I was reading the AFT on pure intent last night and noticed something I never had before, and it had a substantial enough effect on my experiencing that I thought it might be worth writing up a bit here.
Ok, so in the bowels of the AFT I came across this passage I had never seen before – just kidding, it was the pure intent footnote on the homepage, something I’ve read several times already. But for some reason, I saw it differently than I ever had before:
[Richard]: “Just to set the record straight: altruism (in its biological sense) is only the key to the process of ‘self’-immolation – going into blessed oblivion – and has nothing to do with living everyday life happily and harmlessly … the appearance of benevolence ensures that all interactions (including with oneself) are benign and beneficial. (…) Life is truly this simple: the pure intent to have the already always existing peace-on-earth become apparent, as evidenced in the pure consciousness experience (PCE), is activated with the nourishment of one’s innate naiveté via ‘the wonder of it all’ … whereupon an intimate connection, a golden thread or clew as it were, is thus established whereby one is sensitive to and receptive of the over-arching benignity and benevolence of the ‘another world’ of the PCE – which is already always just here right now anyway – and one is not on one’s own, in this, the adventure of a lifetime.
And sincerity works to awaken one’s dormant naiveté.”
Richard, Actual Freedom Mailing List, No. 27d, 6 Dec 2002
So here Richard is indicating that pure intent is activated by naivete. Previously I had always thought of it as being sourced in the PCE, partly because he frequently refers to in those terms.
Richard: For those who are unable to recall/ unable to trigger a PCE there is the near-purity of the sincerity which inheres in naiveté – the nearest a ‘self’ can get to innocence whilst remaining a ‘self’ – which naiveté is an aspect of oneself locked away in childhood through ridicule, derision, and so on, that one has dared not to resurrect for fear of appearing foolish, a simpleton, in both others’ eyes and, thus, one’s own.
One surely has to be naïve to contemplate the profound notion that this universe is benign, friendly. One needs to be naïve to consider that this universe has an inherent imperative for well-being to flourish; that it has a built-in benevolence available to one who is artless, without guile.
Naivete allows one to consider the possibility that the universe is inherently benevolent.
“to be sincere is to be the key which unlocks naiveté”
Richard: Be sincere, utterly sincere … sincerity is sourced in naiveté.
Given that it is, plainly and simply, always ‘my’ choice as to how ‘I’ experience this moment then the optimum manner in which to do so is, of course, sincerely/ naïvely.
Thus the part-sentence in that previous post of mine [quote] ‘and to be sincere is to be the key which unlocks naiveté’ [endquote] is worth expanding upon.
The operative words in that part-sentence are [quote] ‘… to be the key …’ [endquote] and with particular emphasis on the word ‘be’ (rather than ‘have’ for instance).
In other words, to be sincerity (not only have sincerity) is to be the key (not merely have the key) to be naiveté (not just have naiveté).
(Bear in mind that, at root, ‘I’ am ‘my’ feelings and ‘my’ feelings are ‘me’ and it will all become clear).
As there is something I have oft-times encouraged a fellow human being to try, in face-to-face interactions, which usually has the desired effect it is well worth detailing here:
Reach down inside of yourself intuitively (aka feeling it out) and go past the rather superficial emotions/ feelings (generally in the chest area) into the deeper, more profound passions/ feelings (generally in the solar plexus area) until you come to a place (generally about four-finger widths below the navel) where you intuitively feel you elementarily have existence as a feeling being (as in ‘me’ at the core of ‘my’ being … which is ‘being’ itself).
Now, having located ‘being’ itself, gently and tenderly sense out the area immediately below that (just above/just before and almost touching on the sex centre).
Here you will find yourself both likeable and liking (for here lies sincerity/ naiveté).
Here is where you can, finally, like yourself (very important) no matter what.
Here is the nearest a ‘self’ can get to innocence whilst remaining a ‘self’.
Here lies tenderness/ sweetness and togetherness/ closeness.
Here is where it is possible to be the key.
I’m aware that the above was something the affers grabbed onto for awhile and that approach didn’t go anywhere particular for them. For me, the significant part is the connection between Sincerity, Naivete, Pure intent, and the Benignity + Benevolence of the Universe.
