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Leo の「掌をひたすら見続ける 悟り の技法」 ⇒ 典型的な倒錯。悟りの機序を解く

· 約98分

前置き​

今回、取り上げる Leo の動画はかつて過去記事、

❏ Leo : 悟りたければ、延べ何百時間もの間、ただ掌を見続けよ。実在/神/真の自己 に出会える方法がこれだ (2023-10-29)

で取り上げたもの。今回は AI で整理した。ついでに、末尾で 悟りの機序を解く。

概要​

AI

概念と実体験の区別

このYoutuberであるLeoは、彼のチャンネルが‌‌概念的‌‌で‌‌理論的‌‌なトピックを扱うため、視聴者が‌‌実体験‌‌と‌‌想像‌‌の区別を見失いがちであると述べています。彼は、‌‌実体験‌‌に焦点を当てることこそが、‌‌自己啓発‌‌や‌‌スピリチュアルな成長‌‌において最も重要であると強調しています。

‌‌手を見る‌‌という単純な瞑想的実践を通じて、彼は‌‌概念‌‌や‌‌想像‌‌に汚染されていない‌‌純粋な実体験‌‌を認識するよう促しています。この実践は、‌‌幸福‌‌や‌‌神‌‌、さらには‌‌自分自身‌‌といった‌‌真実‌‌は、‌‌概念‌‌の中にではなく、‌‌今ここ‌‌にある‌‌直接的な実体験‌‌の中に存在すると主張する彼の教えの中心です。

目次​

  1. 前置き
  2. 概要
  3. 詳細
    1. 導入
    2. 主要テーマと重要なアイデア
    3. 最も重要なアイデア/事実のまとめ
    4. 結論
  4. 時系列
  5. 主要関係者
  6. 情報源
    1. 動画概要欄
  7. 仮説：悟りの機序を解く
    1. 関連
  8. 文字起こし

詳細​

AI

詳細ブリーフィングドキュメント：「概念と実体験の区別」の主要テーマと重要なアイデア

導入​

LeoのYouTube動画「What Is Actuality？ - Distinguish Direct Experience vs Concept」は、現代社会において人々が陥りがちな「概念」や「想像」の世界から脱却し、「実体験（Actuality）」に根ざした現実理解と精神的成長を促すための深い洞察と実践的なアプローチを提示しています。

このブリーフィングドキュメントでは、動画で述べられている主要なテーマ、中心的なアイデア、そして最も重要な事実や実践について、原文からの引用を交えながら詳細にレビューします。

主要テーマと重要なアイデア​

1. 概念と実体験の根本的な区別​

動画の核心は、‌‌「実体験（the actual）」と「概念、信念、想像（concepts, beliefs, and imagination）」‌‌を明確に区別することの重要性にあります。Leoは、多くの人々がこの区別ができないために「認識論的な問題に陥り、現実を理解するのに苦しんでいる」と指摘します（0:01:29）。彼らは「文化や幼少期の育成から得たあらゆる概念によって、現実との相互作用が腐敗させられている」結果、「拡張現実のような概念的マトリックス」の中で生きていると述べています（0:01:43）。

  • 実体験とは何か？ 実体験とは、加工されていない、解釈されていない「今ここ」で起きていることです。Leoは、具体的な練習として「自分の手を見る」ことを勧めます。「あなたの手は実際的だ。ここにある。これこそが現実だ。これ以上現実に近づくことはできない」（0:04:54）。彼は、科学、宗教、読書、講義、動画視聴など、いかなるものも「今あなたの手を見ること」以上に現実に近づくことはないと強調します（0:05:15）。
  • 概念・想像とは何か？ 概念や想像は、私たちの思考、記憶、信念、そして文化や教育を通じて形成された知識の総体です。地球が丸いという「事実」、自分が生まれたという「記憶」、両親の「存在」、さらには「悟り」や「宇宙」といった壮大な概念も、その瞬間に直接経験されていない限りは概念であり想像に過ぎないとLeoは主張します。「あなたのアイデアや記憶はすべて概念であり想像だ」（0:14:36）。

2. スピリチュアリティの再定義：信念ではなく実体験​

Leoは、スピリチュアリティに対する一般的な誤解を正します。多くの人が「スピリチュアリティとは、たくさんの信念のようなもの」だと考えるのに対し、彼は「スピリチュアリティはそれとは正反対」であり、「スピリチュアリティとは実体験であり、信念ではない」と断言します（0:02:19）。

スピリチュアルな探求は、外部の教えや信念体系を学ぶことではなく、自分の内なる直接的な経験に深く入り込むことによって行われます。Leoにとって「手を見る」というシンプルな行為こそが、最も純粋なスピリチュアルな実践であり、「これこそが、あなたが到達できる最もスピリチュアルなものだ」（0:07:46）と述べています。

3. 「脱文脈化」のプロセス：現実の再構築​

私たちの心は、あらゆる知覚に「文脈」を与え、解釈を加えることに慣れきっています。例えば、手を見るという行為一つとっても、「これは手だ、人間の手だ、生物学的だ、化学物質でできている」といった概念的な荷物が常に追加されているとLeoは指摘します（0:08:12）。

