I didn't read AF website articles for a while but I did read Richard's Journal and some of his articles previously and I remember him saying over and over again that (in my own words) we need to get out of our minds (spiritual or ordinary) and into this 'flesh and blood' body and notice how pleasant it actually is to be alive. Did I misinterpret something? If so, perhaps I need to brush up on this stuff.
"consistently enjoying and appreciating this moment of being alive is what the actualism method is"What remains is the third ‘I’ – this flesh and blood body only, actually free of fear and aggressionOne then lives in this actual world of sensual delight Then there is nothing except the series of sensations which happen ... not happening to an ‘I’ or a ‘me’ but just happening ... moment by moment ... one after another. To live life as these sensations, as distinct from having them, engenders the most astonishing sense of freedom and magic.I also remember people on this forum saying (Daniel?) that while in the PCE, they are not able to concentrate mind in a one-pointed way and get into Jhanas, or to perceive fractional nature of reality and do insight practices.
I think if a meditator encounters physical suffering then there are 2 ways of possible action:
1) to concentrate mind into one-pointedness and get into a formless jhana
2) to start doing insight practice on pain (that's what I tend to do) and break the pain down into vibrations.
Now, if someone in a AF state encounters physical suffering, then in my understanding there will be 2 options:
1) the AF state will fall apart (that would be a better alternative in my view)
2) instead of being 'locked in' a paradise, a person gets locked up in hell.
I believe I experienced PCE multiple times, though I never checked in with anyone to confirm it.
It's hard to describe exactly how I can do it, but generally I am tuning into the present moment, zooming in. Shutting my mind off and just experience the moment as it is. I am trying to pay attention to pleasant physical sensations (including sights without interpretation and sounds or absence of sounds) but also to just feel the timelessness and sacredness of the moment as it presents itself with all the ordinariness of it. When I 'get' into it, there is subtle shift and it's as if everything around becomes sacred. If I am in the sun, the sunlight and the grass seems to be a lot brighter. I am experiencing the world directly through my senses, without filtration through the mind. Yet, there is some level of filtration or guidence, where I am trying to focus on the pleasant aspects of this moment. When the 'shift' happens I don't need to make this effort any longer, unless I start thinking and get out of the present. The 'shift' to get into PCE (or whatever I experienced) was similar to the shift that happens when I am getting into Jhana. Only here I don't need to be focused on the sensations internally and can function or even communicate with others. The easiest time for me to experience this are early mornings and evenings when everything is quiet and I don't have any immediate agenda. Duration varied widely. From a minute to maybe up to an hour or so. Depended on how much time I had before I had to start thinking about my job or something.
I found that reading Richard's Journal and reflecting on it helped me to get into this state. I remember his descriptions of nature, or him cooking dinner, or driving in the car and it made it easier for me to kind of see the reality from his point of view. However I never remember him describing any degree of physical discomfort that he experienced and felt 'happy and peaceful' in this 'flesh and blood' body.