+Rik Knowles That is exactly what the quote is referring to when you ask me to explain. Using Words-verbal language-labels. Words are labels. It all has to do with the mind and ego construct. So before the child "learned" the name of the bird, they saw the flighty creature for what it really was. Pure and strait up. They felt its presence. They intently listened to the pattern of its chirping. Gazed in wonder at how it could take to the sky in an instant and be somewhere else in another. Compare that to an adult, indoctrinated in society who wakes up too early one morning because a "bird" was chirping too loudly outside their bedroom window -"Fucking bird" rolls over and tries to go back to sleep.
“As soon as you see something, you already start to intellectualise it. As soon as you intellectualise something, it is no longer what you saw.” - Shunryu Suzuki
If I should sum up Leo's latest two videos, I would write this: You - as the true nature of 'you'/self - are the 'awareness' behind all thoughts. You are the awareness that hear the birds sing and see the green leaves of a tree. This 'awareness', that you truly are, is not an object, not a thought, not a thing, not a concept, not an emotion, not a feeling, not an experience, not a form of energy, not a program... it is absolutely nothing. You can call it nothingness, you can call it whatever you want. It is zero, 0, nothing, however, at the same time, you, as this awareness, is actually the only "thing" that truly exist; it's eternal, universal, you are in other words the fabric and structure of existence it self, or to put it in yet another words: you are the whole Universe. Everytime you have a thought, you have the option to just be completely aware of the thought and do NOTHING about it; you're only noticing it. The other option (the opposite option) is to align your self with the thought, that is to _not_ become aware of it, but instead to dive into it and let it affect you and give meaning to you (in other words: more thinking). The act of thinking "oh I must stop thinking this" is not being completely aware of the thought, but rather the oppsite: diving into the thought and giving it meaning. To be completely aware of thoughts takes practice. Most people, including me to a large degree, are very, very unaware and so, so caught up in the game of playing the person they think they are. Meditating is about being completely aware of thoughts and doing nothing about them, but instead just being completely aware of them. At some point you get so good at being aware of the thoughts and not diving into them, that the mind stops 'creating' thoughts (because it's tired of you not caring about them), and you will eventually instead align with the true nature of yourself, that is: nothingness, and you will at that point experience complete ego death, which will knock your socks off, as Leo says.
Christofferr Andersen good point. I experienced ego death when I deprived myself from sleep for 2 days without eating then I just took 50ug of acid (1/3 of a blot) and drank 2 cups of coffee. Usually the effects would take after 45mins - 1hr. But that time it took only 15 mins for me to feel the effects and I was tripping hard looking at the sunset. I went back with my friends then we listened to sphongled - divine moments of truth & watched boost your high videos on youtube. We got lost during that time, synesthezia is when your senses mixed like tasting the sound or seeing sounds as colors then tasting it. Also when listening to shpongled. my mind became the sound itself floating in the room.. we felt euphoria and ecstacy.. but after that we went outside and Im the type of person who always look for a badtrip to happen but it never came.. cos I know the only trick to escape it is to just think the words "let go" & "give in".. But I forced myself to be sane.. to have control and not to just flow with it, i tried to have a rational mind who can think and control. I guess thats the time when something triggered me. When I wasnt able to do the thing that I was being expected to do. So that trigerred ego death. when my ego wasnt able to get attached to any of my senses anymore so I felt nothing. As in nothingness. Absolute zero..... lol im tired to type next time
Started rewatching this video and at 1:35 had this epiphany/liberating sensation of realizing how profoundly identified I am with my thought and trains of reasoning. Being pure consciousness and taking a completely neutral stance towards all thoughts is true bliss. I have sensed this before, but I think the depth of how far it can be taken is unimaginable for me at this point.
Thank you very much Leo. Here´s what makes him outstanding and different from other self-help "helpers/communicators". He explains thoroughly why would x work, how would it work. He does not provide an order o make a recommendation, he clearly understood the mumbling mind that dismisses and mistrusts of what it does not understands. It´s a self made conscious man talking that explains every sentence and does not take for granted the understanding of the audience.
Number 1. I really like Actualized.org videos. Content: These videos have changed my life and I think that because of them I understand reality much more. Literally: These videos are just moving pixels on the screen; also some sounds that I interpret in some way; sometimes I feel frustrated and sometimes I feel happy because of them.
Nature is itself the process that is behind the spontaneous arrival of every thought. When you master the nature of thoughts, you will tap into the inner workings of nature itself, which I think is the point of all this.
I think its cause the way he approaches his ideas, doesn't come from fact, but a perspective of openness. He articulates his ideas in a way that analyzes it perfectly, and gives you time to question and understand his ideas.
Woah... while doing this exercise a scary realization boiled to the surface. And it is that all distinctions between any object and sensation and emotions are illusions. There is no such thing as separateness in reality. There is no such thing as loneliness. I'm remembering back to your video on "fake versus real solutions to problems" and how I never grasped that real solutions occur when "the problem ceases to be a problem". I think that this practice is the core of actually solving problems. wow
Great topic. Toward the end, I was remembering a thing that happened when I was about ten years old. I live in Florida, and when I was a child my family and I would go about once or twice a year to different theme parks. I really enjoyed myself because it was quite magical to me when I was a child to even be there. But when I was ten, I started to question "Why is it more fun to be here than to be anywhere else?" I wasn't really into the rides or anything. So, I was asking myself, "Why is it more fun to be here than Walmart?" I decided that it really wasn't but that it was just my thought about the situation that made it fun. It was kind of a bummer. :)
+The Diamond Net That's an excellent insight. The reality is that you can have as much fun in a jail cell as you can have in a playground. But again, that would require tons of mindfulness which most people lack. All emotional states are self-created. Just unconsciously for most people.
Actualized.org Thanks. :) I wish I would have been insightful enough to think of it that way at the time. I was sober enough to see that being at a theme park was no more fun than being anywhere else. But I wasn't sober enough to see that this could be framed in a positive way.
Virgin Debut Adyashanti was talking about a man who he corresponds with who's in prison. The man had an awakening in there, and realized that a jail is nothing more than being surrounded by four walls, which is no different then being inside any other room. He made it mean that it was just the place that he lived, and he even referred to it as "this awesome monastery that he found." :D
LEO! I just had the most amazing experience because of this! I was sitting with this in my meditation, and I began the process of 'flattening' some of my thoughts, when my chin started to itch. So rather than scratching it, I noticed all the thoughts - my chin is itchy, I must scratch it, I notice the image of my hand coming up to my chin to scratch it - then rather than doing any of that, I flattened the thoughts. As I did, I sank into no meaning, no thoughts, no images of the itch, and just went directly into the FEELING - with no labels of what it meant. In that moment, the itch DRAMATICALLY decreased in intensity. Then as I thought about it, it got itchier again, so I flattened back down. Again, it decreased in intensity. Then IT CEASED TO BE UNPLEASANT. The feeling stayed, but it stopped being irritating. It was just a feeling. Then it dissolved completely. As I was doing this, I was also doing some kundalini exercises where I hold my arms in various positions for extended periods of time. Naturally (or so I thought!) my muscles get sore as I do so. So I applied the same technique - flattened the thoughts all the way to just experiencing the sensation. And low and behold, it either became just a feeling - not good or bad or anything really - dramatically reduced in intensity or it stopped all together. Thus, PAIN - not just suffering but pain itself - is a total illusion. We made it up. Crazy!! The moment you realize that your thoughts are AT LEAST 2 layers removed from actual reality. Also side note, do you or did you really like coca cola? I just noticed you mention it in many of your videos ;) Awesome, awesome content Leo. Seriously next level shit.
+Ali Washington Great job with actually applying what was said. That's what you guys need to be doing. You have to apply it like above! I don't drink Coke, I just use it as a common example because people know it.
+Actualized.org Well of course! It really does not benefit me (and thus I cannot be of benefit the planet) if I just listen to how you have had an experience :) It is like thinking I know how to fly a plane because I heard someone talk about how they flew a plane. If I have not sat in the cockpit myself, I only have book knowledge, which might be totally false! I think that is one of the silliest things we humans do. We truly convince ourselves that we 'know' stuff just because we heard someone talk about it. As I said above, we do not even realize that at the very least what we 'think' is 2 layers away from actual reality - and generally speaking what we 'think' and 'perceive' is many many many more layers removed. I am glad I had a solid background of doing this kind of work before I found you - I think it makes a difference to be at a certain place before you hear stuff like this. Cool to know about the Coke.