真のスピリチュアリティとは、「経験したり見たり感じたりするあらゆるものを脱文脈化し、解釈を一切加えず、できるだけ生のままに受け止めること」であると説明しています（0:09:40）。

このプロセスを進めるにつれて、「現実が自分の下で崩壊し始める」ように感じられ、自分が正気を失っているかのように思えるかもしれないと警告します（0:25:28）。

しかし、これこそが「まさに正しい」状態であり、私たちが普段「現実」と呼んでいるもののほとんどが「いかに想像的であるか」を認識する過程だと説明します（0:26:06）。

4. 悟り、神、真理の直接的体験​

Leoは、悟り、神、真理といった崇高な概念も、突き詰めれば実体験の中に存在するとしています。

  • 悟り： 悟りとは、概念的な知識や理論の蓄積ではなく、実体験の直接的な認識です。「この手を見ているとき、その現実性、その実在性、その実体験を感じ取っているとき、それこそが悟りだ」（0:16:42）。彼は、何百、何千時間も手を見つめることで悟りが得られると主張します（0:17:11）。
  • 神： 「神とは実体験だ」（0:33:10）。Leoは、自分の手や目の前の物体が神そのものであると語ります。私たちの心は「私の手」という概念によって、手の「神性」を見ることを妨げていると指摘します。「私の手だというあなたの考えが、実際にこれは神なのだという事実を見ることを妨げている」（0:34:33）。
  • 真理： 「真理は、何か高尚で形而上学的な、哲学的な、難解で秘教的なものではない。それはあなたの手だ」（0:39:18）。真理は遠い概念ではなく、今目の前にある、直接経験できるものだとしています。

5. 恐怖、死、自我の解体​

Leoは、恐怖や死、そして「自己」という概念についても同様の視点から考察します。

  • 恐怖： 「すべての恐怖は想像だ」（0:41:40）。手を見つめる行為を通して、そこに恐怖が存在しないことを示すことで、恐怖が実体験ではなく概念であることを理解させます。
  • 死と非存在： 死や非存在は概念であり想像に過ぎません。「非存在とは存在するアイデアだ」（0:36:39）。「死は概念だ」（1:06:24）。Leoは、私たちが死を恐れるのは、それが想像の中でのみ存在するためだと主張します。
  • 自我（自己）と神： 「自己は概念だ」（0:57:46）。私たちは自分を「自己」や「エゴ」と認識し、自分の存在を概念的に説明しようとします。しかし、この「自己」という概念こそが、私たちを神から切り離しているとLeoは非常に挑発的な言葉で語ります。「この神は、あなた自身が神の座に収まってしまったために、あなたには見えない」（1:01:13）。彼は、神を自分自身の中に「簒奪」し、神の代わりに「私、私、私」と言い続けることで、神の存在を否定していると説きます。

6. 幸福：現在の瞬間を受け入れること​

Leoは、幸福の定義もまた実体験の中に求めています。「幸福とは、今この瞬間を、それが何であろうと受け入れることだ」（1:04:28）。彼は、現在の瞬間を完全に受け入れ、楽しむことで、私たちは幸福になれると主張します。不快な状況（例えば歯痛）であっても、「歯痛に感謝する」ことで、幸福を経験できると示唆します。

7. 知識の源泉：第二の伝聞からの脱却​

Leoは、現代社会で私たちが得ている知識のほとんどが「第二の伝聞（second-hand hearsay）」であり、個人的な実体験による探求ではないことを厳しく批判します（1:19:22）。学校教育、科学、哲学、宗教、政治など、あらゆる分野の知識は、ほとんどが概念や信念として「暗記させられた」ものであり、それが「実際の調査」に基づくものではないと指摘します（1:19:59）。

彼は、自身の教えもまた概念でしかなく、それらも実体験によって検証される必要があると強調します。「私が共有するあらゆる洞察や教訓は、あなたの直接の経験の中に位置づけられなければならない」（0:51:03）。

8. 実践の重要性：何百時間もの探求​

Leoは、この種の精神的成長が「座って動画を見ているだけ」で得られるものではないと明確に述べています。「何百時間も座って、退屈で嫌でも手を見つめること。それがこれらのことを理解するための代償だ」（1:18:06）。

彼は、手や物体を15分間見つめるというシンプルな練習を毎日行うことを推奨し、これを「最も純粋なスピリチュアルな練習」と位置づけています（1:11:21）。この実践を通じてのみ、概念から実体験への移行が起こり、真の恩恵が得られると述べています。

最も重要なアイデア/事実のまとめ​

  • 実体験（Actuality）と概念・想像の峻別こそが、すべての個人的成長と精神的作業の基盤である。 私たちは無意識のうちに、概念的な解釈のフィルターを通して現実を認識しており、それが真の現実理解を妨げている。

  • スピリチュアリティは信念や理論ではなく、実体験そのものである。 外部の教えや宗教的信念に依存するのではなく、今この瞬間の直接的な経験に深く根ざすことが、真のスピリチュアルな探求である。

