Consistently enjoying and appreciating this moment of being alive is what the actualism method is.
I had a few questions about the actualism method or consistently enjoying and appreciating this moment of being alive.
First:
Is appreciation a sensuous appreciation? Enjoyment to me has a clear meaning. Appreciating can mean a few things. So in terms of the actualism method, does appreciation mean a sensuous appreciation i.e. to relish in whatever sensuous experience is occurring?
Second:
Is enjoying and appreciating this moment of being alive as the actualism method the path to a virtual freedom and actual freedom? Can one just ride this path with confidence all the way to a virtual freedom and an actual freedom?
Well it’s a good place to start – what does ‘enjoyment’ mean to you?
It means to appreciate, as in recognize the value of and “esteem or value highly” (link), the enjoyment of this moment of being alive that is happening.
Enjoying being alive is done affectively as a feeling-being, and it’s truly ehmm… enjoyable .
To then appreciate enjoying being alive, is to turn your attention to just how nice it is to be enjoying being alive, and how much better it is than not enjoying being alive (for example).
By recognizing the value of enjoying being alive, it makes it more obvious to continue choosing enjoying being alive.
If it’s a sensuous enjoyment then it would be appreciating the sensuous enjoyment – if it’s an intimate enjoyment then it will be appreciating an intimate enjoyment – etc.
I will let @Vineeto or @geoffrey take this one as they have more experience than I with it
Richard: Consistently enjoying and appreciating this moment of being alive is what the actualism method is. (Richard, This Moment of Being Alive)
Is enjoying and appreciating this moment of being alive as the actualism method the path to a virtual freedom and actual freedom? Can one just ride this path with confidence all the way to a virtual freedom and an actual freedom? (link)
Hi Adam,
As you probably sourced the first quote from whence your questions arose from Richard’s article about the actualism method, and the quote above also appears as the third banner on that page, you may have also read the fourth banner –
Richard: The means to the end – an ongoing enjoyment and appreciation – are no different to the end.
This simple sentence clearly answers your question whether one can “ride this path with confidence all the way to a virtual freedom and an actual freedom”.
The only remaining question is, can you?
This is a question only you can answer whereby the confidence of your answer depends on the experiential outcome of applying the actualism method.
Cheers Vineeto
P.S.: Could it be that your ascription of that adverbial diminisher “just” in “can one just ride this path …” is an indication that the life-changing radicality of applying the actualism method has passed you by so far?
Enjoyment is pretty straight forward: this moment feels great! That’s awesome! Wow, look at that! This is fun! This feels so pleasurable!
Appreciation I was always a bit confused by. I guess appreciation is recognizing how one’s enjoyment is valuable, or worthwhile. Is appreciation comparative to other less enjoyable states of being, or is one so focused on the enjoyment of the moment that appreciation is focused on the benefit of the sensuous experience?
That sounds a bit lacklustre to me, but maybe it’s just how you phrase things.
To say it simply, and what it experientially is like when properly ramped up, I’d say appreciation is actively being awestruck at just how astounding it is to be so thoroughly enjoying this moment of being alive, and at how much better it is to be so enjoying being alive rather than not.
If I’m parsing the question correctly, are you asking if appreciation is more focused on comparing how much better experience is than less enjoyable states (“comparative”), or if it’s more focused on how good the enjoyable state is?
I would say the immediacy of it is more in the being awestruck how wondrous and amazing enjoying being alive is — but when doing so it’s absolutely worthwhile to also reflect on whatever you were sad or angry or unhappy or whatever about before, as it makes it starkly clear how silly that truly is.
Isn’t this appreciation instead of enjoyment? Or at least an acknowledgment of this moment of being alive instead of a relishing in this moment of being alive.
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