Richard Zen:
I would like to see what AFers think about Daniels instructions and how they differ from what they do:
Sure, here is how I parsed it.
1) Really pay attention all day long to just what its going on, particularly in the wide visual field and in the body. This sounds like the typical mindfulness advice and is, but that sort of attention forms the basis of so much that is good that it is very worth repeating.
Paying attention to sensations isn't the actualism method - see above, John had a really good explanation. Actualist attentiveness isn't the typical mindfulness advice, so if that is how Daniel understands it then... definitely something else. Also note that he actually did get a different result than advertised - this is part of the reason for that, I think.
2) Notice the beauty and niceness in ordinary and beautiful things, sounds, tastes, textures, feelings, the body, visuals, smells and the like. Really take time to smell the proverbial roses of the ordinary sensate world you find yourself in. Appreciate the feel of air on your skin, of the fingers hitting the keys, of characters showing up on computer screens, of your car going down the road, of the legs moving in space and balance shifting as you walk, of the taste of the food you eat, of the sound of your footfalls echoing off of the walls, of the quality of the light in the room, etc. It is very cliche advice again, but really do it all day long for a year or two and see what it is does to you: taken to that dose and degree of dedication, you would be surprised at what can occur.
Sure, all that sounds nice. If you can go through life in a felicitous state enjoying such simple things then that would be enjoying being alive which is the method and the goal. The question is what to do when 'good' and 'bad' feelings arise (which they will).
3) Pay attention to feelings, meaning what you actually are feeling, whenever you notice you are feeling something. It is easy, given the AFT rhetoric, to do this in a somewhat aversive way: avoid that mentality like the plague. Instead, take a real honest approach to noticing feelings in the body, right here, and notice how they arise (causality), what thoughts go along with them, and what the stories in those thoughts are. Try to gently, honestly, humanly and kindly tease apart the stories and assumptions of those feelings, and notice when they change and what they change into as time progresses.
The note to avoid doing this in an aversive way is a good one and it is a trap I have also seen many people fall into.
If you go into this with the mentality that these practices will be designed to totally eliminate your emotions, it is nearly impossible to really be honest about them. Tarin, Trent, Stef and Jill all finally and in their own ways warned against this, so avoid denial and avoid scripting yourself into some zombie-state: it is a trap. Instead, just be honestly human, ordinary, and feel what you feel: not in some exaggerated way, and not in some reactive way, just straightforwardly and clearly.
And yet the goal is the total elimination of 'you', and going forward without understanding and realizing and aiming for this is either to be in denial or to not be practicing actualism.
This doesn't need to translate to any particular action or non-action, and regarding morality, that is yours to decide and experiment with and live with the consequences of, but internally you can at least get used to really being clear about the feelings that drive it all and get more naturally fluent in that through practice and repeated attention.
Keep note that the point of paying attention to feelings is in order to neither express nor repress the 'good' and 'bad' feelings. If you do this properly, with the intention to feel felicitous instead, the feeling has nowhere to go - and then it just disappears. So there is a point to paying attention to feelings and it isn't to pay attention to them in and of themselves. It's to redirect your affective energy (which is what 'you' are/are made of) into felicitous feelings. As to particular action or non-action, I suppose that's true enough, it's the feelings that change not any action in particular, though your feelings influence your actions so much that you will likely start acting differently as a result. As to morality, true enough if you replace "morality" with "how you decide to live your life".
4) Try to remember anything that might meet the description of a PCE and try to incline to that way of perceiving things: a flash onto a truly remarkably wondrous way of feeling, seeing, hearing, etc. in which the beauty of the world suddenly comes shining through in a very direct way. The cliche's are that you might have noticed this mind state when watching a sunset or light on water or a beautiful rainbow, or some great music performance, or whatever: remember that, as you almost certainly have had some moment like that at some time in your life.
Perhaps, though this emphasizes 'beauty' a bit too much for my taste. 'Beauty' is an affective thing, generally, especially in music performances... but the same description can easily refer to a legitimate PCE.
Once you have found something like that, remember it and see how that way of seeing things applies to your ordinary consciousness when it returns, and try to incline back that way. You may find your own set of triggers to get into that mindset that are unique to you: work with those. Honestly assess for yourself the value of those experiences and try to see what they might be telling you about what is possible. I realize that the term "PCE" is politically loaded, but it is not unique to the ATF kids [...]
Nor do any of them say it is. Actually Richard says everyone has had one at some point.
[...] and I am sorry that has some branding element to it, but using it will allow you to interact with the rest of what you find written about it, so it may have value in that regard. Don't worry if your PCE is the same as anyone else's PCE [...]
Eh this is a sure-fire way to easily get off the actualist path and onto a different one. The PCE is the ultimate guiding light and source of information as to how to proceed. If what you think is a PCE, isn't, then you're gonna get somewhere else.
[...] just appreciate them if and when they do arise. If you can't get PCEs to arise or this makes no sense to you: totally don't worry about it, and just proceed with the others.
I would worry about it because the actualist path is an experiential one, and if you don't have the experience of the actual world (which you experience in a PCE), you really can't go on beyond some rather superficial level. Of course I'm using the term "worry about it" colloquially, obviously being worried won't help you get a PCE. Being felicitous will.
5) Settle into this moment.