Sincerity is about getting the whole of oneself on board. It’s about recognizing what one knows and does not know. It’s about recognizing that one genuinely does want to know the answers to the questions of the universe. That one does indeed want one’s own and everyone’s lives to be better.
Pure intent is a manifest life-force; a genuinely occurring stream of benevolence and benignity that originates in the perfect and vast stillness that is the essential character of the infinitude of the universe.
(from the same footnote on the home page)
So I drew up a quick diagram to simplify for my own benefit:
Sincerity → Naivete → Pure Intent → Benignity + Benevolence of the Universe
Having read this and not being capable at this time of having a PCE at will but knowing that I could access Naivete, I determined to be as naive as possible in the interest of increasing my connection to pure intent.
I started by ensuring my own sincerity was 100% in place. I wasn’t thinking in terms of Richard’s intuitive-physical directions from above, I was simply paying attention to my own intuitive sense of sincerity.
Once I had that, I opened up to a sense of naivete. Recognition that it could indeed be a fundamentally benevolent universe, despite what all the philosophers, psychologists, moralists, and mystics profess.
As soon as I did that, I felt a palpable benevolence arising in my experiencing. It was very noticeable, and clearly something that I had been ‘blocking’ via constant concern about ‘my’ issues.
This is pure intent.
There is something circular happening here where sincerity allows one to admit that one is naive, and naivete allows one to face the possibility that the universe is indeed inherently benevolent and benign. Once this possibility is grasped, then one’s attention toward the universe immediately makes the ‘possible’ evident: the benevolence & benignity are immediately there to be experienced.
And once the benevolence & benignity are experienced, it can become a runaway train: more benignity & benevolence is more verification that the universe may indeed be benevolent & benign; and more naive recognition of this (seemingly increasingly likely) possibility, the greater the connection to this same benignity & benevolence (which comes from outside of oneself - it is the fundamental character of the universe).
I can also see why Richard emphasizes getting a good dose of pure intent going before attempting the actualism method:
Warning: It is an utterly fundamental proviso that pure intent be dedicatorily in place – as an overriding/ overarching life-devotional goal which takes absolute precedence over all else – before any such whittling away of the otherwise essential societal/ cultural conditioning be undertaken.
(from the AFT home page)
Despite how one might wrangle & attempt to effort their way toward becoming free/investigating, it may well do more harm than good, & certainly be painstaking & slow progress. When pure intent is firmly in place, the benevolence & benignity pouring in seemingly makes everything easy. It simultaneously makes the entire undertaking have a character of enjoyment, and clearly points the way toward the freedom we’re all aiming for.
As something of an afterword, it’s apparent to me now that even if one has had numerous PCEs - as I have - that the connection to pure intent may not be that strong. I was immediately struck upon conclusion of this experiment how much more felicity & enjoyment there is - literally always available, on tap - than what I had as an ongoing daily experience. I will continue to emphasize this in my own Actualism practice for as long as it seems beneficial.
I can remember previous periods in my life when my ongoing connection to pure intent was far more substantial, but various confusions, selfishnesses, and life events seem to have blunted it in time. I’m extremely… “chuffed” to have arrived back where it all began.
. Surprisingly tricky to convey. But the experience itself is very clear… there’s no experiential confusion (now) of ‘me’ which doesn’t actually exist, experiencing a connection to / allowing an experience of a purity outside of ‘me’ that does actually exist, without ‘me’ being able to “get in” to that purity and dirty it, and without that purity being able to “control” or “force” or have any “power” over me or be affected by ‘me’ in any way.
That is, until those conditions allow for/ produce a lifeless, unconscious slab of meat. Those conditions and causes infinite construct me and give me shape, they form every fold and wrinkle, they shape my thoughts and personality, they assemble every fiber, they move me left and right, up and down. That is, before they destruct and disassemble me; before they deform and destroy me, and then use what remains of me to construct something else entirely. Thank you, whatever you are, for putting me together for a moment in time, so that I can know what you are and what you do. Thank you for allowing me to appreciate and marvel at your work. Thank you for letting me see. It is good.
