Just seeking some clarifications.

So this is basically the goal:
[RICHARD]:All one needs to do, to put it in its most simplified form, is be felicitous – a boots and all felicity – then one is not on one’s own in this, the adventure of a lifetime, as the universe is with one all the way.
And help don’t come bigger than that! http://actualfreedom.com.au/richard/selectedcorrespondence/sc-happy.htm

and

[RICHARD]:So as to keep it simple: all you have to do, so to speak, is be happy and harmless ... the rest takes care of itself. http://actualfreedom.com.au/richard/listafcorrespondence/listaf27d.htm#23Jan03

Now some questions about the nuts and bolts:

[RICHARD]:What the wide and wondrous path to an actual freedom is on about is a virtual freedom wherein the ‘good’ feelings – the affectionate and desirable emotions and passions (those that are loving and trusting) are minimised along with the ‘bad’ feelings – the hostile and invidious emotions and passions (those that are hateful and fearful) – so that one is free to feel well, feel happy and feel perfect for 99% of the time. If one deactivates the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ feelings and activates the felicitous feelings (happiness, delight, joie de vivre, bonhomie and so on) then with this freed-up affective energy, in conjunction with sensuousness (delectation, enjoyment, appreciation, relish, zest, gusto and so on), the ensuing sense of amazement, marvel and wonder can result in apperceptiveness (unmediated perception). http://actualfreedom.com.au/richard/articles/aprecisofactualfreedom.htm

Minimize good and bad SO THAT one feels (uncaused) felicity? The conjunction "so that" is used to show an action producing an intended result or a cause producing an effect. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/so_that) The minimization of good and bad feelings are the action or cause and feeling well, feeling happy, and feeling perfect for 99% of the time is the intended result or effect of the action or cause of said minimization.

[VINEETO]:In my experience my happiness changed from a conditional happiness – happiness about certain meetings with people, certain fulfilled expectations, purchase of particular goods or achievement of particular goals – to a more and more unconditional happiness and delight of being alive which prevails when malice and sorrow are greatly diminished or completely absent. http://actualfreedom.com.au/actualism/vineeto/selected-correspondence/corr-happy.htm

1st chip away at malice and sorrow then more and more unconditional happiness and delight will prevail (at the same time that malice and sorrow is successfully chipped away?)

[RICHARD]:The name of the game is to habituate an affective imitation of the actual each moment/each place again – to consistently be as unconditionally happy and harmless (free of both malice and sorrow and, thus, their antidotal pacifiers love and compassion) as is humanly possible whilst remaining a ‘self’ http://actualfreedom.com.au/richard/selectedcorrespondence/sc-method5.htm

I gather from the placement of parentheses above that being unconditionally happy and harmless IS the same as being free of both malice and sorrow and thus love and compassion. So one cannot be unconditionally happy and harmless if one is being malicious and sorrowful. So if malice and sorrow and love and compassion are occurring then one needs to stop being that before being able to be as unconditionally happy and harmless as one can be?

[VINEETO]:The way to become genuinely harmless towards one’s fellow man is to successively free oneself from malice and sorrow – something anybody can do if they are so inclined. http://actualfreedom.com.au/actualism/vineeto/selected-correspondence/corr-happy.htm

The practice is to free oneself of malice and sorrow and genuine harmlessness is the end result? Again, 1st no malice and sorrow then much [happiness] and harmlessness?

[VINEETO]:According to my experience, my happiness is epitomized by the absence of unhappiness, of both malice and sorrow with its endless variations. This happiness is then unconditional, i.e. it does not depend on particular events, things or people but is quite simply the state I am experiencing when ‘I’ and ‘my’ neurosis and feelings don’t spoil what is happening in this moment. You could also say, happiness is what remains when all reasons for unhappiness have been removed – the ‘eliminative’ process of actualism. http://actualfreedom.com.au/actualism/vineeto/selected-correspondence/corr-happy.htm

Again, happiness is just simply the ABSENCE of unhappiness? This initially appears to be a subtle shift from my idea that unhappiness is the ABSENCE of happiness. I could be wrong.

