Andrew: Well, that will definitely mean I no longer call it hedonism. (link)
Hi Andrew,
There is nothing wrong with using the word ‘hedonism’ if that is what you choose as your modus operandi. If you intend to be “chasing pleasure for pleasure’s sake. Simple as that”, then hedonism is the exact word for this MO.
To just say you will no longer “call it hedonism” is not the issue – that is merely changing the label, not the action. The issue is rather, if you want to chase pleasure for pleasure’s sake, i.e. experience the ‘good’ feelings, push away or suppress the bad feelings under the guise. I only wanted to make it clear that this is not the actualism method.
Andrew: These were the types of references I had in mind with allowing pleasure;
‘Peter’: What I came to see was that any resources I used or possessions I owned I had to pay for which meant I had to work for – i.e. sell my time to someone else in return for money. This realization was a slow dawning but I did have the sense to have a vasectomy after having two children, and soon adopted the quality-not-quantity approach to possessions. After meeting Richard I pushed the envelope a bit more, eventually trading my car for a new-age typewriter and reducing my work hours to a minimum in order to devote myself to the business of actualism as much as possible. Nowadays I find myself living a life of indulgent consumption that borders on hedonism yet at a level that would be easily be possible, sustainable and feasible for all human beings on the planet. To be an actualist is to become an ideal and model citizen of the world. [emphasis by Andrew]. (Peter, Selected Correspondence, Hedonism, 28.5.2000).
(link)
Was it this ‘attractive option’ of “indulgent consumption that borders on hedonism” what coloured your understanding when you read Peter’s correspondence?
Of course, if one only focuses on feeling being ‘Peter’s’ experiential description one has to ignore that his experience was the result of practicing the actualism method which he described elsewhere, for instance –
‘Peter’: The essential method was to undertake a total investigation into anything that was preventing me from being happy and harmless now – after all, the point of living is to be happy and harmless now, not at some time in the future, or at some time in the past. The question to ask myself was, ‘How do I experience this moment of being alive?’ Now is, after all, the only time I can experience being happy. Any emotion such as anger, frustration or boredom that is preventing my happiness now, has to be traced back to its cause – the exact incident, thought, expectation or disappointment. At the root of this emotion is inevitably found a belief or an instinctual passion. The ruthless challenging, exposing and understanding of these beliefs and instinctual passions actually weakens their influence on my thoughts and behaviour. The process, if followed diligently and obsessively, will ultimately cause the beliefs to disappear completely and the instinctual passions to be greatly minimized. The idea, of course, is to eliminate the cause of my unhappiness, ‘me’, so that I can experience life at the optimum, here, now. (Peter’s Journal, Introduction).
And because you referred to Kuba’s recent message about sexual enjoyment (2 April 2026) “for context” here is another snippet of Peter’s report –
‘Peter’: So, it was obvious that the sex drive was the problem and the problem was in me. As an experiment, I decided to plunge fully into both masturbation and fantasy, to allow myself to push beyond the feelings of guilt and shame that had plagued me since my teenage years. I kept going beyond self-indulgence; and something curious began to happen. It became clear to me that this was just plain silly, stupid, mad and destructive. Here I was with a willing woman, to whom I was sexually attracted, and there was this drive in me that prevented me from being with her as a real woman. When I was with her sexually I would be thinking of other women, and I knew this to be a common male situation. When I saw other women I would be sexually attracted to them and fantasise about them. Facing this squarely in myself and contemplating it led me to a devastating conclusion. This sex drive within me is not concerned with me being happy with one woman; in fact, it is actively conspiring to prevent it! (Peter’s Journal, Sex).
This is to demonstrate that despite ‘Peter’s’ exuberant expression of “living a life of indulgent consumption that borders on hedonism”, it is not a philosophical advice but the lived description of the result of successfully applying the actualism method.