  • 「脱文脈化」のプロセスを通じて、私たちは「現実」と信じているものの多くが概念的な構築物であることに気づく。 この過程は精神的に挑戦的だが、真の理解には不可欠である。

  • 悟り、神、真理、幸福、そして「自己」でさえも、抽象的な概念として捉えるのではなく、今この瞬間の直接的な実体験の中に存在する。 例として、手を見つめる行為は、悟り、神、真理、そして純粋な存在そのものである。

  • 恐怖や死といった概念は、実体験には存在せず、想像の産物である。 私たちが抱く多くの不安や苦悩は、概念的な思考に囚われることから生じる。

  • 真の知識は、第二の伝聞や暗記ではなく、自身の直接的な経験を通じた個人的な探求からのみ得られる。 Leoの教えでさえ、単なる概念として受け入れるのではなく、自らの実体験によって検証される必要がある。

  • この「実体験の調査」は、何百時間もの献身的な実践と忍耐を必要とする。 手や身の回りの物体を意識的に見つめ、あらゆる概念的な解釈を排除する練習が、この探求の出発点となる。

結論​

Leoの動画は、私たちが普段当たり前としている「現実」の認識に根本的な問いを投げかけ、真に生き生きとした実体験の世界へと私たちを誘います。

それは、既存のあらゆる知識体系や信念、そして私たち自身の自我さえも徹底的に問い直し、概念の檻から抜け出すことを促す、過激でありながらも実践的な教えです。この教えは単なる哲学的な思索ではなく、日々の生活の中で意識的に取り組むべき「仕事」として提示されており、その恩恵は概念的な理解を超えた「実体験」として現れると締めくくられています。

