Kub933's Journal

[Vineeto]

@Kub933

Hi Vineeto,
Along with the increasing intimacy there is something else too. It is what Richard wrote, which I never quite understood experientially before, that it is the absence of choice which leads to freedom.
I experience it as 2 different experiential modes, there is as ‘I’ would normally be where ‘I’ operate from a separated vantage point and seek to enforce control over life, by choosing this or that in advance and then scheming it out.
And then the other is that with this increasing intimacy there is the experience of everything already happening, and so ‘I’ do not actually have a choice. In order to play that game of control ‘I’ have to first separate ‘myself’ from all that is happening, ‘I’ play the game of control from ‘my’ ivory tower. But when that intimacy is being allowed there is no longer a choice because ‘I’ am no longer separated.
Ha it makes sense, the above is describing the difference between the naive beer and the sophisticated doer! Where life lives itself there is no ‘space’ for ‘me’ to choose.
Ah and what is more… Where life lives itself there is progressively less ‘space’ for ‘me’ also, and what ‘I’ do is allow that. (link)

Hi Kuba,

This is a fortuitous discovery – the absence of choice when the doer moves into the background. And with ‘you’, the doer, losing your dominance, life becomes more and more easy and enjoyable.

Here is how Richard described the confidence gained from the absence of choice –

Respondent: […] I can tell you that the odds of achieving actual freedom, to make the identity disappear completely, is next to impossible.
Richard: G’day No. 11, If, as you say, the odds of achieving actual freedom are next to impossible then it implies that the odds of human beings destroying every man, woman and child on the planet are actually impossible as there is a precedent for the former and no precedent whatsoever for the latter.
Be that as it may be … the identity inhabiting this flesh and blood body all those years ago had no precedent to assure ‘him’ it was possible yet ‘he’ was entirely confident – with the certainty pure consciousness experiences (PCE’s) confer that it be ‘his’ destiny to manumit the body ‘he’ held in bondage.
Thus ‘he’ never had any doubt – ‘he’ was freed of doubt by that very absence of choice – an actual freedom was possible, in ‘his’ lifetime, for this flesh and blood body. (Any doubt comes from choice; for most people choice implies freedom – the freedom to choose – yet as choice means options there is always doubt; an actual freedom comes about by there being no choice whatsoever … hence the word destiny). (Richard, List D, No. 11, 28 Nov 2009).

And on another occasion he stated that having the freedom to choose is what freedom implies for most people but that this is not the case. I remember when feeling being ‘Vineeto’ read this the first time ‘she’ had a major mental adjustment as to ‘her’ idea of freedom. Later ‘she’ found out experientially that the choices were usually between pairs of conflicting feelings, such as hope and fear, pride and shame, or ‘her’ feelings conflicting with rules of social morals and ethics, whereas, when those conflicts and feelings were solved, or rather resolved, and not interfering with the simple enjoyment and appreciation of being here.

Richard: I am interested in ‘facts but not ideas’ because only thus is there something that can not be erroneous or incorrect. A fact is actual, not a dream, an illusion or a delusion. A fact is patent, obvious, apparent, evident, tangible, palpable, substantial, tactile, verifiable and indisputable. The marvellous thing about a fact is that one can not argue with it. One can argue about a belief, an opinion, a theory, an ideal and so on … but a fact: never. One can deny a fact – pretend that it is not there – but once seen, a fact brings freedom from choice and decision. Most people think and feel that choice implies freedom – having the freedom to choose – but this is not the case. Freedom lies in seeing the obvious, and in seeing the obvious there is no choice, no deliberation, no agonising over the ‘Right’ and ‘Wrong’ judgment. In the freedom of seeing the fact there is only action, and that action is the movement into perfection. A fact – and the seeing of actuality and living in it – brings freedom from imperfection. [Emphasis added]. (Richard, List A, No. 14, #No. 09).

You might find this one informative –

Richard: Also, and of related interest, there is this:

• [Co-Respondent]: ‘You think you have free will?
• [Richard]: ‘No.
• [Co-Respondent]: ‘What determines your actions?
• [Richard]: ‘The situation and the circumstances in the world of people, things and events.
• [Co-Respondent]: ‘Your thoughts – right?
• [Richard]: ‘Not necessarily … mostly ‘automatic pilot’ operates via habituation. Something new to experience requires thought … reflecting, comparing, evaluating, considering and then implementing. Altogether a rather delightful episodic event.
• [Co-Respondent]: ‘Do you control your thoughts?
• [Richard]: ‘This brain thinks thoughts perfectly without any ‘I’ or ‘me’ in there stuffing things up.
• [Co-Respondent]: ‘Where do they come from?
• [Richard]: ‘Are not thoughts neuronal activity betwixt the synapses? An electro-chemical process? As such they come from the calorific energy of foodstuffs plus oxygen from the air breathed.
• [Co-Respondent]: ‘Can you CREATE thoughts?
• [Richard]: ‘This brain thinks thoughts all of its own accord … easily, simply and fluently. It is altogether a marvellous occurrence’. (Richard, List C, No. 2a, 13 Mar 2000a) from (Sundry, FAQ69a, What is Will?).

Enjoy your new-found freedom from choice “when that intimacy is being allowed” and you no longer “separate ‘myself’ from all that is happening” and thus from your fellow human beings.

Cheers Vineeto