| After posting a mail on the AF music thread some members of this great forum asked me to write something about the path which led me to an Actual Freedom. It was always a big help to read and hear from people who have certain Attainments already and so I try my best( as far as my english goes) to mark some key stages.I try to keep it short so perhaps you just could ask or email for some more detailed information. I try to find some time to answer them. When it comes to details of practice or detailed descriptions of PCEs its surely a better way to ask Trent and Tarin cause they really doing an amazing job in helping out with subtle little details of practice.For me its really fresh, the final event happened on the 26 August and i see that the perception and the implications of this condition develop more and more each day the more one realizes that this mode of perception will stay and one can really go deep into it and check fully what this means for ones life. This is the biggest difference to a PCE which is much more static, you arent allowed to really play around cause the identity is lurking in the back trying to kick back in again. So PCE even if it lasts 3 days ( ive read something of 5 months possible on Richards AF site ?!?) isnt quite the same as AF. Also, after attaining AF the comparison to the Identity you had before isnt any longer possible ,cause you changed your mode of perception finally, you then have to examine other peoples behaviour to realize how it had been for you before attaining AF.Wheareas after a PCE it just slipped back in unchanged, but equipped with the drive to go there again to make this wonderful mode of perception permanent.
Before entering some kind of Path I remember seeing that many people including me are wasting their lifes in not living fully. During work and even during free time one is not enjoying life to the fullest, one dreams of beeing somewhere else or warms oneself up with loving feelings. So one possibility could think thats how it is we are born this way and were gonna die this way, its unchangeable or you start to change outside specifics, new girl, new Job, buying things , also doesnt work as we all know. I wasnt as couragous as incredible AF Richard in starting to pioneer new territory so I started to look around for some Preset solutions. One of those was buying a few books about Meditation.
In February 2010 I started to follow the instructions of a little Book about Vipassana , Watching the Breath Naming things etc. I always was a little nervous and restless and it seemed to help a little bit so I went on with my practice perhaps 15 minutes a Day. Sometimes I recognized thats really something happening (whatever it was it wasnt clear at that point) and I started to practice more and longer. I recognized thoughts and emotions arising and passing but wasnt on a sensation recognizing micro level at that time.More or less basic but this seemed to be really leading somewhere. Around April 2010 I looked around on Youtube for Videos on Dharma Practice, I found a Video with a Talk of a Guy called Christopher Titmuss on Non Duality. Watching the Video and trying to understand what this guy was talking about kicked me into a different state of beeing for 2 days. It was totally different, overwhelming and I remember I havent slept 2 days seeing everything in great clarity thinking whatever this here is its that something everyone is looking for. After 2 days it ended up. Since then there was only one thing to do, finding out what this was and finding out if its possible to go back there ( At that point I never heard about PCEs). I associated this event with Dharma and Buddhism, Meditation practice in particular.14 days later the abovementioned Dharma Teacher was giving a 7 day Silence Vipassana Retreat in a Country nearby, so I booked this Retreat with the Intention to talk to the Pro who hopefully knows something about this Event.
I entered the Retreat which was in Silence with the Teacher talking monologue at the Front like in School, and some 10 minutes talks One to One.Fortunately good Food and some nice People.(As far as i could figure out without talking to them ;-)) During one of the 10 minutes Talks the Dharma teacher rated my event as some kind of enlightenment experience and advised me to go on with practice. I meditated the whole week and it really took of (later I realized while reading Dans book that I crossed the Arise and Passing during this retreat). In the Evening after the Retreat i was loaded with Intention and Energy and read a little in Dans book which I had on my Laptop. I remember finding this book really direct with a punk attitude compared to the rather classical Retreat. I read the Instructions in the First Chapters and understood that I was already seeing this 3D TV kind of sensations and decided to take a rest. I layed down and instantly started to meditate without a choice really with a drive towards a goal so I thought okay I see what happens no matter what, and tried to catch all the sensations like Dan said in his book and go wherever it takes me. So I reclined and it went out to a 3 and a half hour meditation session, going nearly on his own with me half asleep, chakras popping open, whole chest rattling. In the End as far as I could remember some naming was very important like fear, fear, anticipation, anticipation, wanting etc. It ended with a cessation and Stream Entry. . Next day I checked everything written about this, cycled like a power plant and was totally sure that this was it. I thought when I could get this perhaps Its no problem to go on.Some basic suffering dropped away and i was equipped with the self- confidence which made me go on.This was a very important point. So Vipassana ride started (Which isnt so much fun I have to say in retrospect). You cant do nothing but find your way out of this irritating and confusing but also interesting ride.(To seek and to find; to explore and uncover; to investigate and discover ... these actions are the very stuff of life! Richard ) Compared to an Actual Freedom the progress of insight is like a drug nightmare I really have to say ;-) After Stream Entry I was infected with the Dharma stuff started to Hardcore Meditate, read books about it, practiced to enter all the Jhanas, Formless and had a few Nirodhas (which was as far as i could remember the most impressive of the meditation attainments).