時系列​

AI
  • 動画冒頭 (0:00:00 - 0:00:38): レオが、自身のチャンネルで扱う抽象的な概念と、それが指し示す「実体験（Actuality）」との区別が重要であることを強調。
  • 「現実」への回帰の呼びかけ (0:00:38 - 0:01:12): 幻想、概念、想像から離れ、「実際の（Actual）」ものに触れることの必要性を訴える。これが自己啓発やスピリチュアルな探求において最も重要な区別の一つであると述べる。
  • 概念と実体験の混同の指摘 (0:01:12 - 0:01:43): 多くの人々が実体験と概念・信念・想像を区別できず、それが認識論的な問題や現実理解の困難につながっていると説明。彼らが文化や育ちから得た概念によって現実が歪められていると指摘する。
  • スピリチュアリティの誤解の是正 (0:01:43 - 0:02:19): スピリチュアリティを単なる信念の集まりと捉えるのは間違いであり、実際には「実体験」そのものであると主張。
  • 「手を見る」ワークの導入 (0:02:19 - 0:05:15): 概念的な説明だけでは実体験に近づけないため、実践的なエクササイズとして「自分の手を見る」ことを指示。意識を完全に手に集中させ、その「存在」を直接体験することの重要性を強調する。この体験こそが「実体験（Actuality）」であり、最も現実に近いものだと述べる。この基本が理解できない者は、意識のワークやスピリチュアリティ、自己啓発を進めることはできないと断言する。
  • 手を使った概念と実体験の区別 (0:05:15 - 0:06:55): 手を隠して想像する場合（概念・想像）と、再び手を出して直接見る場合（実体験）を対比させるエクササイズを提示。この区別を「概念的に理解するだけでなく、実際に体験し、素早く識別できるようになること」が重要だと強調する。
  • 日常生活における区別の重要性 (0:06:55 - 0:07:17): 朝起きた時、歯磨きをしている時、疲れている時、空腹の時、怒っている時など、常に「何が実体験で、何が想像であるか」を認識する能力が、人生におけるトラブルを避け、スピリチュアルな探求を進める上で不可欠であると説く。
  • スピリチュアリティの定義の再確認 (0:07:17 - 0:08:12): スピリチュアリティは「スピリットやエイリアン、幽霊といった奇妙な信念」ではなく、「手を見る」というような直接的なエクササイズそのものであると再定義する。
  • 概念的なレッテルと実体験の区別 (0:08:12 - 0:10:24): 自分の手を「手」「人間の手」「生物学的」「物理的」といった言葉で認識すること自体が、概念的な荷物を付加していると指摘。心が常に解釈を投影しているため、純粋な実体験を認識するのが難しいと説明する。スピリチュアリティとは、あらゆる経験を「脱文脈化」し、解釈なしに可能な限り「生（raw）」の状態で捉えることであると述べる。
  • 手の観察の実践と深さ (0:10:24 - 0:11:28): 「手を見る」エクササイズが退屈に思えるかもしれないが、実はそれが「心を揺さぶる」体験であり、最も純粋なスピリチュアルな実践であると力説。レオ自身が週に5時間以上このエクササイズを行っており、ヨガや悟り、自己探求といった複雑な概念よりも重要だと語る。
  • 悟りの再定義 (0:11:28 - 0:17:33): 悟り、非二元性、スピリチュアリティといった概念が全て「手の中」にあると主張。悟りに関するあらゆる概念や理論は「でたらめ」であり、何百時間も自分の手をただ見つめることによって悟りが得られると説明する。
  • 手を見ることで何が変わるか (0:17:33 - 0:19:29): 何百時間も手を見つめることで「見えるものが変わる」と示唆する。手が物理的な形を変えるわけではなく、「文脈が変わる」と説明。手は「人間の手」という概念を超えて「名前のない、言葉で説明できない何か」として再文脈化されると述べる。この「リアリティの感覚」こそが、意識のワークやスピリチュアルな実践の核となる。
  • 「常識」とされる概念の否定 (0:19:29 - 0:22:04): 進化論、科学、理性、論理、証拠、地球が丸いという事実、自分が生まれたという事実、両親の存在といった、一般的に「事実」とされているものも、実際にはすべて「概念と想像」であると断言。これらは現在の直接的な実体験ではないため、「実体験」と区別して認識する必要があると強調する。
  • 宇宙、存在、自己の概念の否定 (0:22:04 - 0:25:43): 宇宙、銀河、星、ビッグバン、脳内のニューロンにおける意識の発生といった概念も「想像」であると指摘。さらに、「自分の身体」でさえ、特定の概念や想像に基づいた構築物であると述べる。実体験としての「身体の感覚」は、特定の形を持たない「感覚の雲」のようなものであると説明する。
  • 現実の崩壊と「狂気」 (0:25:43 - 0:26:41): 概念的な文脈を剥ぎ取っていくと、信じていた現実が崩壊し、自分が狂っていくように感じるかもしれないが、それは正しい道のりであると説明。多くの「現実」が実は「想像」であったという事実の発見は、最初は不安を感じさせるかもしれないが、そのまま深く進むべきだと促す。
  • レオの教えと「概念」 (0:26:41 - 0:31:28): 自身のウェブサイト「actualized.org」で提供している全ての教えや洞察もまた「概念と信念」であると認める。コミュニケーションには概念が不可欠であり、それらの「概念的な指し示し」を超えて「実体験」へと到達する必要があると説明。
  • 神の概念と実体験としての神 (0:31:28 - 0:34:33): 神に関するあらゆる考え、信仰、無信仰、宗教的な教えはすべて「概念と想像」であると指摘。真の神は概念ではなく、「実体験」そのものであると主張し、「手を見る」ことで神を理解できると述べる。「あなたの手は神である」と述べ、神は「実体験」であり、「すべて」であると定義する。
  • 自己と神の混同（悪魔のメタファー） (0:34:33 - 1:03:53): 人々が自分の手を「自分の手」と捉える概念が、神を認識することを妨げていると説明。「自分自身が神の場所を乗っ取っている」という非常に挑発的な主張を展開。自我や自己の概念が、神（実体験）を隠蔽しているとし、これを「悪魔の仕業」に例える（カッコウの鳥のメタファーを使用）。しかし最終的には、神と悪魔は「同一」であるというさらなる逆説的な見解を提示する。
  • 死の概念の否定 (1:03:53 - 1:07:00): 死、非存在といった概念もまた「想像」であり、実際には「存在」と「生」しかないと主張。死への恐れも全て想像に基づいていると述べる。
  • 「真実」の概念の否定と実体験としての真実 (1:07:00 - 1:09:04): 「真実」に関するあらゆる考えも「概念と想像」であると指摘。真の真実は、自分の手や目の前の部屋といった「実体験」そのものであると強調。社会や宗教、科学から教えられた「真実」の概念は、真の真実から目をそらさせていると批判する。
  • 日常生活での継続的な実践の重要性 (1:09:04 - 1:09:48): 心が常に「想像の国」に引き戻そうとするため、日常的に「手を見る」エクササイズを繰り返すことの必要性を説く。これは「明晰夢」の現実テストと似ているが、目的は「手が実体験であり、他は概念であること」を認識することであると説明。
  • 宿題の提示 (1:09:48 - 1:12:26): 以下の4つの質問についてジャーナルを使って熟考すること：
    • 概念とは何か？
    • 信念とは何か？
    • 想像とは何か？
    • 実体験とは何か？ また、毎日15分間、自分の手や小さな物体を沈黙の中で注意深く見つめる実践を推奨。これらが最も純粋なスピリチュアルなエクササイズであると再強調する。
  • 手と物を「意識」として認識する実践 (1:12:26 - 1:14:25): エクササイズ中に、手や物体が「意識（consciousness）」であると心の中で繰り返し唱えることを推奨。最初は信じられなくても、これが「真実」であると説明し、この実践が心を「現実世界」へと導くと述べる。
  • 「信頼」の必要性 (1:14:25 - 1:15:36): このプロセスには「信頼（faith）」が必要だが、それはレオ個人や神への信頼ではなく、「プロセスそのものへの信頼」であると説明。科学実験に例え、結果が保証されていなくても、実験を行うための信頼が不可欠であると説く。
  • 教えの「先進性」と参加の要求 (1:15:36 - 1:23:34): 自身の教えが非常に先進的であり、地球上の大多数の人々には理解されていないと述べる。その理由は、これらの教えが「個人的な参加、極度のニュアンス、献身、実験、個人的な探求、努力」を要求するからであると説明。学校教育が概念の丸暗記を教えるのに対し、レオの教えは「実体験の直接的な探求」を促す点で根本的に異なると強調する。

