What is pure intent?

[roy]

@claudiu

Nowhere in #1 or #2 does it say that pure intent is something you “create within yourself” as a person nor that it is a person’s “intention” at all (pure or not).

@claudiu

You quoted what Peter wrote and then took it to be something you (feeling-being Roy) have or must generate, but ignored the part Richard wrote that it is “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”. Ignoring Richard’s definition allowed you to fill in your own.

No @claudiu… That part that Richard is saying you had shared it before. It is what I started questioning in the first place! The life-force, the benevolence and benignity. Please, see my exchange above with @Shashank.

The pure intent of Actual Freedom comes from the peak experience or PCE wherein one has a glimpse of the purity and perfection of the physical universe untainted by any ‘self’-ish and ‘self’-produced meta-physical imaginations. [source ]

This is the full quote. What you are saying is that Peter starts by mentioning pure intent but never defines it. What I’m saying is that I think he meant “pure intent of Actual Freedom comes” — as in manifests itself (where? where else could be? In a conscious being, the only thing that can have intent) — “from the peak experience or PCE wherein one has a glimpse of the purity and perfection of the physical universe untainted by any ‘self’-ish and ‘self’-produced meta-physical imaginations”. It’s so interesting how two people can read the same thing and come to a completely different conclusion.

The screenshot you shared is great. Even the start:

“The driving force in the search for the Human Condition is intent”

In other words: It is was drives someone to have the intention to explore the human condition. Then it goes on to explore this point and contrast with the intent of a spiritual seeker, etc…

It is very different from what you are saying. I think you are the one giving extra meaning to what is being said, by Peter and Richard. The quotes @Shashank shared gave me some clarity to what Richard was talking about in there.

@claudiu

Pure intent is not something you generate. Nothing can be further from what pure intent actually is, as the term is used in actualism lingo. Pure intent is something outside of you, that originates in the “perfect and vast stillness that is the essential character of the infinitude of the universe”, not in you as a feeling-being.

The better term for ‘your’ side of the equation is “sincere intent”. You do need to generate or create or nourish within yourself, a sincere intent to go forward and have all this happen. But this is not sufficient, at some point you need the other side of it, the side from the universe, to draw you in.

“Sincere intent” is not that different. The question here isn’t in the pure vs sincere, but the personal vs “universal” intent.

@claudiu

The question of “what is the meaning of life?” isn’t about what it means to be a dog, is it?

Well… can you really say for a fact that dogs don’t have a conscious experience, however completely different from ours? What makes you think that there is an universal meaning that is exclusive to human beings? In other words: why do you think we are so special? Don’t you think that may be your ego that needs to feel greater than it actually is?

@claudiu

I don’t see any reason other sufficiently evolved animate matter would not be able to experience the meaning of life as well, albeit they will be experiencing it as whatever they are made of rather than as humans.

But you still haven’t answered the question… What is this meaning? Ok this is from the post we wrote at around the same time:

@claudiu

And similarly, the universe is set up for life to flourish, for this deeply intrinsic meaning and delight to be available to all, for the universe to develop itself into creatures that are able to be aware of themselves being the universe being conscious of itself. This is what the meaning of life is, and pure intent is the way to go from here to there!

I have to come back to this in a day or two For me to be honest, the biggest discovery was seeing the conscious experience as a “product” of the physical world, the body, the brain… I can see why you would mention materialism.

@claudiu

God can be felt to exist, and very powerfully so. And many people can claim to experience the same God. This indeed does not mean God actually exists.

This is precisely what I mean. It’s interesting that you mention god, because people attribute all sorts of intentions to this infinite god and some go to the extent of saying the universe and god are the same. That’s a completely different and potentially long discussion. I don’t believe in God, anthropomorphic or not.

@claudiu

Humm perhaps it is sentences such as this one that allows Kuba to know that you are “intellectualizing”?

To be clear, I know you are describing your experiences of what you are calling pure intent and PCEs and trying to fit it together with what we’re saying.

Exactly, analyzing/exploring these experientially… I think that’s not what Kuba meant in that context but I may be wrong. “Intellectualizing” can mean analyzing something in an abstract way, distancing oneself from direct experience.

