings are ‘me’) that it is plainly and simply ‘my’ choice as to how ‘I’ experience this moment (the only moment one is actually alive) is a first step leading to its discovery.
And, as the part-sentence you have quoted (further above) has been extracted out from the middle of the first paragraph of the section entitled ‘The Who And How of Attentiveness And Sensuousness And Apperceptiveness’, in the ‘Attentiveness And Sensuousness And Apperceptiveness’ article, then the opening lines provide a clue to an answer for your queries. Vis.:
(quote) ‘The intent is you will become happy and harmless.
The intent is you will be free of sorrow and malice. The intent is you will become blithesome and benign. The intent is you will be free of fear and aggression. The intent is you will become carefree and considerate. The intent is you will be free from nurture and desire. The intent is you will become gay and benevolent. The intent is you will be free of anguish and animosity. The intent is that, by being free of the Human Condition you will experience peace-on-earth, in this life-time, as this body ... as is evidenced in the PCE. (...)’. (endquote)
Spelled-out sequentially that first part of the paragraph, immediately prior to the part-sentence you extracted, can look something like this:
1. The initial intent comes from a vital interest in becoming happy and harmless.
That intent thus creates a vested interest in being free of sorrow and malice.
2. The initial intent comes from a vital interest in becoming blithesome and benign.
That intent thus creates a vested interest in being free of fear and aggression.
3. The initial intent comes from a vital interest in becoming carefree and considerate.
That intent thus creates a vested interest in being free from nurture and desire.
4. The initial intent comes from a vital interest in becoming gay and benevolent.
That intent thus creates a vested interest in being free of anguish and animosity.
*
All of this vital interest/ vested interest enables sincerity – as to be in accord with the fact/being aligned with factuality staying true to facticity is what being sincere is (as in being authentic/ guileless, genuine/ artless, straightforward/ ingenuous) and to be sincere is to be the key which unlocks naiveté ... then the summing-up sentence can now look something like this:
The [sincere/ naïve] intent, then, is that by being free of the human condition you will experience peace-on-earth, in this life-time, as this body ... as is evidenced in the PCE.
As that summary sentence leads straight on to the sentence you have part-quoted from then it too can now look something like this:
• (quote): ‘(...) An actualist’s intent is a [sincere/ naïve] intent and discovering how to blend this [sincere/ naïve] intent via attentiveness – into one’s conscious life is the process that places one on the wide and wondrous path to actual freedom ... this path is a virtual freedom’. (end quote)
Which in turn is immediately followed by the how-to sentences:
• (quote) ‘Uncovering how to prolong the condition of virtual freedom – via attentiveness and sensuousness – is still another process. These are felicitous [and innocuous] processes, however, and they are well worth the effort for attentiveness and sensuousness are central to virtual freedom and the key to the whole condition. Attentiveness and sensuousness are both the goal of actualism and the means to that end: one reaches apperceptiveness by being ever more sensuous and one activates sensuousness by being ever more attentive ... and one activates attentiveness by no longer ‘feeling good’. (endquote)
In other words, it is the experiencing of no longer ‘feeling good’ (or ‘feeling happy/ harmless’ or ‘feeling excellent/ perfect’) which activates attentiveness again (as in it ‘jogs the memory’ to pay attention).
It is all a very, very simple method, actually.
Then the next paragraph provides more clues:
• (quote) ‘Attentiveness reminds one to apply one’s sensuousness to the pertinent situation at the opportune time and to implement surely the appropriate amount of activity needed to do the job. When this vitality is judiciously applied, one stays constantly in a condition of virtual freedom. As long as this condition of virtual freedom is maintained, those feeling-states called ‘moods’ cannot arise for there is no anguish or animosity – virtually no malice or misery – when attentiveness is present.’ (endquote)
Those three sentences are immediately followed by an acknowledgement of and an allowance for the obvious:
• (quote) ‘Nevertheless, one is still ‘human’ and to be ‘human’ is to err ... and most people are very ‘human’ and err repeatedly.