主要関係者​

AI

‌‌レオ (Leo)‌‌:

  • YouTubeチャンネル「actualized.org」を運営するスピーカー。
  • 自身の動画「What Is Actuality？ - Distinguish Direct Experience vs Concept」で、実体験と概念・想像の区別、およびその実践方法について詳細に解説している。
  • 哲学的・スピリチュアルな概念を抽象的な議論に終始させず、具体的なエクササイズ（特に「手を見る」こと）を通じて直接的な体験へと導くことを重視している。
  • 自身が教える内容も最終的には「概念」であると認識しており、聴衆にその概念を超えて「実体験」を自ら探求するよう促している。
  • 彼の教えは、一般的に信じられている「現実」「常識」「科学」「宗教」「自己」といった多くの概念を根底から問い直し、時に挑発的で過激な表現（例：「あなたは悪魔である」）も用いる。
  • 週に5時間以上自分の手を見つめることを日課としており、これを最も純粋なスピリチュアルな実践と考えている。
  • 自身のウェブサイト「actualized.org」で、さらに多くのリソースや独占コンテンツを提供している。

‌‌聴衆/視聴者 (You)‌‌:

  • 動画を聞いている、または読んでいる想定上の個人。
  • レオが提示する概念と実体験の区別を理解し、実践することを求められている。
  • しばしば、レオの主張に対して「異議を唱える」「論争しようとする」「過去の知識や常識に囚われる」存在として描かれる。
  • レオは、彼らが自身の教えを単なる概念として受け止めるのではなく、自らの直接的な経験を通して検証することを強く要求している。

‌‌カッコウの鳥 (Cuckoo bird)‌‌:

  • レオが「自己欺瞞のメカニズム」のエピソードで言及したメタファー。
  • 他の鳥の巣に卵を産みつけ、先に孵化して他の卵を巣から蹴り出し、まるでその巣の唯一のヒナであるかのように振る舞う。
  • これは、人間が「神」の場所を「自分自身（自我）」が乗っ取っているという、レオの挑発的な主張を説明するために用いられる。

情報源​

動画(1:23:44)

What Is Actuality？ - Distinguish Direct Experience vs Concept

動画概要欄​

Oct 7, 2018

Actuality - How to draw a distinction between what is real vs what is conceptual and imaginary.

仮説：悟りの機序を解く​

Leo はペラペラと口がよく回る。悟り、神秘体験、非二元性、純粋経験、直接経験、現実対概念、自己啓発、ワーク…などを語って尽きない。だが、その全てが無価値かつ無内容な戯言。

掌を無駄に長時間、見続けるとやがてゲシュタルト崩壊を引き起こす。同じ一つの漢字や ひらがな を幾度も幾度も繰り返し書いていると、その文字が意味を喪失する瞬間が訪れる。これがゲシュタルト崩壊。掌でもそれが起きる。

Leo の技法はこの手の「束の間の軽い」ゲシュタルト崩壊を強引かつ一点突破式に推し進めたもの。通常のゲシュタルト崩壊を長時間かつ長期にわたって執拗に継続することで、より重度のゲシュタルト崩壊つまり、人為的に意識をひとつの対象（掌）に極度に収束させ「認知の雪崩現象」を引き起こす技法になっている。簡単に言えば、意識を誤動作させ、認知の枠組みを狂わせるテクニック。

すでに昔から同種の技法が存在する。それは公案と呼ばれてきた。公案という一点に意識を極度に集中させ、認知の雪崩現象を引き起こす。DMT の類ならもっとお手軽にそれを起こせる。

そして、その人為的に引き起こされた雪崩的な意識障害によって、意識の枠組みが崩れ無数の断片に解体する。その無数の断片を因陀羅珠網と喩えた。

その壊れた意識の断片群、トンボの複眼のような無数の意識の目がかろうじて捉えた「崩壊してカオス化した 自己/世界」を 究極の真理（＝事事無礙法界） と呼び、その体験を大悟/解脱 と呼んできた。

それゆえ、大悟の内容は意味不明となる。誰にも理解できないものとなる。その当人ですら明証的な確信（＝空っぽの確信）だけがあり、内容は理解できずにいる。大悟の本質が深淵だからではない。認知の枠組みが壊れた意識体験（＝誤動作中の意識の体験）だから、意味不明となるだけの話。酔っ払いの喋り散らすことに深い意味などない。

…以上が現段階での、私の悟りの機序に関する仮説。

関連​

大悟した禅匠が観る「事事無礙法界の風光」の正体は、制御された意識障害の副産物だ （書式変換） (2025-01-09)