I kind of have been doing this flattening for some months or maybe even years but this episode allowed me to see this process even clearly. And I got much more comfortable with this truth about no self so I expect not to be much afraid of future flattening. Thanks Leo :)
So, I'm here to learn. I stopped here, sort of a quick stop on my journey to learning about myself. I take it as a message to me personally that what you teach is useful to me. That came through your speaking in Russian. That made me smile. Thank you for that!! Spasibo bolishoe!!
Having studied this for years, Sydney Banks was a real eye opener, the missing link was “meaning” . This start to make all sense to me now. So grateful to have found your video. My search came to you. Really happy and thanking you for explaining this so clear! Will practice to flatten everything, becoming more mindful! Expressing my real gratitude! 🙏😃
I am at 4:01 and it already made me think that do I really need to understand this with a video. While you are already focusing on justifying it for yourself. And I have preconceived belief that you are always right.
Sometimes i can hardly believe there is an answer to all my questions. Life starts to run so easily with the open mind you offer to me even for free. Where have all my conflicts gone? This time i am able to handle my thougths like open the window for fresh air and a better smell. I need a bigger word than thank you for all of this.
Kinda funny what happened after I started the exercise. The first thougth was "what time is it?" from there i got like 10 more thoughts packed with feelings, going up and down like a rollercoaster. I realized that there were so many auto responses in there and the thoughts were just spit out without any focus. Also the ego extremely often tried to outsmart itself, just to realize this and then being humiliated by itself. Lots of work to do here haha :D
Thank you for all your work Leo. I have struggled with difficulties for years like everyone, but everyday i'm feeling more mindful and optimistic about life. And you clearly are a part of that work !
Hey Leo. I had a very interesting moment in my life, some might call it enlightment, but lets just call it "becoming of aware". It was the obtainment of a certain knowledge, which can't be described in words but which all your recent videos are pointing to. It was the moment, in which I realised how all my problems were just illusions of my mind. But it wasn't just an intellectual knowledge, it was a real new way to feel through life. I can describe it, as if a closed eye inside myself has opened itself. I don't want to get too much into detail, but this of course has freed me from a lot of pain, and most anxieties dissolved themselves. I can't really "live" into my problems anymore, since I expose the mental processes almost instantly, so that no heavy emotional momentum is created. But this is the "scary" part of my evolution: I am so peacefull, that nothing moves me anymore. I became so distant as a observer of my feelings, that i can't dive into them anymore. Everything is so calm now, there is no rage, no shame and no depression... the stillness is almost scary... Yes, i still can laugh. Yes i can still have fun. But sometimes, I look at my past in a nostalgic way, not sad, but thinking about how my heart was broken sometimes and how sad I was. How naive I was. Simultaneously, I realise, that there is no real way back. I don't really want to, or better I don't really care. But I think its important, that people know about the implications of "enlightment". Nothing ever will be the same after it.
Okay, I've been listening to a lot of Leo's content over the past few weeks and this one has been one of the most significant (and "hands on ") one's to me. But well, that's just a thought. Basically it comes down to: NOTHING! Nothing at all. Pure space and awareness. .. Thanks for reminding me Leo, you are an awesome teacher ☺👍
Leo, you light up my brain! This is GOLD! (which is an illusion, but..) This is such great value, literally (yes, I said it)!! I made commitments. Gotta stick to it. Thank you!
Side Note: Picasso was a skilled, realistic artist before he became the abstract artist that made him famous. (Source: I went to el museo de Picasso in Barcelona and saw his early works.)
thanks Leo, You talk about the things I wished I could have heard from someone when I was a kid. I know you said (in another video) that if people give you compliments for what you do, it doesn't really fulfill you on a deeper level, but that will not stop me thanking you for all you do ;) I will stick around
My analogy of this when one watches a movie and reacts emotionally to it. Reacting and acting on every thought without being mindful is like watching Superman, getting excited, and jumping out the window and expecting to fly just like in the movie. That's how I see it.
good talk going on one year of watching you're videos and I have changed for the good in so many ways thank you for all the time and effort you put in to what u do!!!!
I was looking for the source of my ego problem and here it is. However, I accepted the thought it is not easy to control and stop falling back into the trap of old patterns.
Just a quick note to let you know that I have checked out your content here and there for a few years now, and I appreciate your work. Always insightful. Always intriguing.
Yeah, that is the huge skill. After reading the book "The power of NOW" by Eckhart Tolle I started to practise mindfulness throughout my life. Now It is much easy for me to deal all sorts of depression and negative thoughts. The only sad thing is (but really not, 'cause sadness is an illusion (excluding feelings in your body)) that some positive thoughts are also stripped off their illusory nature (actually it is not sad, you start able to see much deep pleasure). Last time my skill of being aware of the illusion has increased a much. That is the most important skill I have ever learned. It was very interesting to hear Leo talking Russian)
Wow I flattened the illusion of my self and got to a point where I was looking at my screen but I wasn't me anymore it was just my screen. The actual thought of me my self and the idea I have of my self felt arbitrary and nothing to do with me at all and simply un true, I actually started feeling overwhelmed and sick to my stomach, but I think that's a normal reaction although I think I found this easier from the amount of mediation I've done where my sence of self has gone, definitely gave me somewhat of an ego death though.
"Thoughts" = Imprisonment of the Mind The practice of flattening illusions helps one master the reflexive makings of their own attributions made to the meanings of thoughts. This is a skill to aquire, not a belief in an inherent talent/process. Mastering control over one's conscious leads to freedom from their mind. (paraphrasing Leo Gura) ---------- Freedom from one's mind... Leo, this video probably hit me the hardest yet. Thank you, ArabiaNytes
+Daramantus When you find yourself at the mercy of your thoughts consuming your mind and influencing your life against your better judgement, then yes, you become captive of your thoughts as they come to rule your life. It is not a belief, but hard fact, as Leo mentioned here. It seems like you've misunderstood his message. In any case, I'm not looking for your "insights", whoever you are. Thanks.
One time many years ago I was suffering from suicidal despair as a result of my ex leaving me. I kept obsessing and obsessing about how much I wanted to utterly annihilate myself and how worthless I was and on and on and at some point I decided that I couldn't handle these thoughts any more and I told myself that I had to find a way to take my mind off of it. It was nighttime and so I decided to walk upstairs to my bedroom and when I entered my room everything changed. Within the blink of an eye I knew everything would be ok. I no longer felt any attachment, any yearning, any desire whatsoever. I was an awareness observing all of those things. I went to sleep and when I woke up the sensation remained but intensified. All of this energy (in the forms of love, fear, compassion, and sadness) erupted out of me until I felt completely empty of everything that was formerly me, and filled to the brim with the energy of the external world. Subject and object virtually disappeared. There was simply awareness of one sublime energy field, and I was that. I've had intimations of this experience on and off since then but never anything quite as intense. Sometimes marijuana intensifies my senses to the extreme and I become aware of the difference between the external world (body and matter) and the internal one (awareness/thought and speech). It's as though I am my speech or my intentions and this body is merely an aspect of the external/material world through which my intentions/speech materialize. Well anyway that's enough for now. I don't have any real point with any of this. I just have an urge to share it.
Leo, I'm having trouble reconciling two concepts that you often talk about here. The idea of thoughts being illusory and the idea of motivation, inner drive, inner fire, whatever else you want to call it. I think I'm starting to grasp and accept the nature of thoughts and emotions, and am disentangling myself from assigning more value to an experience than I ought to. This is a concept I think about a lot when I'm dealing with negative emotions - I recognize that the sadness is a physical experience, and let myself experience it, and attempt to avoid assigning more value and generating more thought than the experience warrants. But what I have trouble with is applying this philosophy to more positive thoughts. The positive thought I'm thinking of here is ambition. Is ambition not just as much of a delusion as any other thought, be it positive or negative? When I'm in the shower, or walking to class, or going to the gym and visualizing the extraordinary life I want to have, am I not assigning tons of value to a concept that could be easily deconstructed with mindfulness? The more I learn about this mindfulness idea and try to live it, the more I feel like I'm losing touch with the fire and angst that demands for more from myself (more work, better focus, less doing stupid shit, etc.). Is it just a matter of being selective with what illusions we buy into?
