@Vineeto I can now say that I have no more malice toward you. I am glad that you are carrying on Richard’s torch.
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Vineeto I can now say that I have no more malice toward you. I am glad that you are carrying on Richard’s torch.
Hi James,
This is excellent and it looks like I received a new title next to my name 
So now that you succeeded in getting rid of an old objection by seeing that it is silly, you can use this same technique to put aside any objection that interfere with you enjoying and appreciating this moment of being alive as in –
[Richard]: Once the specific moment of ceasing to feel good is pin-pointed, and the silliness of having such an incident as that (no matter what it is) take away one’s enjoyment and appreciation of this only moment of being alive is seen for what it is(1)
(1)[Respondent]: Richard, how long do you think will it take before it becomes automatic to have the question running?
[Richard]: About as long as it takes to realise that feeling anything other than happy and harmless sucks … and sucks big-time at that. (link)
For instance, where you say –
[James]: Objections to becoming af (continued) :
I am too old now. Struggling with skeletal pain and low energy. My time has passed. [link].
In this instance, rather than continue to object to the pain, you realize that time is of the essence, hence it is even more important that you don’t waste this moment of being alive with feeling bad but recognize that this is silly. You proceed to actualize this insight and get back to enjoying and appreciating this moment and voilà you are back to feeling good.
You can also acknowledge and realize the fact that pain is part of being alive, especially when getting older. You take care with what is medically possible, but even more importantly, you stop objecting to having pain simply because it is useless and therefore silly to do so. You will also be surprised how much the feeling of pain is reduced when you no longer object to it. Miguel only recently confirmed this to you (link).
As a feeling being ‘Vineeto’ has experienced this time and time again and nowadays any pain that occurs is simply something going on in the background which does not interfere with thoroughly enjoying and appreciating being here.
It will take a commitment to continue feel good each moment again, in order to break the old and familiar habit of finding things to complain about and object to – human are creatures of habit and it will need some determination and perspicacity to break such habits. As Richard was sometimes fond of saying “illegitimi non carborundum” (link).
However, I am confident that with the awareness that time is of the essence you can succeed.
Cheers Vineeto
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@Vineeto I read your reply to @jamesjjoo whilst bearing in mind that what you are describing (the Actualism method) is something completely new, as in it is not some re-arrangement of the ‘tried and true’ ways, and it clicked.
It starts with the realisation that this moment which is happening now is my only moment of being alive, and it is never not this moment, furthermore it’s the realisation that this moment is actually happening, this business called being alive is actually taking place now.
So bearing the above in mind it is always silly to feel bad because of X, because I am wasting a precious opportunity to enjoy and appreciate life now, and as it is never any other time than now, I am wasting this precious opportunity for nothing.
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Actually considering this further there is also something to the fact that I am wasting this moment of being alive which is of a finite supply that highlights the silliness of feeling bad and also just how precious this moment of being alive is.
This is interesting to contemplate in light of mortality, I remember Richard writing that he would not change 1 little bit about this universe. Is it that mortality (a limited supply of time that one can experience being alive) is a key component to this precious aspect? 
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I guess it is somewhat funny that ‘I’ can feel resentful towards this universe for the fact of mortality, for not ‘getting enough time’ and yet ‘I’ am busy wasting each moment anyways.
Furthermore it is this fact of mortality which makes life precious anyways, so what is it that ‘I’ am asking for? An eternity to suffer? 
I find this whole thing quite fascinating, what is kind of hanging in front of me now is - is it that mortality is actually a gift and not a curse?
Is it that a benevolent universe is set up exactly in this way as to provide intrinsic meaning to being alive, including this crucial component of mortality?
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Kuba: Vineeto I read your reply to jamesjjoo whilst bearing in mind that what you are describing (the Actualism method) is something completely new, as in it is not some re-arrangement of the ‘tried and true’ ways, and it clicked.
It starts with the realisation that this moment which is happening now is my only moment of being alive, and it is never not this moment, furthermore it’s the realisation that this moment is actually happening, this business called being alive is actually taking place now.
So bearing the above in mind it is always silly to feel bad because of X, because I am wasting a precious opportunity to enjoy and appreciate life now, and as it is never any other time than now, I am wasting this precious opportunity for nothing. Torch bearer - #3 by Kub933
Hi Kuba,
The reason why the actualism method is so completely new is because Richard discovered the secret of actual time. Time does not move, it is always now. Time is the arena in which events happen. Events come and go and the arena itself is eternal. You can experience this in a PCE, and on becoming actually free this stillness is instantly apparent via the awareness that time does not move.
You have understood it well, and on deeper contemplating this wondrous fact that “now is my only moment of being alive” something magical can happen.
[Richard]: The purity of life emerges from the perfection that wells up constantly due to an immense stillness which is utterly immense in its scope and magnitude. This stillness of infinitude is that something which is precious. It is the life-giving foundation of all that is apparent. This stillness happens as me. This stillness is my essential disposition, for it is the principle character, the intrinsic basis of everything. It is the universe at its genesis. It is not, as it might commonly be supposed, at the centre of everything … there is no centre here. This stillness, which is everywhere all at once, is the be all and end all of life itself. I am the universe experiencing itself as a sensate, reflective human being.