Despite [sincere/ naïve] intent, the actualist lets their attentiveness slip now and then and one finds oneself stuck in some unfortunate – but normal – ‘human’ failure. It is attentiveness that notices that change ... and it is attentiveness that reminds one to apply the [sincere/ naïve] intent required to pull oneself out.’ (endquote)
That paragraph then goes on to point out how the process proceeds from there:
• (quote) ‘Slipping into ‘normal’ happens over and over, but the frequency decreases with the assimilation of the fact that the absence of anguish and animosity in one’s moment-to-moment experience allows one’s daily life to be peaceful and harmonious way beyond normal ‘human’ expectations. Once attentiveness has exposed those affective defilements, sensuousness provides a more considerate and carefree condition ... one is happy and harmless for ninety-nine percent of the time.’ (endquote)
And it finishes with both a summary and a lead-in to the next paragraph:
• (quote) ‘It is attentiveness which notices the change from ‘normal’ into happiness and harmlessness, and which reminds the actualist to maintain the [sincere/naïve] intent needed to keep one blithe and benign ... and which allows apperception to freely happen. Apperceptiveness makes possible salubrity and sagacity (...).’ (
link)
As to be apperceptive is to be having a PCE then ultimate source of pure intent – the pristine purity of the innocence which prevails there – is now freely available.
!Open Sesame![1]
Incidentally, just before/ just as the PCE starts to wear off, if one unravels (metaphorically) a ‘golden thread’ or ‘clew’[2], as one is slipping back into the real-world, an intimate connection is thus established betwixt the pristine-purity of an actual innocence and the near-purity of the sincerity of naiveté.
At least, that is the way it worked for the identity inhabiting this flesh-and-blood body, all those years ago, inasmuch ‘his’ recall of PCE’s was a naïve remembrance, rather than a cognitive memory, and ‘he’ thus experienced a constant pull, each moment again, into the immaculate perfection of the actual world ... and thus away from the contaminated imperfection of the real world.
Being a ‘fatal attraction’, so to speak, it rendered the entire process virtually effortless.
*
[1] [Dictionary Definition]: ‘open sesame: a (marvellous or irresistible) means of securing access to what would usu. be inaccessible’. (Oxford Dictionary)
[2] [Dictionary Definition]: ‘clew: a ball of yarn etc. used to trace a path through a maze (as in the Greek myth of Theseus in the Labyrinth); a thing which guides through perplexity, a difficult investigation, an intricate structure, etc.’(Oxford Dictionary).
(
source)
--
on sincerity and naiveteRICHARD: (...) I would like to emphasise a couple of important aspects to {the above selection} regarding sincerity/ naiveté.
Given that it is, plainly and simply, always ‘my’ choice as to how ‘I’ experience this moment then the optimum manner in which to do so is, of course, sincerely/ naïvely.
Thus the part-sentence in that previous post of mine (quote) ‘and to be sincere is to be the key which unlocks naiveté’ (endquote) is worth expanding upon.
The operative words in that part-sentence are (quote) ‘... to be the key ...’ (endquote) and with particular emphasis on the word ‘be’ (rather than ‘have’ for instance).
In other words, to be sincerity (not only have sincerity) is to be the key (not merely have the key) to be naiveté (not just have naiveté).
(Bear in mind that, at root, ‘I’ am ‘my’ feelings and ‘my’ feelings are ‘me’ and it will all become clear).
As there is something I have oft-times encouraged a fellow human being to try, in face-to-face interactions, which usually has the desired effect it is well worth detailing here:
Reach down inside of yourself intuitively (aka feeling it out) and go past the rather superficial emotions/ feelings (generally in the chest area) into the deeper, more profound passions/ feelings (generally in the solar plexus area) until you come to a place (generally about four-finger widths below the navel) where you intuitively feel you elementarily have existence as a feeling being (as in ‘me’ at the core of ‘my’ being ... which is ‘being’ itself).
Now, having located ‘being’ itself, gently and tenderly sense out the area immediately below that (just above/just before and almost touching on the sex centre).
Here you will find yourself both likeable and liking (for here lies sincerity/ naiveté).
Here is where you can, finally, like yourself (very important) no matter what.
Here is the nearest a ‘self’ can get to innocence whilst remaining a ‘self’.
Here lies tenderness/ sweetness and togetherness/ closeness.
Here is where it is possible to be the key.
(
source)