Suffering is created by the positive cravings as well as the negative. Ideally you let them all go and then after enlightenment you are free to pick back up whatever you want. You will never leave the world of illusions until you're dead, so you can play in this world. But you'll only be able to truly play after you've let everything go and seen the Truth of what reality is. What you'll find in practice if you do this is that authentic ambitions will become supercharged while all inauthentic ambitions die off, never to return. That's when you really get the sweet life, when everything you do is done with full authenticity and your will becomes the will of Jesus or Buddha, a force of nature! Whenever you are stirred to move, you are unstoppable because you are 100% aligned with truth and divine purpose.
ive come along way in my thinking with this mindfullness stuff ,im starting to be aware of peoples thoughts and societies thoughts that leave you behind and put others in front ,Thanks leo . and this is a great second stage its so amazing how you bring a new topic that is such a surprise and deep Thanks again
Thank You Leo ... important and powerful way to help others remember who they really are and how that can happen with some time and effort (actually, most people will require time and effort ... some more than others ... but some can do this quickly and some have always remembered since birth or youth because they managed to always retain a since of true self and they always realized they only used thoughts, (or words or bodies or pictures or drawings or music or complex math equations or pizza or time etc...) as tools and All other things as a means of representation of that which is "behind the curtain" ... which is how we go about in this experience (life here on earth AND all, that is, elsewhere as well). Fact is All is as "real" as real gets, once we understand how it is used and why. No we can not "live in these bodies" without eating "real" food but even the "real" food serves us and, all that only captures some aspect of "real" food ... like the picture of the pizza ... or the thought of a pizza or the thought of what it is to eat ... is an aspect of what is ... in just a more distant removal from that which is "behind the curtain" I was first introduced to this, type of exercise, (similar method he called "pointing out") by Ken Wilber. I well remember how powerful the feeling of realizing I was not what I "thought" I was ... while at the same time I was, mostly acting as if I was, what I thought I was. That is true for all that we perceive. However ... due to the ever evolving nature of realization of what is truth ... or in other words the ever changing experience and interpretation of truth (REAL TRUTH never changes but Our concept of it is ever evolving) ... as well as the fact we our embedded in THIS experience in such a way that it seems fully real (because it is) ... we develop a stable space (and method) to compare an endless variety of Experience. I have said for a long time ... "We manifest as individuals as a means to infinite experience". Those of us who begin to explore our experience in more depth ... will find ... Only, that, which we are able to imagine at that point in our being an individual, (We limit our own ability to see what is ... yes with our own thoughts and more ... but it is part of our design). How we interpret, that, depends on our own unique experiences up to that point and our degree of understanding of, that, will be influenced by All that we are (which includes our physical bodies which can be hindered by damage) and All that we remember (up to that point). So ... does this type of exploration and discovery really ... hum ... Matter to us ... does it make us better able to .... what ??? ... live ??? ... Love ??? Be at Peace within ourselves and more at Peace with others ??? Think of a new born baby ... (although some people say they can remember their birth and first experiences of life ... most of us cannot) ... Us adults look at this "new" earthling and can really only wonder at what this infant sees and thinks and feels ... we have a very instinctive (this instinctive feeling is derived from multiple levels of our being, body (includes brain), thoughts (includes all our experiences) and All of that which we may not be directly aware of (that which is behind the curtain) ... and that instinct guides us to pay close attention to this tiny being who is so helpless in this moment because of it's lack of development ... we pay close attention and we feel (if all is working well) a strong desire to assure it's survival AND to help it not become distressed and if it becomes distressed we want to calm it (often by just holding it close to us) ... we get tremendous feelings of joy and peace from seeing it calm and at peace and we feel light and bubbly when we see it smile and when we hear it's first laugh ... Our experience here ... can be one with more comfort ... more of feeling and sharing in Love and feeling at peace OR it can be one of feeling less Love and little connection and less peace or comfort with those who surround us ... All infants grow into adults over time ... but we need to remember that the need to be seen and Loved as a means to remember connection and remember our inherent value as a part of All that is just as equal in value and worth ... we need to continue the close attention and desire to hold and comfort and remember the strong desire for Every single life form to survive. We Are truly One ... and when we leave out ... when we exclude ... we not only damage the being that is being done to ... we damage and hinder evolution of All. Evolution will happen regardless ... but we can be aware of our own degree of influence ... in All ... and hopefully the awareness helps us to be able to Relax and Be ... without unnecessary suffering (maybe all suffering is necessary???) Once we are better able to Relax and Be we are in better position to help others do the same ... Think of that newborn again ... recall how they can get highly upset and they can cry loud and long ... when they are in need of attention or rest or sleep or food ... they are not yet able to examine their experience in a manner that would allow for comfort without those needs being met. In this human body we cannot forget the human body has it's own needs which will always cry out to be met. In the infant an adult must meet them (or the infant will die) ... we learn to meet those basic needs ourselves in time (considering we are not damaged in a way that hinders or prevents that) BUT the need to feel connected and Loved, that need ... most of us will not be able to meet it on our own ... this is why we need others in our lives to help us feel Loved (and remember our value and connection) ... Love & Peace to All
I was thinking about simillar concept few months ago. I was afraid of listenining to the scary music and recordings, but I thought 'wait, it's just sounds that's my mind is interpreting in a wrong way', just symbols. I trained my self to watch my response to the point where I could listen to the most scary recordings with headphones on, in a dark room with my eyes closed with almost no reaction. There was also this binaural beats 'Gates of Hades' which made people hallucinate about hell and all thats stuff, even my friend's mind fell for it. I was always afraid of it, but once I trained my self I thought I'll give it a try. Without overanalyzing, nothing happened to me, it's all illusion you can control. Thoughts and brain are a very interesting topic.
+Adam Genova Totally! I used to get really paranoid when doing hallucinogens and then I realized these are just images and feelings being created by chemical reactions and it's the meaning I'm ascribing to this experience that is making it terrifying. I never took this insight further though and realized that all experience is just the meanings and interpretations created by chemical reactions.
I really dig the trajectory of the latest videos Leo! can only imagine what's instore for the next few weeks, months, years.. just trough your weekly youtube stream you have become an integral part of my self development and healing. I wanted to send you my appreciation thank you so much love you bro! 👥
Awesome Video, I feel like I've noticed a subtle but obvious improvement in your speaking, as if you had a breakthrough to a deeper level of transparency, felt like telling you about it.
Beautiful video as always, it brings back the very basics that we tend to not even realize, with the further point of interest of that russian phrase, I had to use google translate and the microphone to get it understood, I only understood the word "communic" something... because I am Italian, the rest... impossible... love that ability you didn't lose to speak your roots language even if you lived here all your life. great job
Totally bummed at myself. I first got "on the path" at 24, and by 26 had fully realized my home "outside" of meaning/thought. After that, neurotic obsessive thinking basically ended, and was defused after just a couple thoughts, basically always. The problem is I had a broken ego - just scrap, wreckage. And for that reason I needed to believe that I hadn't realized all that is about enlightenment. So rather than deepening into it quickly, I've dragged on for years (almost 31 now) telling myself that somehow I'd be special, get enlightenment-plus, because I felt jealous of those who were able to get listeners, or people to like them - like you. It stems from child neglect, not feeling like anyone would notice me, and basically just from not having a self-structure that helped animated my behavior. I'm finally giving that all up and can acknowledge other people woke up too, that it's not "my thing." It's sad to see that vain stubbornness take a few years of my life but it had to happen I guess. Thanks for the video. You should make one on time, the most tricky of all thoughts to see through (by far) in my opinion... still struggling with it!
Interesting! Albert Korzibski in his book Science and Sanity touches on the subject of Language and effects on thought-behaviour etc... To me, a life changing textbook!! Best.
That 's quite surprising hearing you speak Russian! I was just listening (not watching) this video while working and then....VU A LA! Leo speaks my native language! It's just shut my mind up for a few seconds! Didn't even get what exactly you were talking but I liked this blank space in my head
As I was doing the 'flattening the illusion' exercise with thought, I realize that I have subtle tag-along images connected with them that have nothing to do with anything. I realized that the word "Mom" show a picture of my mom but also a picture of a glass carafe filled with milk. I understand the association there at least. But the word "gravity" brings up an image of a vacuum cleaner with an arrow along with a bunch of other images. I guess the suction makes sense to go along with gravity now that I'm writing it. But there are tons of examples of this where the word and the image are seemingly unrelated. My friend Cecilia and I used to joke about how certain names should mean other things. Like the name "Zeus" was the new car smell, and the name "Peggy" was always elbow macaroni.