Actualism isn't about living in the moment or settling into it, it's about letting the moment live you.
Quote 1: "'What 'I' did was to give 'myself' permission to let go of the controls and allow the moment to live me (rather than 'me' trying to live in the present).", and
quote 2: "Where one lets the moment live one -- rather than what is called "living in the present" -- it will be seen with startling clarity that this moment is eternal ... and not "timeless"." This might seem pedantic at first but it is an important distinction. If you manage to disabuse yourself of the notion that the pointing out of differences is a desperate, misguided attempt to seem unique and to brush up something old as something new, and instead consider that it's because it is an actual sincere attempt to point out the differences in two things that are different, it might start to make more sense.
Gently relax into it when laying down, when just sitting. Learn the basic, simple art of just being able to be at ease. It is more profound and not necessarily as easy as it sounds. Notice how there are tensions in the joints and muscles that seem to be bracing against life itself even when there is no threat: gently feel into those tensions, allowing gentle mindful attention and gentle reassurance to slowly relax them such that you learn to sit at ease, just here, appreciating this moment in a very ordinary, quiet, easy, simple, straightforward way. It is probably one of the most useful skills you could learn and practice. If you do formal sitting practice, try eyes open and eyes closed and get good at both. For this stuff, I generally prefer eyes open, but for doing this when reclining before sleep or before getting up in the morning, I like eyes closed. See what works for you.
Being at ease is certainly a good thing. Richard makes a point about how you don't need to relax if there's no tension, so instead of relaxing, you should resolve the tension, instead. Relaxing doesn't necessarily resolve the tension. Why are your joints and muscles bracing against life itself? A basic resentment of being here perhaps? Either way the source of the tension is emotional at root, not physical.
6) Commit totally to this sense field, this rich and vibrant and colorful volume of human experience, as a volume with thoughts and body and memory and all of that as qualities of this integrated space, and really be with that all day long whenever you can remember to. Be obsessive about this but in a light-hearted, adventurous way rather than a drudgery sort of way. Drudgery won't help at all. Inspiration and anything you can do to be inspired helps. I listened to my favorite music on fantastic headphones, ate my favorite foods and relished them, really payed attention when watching my favorite movies (particularly to how they made me feel and how cool the visuals were), really enjoyed the feel of driving down the road with my hand on the wheel, my foot on the gas, and the wind in my rapidly vanishing hair, really listened to myself when I played guitar, really listened to people and looked at them when they talked, really listened to the sound of my own voice when I spoke, really felt what it felt to just be a feeling Daniel in this body. Recommit again and again and again and again and again. Make it a way of life. It is your life, so you might as well be here for it. In the face of terrible pain, such as kidney stones, all bets were off for me, and I did whatever I had to to get through it, but for ordinary life that doesn't totally suck, really be with it.
John's entire 7:46pm post applies to this point as well. Particularly the part he bolded: "And any attempt to prematurely get into the world of the senses is going to give you a very different result, even though it might seem similar in some ways".
7) I mean these next points in the most lighthearted and jovial of ways:
This one was an interesting one to read through when I first saw it.
Screw anything to do with all of the complexities of AFT politics and bullshit. Enjoy this moment instead.
Sure, you don't have to understand all the intricacies of all the conversations on the AFT in order to apply the actualism method successfully. But it might be worth figuring out why there is that which Dan describes as "AFT politics and bullshit". If it's because of a problem with Richard then, why follow the method he developed to get to the aim he discovered? If it's a problem with Peter & Vineeto then, why follow in their footsteps if it led to such and such issues? For me, my understanding of the "AFT politics and bullshit" took a radical about-face after I figured out what they were all going on about. It doesn't bother me at all anymore, and not because I'm ignoring it all.
Screw anything to do with the various AFT-related cults of personality. Enjoy being where you are and who you are instead and value the truth of this moment for its own sake.
If you enjoy being who you are then there wouldn't be a need to change, eh? As to cults of personality, always a good thing to avoid getting sucked into.
Screw the fanaticism of the die-hard Actualism-is-the-only-true-way converts. Enjoy the empowerment, experiences and insights that come from just experimenting with being present and tuning in to this wondrous world instead.
See above about "being present". As to equating actualism with a fundamentalist, dogmatic religion via use of the terms "fanaticism", "die-hard", "only-true-way", "convert"... that is not what it's about at all.
Screw what any of these practices have to do (or not do) with anything else, including "Buddhism" and "Actualism", and finally
Why screw that? Conflating these things does a great disservice to sincere people who are looking for a way to make sense of this life.
Screw anyone who says these basic practices are a bad idea, as points 1) to 6) above all make perfect sense and are based on sound meditative principles, and it is your journey, your life and your attention to it that finally will make the difference.
This doesn't really add much to anything does it?
All of that except #7 simply rings totally cheese-puff and fluffy to me as I re-read it, and yet that is what finally really did something good, though it took a few years of doing it. I also have no idea how this will effect someone not coming from my practice background, which is unusual, so you will have to do the experiment yourself and let us all know, if you wish, as data on this is woefully lacking, and it would be good to know what everyone learns and discovers as they do these sorts of things.
Sure. One thing seems clear to me: if one follows the steps above, one will not come to understand actualism for what it is. Whether that is a bad thing is perhaps subjective.