Claudiu's Journal

Time for an update! In short: it is going swimmingly :smile:

I am definitely experiencing a different way of ā€˜beingā€™. Iā€™m currently becoming accustomed to and acclimatizing to this new way of experiencing being alive.

The most amazing and wondrous aspect about it isā€¦ nothing is ever going ā€œwrongā€. Especially at the beginning, I experienced alarm and worry or fear that I was doing the wrong thing, or on the wrong path ā€“ and I was fully experiencing them as emotions as they otherwise would be (hence I know Iā€™m not in an emotion-suppressing ASC). However, when I contemplated on what exactly is wrong, or what is going wrong, what facts about being alive would lead to this fear being substantial or credible? I couldnā€™t find anything.

It is like Vineeto described here (emphasis added):

What really sealed the deal of confirming Iā€™m on the right path was a PCE I had whilst taking a shower. I saw that the anxiety and fear about whether Iā€™m on the right path, was no different to any other emotional issue that I have had ā€“ it was ultimately ā€˜meā€™ mucking things up. And I saw that there was no weirdness or ASC quality of what I was experiencing, because all of that would have gone away in the PCE, and I didnā€™t notice anything disappearing like that which would bring it in stark contrast.

Instead, I experienced it during the PCE as if the regular gap between ā€˜meā€™ and actuality was smaller than before ā€“ I distinctly recall at the time that the difference was smaller, as in, I was by default closer to the actual world.

It is like Richard wrote here (emphasis added):


I am truly astounded as to what is happening because it isnā€™t like I imagined it would be. This is obvious in hindsight ā€“ just as you canā€™t know what a PCE is like before having or remembering a clear one, you canā€™t know what being out-from-control is like. What I would say now is that a large part of the uncertainty at the beginning stemmed from me having an idea or picture in mind of what actually walking the next steps towards actual freedom would be like. And thus, implicitly, of course I was trying to walk that (imagined) path. But being out-from-control, I see now that it is rather about allowing it to happen in the way that it does happen, and accepting that. In other words, the key is control, and continuing to allow myself to be out from under it ā€“ which I do gladly and with great vitality, endorsement, and appreciation.

The quality that stands out the most is an almost complete lack of concern (as in, a carefreeness) about anything outside of what is happening here and now. My mind, thoughts, and emotions, simply donā€™t drift towards those things they usually would. In other words it is perfectly easy to simply and thus contentedly be here.

And yet, I am perfectly able to take care of all of the things I used to. Itā€™s not like I have become forgetful. And the things that do need doing, I do and follow up on. But the ones that donā€™t, it is simply obvious and sensible not to really expend any energy on them.

Interestingly, I realize that this is completely different to how I was before, but the experience of it is that it really isnā€™t that different. How delightful :smile:.


When I do find myself in a habitual thought or feeling patterns, and I catch myself doing it, now itā€™s almost like I am just ā€˜pretendingā€™ to still do those things. It is very easy to cease and continue on the good/carefree path.


I am much more easily able to appreciate things and especially other people. Watching my partner puzzling over where to place some new decorative tiles she purchased ā€“ I see that she is doing it out of caring, a caring that our home looks nice and is a pleasant place to be ā€“ how wonderful! When I attended a dinner which entailed a singer with a three-piece band in the local style ā€“ glancing upon the singerā€™s face as she prepared and then launched into a heartful singing, I deeply appreciated how involved and invested she was, and indeed how much she cared, to put all of her practice and training to use and focus it all in this moment so she could deliver a performance the audience would like!


The purity I experience now is of a much finer quality than I was experiencing before, yet I can tell experientially that it is the same purity, just experienced more directly. It seems the more intense feeling of it was due to it being filtered through my experiencing of it, which there is less of now. So at first glance it seems like it is ā€œlessā€ than before, but as I contemplate and allow it I actually see that it is ā€œmoreā€, more refined that is! It has the delightful quality of anhedonic pleasure as I previously experienced it in PCEs that there is no ā€œcapā€ to it, it can never be ā€œtoo muchā€.

The other amazing thing is that this purity is always there, whether I am more consciously experiencing of it or less. There is a remarkable stability, a permanence to it. And I can see that me attempting to go into it further is not the way to go. My efforts prior to being out-from-control were more about getting me to commit and go into that direction, but now my efforts are more along the lines of allowing myself to go further into that purity, as I see that the way forward will not be of my doing, but rather the doing of that purity.


This way of being is remarkably stable yet dynamic at the same time. I do not need to maintain it in the way that I had to maintain feeling good/great/excellent or a connection to pure intent before. The default has shifted. At the same time, I get the sense that if I slack hard enough for long enough I could still fall out of it and back into my old ways, hence the ā€œallowing myself to continueā€ is an active engagement, not a back-seat approach.

Interestingly much of what Iā€™m experiencing now I would have thought would be only happening once actually free. I can only conclude that actual freedom will be even more magnificent and wonderful than I previously thought it might be :grin: .


To sum: it is wonderful, truly wonderful, and I invite any and all actualists to join me and go out-from-control themselves so as to enable themselves to reach their destinies sooner rather than later :grin: (@Kub933 Iā€™m looking at you!!)

As for any advice for how to have someone do it: I actually donā€™t really know. All I can say is that for myself, the key was realizing that ultimately Iā€™m already not in control anyway. The universe ultimately dictates what will happen, I can only really pretend to greater or lesser degrees what my say in it is. Hence it is safe to allow the controls to be let go of, as you do not have that control anyway. It can seem scary at first, but, truly wonderful once one gets used to it!

Cheers,
Claudiu

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