+The Diamond Net Yeah, thoughts can be pretty random. Because symbols are ultimately arbitrary. Like I said, you could actually represent your Mom with a fish, and it would be no more true or accurate than whatever symbol you're currently using to represent her. The mind has to create additional thoughts to backwards-rationalize the veracity of the symbol. Which requires a lot of mindfulness to notice. Which is why most people would say that their Mom cannot be represented accurately by a fish.
As someone who became depressed in late highschool, and struggled with depression and anxiety on and off for a good 10 years, and even did 4years undergrad in Psychology to understand myself better; what I have learnt from your videos in the last 6 months has given me back a life that I'm excited to live. I'm still only at the point where I now notice my self doubts or pessimism for what they are and know what I can do to stop them, but sometimes I do just have to let myself be a baby and wail about it for a few minutes before I can then ask myself 'are you done?' Haha have you ever considered teaching these ideas to kids? Surely people like Ghandi and the Dalai Llama are examples of what humans can become when raised on a diet of mindfulness and awareness! I would love to teach these ideas to my own kids when I start a family.
Leo, thank you for the effort you put into your videos. I appreciate the sharing of wisdom! Ouspensky's book, "The Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution" is a game changer.
+Витя Канунников I'm russian by the way, so I always retranslate words on russian at first and then understand it. And then I heard you speek russian it blows my mind :) Leo, Thank You for more practical and more inspiring video.
If you speak Bulgarian, you also get it. Oh my God, your accent is very strong! I was wondering how an American guy could have sooo deep understanding of the reality! And than I get it - a russian soul!!! And, yes - I know this is also a limitting believe, but still I am sure average americans don`t understand in depth movies like the Barber of Siberia or Kuhnia :) :) :) You are my favourite, Leo! :)
Hey man thanks for making this and sharing your insight, this video really helped me explain to some one their mental whirlpool that they had been stuck in. Keep it up!
Hi Leo and thank you so much for sharing your knowledge - you are the best teacher that I have ever had. In your videos you have helped me to realize that I´m stuck. I mean seriously stuck in a negative spiral of criticism and perfectionism that influence Every. Aspect. Of. My. Life. I started to watch your videos to learn more about human mind on an intellectual level but what happened was that I got new insights that lead me to a deep crisis, BOOOM I was definitely not prepared for that! The perfectionism and fear of failure leads me to procrastination at an insane level. The habit make me hate to do what I believe that I would have loved to do without these issues. The moment I start up something new I get depressed because it reminds me of the long way I have before I become a pro. That drains me and give me no motivation to do anything. But the most painful insight i have got has to do with my view of human being and criticism. Damn. It´s really hard to face it but now I have to and it makes me sick. And if I would (and could) stop it it would completely change my conception of world. I´m sure that it would be a good thing but what is worth fighting for without high expectations? It takes me back to the lack of motivation. And to be this honest to myself make me see that I often lie to myself and others that is another inconvenient part of this process. I guess I need some more meditation... But again, than you so much for helping me to see this clear. Hugs from Sweden, K
This is life-changing, you are amazing. i love u leo. (literally though could not look at the picture of the spider no matter how much i tried- but i'll practice flattening the illusion!!
Nice video. I liked the concept of flattening the illusion. The first time I learned about the nature of thought in a book called “Thought as a System” by David Bohm. A very interesting read.
Introduction to the Elusive Nature of Thought (00:00) The Importance of Understanding Thoughts (00:35) What Thoughts Really Are (01:25) The Illusory Nature of Thoughts (02:20) Picasso's Perspective on Reality and Art (04:50) Exploring the Treachery of Images (07:20) The Symbolic Nature of Language and Thoughts (12:28) Practical Exercises to Understand Thoughts (20:39) Real World Application of Flattening Illusions (39:10) Concluding Remarks and Further Learning (48:42)
Extremely interesting video! The process described gives a lot of freedom . (given you put in the time and effort). Because its like a game , where you have to beat your ego.
@actualized.org I really understand this. But I have a question I'd like to ask, and would be more than pleased to get an answer! If I am living my life like this, does it affect my creativity in bad ways?
Oh shit does truth taste sweet! This flattening technique seems to have broken "me" through to the next level. The last few months it seems that relaxing and meditation have become a lot more rewarding than any sort of substance, state of mind, or even sexual experience I've had in the past. All of that said, I still couldn't grasp how to deal with the fictitious thought patterns the mind would spin. Now when I sit... I'm able to let go completely. The seamless, meaningless, distinction-less and childlike reality is accessible any time and anywhere. I was lost in a sea of abstractions, tormented by the illusory interpretations I presumed had tangible substance. With the utmost appreciation and gratitude *thank you* for being the lighthouse of the concrete. Had I not drifted towards your channel a few months back, I'd still think life was a tedious chore.
What are thoughts? -Thoughts are the software to your hardware. Your mind driving your body. You have two types of thoughts, involuntary and voluntary, your subconscious and your conscious self. -Everything begins with a thought. -Thoughts are the software to the universe. -Thought is intelligence. Everything that exists has a design and it is governed by the software that created it. -Thought is energy. Your thoughts are you, more so than your body. -Energy solidifies into mater through the design of thoughts. -Thoughts create emotions. Emotions create motivation. Change your thoughts and you change everything.
"The day you teach the child the name of the bird, the child will never see that bird again." Krishnamurti
Cool!
Guersom Falcon That's dumb
+Schtick Terse you dont get it
Lu Masso can you pls explain it for me?
+Rik Knowles That is exactly what the quote is referring to when you ask me to explain. Using Words-verbal language-labels. Words are labels. It all has to do with the mind and ego construct. So before the child "learned" the name of the bird, they saw the flighty creature for what it really was. Pure and strait up. They felt its presence. They intently listened to the pattern of its chirping. Gazed in wonder at how it could take to the sky in an instant and be somewhere else in another. Compare that to an adult, indoctrinated in society who wakes up too early one morning because a "bird" was chirping too loudly outside their bedroom window -"Fucking bird" rolls over and tries to go back to sleep.
“As soon as you see something, you already start to intellectualise it. As soon as you intellectualise something, it is no longer what you saw.”
- Shunryu Suzuki
If I should sum up Leo's latest two videos, I would write this:
You - as the true nature of 'you'/self - are the 'awareness' behind all thoughts. You are the awareness that hear the birds sing and see the green leaves of a tree. This 'awareness', that you truly are, is not an object, not a thought, not a thing, not a concept, not an emotion, not a feeling, not an experience, not a form of energy, not a program... it is absolutely nothing. You can call it nothingness, you can call it whatever you want. It is zero, 0, nothing, however, at the same time, you, as this awareness, is actually the only "thing" that truly exist; it's eternal, universal, you are in other words the fabric and structure of existence it self, or to put it in yet another words: you are the whole Universe.
Everytime you have a thought, you have the option to just be completely aware of the thought and do NOTHING about it; you're only noticing it. The other option (the opposite option) is to align your self with the thought, that is to _not_ become aware of it, but instead to dive into it and let it affect you and give meaning to you (in other words: more thinking). The act of thinking "oh I must stop thinking this" is not being completely aware of the thought, but rather the oppsite: diving into the thought and giving it meaning.
To be completely aware of thoughts takes practice. Most people, including me to a large degree, are very, very unaware and so, so caught up in the game of playing the person they think they are.
Meditating is about being completely aware of thoughts and doing nothing about them, but instead just being completely aware of them. At some point you get so good at being aware of the thoughts and not diving into them, that the mind stops 'creating' thoughts (because it's tired of you not caring about them), and you will eventually instead align with the true nature of yourself, that is: nothingness, and you will at that point experience complete ego death, which will knock your socks off, as Leo says.
this is my aim in this life time!