Just for completeness, because you seemed to have stopped looking after you found Peter’s quote – here are two examples of feeling being ‘Vineeto’s’ comment on hedonism –
‘Vineeto’: Those who overlook the second half of the phrase ‘happy and harmless’ often confuse actualism with hedonism and thus completely miss the point. You might be advised to check the topic of hedonism in The Actual Freedom Trust library – you will find that hedonism is diametrically opposite to an actual freedom from the human condition. (Vineeto, Selected Correspondence, Hedonism, 8.10.2003)
‘Vineeto’: Becoming free from the Human Condition of malice and sorrow means to pursue becoming happy and harmless. Whereas traditional Hedonism like the Charvakas have tried to suffocate or at least balance human sorrow by indulging in pleasures and avoiding pain, actualism aims to eliminate the root cause of malice and sorrow, one’s very ‘self’ – the animal instinctual passions with one’s overlaying social identity of beliefs, morals and ethics. (Vineeto, Selected Correspondence, Hedonism, 22.7.2000)
I only present this, plus the series of Richard’s quotes in my last message, to say there was no need for you to misunderstand actualism being equivalent to hedonism, unless you chose to and then hold actualists responsible for leaving a “large confusion” –
Andrew: Regarding “hedonism” I was using it in the way Peter and Richard used it, as in straight colloquial usage of pleasure. I would say that the contradiction of the definition you linked and the many colloquial uses on the AFT leave a large confusion on exactly what was being encouraged when sex is endorsed as something to be explored. In everyday speech, hedonism refers to chasing pleasure for pleasure’s sake. Simple as that. [Emphasis added]. (link)
As a final clarification a quote from Richard in the Actual Freedom Library –
Richard: … and quite another to delightedly enjoy the ripples of pleasure that this body is patently capable of manifesting whilst actualizing benignity and blitheness.
These organic waves of sensational pleasure are usually constrained by the demands of the entity for emotional and passionate feelings … which are the synthetic compensations for the supposed indignity of having to be here at all as this despised body. When the psychological – and psychic – entity willingly abdicates its sovereignty and takes its leave, the senses can act in their optimum manner … just as when a normal person becomes blind, for instance, all the other senses are heightened. The result is a phenomenal increase in the pleasurable sensitivity of being a corporeal body in this very physical world. The resultant benevolence produces easy good-will, kindness and benevolence, for one is living in a friendly world … made all the more amiable because of the innate munificence and magnanimity of the purity of the perfection of the infinitude of the universe as is evidenced only at this moment in time.
This is important to comprehend, for under different conditions thoughtful people are prone to jumping to the conclusion that one would then be an out and out hedonist – an unfortunate appellation for I rather like the term and wished it received far better press – yet as a matter of fact and actuality, one is demonstrating one’s appreciation of all that the universe can offer by being here in a palpable and tangible sense. Instead of standing back and expressing a feeling – an emotion or passion – about this world, one is saying yes to existence in the most evident and obvious way … with tactile approbation and sensibly discernible relish. One is fully committed, for one has realised that life is inherently perfect … and it is possible to live that perfection all the time. Then – and only then – is one being here. Being here is a direct experiencing of the actuality of this moment that is hanging in time and is vastly superior to ‘me’ as an identity ‘living in the present’. When one is actually being here, one is totally immersed, completely involved in living. One is no longer ‘holding back’, saving oneself for Something after death or Someone who is deathless. One is out from control; no more is one keeping part of oneself in reserve, for this moment is freely living me … and I am all of me. Being here as an actuality is to be doing what is happening with the full endorsement of one’s entirety. [Emphases added]. (Actual Freedom Library, Hedonism)
It would be more beneficial and crowned with success to not put the cart before the horse – in other words, first removing the obstacles to feeling good as they occur, such as resentment or anger or hurt (hiding), rather than artificially creating pleasure via practicing hedonism, using alcohol and imagination. When those obstacles occur, you can look squarely at the feeling on a ‘deep feeling level’ (24 March 2026) as in ‘I’ am my feelings and my feelings are ‘me’, and recognizing this you can see how silly it is to waste this precious moment of being alive by being resentful, angry or hurt, and be feeling felicitous/ innocuous instead.
Cheers Vineeto