文字起こし​

展開

（以下は Leo という Youtuber の一人語り動画の文字起こしです。動画のタイトルは "What Is Actuality？ - Distinguish Direct Experience vs Concept" というものです。）

It's time for us to get serious about this work. One of the biggest challenges with the topics that we talk about on this channel is that I cover a lot of highly abstract theoretical and conceptual topics which can get people lost into this sort of rabbit hole of theory and ideas and failing to distinguish between that and what all these concepts and ideas are pointing to. (0:00:38)

So we need to get out of fantasy, out of concepts, and out of imagination and into the real world in touch with what is actual. Actual. Actuality. What is actual? So today we're going to be working on carving out this distinction. This is one of the most important distinctions you can make in all of personal development and in all of spiritual work. (0:01:12)

It's this distinction between, on the one hand, the actual. What is actual? And then on the other hand, concepts, beliefs, and imagination. And people in general are very, very poor at distinguishing between these two. And this is why they get themselves into so much epistemic trouble and they struggle so much to understand reality is because they've completely blurred this distinction such that they're living in augmented reality. (0:01:43)

This sort of conceptual matrix which is interpreting everything that they're seeing, all their interactions with actuality, are getting corrupted by all of their concepts that they got from their culture and from their early upbringing. And now they can't tell the two apart. So let's work to correct this. A really common mistake that people make when they think about spirituality is they think that, oh, spirituality, that's like a bunch of beliefs. (0:02:19)

When in fact, spirituality is the exact opposite of that. Spirituality is actuality, not belief. So let's get you in touch with that right now. Actuality. What do we mean when we say the word actual? So we can sit here and think about it. I can give you a bunch of interesting theories and ideas about what it all means and how it all works. (0:02:48)

And none of that will actually get you closer to actuality. So this is a very hands-on episode, no pun intended, where you're going to have to participate with me here to actually get this. Not just listen to me, but actually do the exercises. We're gonna do a lot of exercises here. So let's do this right now. Take out your hand and look at it. (0:03:15)

Hold it in front of your face, about a foot away from you, and just look at your hand. Put your awareness completely on your hand, without a bunch of distracting thoughts, and just look at it. Notice the hand's existence, the fact that it exists in your direct experience. And just sit with that. (0:03:46)

Don't particularly try to do anything, or get anywhere, or have any kind of objective. Just be with your hand and recognize and be conscious of its existence. Make sure you're actually doing this as I'm talking. Pause this recording if you need to, to make sure that you get what I'm saying. And I want you to hit this sort of moment where you become hyper conscious of the fact that, oh yes, this hand exists. (0:04:23)

Here it is. And just be hyper conscious of its existence. That right there is actuality. Your hand is actual. Here it is. Don't fall into the trap of thinking, oh well, so what? Who cares? Leo, this is so obvious. No, no, no, no, no. (0:04:45)

It's not obvious at all. Not obvious at all. Sit here and just be conscious of this hand. Be conscious of its actuality. This is what's real. This is as close to reality as you can get. There is no closer. No amount of science, or religion, or reading books, or hearing lectures, or watching videos will ever get you closer to reality than looking at your hand right now. That's as close as you can get. (0:05:15)

If you can't get this, you're lost. There's no hope for you. You can't do consciousness work. You can't do spirituality. You can't do personal development if you can't get this. That's how important this is. Now, take your hand, put it behind your back, so you can't see it anymore. And now, imagine and think of your hand. That right there is concept and imagination. (0:05:54)

We're going to be using the word concept and imagination throughout this episode interchangeably. So, do you get that? Don't think about this. I want you to actually experience it. To feel it. Now, take your hand out again, look at it, and notice that this is actual. This is actuality, right here. (0:06:22)

And then, when I put it away and I think about it, that is concept and imagination. Are you getting this? Make sure you do this a couple of times to make the distinction very clear. It's not enough that you understand the distinction conceptually. That's easy. Any fool can do that. You have to actually experience it and become very quick at distinguishing between these two as it's happening throughout your entire life all the time. (0:06:55)

When you're waking up in the morning, when you're brushing your teeth, when you're tired, when you're hungry, when you're horny, when you're depressed, when you're angry, when you're frustrated, all of these things are happening to you. You need to be able to recognize between what is actual and what is imaginary. Otherwise, you're going to blur these two and get yourself into a lot of trouble. (0:07:17)

And it's going to be utterly impossible for you to do any kind of work towards enlightenment or basically any spirituality. Because spirituality is not about a bunch of woo-woo beliefs about spirits and aliens and ghosts and things like that. Spirituality is this right here. This exercise that we're doing right now, looking at your hand, look at your hand right now. (0:07:46)

Look at that hand. That is as close to spirituality as you will ever get. Are you getting this? I'm not joking. You might say, oh Leo, but how can my hand, what is spiritual about my hand? Are we just playing word games here? Why are you calling my hand spiritual? There's nothing spiritual about this. (0:08:12)