Christofferr Andersen good point. I experienced ego death when I deprived myself from sleep for 2 days without eating then I just took 50ug of acid (1/3 of a blot) and drank 2 cups of coffee. Usually the effects would take after 45mins - 1hr. But that time it took only 15 mins for me to feel the effects and I was tripping hard looking at the sunset. I went back with my friends then we listened to sphongled - divine moments of truth & watched boost your high videos on youtube. We got lost during that time, synesthezia is when your senses mixed like tasting the sound or seeing sounds as colors then tasting it. Also when listening to shpongled. my mind became the sound itself floating in the room.. we felt euphoria and ecstacy.. but after that we went outside and Im the type of person who always look for a badtrip to happen but it never came.. cos I know the only trick to escape it is to just think the words "let go" & "give in".. But I forced myself to be sane.. to have control and not to just flow with it, i tried to have a rational mind who can think and control. I guess thats the time when something triggered me. When I wasnt able to do the thing that I was being expected to do. So that trigerred ego death. when my ego wasnt able to get attached to any of my senses anymore so I felt nothing. As in nothingness. Absolute zero..... lol im tired to type next time
Christofferr Andersen great Thank you for your sharing , so helpful.
very nicely put
This is the thing I have been searching for. This articulated what I have struggled with. Thank you.
"I can represent your mum with a fish"
roast so deep that it burns away the illusion keeping you from seeing life for what it truly is
Started rewatching this video and at 1:35 had this epiphany/liberating sensation of realizing how profoundly identified I am with my thought and trains of reasoning. Being pure consciousness and taking a completely neutral stance towards all thoughts is true bliss. I have sensed this before, but I think the depth of how far it can be taken is unimaginable for me at this point.
Thank you very much Leo. Here´s what makes him outstanding and different from other self-help "helpers/communicators". He explains thoroughly why would x work, how would it work. He does not provide an order o make a recommendation, he clearly understood the mumbling mind that dismisses and mistrusts of what it does not understands. It´s a self made conscious man talking that explains every sentence and does not take for granted the understanding of the audience.
Number 1. I really like Actualized.org videos.
Content: These videos have changed my life and I think that because of them I understand reality much more.
Literally: These videos are just moving pixels on the screen; also some sounds that I interpret in some way; sometimes I feel frustrated and sometimes I feel happy because of them.
+davidorf Good work!
His work is different..........which explan direct the source
That moment when your parting on Saturday night and Leo drops the illusory nature of thought...
+Keegan Singh lool it's like wtf am i doing with my life
Great video Leo, very thought provoking.
+Emil Trotman The comment section is just a breeding ground for puns and witticism, isn't it? :)
@m s 😂
PAH
Nature doesn't think, and yet everything is accomplished...
+Deeken Wheeler Nature doesn't speak, it does- we should all take a lesson
You aced that
Nature is itself the process that is behind the spontaneous arrival of every thought. When you master the nature of thoughts, you will tap into the inner workings of nature itself, which I think is the point of all this.
I love that!
Deeken Wheeler um, we are nature and we think.
This is the biggest problem, the constant separation of human and nature, when is no separation.
Definitely in your top 5 videos this is. Incredible stuff
Thanks leo, I have been following for a long time and I can hardly imagine where I would be without your videos!
Just wanna let you know how much I appreciate all your content. It's been really insightful this year
Thanks!
Best channel... Better than self development books i have read
Same here
I think its cause the way he approaches his ideas, doesn't come from fact, but a perspective of openness. He articulates his ideas in a way that analyzes it perfectly, and gives you time to question and understand his ideas.
Woah... while doing this exercise a scary realization boiled to the surface. And it is that all distinctions between any object and sensation and emotions are illusions. There is no such thing as separateness in reality. There is no such thing as loneliness. I'm remembering back to your video on "fake versus real solutions to problems" and how I never grasped that real solutions occur when "the problem ceases to be a problem". I think that this practice is the core of actually solving problems. wow
+Vincent Musanti Good insight. Keep exploring it. You have no idea yet how deep the ramifications of that insight go.
+Vincent Musanti That's a great insight! :)
Awesome I'll keep going
Nice man
Great topic. Toward the end, I was remembering a thing that happened when I was about ten years old. I live in Florida, and when I was a child my family and I would go about once or twice a year to different theme parks. I really enjoyed myself because it was quite magical to me when I was a child to even be there. But when I was ten, I started to question "Why is it more fun to be here than to be anywhere else?" I wasn't really into the rides or anything. So, I was asking myself, "Why is it more fun to be here than Walmart?" I decided that it really wasn't but that it was just my thought about the situation that made it fun. It was kind of a bummer. :)
+The Diamond Net That's an excellent insight. The reality is that you can have as much fun in a jail cell as you can have in a playground. But again, that would require tons of mindfulness which most people lack.
All emotional states are self-created. Just unconsciously for most people.
Actualized.org Thanks. :) I wish I would have been insightful enough to think of it that way at the time. I was sober enough to see that being at a theme park was no more fun than being anywhere else. But I wasn't sober enough to see that this could be framed in a positive way.
I was in jail and I concur
Virgin Debut Adyashanti was talking about a man who he corresponds with who's in prison. The man had an awakening in there, and realized that a jail is nothing more than being surrounded by four walls, which is no different then being inside any other room. He made it mean that it was just the place that he lived, and he even referred to it as "this awesome monastery that he found." :D
+The Diamond Net Well, there is the whole getting-raped-in-the-butt aspect of jail, but hopefully that's more myth than reality ;)
This right here is the key to emotional mastery, thank you Leo.
LEO! I just had the most amazing experience because of this!
I was sitting with this in my meditation, and I began the process of 'flattening' some of my thoughts, when my chin started to itch. So rather than scratching it, I noticed all the thoughts - my chin is itchy, I must scratch it, I notice the image of my hand coming up to my chin to scratch it - then rather than doing any of that, I flattened the thoughts. As I did, I sank into no meaning, no thoughts, no images of the itch, and just went directly into the FEELING - with no labels of what it meant. In that moment, the itch DRAMATICALLY decreased in intensity. Then as I thought about it, it got itchier again, so I flattened back down. Again, it decreased in intensity. Then IT CEASED TO BE UNPLEASANT. The feeling stayed, but it stopped being irritating. It was just a feeling. Then it dissolved completely.
As I was doing this, I was also doing some kundalini exercises where I hold my arms in various positions for extended periods of time. Naturally (or so I thought!) my muscles get sore as I do so. So I applied the same technique - flattened the thoughts all the way to just experiencing the sensation. And low and behold, it either became just a feeling - not good or bad or anything really - dramatically reduced in intensity or it stopped all together.
Thus, PAIN - not just suffering but pain itself - is a total illusion. We made it up.
Crazy!! The moment you realize that your thoughts are AT LEAST 2 layers removed from actual reality.
Also side note, do you or did you really like coca cola? I just noticed you mention it in many of your videos ;)
Awesome, awesome content Leo. Seriously next level shit.
+Ali Washington Great job with actually applying what was said. That's what you guys need to be doing. You have to apply it like above!
I don't drink Coke, I just use it as a common example because people know it.
+Actualized.org Well of course! It really does not benefit me (and thus I cannot be of benefit the planet) if I just listen to how you have had an experience :)
It is like thinking I know how to fly a plane because I heard someone talk about how they flew a plane. If I have not sat in the cockpit myself, I only have book knowledge, which might be totally false!
I think that is one of the silliest things we humans do. We truly convince ourselves that we 'know' stuff just because we heard someone talk about it. As I said above, we do not even realize that at the very least what we 'think' is 2 layers away from actual reality - and generally speaking what we 'think' and 'perceive' is many many many more layers removed.
I am glad I had a solid background of doing this kind of work before I found you - I think it makes a difference to be at a certain place before you hear stuff like this.
Cool to know about the Coke.
Amazing. you keep reminding me how grateful I am for all the work you do. I can't even imagine how my life would look without actualized : )
I kind of have been doing this flattening for some months or maybe even years but this episode allowed me to see this process even clearly. And I got much more comfortable with this truth about no self so I expect not to be much afraid of future flattening. Thanks Leo :)
So, I'm here to learn. I stopped here, sort of a quick stop on my journey to learning about myself. I take it as a message to me personally that what you teach is useful to me. That came through your speaking in Russian. That made me smile. Thank you for that!! Spasibo bolishoe!!
With subtitles on every video you'd be the king of the world!
Having studied this for years, Sydney Banks was a real eye opener, the missing link was “meaning” . This start to make all sense to me now. So grateful to have found your video. My search came to you. Really happy and thanking you for explaining this so clear! Will practice to flatten everything, becoming more mindful! Expressing my real gratitude! 🙏😃
Leo, you continue to amaze me with your videos. "Flattening the illusion" is mind-blowingly practical. Thank you.
Leo: Flatten the illusion of the external world.
Me: Ok.
