Independent Actualist?

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Dada Kind, modified 9 Years ago at 1/16/15 6:10 PM
Created 9 Years ago at 1/16/15 6:10 PM

Independent Actualist?

Posts: 633 Join Date: 11/15/13 Recent Posts
My friend linked me to this strange online book called The Present by Michael Smith that seems strongly reminiscent of Actualism. Like the Actual Freedom site, most of it seems like the philosophical ramblings of a madman, but there are some bits that stand out as similar to descriptions of PCE, AF or whatever. The author seems to have died last year. Or, at least, the pen name died.

The bolding was in the book; it's not mine.
...
It removes all stress and negative mind-made feelings from your life.

The mind starts disappearing, and true life starts appearing.

As the mind gets smaller, life gets bigger. As the mind shrinks, life expands. When the mind disappears completely, your perception of life becomes clear. Eventually, you will only think when you have to, which is not very often. You will be able to accept the present of life, no matter what is happening. You change into a new being, a spiritual being, and you become the present, the eternal NOW.

We want to expand our life, not expand our minds as they did in the 1960’s. The more you live in the present, the more fulfilling life gets. Time will slow down; you will see the magic and wonder of life you saw as a child, and you will experience it without the ignorance and all the negative emotions of childhood. Soon, you will be able to see life better than a child sees it or any animal has ever seen it. You will see the real world, an enchanted world.

...

In this animal realm, physical pain and pleasure will come and go, but you can always be filled with life (fulfilled) once you know the truth.

Freedom: If you tie your fulfillment to things that happen in your environment, you are at the mercy of the constantly changing environment. You will only get a taste of fulfillment when things go your way, when you win or get what you want. Spiritual people are fulfilled when they lose. If you do not attach your fulfillment to what happens in your environment, you can be fulfilled no matter what happens. True freedom is having the ability to be fulfilled independent of what happens in the environment. Almost no one is free now. Only the truth will set you free.

Being free means being free of the mind that hides true life from people.

Instant gratification: Why put requirements on feeling good? True life is being given to us all the time; we just have to let it in all the time. True life is instant and complete gratification that costs nothing. Being free is in your head.

The secret: Most people know you do not need “things” or things to happen to be happy (be fulfilled), but most people do not know how it works. The secret is opening your mind. Without thought and negative emotions, the same thing happens that happens when you get what you think you want.

You become as sensual as you can possibly be; you become your senses.

You can feel better than you would feel if you just won the lottery everyday. Why not? It is just a state of mind, or state of no-mind. It is your life; just take what is coming to you. You can be fulfilled whenever you want. The present is for you.

Being fulfilled, being filled by life all the time, is the true goal of mankind. Everything that people do, directly and indirectly, good and bad, is to be fulfilled by life. Once you know the truth, you can skip all the things and just be fulfilled.

Empty: As shown in the drawing, the mind makes it impossible to know reality (true life) and to be fulfilled. The present with the mind blocking and distorting it is not fulfilling. It leaves you empty and full of desire for something to fill the emptiness. The things the mind does to try to fill the void just blocks life more. The more people run towards what they think they want, the more they miss it.

Something missing: People feel that something is missing, because something is missing; true life is missing.

The door: Your mind is like a door, and for most, it is currently closed. You have to have a truly open mind to learn the truth and experience true life (the present).

That which is: The literal meaning of the word “truth” is “that which is.” The living truth = that which is. That which is = the present.

The truth of the past = that which was. The truth of the future = that which will be. You can only truly know “that which is,” because now is the only thing that exists. The past is a memory or a story. The future is just an educated guess. You can only know the true past and what the true future will be by knowing “that which is possible.” If you know how life works, you will know everything.

Definition of ultimate truth: It is knowing the truth of life. It is knowing the fundamental, eternal laws of nature, and the nature of the mind which distorts and hides the truth. It is an accurate and complete understanding of “that which is.”

You do not and cannot understand every detail of life and do not have to. You just have to understand the big picture, the fundamental nature of life.

This truth never changes, because “that which is” can never change. It cannot change and exist. When you know life completely, you become life completely.

Self-evident: There is nothing easier to know than the truth, because it is life itself. It is nothing more and nothing less. The truth is the present, THE NOW.

It is all true: The truth is simply everything there is, everything that truly exists. If it does not exist, it is not the truth; if it does, it is. “That which is” is everything except for the deceptions created by the mind.
...