I think at that time I had no more PCEs still only this first impressive one, so I thought the first one had been just some kind of ASC which comes and goes and nothing which could be made permanent. Dharma teachings also tell you this. The Agenda then was to finish this Dharma thing. I tried to finish second path and at that time then i was nerved by this cycling stuff and the need to finish it a second time. I then spent no interest in the circles and just went into jhana some times to chill out. After a few weeks I started to realize the Itness of things in Daily Life. I started to Realtime Render stuff. I asked myself who is this I my thoughts are pointing to, all of it was just it, the thought I was looking at, the I it was pointing too and the things I tried to look through. At that time realizations came fast. I sent out a mail to Dan who was a little sceptical of me having these attainments in very short time but he was nice and helpful and reminded me of his forum. I checked it out read some posts and realized that I somehow bypassed second path( or perhaps hit it while reclining, which in my opinion is absolutely possible) and instead hit the Anagami stage of the process. I checked Daniels Hurrican Ranch Discussion about Arhatship and completing the Circle which was incredible helpful to me. One of the Guys was talking about turning the light around instead of seeing the Itness of each and every little body sensation, this advice somehow did the trick for me, I tried to let my consciousness know of itself, did this a few hours and suddenly (like Chuck Kasmire called it) all was in one soup, a perspective shift took place, shortly after or simultaneously I entered another PCE ( I cant remember exactly). It was the same kind of Event like I had the first time, clear perspective, no irritation, no feelings arising, everything perfect. So I thought this now is Enligtenment it will stay( At this point I still didnt know that this is a PCE). After a perfect day I somehow saw that theres is no Attention wave anymore, I couldnt meditate, I thought something gone wrong, I started to try to catch it somewhere, find it somehow and after many hours I managed to go into Jhana again. What I recognized also was that Irritation, Fear and Feelings arose again. Everything wasnt so perfect as before. Clearly the Vipassana ride was over, feelings were no longer compelled but instead clearly seen, also not that sticky, perspective was still open but not as clear as in the other mode before. I was really confused about what the hell was going on. It was like two different personalities.
Few days later I came back to the Forum again, searched around a little bit and found Dans PCE vs Cycle Mode Discussion which mirrored exactly my experience at that time. I also read some descriptions about Arhat from guys like Chuck Kasmire, different Dharma Books and Ingram just to recheck again i was sure then yes this mode of Experience is Arhatship.There was clearly nothing more to do when it came to insight practice. I think this was the first time I realized that those first Experience I had and those second which had been going along with becoming an Arhat was called a PCE. PCEs could deliver what I expected of Enlightenment. I read around in the posts by Tarin and Trent and couldnt believe that this Condition, this mode of Perception is possible to make permanent.Very good news indeed.This was also a big step. So its very important to have those informations, which I cannot rate the possibilities of the Internet high enough for. Then I thought perhaps it will help me to listen to the Hurrican Ranch Discussion to trigger a PCE again which astonishingly worked out great. So i got back into PCE and had the 100 percent intent to stay there. I took a day off from my regular job and didnt went to sleep overnight cause I didnt want it to slip away and indeed it stayed for some more days, perhaps even for one two weeks. I thought I had it but after a while it seemed to diminish again but this time just a little, some nervousness arose, some fear and I started to Panic a little. Sometimes it seemed like PCE then again like not PCE, hard to say but it had the overall felicitious feeling tone all the way thru, but again I wanted this to sit 100 percent ( Later I read that this transitional stage is called Virtual Freedom). Then the other Megahelpful Hurrican Ranch Discussion with Tarin came in handy ( Its such a phunky Discussion with Tarin giving really helpful hints and Dan always pushing to go back to practice advise, really worthy listen). There were some points which really were the final clues for me, first the thing with the Time, no absolute thing moving. This is seen just a little in a PCE but in AF its really the way you live, like someone pushed the real world time brake, Time slips away with desire. Then Tarin talked about really exposing oneself, crossing this border, maximizing those feelings, not beeing afraid of seeming foolish, this is were the wonder starts, he says it was one point where he was just heading into wonder. The most useful thing I found the mention that if the PCE desolves just go back to happy and harmless instead of panicing, also the clue that its the best for you but also for all others if your happy and not irritated I found really important. I gives much more drive if you clearly see that its good for all to finish this. After listening to this I went straight into wonder, could work out to really feel excellent nearly all the time, formerly known difficult situations were the best to test the thing even more. After about one week (in this week I started to read thru the AF Trust Homepage for the first time which also helped cause there were some descriptions of people getting Actually free beginning of the year which also helped) something happened which was a little bit like the drive just before a cessation at the End of Equinimity, the thing took care of itself, a different dynamic, the body moving on its own in this great playground which is our universe, really seeing how you try your best in interaction with people without the usual morality, total effortlessness, new way of beeing, enjoy the show ...After perhaps 3 four days of this I laid on my sofa and suddenly there was a little moment, not even a blip, for one moment i had the thought oh look im here in this room with my Computer and this Chair. Something was different. The Identity slipped away silently. From that moment on Apperception happened all the time, effortlessly with no Identity sitting in the back watching, letting you stay in PCE for limited time.The Veil which seperated you from the world is totally gone, theres no inside anymore, no introversion, no hiding place.. I waited a few days before I posted this cause I wanted to be 100 percent sure, which I am now.
Fortunately the whole process happened in a very short time and somehow it wasnt too bad that I never got too much into Theory I would say afterwards. Now its a great pleasure to read Richards interpretations of this Mode of Perception (this universe experiencing itself ;-) ) but during the Process I hadnt read too much, I just went on, but this could be different for each and everyone. At the End its a much more preferable, wonderful Mode of Perception which is made permanent which is much more than I ever thought could be possible this lifetime.If someone would ask me I would say do this, get this done, it seems like it gets the best out of the human beeing. Its also entered by people who werent enlightened so I would say it has nothing to do with enlightenment and Dharma Teachings but the final result of it is what I thought Enlightenment would deliver. Sorry for my bad English, I hadnt written for some years now, try my best to help you out !
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