Leo: Got it?
Me: No! Wait
Leo: Good.
flatten the illusion of the globe
Please unflatten the illusion of my bike tire. I have to get to my job.
I am at 4:01 and it already made me think that do I really need to understand this with a video. While you are already focusing on justifying it for yourself. And I have preconceived belief that you are always right.
Sometimes i can hardly believe there is an answer to all my questions. Life starts to run so easily with the open mind you offer to me even for free. Where have all my conflicts gone? This time i am able to handle my thougths like open the window for fresh air and a better smell. I need a bigger word than thank you for all of this.
Kinda funny what happened after I started the exercise. The first thougth was "what time is it?" from there i got like 10 more thoughts packed with feelings, going up and down like a rollercoaster. I realized that there were so many auto responses in there and the thoughts were just spit out without any focus. Also the ego extremely often tried to outsmart itself, just to realize this and then being humiliated by itself.
Lots of work to do here haha :D
+A Happy Broccoli Good, nice work. Stay with it every day.
I love your name
Thank you for all your work Leo. I have struggled with difficulties for years like everyone, but everyday i'm feeling more mindful and optimistic about life.
And you clearly are a part of that work !
Hey Leo. I had a very interesting moment in my life, some might call it enlightment, but lets just call it "becoming of aware". It was the obtainment of a certain knowledge, which can't be described in words but which all your recent videos are pointing to. It was the moment, in which I realised how all my problems were just illusions of my mind. But it wasn't just an intellectual knowledge, it was a real new way to feel through life. I can describe it, as if a closed eye inside myself has opened itself.
I don't want to get too much into detail, but this of course has freed me from a lot of pain, and most anxieties dissolved themselves. I can't really "live" into my problems anymore, since I expose the mental processes almost instantly, so that no heavy emotional momentum is created.
But this is the "scary" part of my evolution: I am so peacefull, that nothing moves me anymore. I became so distant as a observer of my feelings, that i can't dive into them anymore. Everything is so calm now, there is no rage, no shame and no depression... the stillness is almost scary...
Yes, i still can laugh. Yes i can still have fun. But sometimes, I look at my past in a nostalgic way, not sad, but thinking about how my heart was broken sometimes and how sad I was. How naive I was. Simultaneously, I realise, that there is no real way back. I don't really want to, or better I don't really care. But I think its important, that people know about the implications of "enlightment". Nothing ever will be the same after it.
+XarezX That's only the first stage. It goes way deeper. The deeper stages take you back into passion and love.
Okay, I've been listening to a lot of Leo's content over the past few weeks and this one has been one of the most significant (and "hands on ") one's to me. But well, that's just a thought. Basically it comes down to:
NOTHING!
Nothing at all.
Pure space and awareness. ..
Thanks for reminding me Leo, you are an awesome teacher ☺👍
Leo, you light up my brain! This is GOLD! (which is an illusion, but..) This is such great value, literally (yes, I said it)!! I made commitments. Gotta stick to it. Thank you!
Side Note: Picasso was a skilled, realistic artist before he became the abstract artist that made him famous.
(Source: I went to el museo de Picasso in Barcelona and saw his early works.)
Hey Leo, it would be great if you can perform at TED talks
you are a genius! Lol he NEEDS to do that
My direct experience is that thoughts are a wave of energy and can be a direct representation of the physical world as perceived by the mind.
+SUCCESS MOTIVATION: Health Wealth Love Happiness very insightful comment. I didn't know
+SUCCESS MOTIVATION: Health Wealth Electrical impulses produce by the brain are actualy waves.
+SUCCESS MOTIVATION: Health Wealth Love Happiness TERENCE MCKENNA
Light.
thanks Leo, You talk about the things I wished I could have heard from someone when I was a kid.
I know you said (in another video) that if people give you compliments for what you do, it doesn't really fulfill you on a deeper level, but that will not stop me thanking you for all you do ;)
I will stick around
My analogy of this when one watches a movie and reacts emotionally to it. Reacting and acting on every thought without being mindful is like watching Superman, getting excited, and jumping out the window and expecting to fly just like in the movie. That's how I see it.
You are doing humanity a service, Leo! Great job! 👌👍👍👏👏
good talk going on one year of watching you're videos and I have changed for the good in so many ways thank you for all the time and effort you put in to what u do!!!!
I was looking for the source of my ego problem and here it is. However, I accepted the thought it is not easy to control and stop falling back into the trap of old patterns.
By the flattening of "myself" i realised that i'm just existence., :O phenomenal video Leo :D
+theonethatflies Good work! Keep flattening yourself. There is much self to flatten ;)
Just a quick note to let you know that I have checked out your content here and there for a few years now, and I appreciate your work. Always insightful. Always intriguing.
Yeah, that is the huge skill. After reading the book "The power of NOW" by Eckhart Tolle I started to practise mindfulness throughout my life. Now It is much easy for me to deal all sorts of depression and negative thoughts. The only sad thing is (but really not, 'cause sadness is an illusion (excluding feelings in your body)) that some positive thoughts are also stripped off their illusory nature (actually it is not sad, you start able to see much deep pleasure). Last time my skill of being aware of the illusion has increased a much. That is the most important skill I have ever learned.
It was very interesting to hear Leo talking Russian)
Wow I flattened the illusion of my self and got to a point where I was looking at my screen but I wasn't me anymore it was just my screen. The actual thought of me my self and the idea I have of my self felt arbitrary and nothing to do with me at all and simply un true, I actually started feeling overwhelmed and sick to my stomach, but I think that's a normal reaction although I think I found this easier from the amount of mediation I've done where my sence of self has gone, definitely gave me somewhat of an ego death though.
Beautiful channel.
"Thoughts" = Imprisonment of the Mind
The practice of flattening illusions helps one master the reflexive makings of their own attributions made to the meanings of thoughts. This is a skill to aquire, not a belief in an inherent talent/process. Mastering control over one's conscious leads to freedom from their mind. (paraphrasing Leo Gura)
----------
Freedom from one's mind...
Leo, this video probably hit me the hardest yet.
Thank you,
ArabiaNytes
+Daramantus
When you find yourself at the mercy of your thoughts consuming your mind and influencing your life against your better judgement, then yes, you become captive of your thoughts as they come to rule your life. It is not a belief, but hard fact, as Leo mentioned here. It seems like you've misunderstood his message. In any case, I'm not looking for your "insights", whoever you are. Thanks.
Thanks for enlightening the world of RUclips!
how cool is it that we're expanding our understanding of the illusory nature of thought through more thoughts
One time many years ago I was suffering from suicidal despair as a result of my ex leaving me. I kept obsessing and obsessing about how much I wanted to utterly annihilate myself and how worthless I was and on and on and at some point I decided that I couldn't handle these thoughts any more and I told myself that I had to find a way to take my mind off of it. It was nighttime and so I decided to walk upstairs to my bedroom and when I entered my room everything changed. Within the blink of an eye I knew everything would be ok. I no longer felt any attachment, any yearning, any desire whatsoever. I was an awareness observing all of those things. I went to sleep and when I woke up the sensation remained but intensified. All of this energy (in the forms of love, fear, compassion, and sadness) erupted out of me until I felt completely empty of everything that was formerly me, and filled to the brim with the energy of the external world. Subject and object virtually disappeared. There was simply awareness of one sublime energy field, and I was that. I've had intimations of this experience on and off since then but never anything quite as intense. Sometimes marijuana intensifies my senses to the extreme and I become aware of the difference between the external world (body and matter) and the internal one (awareness/thought and speech). It's as though I am my speech or my intentions and this body is merely an aspect of the external/material world through which my intentions/speech materialize. Well anyway that's enough for now. I don't have any real point with any of this. I just have an urge to share it.
You are such an encouragement to me, Leo.
Leo, I'm having trouble reconciling two concepts that you often talk about here. The idea of thoughts being illusory and the idea of motivation, inner drive, inner fire, whatever else you want to call it. I think I'm starting to grasp and accept the nature of thoughts and emotions, and am disentangling myself from assigning more value to an experience than I ought to. This is a concept I think about a lot when I'm dealing with negative emotions - I recognize that the sadness is a physical experience, and let myself experience it, and attempt to avoid assigning more value and generating more thought than the experience warrants. But what I have trouble with is applying this philosophy to more positive thoughts. The positive thought I'm thinking of here is ambition. Is ambition not just as much of a delusion as any other thought, be it positive or negative? When I'm in the shower, or walking to class, or going to the gym and visualizing the extraordinary life I want to have, am I not assigning tons of value to a concept that could be easily deconstructed with mindfulness? The more I learn about this mindfulness idea and try to live it, the more I feel like I'm losing touch with the fire and angst that demands for more from myself (more work, better focus, less doing stupid shit, etc.). Is it just a matter of being selective with what illusions we buy into?