This sums up what a virtually free Vineeto is saying about what comes 1st:
[VINEETO]:Why not stick to the actualism method of firstly becoming aware of and questioning the deleterious ‘good’ and ‘bad’ emotions that may be preventing you from happily and harmlessly enjoying this moment of being alive. [note: this and rest of proceeding quotes are from the same link]

and

[VINEETO]:Therefore the main emphasis in questioning and investigating my feelings has been focussed on examining the ‘good’ feelings of love, hope and trust and the ‘bad’ feelings of malice and sorrow. When I am happy, even when I am affectively happy, ‘I’ have no problem with being here and consequently the ‘self’ has little or nothing to do.

and

[VINEETO]: You can feel happy for a particular reason, something worked out fine, some feared event did not happen, someone said he or she loved you, etc. But to be happy you have to get rid of everything that makes you unhappy, sad, lonely, terrified, angry, compassionate, guilty, restless, bored, tired, resistant, resentful, etc., in short, your very ‘self’.

Do you see the subtle difference of priorities between striving to be happy vs striving to be unhappy (and then being blessed by the happiness that remains when there is no unhappiness?) That's what I'm taking away from all this. Any comments?

(emphasis added throughout in bolds and underlines)

As I understand it, in this process it is always better to feel good than to feel bad. As Richard says, a PCE won't happen when one is glum. So you first ask HAIETMOBA. And once you notice that you are feeling bad, trace it back to what set that off and eliminate the feeling bad.

This makes the ground more fertile so to speak. The more you feel better and the more you ask HAIETMOBA as well as eliminate the bad stuff, good feelings become more common. This, along with asking HAIETMOBA tends to trigger PCE's eventually, which are the template for AF.

As you continue in your practice, you will see for your self how and why at a certain point the good feelings have to go as well. You see it at one point and it makes sense then. I find it hard to explain.

And btw...

Real confidence is the absence of insecurity.
Real relaxation is the absence of tension.
And indeed, real happiness is the absence of unhappiness.

That's why the method is so effective. It takes away the feelings that make you unhappy. Pumping up happiness to overcome unhappiness doesn't work very well.

Pumping up confidence to overcome nervousness doesn't work very well. Have you ever had to do something that made you nervous? You will have to keep yourself calm enough to do it etc..

What if the nervousness simply wasn't there?

That's the difference.

Also, look up the definitions of both felicity and felicitous on webster.com.

I found that reading those definitions, I got a better grasp of the concept. It, to me, also feels a bit different from normal happiness, which happened when I read those definitions.

This new feeling is more in line with AF and what Richard has written.

This is just a personal experience, don't know if it does anything for you, but I figured I might as well share.

Right on! I think I'm taking from it the same thing as you are.



Well there ya go. Nice.

And always remember this quote from Richard:

"You need to have a keen sense of humour. This business of becoming free is not – contrary to popular opinion – a serious business at all. Be totally sincere ... most definitely utterly sincere, as genuineness is essential. But serious ... no way. An actual freedom is all about having fun; about enjoying being here; about delighting in being alive."

This one I need as a reminder from time to time, though less and less. Interesting how practice actually gets results.

If you haven't read the following page yet, I highly recommend you do. It's one of the best pieces on AF in my opinion:

http://actualfreedom.com.au/richard/articles/thismomentofbeingalive.htm

EDIT: This one has a nice list of great articles as well:

http://actualfreedom.com.au/richard/articles/index.htm

Same here. I was really struck when I first realized wellbeing was subtractive, rather than additive. And everyone out there is looking for something to make them happy. And some spiritual seekers are looking for their "true/higher self", rather than getting rid of it. I think that's where Richard's "180º wrong" has a point.

but what about manifesting a felicity and wonder? I feel "plain" (although better) when subtracting social/instinctual identity without adding felicity. I am not suffering anymore but there is nothing special about this moment. I need to actively, with effort, increase felicity, and "find" sensuousness with its inherent delight. Otherwise, I get caught in boredom or craving.

Hmm, I sure see it as being additive:

PETER: If your sole aim is ‘to get rid of the negative’, as in stopping being cynical, the tendency is then to not replace it with anything – to not feel anything – to become an emotional emasculate if you like. Contrary to what some people think, actualism is not about not feeling. The actualism process is about minimizing the debilitating effects of the ‘bad’ emotions (malice, anxiety, resentment, sorrow, etc.) as well as minimizing the debilitating effects of the antidotal ‘good’ emotions (love, bliss, compassion, etc.) and actively promoting the felicitous emotions – the feelings that are associated with naiveté – a childlike curiosity, a fascination with being here, bonhomie, friendliness, amiability, cordiality, delight, wonder, amazement and so on.

These felicitous feelings don't seem conditional though.

Good find! Nothing quite like a good dose of confusion and doubt when added to the mix!