(Richard's Selected Writing on The Universe) Richard’s Journal, 1997, Article Twenty-five
Clocks tick away – what they measure is the rotation of the earth, giving us day and night and everything in between. It’s an ongoing event, which we measure as time for the convenience of arranging events. Actual time is only now. This moment, which is the same anywhere and everywhere, is all there is. You cannot experience any other moment than this moment. Yes, you can remember past events, you can plan future events (you can imbue them with feelings like regret and worry to make them appear more real), but when an event is happening it happens now, in this moment. I can never run out of time – because it is always now.
Kuba: Actually considering this further there is also something to the fact that I am wasting this moment of being alive which is of a finite supply that highlights the silliness of feeling bad and also just how precious this moment of being alive is.
This is interesting to contemplate in light of mortality, I remember Richard writing that he would not change 1 little bit about this universe. Is it that mortality (a limited supply of time that one can experience being alive) is a key component to this precious aspect? Torch bearer - #4 by Kub933
The key component to this moment being “precious” is the fact that this moment is the only moment you can experience. Furthermore, by fully comprehending that this is the only moment you can actually experience you can tap into infinitude realizing experientially that it is never not this moment.
If you are feeling bad now, something precious has been wasted, which is this moment of being alive. The universe will go on forever but it is your conscious experience of being alive which is precious.
Mortality is inextricable intertwined with it because as humans we are aware that we will die one day. I can’t separate it out – being alive means that one day I won’t be alive. In other words, although it may sound strange – mortality is a precondition for something being alive (else it would be static). It is an intrinsic part and parcel of this universe being perfect, you cannot separate it out.
I guess it is somewhat funny that ‘I’ can feel resentful towards this universe for the fact of mortality, for not ‘getting enough time’ and yet ‘I’ am busy wasting each moment anyways.
Furthermore it is this fact of mortality which makes life precious anyways, so what is it that ‘I’ am asking for? An eternity to suffer?
I find this whole thing quite fascinating, what is kind of hanging in front of me now is - is it that mortality is actually a gift and not a curse?
Here is what Richard pointed out –
RICHARD: It is all part and parcel of the process whereby this universe can experience itself as a sensate and reflective human being: as such the universe can know itself apperceptively. What one does is acquiesce to life by embracing death … one wholeheartedly dedicates oneself to being here as the universe’s experience of itself right now: it is the unreserved !YES! to being alive as this flesh and blood body.
If it were not for physical death one could not be happy … let alone harmless.
RESPONDENT: I don’t disagree, but would like you to flesh that out a little.
RICHARD: The absolutely undeniable fact of physical death means that, in an ultimate sense, nothing really matters: as nothing lasts forever (matter arranges and rearranges itself endlessly totally wiping out whatever came before) there is nothing worth dying for. Hence playfulness … I could not be solemn if my life depended upon it.
Sincere … yes; serious … no way. (General Correspondence Number Nine)
As such, you could say that mortality is a gift (and certainly not a curse) – and the very awareness of it can have a beneficent and intensifying impact to lessen one’s inclination to waste this moment. To live it with all the enjoyment and appreciation possible and to dedicate one’s life whole-heartedly to a worthy cause.
The very possibility that ‘I’ can altruistically die (self-immolate) before physical death to set the actual body free for the benefit of this body, that body and every body is the greatest gift of all for every feeling being.
Is it that a benevolent universe is set up exactly in this way as to provide intrinsic meaning to being alive, including this crucial component of mortality? Torch bearer - #5 by Kub933
Mmh, the universe has not been set up – it has always been here. But I understand what you are asking. Without mortality, without constant change and rearrangement of matter, it would be a static universe, neither benevolent nor beneficent, let alone able to evolve life, and conscious life as we know it. Such a universe can only exist in the imagination science-fiction writers.
Thank you Kuba for your probing questions and contemplations into the secrets of an infinite and eternal universe – it was a special delight to answer.
Cheers Vineeto
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Ah yes this makes complete sense! When I read this it clicked in such an obvious, in my face kind of way, as in of course it couldn’t be any other way. It is very freeing to see the full picture in this way because then it is no longer possible to have any resentment towards this universe.
Then all the affective energy that was previously spent on resentment can be turned in towards enjoyment and appreciation, and then further into wonder and amazement, until all starts to become magical, and this is exactly what has been happening this morning.
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@Vineeto Great to listen to what you are actually saying w/o objections to you. I am back to feeling good and enjoying and appreciating. The pain is also greatly reduced. Looking forward to you carrying the torch and leading us to actual freedom.
My takeaway is to see objections as silly and don’t let them spoil this moment of being alive and keep us from af. As you said, when there are no more objections we can be af.
Amazing, I just opened the door and I am no longer objecting to the extreme heat.
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