Suffering is created by the positive cravings as well as the negative. Ideally you let them all go and then after enlightenment you are free to pick back up whatever you want. You will never leave the world of illusions until you're dead, so you can play in this world. But you'll only be able to truly play after you've let everything go and seen the Truth of what reality is.
What you'll find in practice if you do this is that authentic ambitions will become supercharged while all inauthentic ambitions die off, never to return. That's when you really get the sweet life, when everything you do is done with full authenticity and your will becomes the will of Jesus or Buddha, a force of nature! Whenever you are stirred to move, you are unstoppable because you are 100% aligned with truth and divine purpose.
This guy is one of the best philosophers that ever lived
"Flatting Out"; is tricky for me and brilliant of you! Thanks.
ive come along way in my thinking with this mindfullness stuff ,im starting to be aware of peoples thoughts and societies thoughts that leave you behind and put others in front ,Thanks leo .
and this is a great second stage its so amazing how you bring a new topic that is such a surprise and deep
Thanks again
Your videos are getting better and better. Thank you!
So simple, yet so profound! So right on! Thanks for sharing this!
29:01-30... At last Kant goes therapeutical!!! Great great job you're doing dude!!!
Лео, спасибо тебе огромное за то что ты делаешь!!👍🏻
Thank You Leo ... important and powerful way to help others remember who they really are and how that can happen with some time and effort (actually, most people will require time and effort ... some more than others ... but some can do this quickly and some have always remembered since birth or youth because they managed to always retain a since of true self and they always realized they only used thoughts, (or words or bodies or pictures or drawings or music or complex math equations or pizza or time etc...) as tools and All other things as a means of representation of that which is "behind the curtain" ... which is how we go about in this experience (life here on earth AND all, that is, elsewhere as well). Fact is All is as "real" as real gets, once we understand how it is used and why. No we can not "live in these bodies" without eating "real" food but even the "real" food serves us and, all that only captures some aspect of "real" food ... like the picture of the pizza ... or the thought of a pizza or the thought of what it is to eat ... is an aspect of what is ... in just a more distant removal from that which is "behind the curtain" I was first introduced to this, type of exercise, (similar method he called "pointing out") by Ken Wilber. I well remember how powerful the feeling of realizing I was not what I "thought" I was ... while at the same time I was, mostly acting as if I was, what I thought I was. That is true for all that we perceive. However ... due to the ever evolving nature of realization of what is truth ... or in other words the ever changing experience and interpretation of truth (REAL TRUTH never changes but Our concept of it is ever evolving) ... as well as the fact we our embedded in THIS experience in such a way that it seems fully real (because it is) ... we develop a stable space (and method) to compare an endless variety of Experience. I have said for a long time ... "We manifest as individuals as a means to infinite experience". Those of us who begin to explore our experience in more depth ... will find ... Only, that, which we are able to imagine at that point in our being an individual, (We limit our own ability to see what is ... yes with our own thoughts and more ... but it is part of our design). How we interpret, that, depends on our own unique experiences up to that point and our degree of understanding of, that, will be influenced by All that we are (which includes our physical bodies which can be hindered by damage) and All that we remember (up to that point). So ... does this type of exploration and discovery really ... hum ... Matter to us ... does it make us better able to .... what ??? ... live ??? ... Love ??? Be at Peace within ourselves and more at Peace with others ??? Think of a new born baby ... (although some people say they can remember their birth and first experiences of life ... most of us cannot) ... Us adults look at this "new" earthling and can really only wonder at what this infant sees and thinks and feels ... we have a very instinctive (this instinctive feeling is derived from multiple levels of our being, body (includes brain), thoughts (includes all our experiences) and All of that which we may not be directly aware of (that which is behind the curtain) ... and that instinct guides us to pay close attention to this tiny being who is so helpless in this moment because of it's lack of development ... we pay close attention and we feel (if all is working well) a strong desire to assure it's survival AND to help it not become distressed and if it becomes distressed we want to calm it (often by just holding it close to us) ... we get tremendous feelings of joy and peace from seeing it calm and at peace and we feel light and bubbly when we see it smile and when we hear it's first laugh ... Our experience here ... can be one with more comfort ... more of feeling and sharing in Love and feeling at peace OR it can be one of feeling less Love and little connection and less peace or comfort with those who surround us ... All infants grow into adults over time ... but we need to remember that the need to be seen and Loved as a means to remember connection and remember our inherent value as a part of All that is just as equal in value and worth ... we need to continue the close attention and desire to hold and comfort and remember the strong desire for Every single life form to survive. We Are truly One ... and when we leave out ... when we exclude ... we not only damage the being that is being done to ... we damage and hinder evolution of All. Evolution will happen regardless ... but we can be aware of our own degree of influence ... in All ... and hopefully the awareness helps us to be able to Relax and Be ... without unnecessary suffering (maybe all suffering is necessary???) Once we are better able to Relax and Be we are in better position to help others do the same ... Think of that newborn again ... recall how they can get highly upset and they can cry loud and long ... when they are in need of attention or rest or sleep or food ... they are not yet able to examine their experience in a manner that would allow for comfort without those needs being met. In this human body we cannot forget the human body has it's own needs which will always cry out to be met. In the infant an adult must meet them (or the infant will die) ... we learn to meet those basic needs ourselves in time (considering we are not damaged in a way that hinders or prevents that) BUT the need to feel connected and Loved, that need ... most of us will not be able to meet it on our own ... this is why we need others in our lives to help us feel Loved (and remember our value and connection) ... Love & Peace to All
I was thinking about simillar concept few months ago. I was afraid of listenining to the scary music and recordings, but I thought 'wait, it's just sounds that's my mind is interpreting in a wrong way', just symbols. I trained my self to watch my response to the point where I could listen to the most scary recordings with headphones on, in a dark room with my eyes closed with almost no reaction.
There was also this binaural beats 'Gates of Hades' which made people hallucinate about hell and all thats stuff, even my friend's mind fell for it. I was always afraid of it, but once I trained my self I thought I'll give it a try. Without overanalyzing, nothing happened to me, it's all illusion you can control. Thoughts and brain are a very interesting topic.
+Adam Genova Totally! I used to get really paranoid when doing hallucinogens and then I realized these are just images and feelings being created by chemical reactions and it's the meaning I'm ascribing to this experience that is making it terrifying. I never took this insight further though and realized that all experience is just the meanings and interpretations created by chemical reactions.
Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn Leo at it again!!
It 's look that today is a beginning of actualization of my real consciousness of though. Big thank's Leo!
I really dig the trajectory of the latest videos Leo! can only imagine what's instore for the next few weeks, months, years.. just trough your weekly youtube stream you have become an integral part of my self development and healing. I wanted to send you my appreciation thank you so much love you bro! 👥
My pleasure bro :)
Amazing! I think I got it. Hopefully , this is the end of my anxiety
gem of a channel
Awesome Video, I feel like I've noticed a subtle but obvious improvement in your speaking, as if you had a breakthrough to a deeper level of transparency, felt like telling you about it.
thank you for making these videos Leo. They are definitely helping me progress down my own path of waking up
Beautiful video as always, it brings back the very basics that we tend to not even realize, with the further point of interest of that russian phrase, I had to use google translate and the microphone to get it understood, I only understood the word "communic" something... because I am Italian, the rest... impossible... love that ability you didn't lose to speak your roots language even if you lived here all your life. great job
Totally bummed at myself. I first got "on the path" at 24, and by 26 had fully realized my home "outside" of meaning/thought. After that, neurotic obsessive thinking basically ended, and was defused after just a couple thoughts, basically always. The problem is I had a broken ego - just scrap, wreckage. And for that reason I needed to believe that I hadn't realized all that is about enlightenment. So rather than deepening into it quickly, I've dragged on for years (almost 31 now) telling myself that somehow I'd be special, get enlightenment-plus, because I felt jealous of those who were able to get listeners, or people to like them - like you. It stems from child neglect, not feeling like anyone would notice me, and basically just from not having a self-structure that helped animated my behavior. I'm finally giving that all up and can acknowledge other people woke up too, that it's not "my thing." It's sad to see that vain stubbornness take a few years of my life but it had to happen I guess. Thanks for the video. You should make one on time, the most tricky of all thoughts to see through (by far) in my opinion... still struggling with it!
