When considering the question of who is or is not actually free, one must first ask why the question is being posed. So, a set of questions that might be helpful are:

1. What is at stake for the person asking?
2. What is it that the questioner is trying to prove and why?

The second set of questions one should ask are:

1. Is a person claiming an attainment charging money on the basis of that attainment?
2. Is a person claiming an attainment offering controversial advice that could endanger the one who takes it?

It matters little whether or not one “believes” a person is actually free. No actually free person posting on this website charges for the advice they give, or has written a book proclaiming their attainments, or grandstands in order to get attention and emulation. Being actually free is all the “reward” one requires, for to live in the actual world far outstrips any offering of cash, or admiration, or copyrights one might procure in the “real" world. What others think of one’s actual freedom is really of no consequence to an actually free person.

This post is not intended to “argue” with those questioners. It is a post for the silent readers watching these (unnecessary) dramas unfold. It is for all the practitioners who come here daily for feedback and advice. An inundation of such posts is counterproductive to practice. If anyone reading these posts experiences any confusion, I offer a few suggestions. I suggest that you take advice from anyone posting on this board—regardless of their attainments—who appears to be of sound mind and whose advice is sensible. Do not give anyone money, do not take advice that you know is not sensible or that doesn’t make sense for you and your life, and if someone who says they are actually free behaves in a way that you think must mean they are not actually free, then don’t take advice from them.

Ultimately there is only one person’s actual freedom that matters and that is your own. While one sits around debating who is or who is not actually free, is one happy and harmless? Is one cultivating the excellence experience or the PCE? Is one’s own suffering increasing or decreasing? How does someone else’s actual freedom impact another’s experience of being alive at each moment again? These are the questions that must be asked, with the focus of one's practice firmly on oneself.

Hi Stefanie and fellows,

First, regard about who is or not actually free people, any people can claim anything.
Freedom of speech.
Hence, I agree with you: no point to argue about this flogged issue.
We are in the same game, living in the same physical world, right?
Therefore, we need only to ask three questions: anyone who claim to be actual free or (1) are living in massive ASC, or (2) are lying or (3) are announcing a fact.
That´s enough.
The crux is peace - not Dharma - overground

One other word. Because human condition is your [neurobiological] problem and no one else’s, you are in the best position to find solutions and strategies to freed yourself from this bondage.
A mentor like Richard or someone else can assist, but you are actually in your own hands. Period. And it would be important for you to realize that and take command of your own situation/state/condition/mode.

I don’t recommend that anybody hand themselves over to an "expert" that made frivolous claims and come fresh from some Altered State of Conscience (ASC), and especially someone like you who has specific problems that only you understand the parameters of.
All we need is commom sense.
Regards,

Luciano

Well said.