@claudiu

@roy

And there is no space, in the brain or anywhere else, for cosmic meanings. That doesn’t make anything less marvelous.

I would advise you to just set aside such judgements, if possible, until you have a better experiential knowing of that which we’re talking about.

How is this a judgement? I’m only saying that if you explore the brain, as scientists do, you will not find something that could explain what you are describing.

@claudiu

Things would certainly be less marvelous if the universe were an inert, neutral, meaningless occurrence with all of existence being just random chance of things bumping into each other.

Well, I think you are wrong. I have had religious people tell me the same thing.

@claudiu

I would just encourage you to be open to the possibility that there is more you have not seen yet – and try that experiential probing to see what happens!

@claudiu I don’t know why you are saying this to be honest. I’m sharing my experience and I’ve admitted that there may be more that I have been unable to experience. The reason why I’m insisting in this point is not to discredit your experience, as you have no reason to lie. I’m only interested in comparing what is actual with what is not actual, and seeing the differences.

@claudiu

As I sit here now reveling in the purity, I can report my experience and maybe it is helpful.

It is surprisingly hard to put into words sometimes even though it is so clear what I am experiencing!

It is immaculate in its existence. It thoroughly permeates everything. As I allow it in more, my body responds with joy and lightness. There is a carefreeness and lightness of spirit it readily engenders. It is like a pure stream of richly flowing silk-like quality that permeates my experiencing. At times it seems like golden is a more apt descriptor, other times like a cool breeze, other times like something richly flowing.

In some moments it’s like a deep richness, as if something in the very air turns in on itself and out pours this deep and enduring thoroughness and saturation.

There is no desire or pushing or forcing or being compelled coming from it. It exists, clearly, on its own, and is available for me to avail myself of to whatever degree I want. It does not force me in and it does not reject me out. It is pure in its self-completeness.

As it is so immanently enjoyable, there is a natural attractive quality to it, to allowing it more. And yet simultaneously I experience a putting-on-the-brakes of not going “too far” into it – this is my survival instincts putting up barriers to it, only natural. This is the point I find myself at generally, I am looking for that which is deeply personal to me that I want deep-down, which is for the benefit of not just myself or others, to allow the more powerful altruistic instincts to be able to override the survival ones. (This latter part is a thought-out reflection of my situation.)

It readily reveals the universe is far from indifferent. There is a benevolence, a being well-suited for life and the flourishing of it. If it were to “want” anything it would “want” all to thrive and flourish. But it is not that it “wants” it in the way a person wants something. It is more like the way you could say water “wants” to flow downhill. It does flow downhill, perfectly, because that is the nature of the water and the earth and the gravity and how they interact. Lightning always follows the path of least resistance, perfectly. It is not that water “wants” anything – it is inanimate – however the universe is set up such that that is what it does. And similarly, the universe is set up for life to flourish, for this deeply intrinsic meaning and delight to be available to all, for the universe to develop itself into creatures that are able to be aware of themselves being the universe being conscious of itself. This is what the meaning of life is, and pure intent is the way to go from here to there!

There’s a lot here and I missed it because we apparently replied at the same time. I thank you for describing your experience in such detail. I have a follow-up question but to be honest I’m afraid it may be misinterpreted. But here it goes anyway… You have practiced/studied a buddhist tradition in the past, have you not? I haven’t so I don’t have experiences to compare to, but there’s a lot of literature about the subject. Have you experienced bliss / blissfulness in the past? If so, are they different from this and in which ways? I thank you in advance and of course I understand if you don’t feel like answering. It may be a stupid question. Again, I’m simply trying to understand what is actual, what is not actual, and the differences, comparing my experience to the ones other actualists have. I’m not trying to pass a judgment or saying that any of the experiences you have/had are fake.

To give it a bit more context, my exploration of the day-to-day experience currently is mostly focused on the senses and the inner workings of my brain. I also use past memories from PCEs to understand a bit more about myself. And I read stuff about consciousness, the brain, etc… So that’s what I’m doing. I can go in more detail but I’m not sure if it matters. Maybe I can write another post later.

@claudiu If you feel like this is going off-topic, please feel free to move it elsewhere!