Interesting! Albert Korzibski in his book Science and Sanity touches on the subject of Language and effects on thought-behaviour etc...
To me, a life changing textbook!!
Best.
+Michael Ekpo Indeed, but too dry a read for most people.
Thank you so much Leo.
I love you Leo.
That 's quite surprising hearing you speak Russian! I was just listening (not watching) this video while working and then....VU A LA! Leo speaks my native language! It's just shut my mind up for a few seconds! Didn't even get what exactly you were talking but I liked this blank space in my head
Waiting for this episode !!!Can't wait to see it!!
As I was doing the 'flattening the illusion' exercise with thought, I realize that I have subtle tag-along images connected with them that have nothing to do with anything. I realized that the word "Mom" show a picture of my mom but also a picture of a glass carafe filled with milk. I understand the association there at least. But the word "gravity" brings up an image of a vacuum cleaner with an arrow along with a bunch of other images. I guess the suction makes sense to go along with gravity now that I'm writing it. But there are tons of examples of this where the word and the image are seemingly unrelated. My friend Cecilia and I used to joke about how certain names should mean other things. Like the name "Zeus" was the new car smell, and the name "Peggy" was always elbow macaroni.
+The Diamond Net Yeah, thoughts can be pretty random. Because symbols are ultimately arbitrary. Like I said, you could actually represent your Mom with a fish, and it would be no more true or accurate than whatever symbol you're currently using to represent her. The mind has to create additional thoughts to backwards-rationalize the veracity of the symbol. Which requires a lot of mindfulness to notice. Which is why most people would say that their Mom cannot be represented accurately by a fish.
Actualized.org Yeah. I think a lot of this comes from people confusing themselves with thought itself. People think that they are the voice.
As someone who became depressed in late highschool, and struggled with depression and anxiety on and off for a good 10 years, and even did 4years undergrad in Psychology to understand myself better; what I have learnt from your videos in the last 6 months has given me back a life that I'm excited to live. I'm still only at the point where I now notice my self doubts or pessimism for what they are and know what I can do to stop them, but sometimes I do just have to let myself be a baby and wail about it for a few minutes before I can then ask myself 'are you done?' Haha have you ever considered teaching these ideas to kids? Surely people like Ghandi and the Dalai Llama are examples of what humans can become when raised on a diet of mindfulness and awareness! I would love to teach these ideas to my own kids when I start a family.
Leo, thank you for the effort you put into your videos. I appreciate the sharing of wisdom! Ouspensky's book, "The Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution" is a game changer.
23:51 I literally peed myself laughing
That was hilarious
when you start speaking russian it was like a shok. wow
+Витя Канунников I'm russian by the way, so I always retranslate words on russian at first and then understand it. And then I heard you speek russian it blows my mind :)
Leo, Thank You for more practical and more inspiring video.
+Витя Канунников привет, у меня было похожее чувство)
@@Svetashev123 я не знал что он может говорить по Русски
everybody gangsta till Leo starts speaking russian
He is Russian right ?
Hi Leo! This is my favorite channel and it has helped me so much in life. Thank you for all you do!
Yeah, lets deconstruct (flatten) ideas and thoughts to their components and loose something in the process. I think I am enlightened now!
If you speak Bulgarian, you also get it. Oh my God, your accent is very strong! I was wondering how an American guy could have sooo deep understanding of the reality! And than I get it - a russian soul!!! And, yes - I know this is also a limitting believe, but still I am sure average americans don`t understand in depth movies like the Barber of Siberia or Kuhnia :) :) :) You are my favourite, Leo! :)
Hey man thanks for making this and sharing your insight, this video really helped me explain to some one their mental whirlpool that they had been stuck in.
Keep it up!
I can't watching porn anymore cuz I flattened the illusion and my "buddy" don't get up. Damn you Leo
dude i tried doing that alot of times, and you just end up in some sensless depression where not even sex means anything
@@abassennouni7417 I mean that sucks 😕
Слушал это видео изрядно дунувши. Уже начал засыпать. И когда Лео на 12:50 весьма чисто заговорил по-русски - это было нечто.
Да (da)
Hi Leo and thank you so much for sharing your knowledge - you are the best teacher that I have ever had.
In your videos you have helped me to realize that I´m stuck. I mean seriously stuck in a negative spiral of criticism and perfectionism that influence Every. Aspect. Of. My. Life. I started to watch your videos to learn more about human mind on an intellectual level but what happened was that I got new insights that lead me to a deep crisis, BOOOM I was definitely not prepared for that! The perfectionism and fear of failure leads me to procrastination at an insane level. The habit make me hate to do what I believe that I would have loved to do without these issues. The moment I start up something new I get depressed because it reminds me of the long way I have before I become a pro. That drains me and give me no motivation to do anything. But the most painful insight i have got has to do with my view of human being and criticism. Damn. It´s really hard to face it but now I have to and it makes me sick. And if I would (and could) stop it it would completely change my conception of world. I´m sure that it would be a good thing but what is worth fighting for without high expectations? It takes me back to the lack of motivation. And to be this honest to myself make me see that I often lie to myself and others that is another inconvenient part of this process. I guess I need some more meditation...
But again, than you so much for helping me to see this clear.
Hugs from Sweden, K
Just stick with the self-actualization process and you can gradually change all that.
Welcome :)
Brilliant! Such a helpful and practical technique! Thank you so much for this!
Thank you very much Leo
This is life-changing, you are amazing. i love u leo. (literally though could not look at the picture of the spider no matter how much i tried- but i'll practice flattening the illusion!!
Nice video. I liked the concept of flattening the illusion. The first time I learned about the nature of thought in a book called “Thought as a System” by David Bohm. A very interesting read.
Introduction to the Elusive Nature of Thought (00:00)
The Importance of Understanding Thoughts (00:35)
What Thoughts Really Are (01:25)
The Illusory Nature of Thoughts (02:20)
Picasso's Perspective on Reality and Art (04:50)
Exploring the Treachery of Images (07:20)
The Symbolic Nature of Language and Thoughts (12:28)
Practical Exercises to Understand Thoughts (20:39)
Real World Application of Flattening Illusions (39:10)
Concluding Remarks and Further Learning (48:42)
top notch video Leo. Thank you for the gem. Cheers.
Extremely interesting video! The process described gives a lot of freedom . (given you put in the time and effort). Because its like a game , where you have to beat your ego.
@actualized.org I really understand this. But I have a question I'd like to ask, and would be more than pleased to get an answer!
If I am living my life like this, does it affect my creativity in bad ways?
I have become a fan, I find leo fascinating.
Oh shit does truth taste sweet! This flattening technique seems to have broken "me" through to the next level. The last few months it seems that relaxing and meditation have become a lot more rewarding than any sort of substance, state of mind, or even sexual experience I've had in the past. All of that said, I still couldn't grasp how to deal with the fictitious thought patterns the mind would spin. Now when I sit... I'm able to let go completely. The seamless, meaningless, distinction-less and childlike reality is accessible any time and anywhere. I was lost in a sea of abstractions, tormented by the illusory interpretations I presumed had tangible substance. With the utmost appreciation and gratitude *thank you* for being the lighthouse of the concrete. Had I not drifted towards your channel a few months back, I'd still think life was a tedious chore.
Good work. Keep digging deeper. There is more to discover. MUCH more!!
Looking forward to it! Cheers Leo
Hey Leo,
This really helped me perceive ideas better. Truely thank you. Loved the 3d image exercise.
This is brilliant. Thanks for this Leo.
the fuck you part is hilarious :D
What are thoughts?
-Thoughts are the software to your hardware. Your mind driving your body.
You have two types of thoughts, involuntary and voluntary, your subconscious and your conscious self.
-Everything begins with a thought.
-Thoughts are the software to the universe.
-Thought is intelligence. Everything that exists has a design and it is governed by the software that created it.
-Thought is energy. Your thoughts are you, more so than your body.
-Energy solidifies into mater through the design of thoughts.
-Thoughts create emotions. Emotions create motivation. Change your thoughts and you change everything.
This is golden.