There's a bunch more rambling, but this seems to be the essence of it.

I'm really not sure how to explain the resemblance. Coincidence? Similar mental illness? Similar experience that is then extrapolated into an elaborate belief system? AF ripoff? You decide.
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Not Tao, modified 9 Years ago at 1/16/15 9:44 PM
Created 9 Years ago at 1/16/15 9:44 PM

RE: Independent Actualist?

Posts: 995 Join Date: 4/5/14 Recent Posts
Why are you calling it mad rambling?
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Dada Kind, modified 9 Years ago at 1/16/15 10:26 PM
Created 9 Years ago at 1/16/15 10:26 PM

RE: Independent Actualist?

Posts: 633 Join Date: 11/15/13 Recent Posts
It seems that way to me
Alin Mathews, modified 9 Years ago at 1/16/15 10:48 PM
Created 9 Years ago at 1/16/15 10:41 PM

RE: Independent Actualist?

Posts: 177 Join Date: 1/25/13 Recent Posts
Droll Dedekind:
My friend linked me to this strange online book called The Present by Michael Smith that seems strongly reminiscent of Actualism. Like the Actual Freedom site, most of it seems like the philosophical ramblings of a madman, but there are some bits that stand out as similar to descriptions of PCE, AF or whatever. The author seems to have died last year. Or, at least, the pen name died.

The bolding was in the book; it's not mine.
...
It removes all stress and negative mind-made feelings from your life.

The mind starts disappearing, and true life starts appearing.

As the mind gets smaller, life gets bigger. As the mind shrinks, life expands. When the mind disappears completely, your perception of life becomes clear. Eventually, you will only think when you have to, which is not very often. You will be able to accept the present of life, no matter what is happening. You change into a new being, a spiritual being, and you become the present, the eternal NOW.

We want to expand our life, not expand our minds as they did in the 1960’s. The more you live in the present, the more fulfilling life gets. Time will slow down; you will see the magic and wonder of life you saw as a child, and you will experience it without the ignorance and all the negative emotions of childhood. Soon, you will be able to see life better than a child sees it or any animal has ever seen it. You will see the real world, an enchanted world.

...

In this animal realm, physical pain and pleasure will come and go, but you can always be filled with life (fulfilled) once you know the truth.

Freedom: If you tie your fulfillment to things that happen in your environment, you are at the mercy of the constantly changing environment. You will only get a taste of fulfillment when things go your way, when you win or get what you want. Spiritual people are fulfilled when they lose. If you do not attach your fulfillment to what happens in your environment, you can be fulfilled no matter what happens. True freedom is having the ability to be fulfilled independent of what happens in the environment. Almost no one is free now. Only the truth will set you free.

Being free means being free of the mind that hides true life from people.

Instant gratification: Why put requirements on feeling good? True life is being given to us all the time; we just have to let it in all the time. True life is instant and complete gratification that costs nothing. Being free is in your head.

The secret: Most people know you do not need “things” or things to happen to be happy (be fulfilled), but most people do not know how it works. The secret is opening your mind. Without thought and negative emotions, the same thing happens that happens when you get what you think you want.

You become as sensual as you can possibly be; you become your senses.

You can feel better than you would feel if you just won the lottery everyday. Why not? It is just a state of mind, or state of no-mind. It is your life; just take what is coming to you. You can be fulfilled whenever you want. The present is for you.

Being fulfilled, being filled by life all the time, is the true goal of mankind. Everything that people do, directly and indirectly, good and bad, is to be fulfilled by life. Once you know the truth, you can skip all the things and just be fulfilled.

Empty: As shown in the drawing, the mind makes it impossible to know reality (true life) and to be fulfilled. The present with the mind blocking and distorting it is not fulfilling. It leaves you empty and full of desire for something to fill the emptiness. The things the mind does to try to fill the void just blocks life more. The more people run towards what they think they want, the more they miss it.

Something missing: People feel that something is missing, because something is missing; true life is missing.

The door: Your mind is like a door, and for most, it is currently closed. You have to have a truly open mind to learn the truth and experience true life (the present).

That which is: The literal meaning of the word “truth” is “that which is.” The living truth = that which is. That which is = the present.

The truth of the past = that which was. The truth of the future = that which will be. You can only truly know “that which is,” because now is the only thing that exists. The past is a memory or a story. The future is just an educated guess. You can only know the true past and what the true future will be by knowing “that which is possible.” If you know how life works, you will know everything.