This is just some ordinary perception that I have. You see, you're not being careful. You're not being careful, because look what your mind is doing. Your mind is saying, this is a hand, it's a human hand, it's biological, it's made of chemicals and molecules, and it's physical, and it's my hand. And the label hand is getting applied to it, and you're calling it my experience, my perceptions. See, this is a lot of conceptual baggage that you're adding on top of what's here. What is actually occurring right here is not so obvious. (0:08:48)

And the problem is that your mind is so used to projecting its interpretations onto everything that you're seeing all the time, that again, you're failing to distinguish between actuality and then what your mind is coming up with. And thinking is there. What you think is there isn't actually there. So this hand that you think is there, this physical hand, it seems like that's what's actual, but that's not what is actual. (0:09:23)

So what's happening is that your mind is giving context to every perception that you're having. Even to say that a thing is a perception or an experience is already to go too far. It's already to give way too much conceptual context to this thing that's happening right here. (0:09:40)

Already way too far. So really what spirituality is about is about decontextualizing everything that you experience or see or feel such that you get it as close to as raw as possible without any interpretations. And then you see what happens. And you might be surprised at what happens. If you're just starting with this exercise it might seem to you like, well Leo, if I just sit here I look at my hand, I mean, isn't this just a waste of time? What's going to happen? Seems like nothing's going to happen. (0:10:24)

I'm just going to sit here and look at it. It's kind of obvious. And okay, so what? Next? What do we do next? Tell me something flashy and mind-blowing. No, no, no, no. This right here is what's mind-blowing. But you gotta really sit here and look at it. Look at it for a long time. I spend about five hours a week, at least, these days just sitting and looking at my hand. (0:10:49)

This is my favorite spiritual exercise. This is my favorite meditation technique. I've sort of outgrown various other kinds of techniques. Like for me now, it's just so simple that I just sit on my couch, I just look at my hand like this, literally like this, for an hour. And then I get up and do other stuff. (0:11:10)

And I do that maybe five times a week. And that's five hours right there, just looking at my hand. That's it. That's the entire spiritual practice. That's as pure of a spiritual practice as you're ever going to get. Forget about yoga, forget about enlightenment, forget about self-inquiry and all this complicated stuff. You're getting lost in way too much conceptual stuff. (0:11:28)

Right? You gotta make it real. This right here. Everything you're looking for is right here in your hand. When it comes to enlightenment, non-duality, spirituality, all the wacky stuff I talk about, it's all right here in your hand. (0:11:56)

Right now. Actual. This is actual. The problem is that way too many of you are getting lost in all sorts of ideas about non-duality. So let's keep deepening and sharpening this distinction between actuality and concept. I want you to think about the fact that you are on around earth as you believe you are. Think about that fact. And now notice that what that is is concept and imagination. That is what that is. There's no disputing what is being said here. Your mind might want to come up with objections. And you might say, oh, but Leah, what are you saying? Are you saying that I should be a flat-earther? (0:12:38)

Are you saying now I shouldn't believe the earth is flat? Are you saying science is wrong? Is that what you're saying? Notice what that is. That's concept and imagination. You're layering concept and imagination on top of concept and imagination. And so you're digging your own grave here. With your own mind. You're getting lost inside your mind. So be very mindful of your objections. (0:13:04)

Actuality is what's happening right now in this present moment. Your hand, or that object, that table you're looking at, that lamp you're looking at, that cat, if you have a cat there. That's actual. Anything else is concept and imagination. Because it's not here right now. I'm not saying that you should be a flat-earther, but the fact that the earth is round is a concept and is imagination. You have to become conscious of that. (0:13:36)

If you cannot become conscious of that, then God help you because you're fucking screwed in this work. You're not going to make any progress. (0:13:44)

You get this? Let's keep going. Now, bring to mind the fact that you were born. You think you were born. Notice the key word there, though. You think you were born. So, notice what that is. All of your ideas and memories of being born are concept and imagination. You getting this? It's very simple, but it's also quite radical. Where did you come from? Well, I was born. No, that's concept and imagination. (0:14:36)

Think of your parents. Unless they are sitting here in the room with you right now, your parents are concept and imagination. Now, you might say, but Leo, I talked to them last night. That's concept and imagination. But Leo, if I didn't come from my parents, where did I come from? That's concept and imagination. Be hyper-aware of how your mind pulls you into these various rabbit holes of questions and objections and denials and all of this sort of stuff, ignoring the obvious of what's actual. (0:15:26)

Pull your hand out. This is actual. Look at your hand. This is actual. Now, think of your parents. Think of being born. Think of the round earth. That's all imagination. Are you getting this? Actually, do this. Now, pull your hand out again and look at it. Okay, this is actual. My parents are just a concept. Oh, okay. Now I'm getting it. Actually do this. (0:16:00)

Don't think you've got it, because you still don't got it. Now, moving on. Think of being enlightened. You've heard me talking about enlightenment, ad nauseum, over the years. Whatever you imagine enlightenment to be, think about that. Notice that that's concept and imagination. That's what that is. Those concepts and those images are preventing you from becoming enlightened. You want to get as close to enlightenment as possible? (0:16:42)