Definition of ultimate truth: It is knowing the truth of life. It is knowing the fundamental, eternal laws of nature, and the nature of the mind which distorts and hides the truth. It is an accurate and complete understanding of “that which is.”

You do not and cannot understand every detail of life and do not have to. You just have to understand the big picture, the fundamental nature of life.

This truth never changes, because “that which is” can never change. It cannot change and exist. When you know life completely, you become life completely.

Self-evident: There is nothing easier to know than the truth, because it is life itself. It is nothing more and nothing less. The truth is the present, THE NOW.

It is all true: The truth is simply everything there is, everything that truly exists. If it does not exist, it is not the truth; if it does, it is. “That which is” is everything except for the deceptions created by the mind.
...

There's a bunch more rambling, but this seems to be the essence of it.

I'm really not sure how to explain the resemblance. Coincidence? Similar mental illness? Similar experience that is then extrapolated into an elaborate belief system? AF ripoff? You decide.
Greeting Droll,

There is no resemblance. you are trying to comprehend AF through what Richard calls sannyasin eyes emoticon  

AF is sans spirituality, it is 180° opposite to "You change into a new being, a spiritual being and you become the present, the eternal NOW". 

here is the definition of "truth and true" in actualist terms 
http://actualfreedom.com.au/library/topics/truth.htm



eslewhere Richard claims

"By being here now as-this-body one finds that this moment in time has no duration as in now and then – because the immediate is the ultimate – and that this place in space has no distance as in here and there – for the relative is the absolute. I am always here and it is already now.

And no ‘timelessness’ nor ‘truth’ to be seen at all."





  

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Dada Kind, modified 9 Years ago at 1/16/15 10:48 PM
Created 9 Years ago at 1/16/15 10:48 PM

RE: Independent Actualist?

Posts: 633 Join Date: 11/15/13 Recent Posts
The author is calling the 'present' the 'truth', the 'eternal now'. Richard calls the 'immediate' the 'ultimate', "I am always here and it's already now". Besides some terminological differences, the experiential descriptions seem the same to me.
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Bill F, modified 9 Years ago at 1/16/15 11:13 PM
Created 9 Years ago at 1/16/15 11:13 PM

RE: Independent Actualist?

Posts: 556 Join Date: 11/17/13 Recent Posts
My one and only comment in this thread, in the spirit of openness and disclosure: All those who have frequently entered here to tell us what actualism is or is not (I am not including Alin, he's new) over the last few years, are now saying in lieu of Beoman's most recent visit to Richard, that they had not actually been practicing the actualist method these last few years, and did not actually understand it until Beoman's recent visit this month, which is what happened last time as well. Beoman who frequently entered to tell others that they did not understand the actualism method is now saying that he actually did not understand it. Which happened to Tarin as well. So I don't think that anyone can say with any degree of certainty what that method might or might not be. This can all be read on the AF yahoo forum.

If anyone is interested in AF you can join their yahoo site easily to get a feel. I have more respect for those members and what they are trying to do since doing so, but AF as a philosophy and organization has also struck me as more bizarre than ever after reading through different posts there over the years, most of those posts predating Beoman, Felipe, Shashank, etc.


And with that, I'm out. Have a good night. I wish you all well. 
Alin Mathews, modified 9 Years ago at 1/17/15 12:07 AM
Created 9 Years ago at 1/16/15 11:34 PM

RE: Independent Actualist?

Posts: 177 Join Date: 1/25/13 Recent Posts
Droll Dedekind:
The author is calling the 'present' the 'truth', the 'eternal now'. Richard calls the 'immediate' the 'ultimate', "I am always here and it's already now". Besides some terminological differences, the experiential descriptions seem the same to me.



No matter how similar the terminology they cannot be saying the same thing as long one is describing their experience as a 'who' and the other is describing their experience as a 'what' e.g. The author [a new changed spiritual being ] is calling the 'present' the 'truth', the 'eternal now'. whereas Richard [a sans spiritual flesh and blood body *only*] is claiming; as this actual mortal body, I am always here (not over there) and it's already now.' there is a radical difference. 
Alin Mathews, modified 9 Years ago at 1/18/15 2:28 PM
Created 9 Years ago at 1/18/15 2:27 PM

RE: Independent Actualist?

Posts: 177 Join Date: 1/25/13 Recent Posts
[quote=
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posted something so stupid i actually consider it childish