Take out your hand, put it in front of your face, and look at it, and realize that this is actual. And while you're looking at this hand, and you're sensing its reality, its realness, its actuality. That is enlightenment. You're looking at enlightenment right here in your hand. I'm not kidding. All of your ideas and theories and philosophies about enlightenment, that's not enlightenment, that's bullshit. (0:17:11)

This is enlightenment right here. So, if you want to become enlightened, just sit and look at your hand for many, many, many hours. For hundreds and thousands of hours. Just sit there and looking at it. That's it, and you'll become enlightened. Now, you'll say, but Leo, how is looking at my hand going to make me enlightened? I mean, the hand is just a hand. (0:17:33)

And, again, that's because you haven't actually gone deep into this work. You haven't even spent five minutes just looking at your hand without thinking about it. Something very profound happens when you just do this exercise for hundreds and thousands of hours. What you see here will change. And now, of course, by that, don't get the wrong idea. I don't mean that you're going to be looking at this hand, and then all of a sudden it's going to turn into a tentacle. (0:18:05)

That's not what I mean. (0:18:07)

I mean that you'll still basically see the same shape, the same colors here. But, again, your context will change. This hand will get recontextualized into something else than a human hand. And what that thing is can't be explained to you because it has no name, it has no verbal description. But when you get it, you'll get it. And until then, you'll be lost, and you'll be confused, and you'll not understand what I'm talking about. (0:18:42)

Right? But the more you sit here, the more you look at it, and the more you start to feel that, wait a minute, this hand, this is a weird thing. Why is it here? What is this hand? Why does it exist? I mean, sure, it's a hand, but that doesn't say anything about it. What is it? What's it made out of, really? Like, what is this thing? (0:18:59)

And why is it here? How come it exists? And the more you get conscious of that, the more you become conscious of that, right now, the closer you're getting to enlightenment. That feeling of realness is what you're going with when you're doing any kind of consciousness work or spiritual practice. That's it. It's extremely simple. It's so simple that nobody wants to do it. (0:19:29)

It's so simple that it seems like it won't lead anywhere. It's so simple, it seems like it's a waste of time. So nobody does it. And so nobody discovers what's right there in front of their face. Think about evolution. Whatever your ideas and opinions about evolution are, whether you believe it or not, think about that. And again, notice that that's all concept and imagination. (0:19:56)

Now, take out your hand, look at your hand again, and notice that that's actuality. Evolution, that's imagination. Now, think about science and reason and logic. Think about proof and evidence. All of that is concept and imagination. Take out your hand again, put it in front of your face, and notice that this is actual right here. You cannot get more direct than this right here. (0:20:46)

To reality. Science, reason, logic, proofs and evidence, all of that, that is further removed from reality than this hand right here. Are you getting this? There is no proof or evidence or logic for this hand being here. This hand is prior to all of that. You getting this? There is no proof for this hand, other than you looking at this hand. And really, even that is saying too much. (0:21:29)

There's not a you looking at this hand, and this thing is not really a hand. If you look at it long enough. And there's actually no looking happening either. So be careful about that. You think that I'm here, this is a hand, this is a human body, a biological organism that was born, and that I am looking at this hand. That is all imagination and concept. (0:21:57)

None of that is actually true. None of that is actual. What is actual here? (0:22:04)

Is this. But what is this? That's what you got to sit with. That's what you got to sit with. Don't let your mind come in there and start thinking a bunch of thoughts. That's taking you into imagination land. All right, now think of the universe, the entire universe. All the galaxies and stars and the Milky Way and all the planets that are out there and aliens and shit that live out there and black holes and the Big Bang and all of that. (0:22:37)

Think of all that. And notice what that is. That's concept and imagination. Pull out your hand again. Ground yourself in actuality. This is actual. All that other stuff, that's imagination. See? Notice that even if you're just sitting here, if you're sitting on your couch, minding your own business, watching some YouTube videos, in the back of your mind, you still have this sort of orienting frame. (0:23:24)

This is the context in which you are putting yourself. You are putting yourself into this context, this orienting frame of I'm sitting on a round planet, which is orbiting a sun, which is part of a Milky Way, which is part of a Big Bang, part of the entire universe. Somewhere in the back of your mind, that context is there. That's contextualizing this experience that you're having right now. (0:23:50)

So, realize that all of that is concept and imagination. That's not actual. What's actual is this raw experience right now. What is this raw experience right now of this room that you're in, when you strip it of all context, including the context that this is occurring within a universe in some Milky Way galaxy, in some solar system on some giant rock orbiting the sun. (0:24:29)

When you remove all that context, what do you got left? When you remove the context that you were born, what do you got left? When you remove the context that you're a human being, what do you have left? The problem with this is, it's a lot harder to actually do this than it sounds. You're not going to be able to just sit there for five minutes and strip your mind of all of its context. (0:24:57)

And this is the only thing that's preventing you from enlightenment. Is that this very stubborn context is there, and it feels so real, that you're not classifying this context as concept or imagination. To you, it feels like reality. So really, if you're going to be doing this process correctly, what's going to be happening is that as you're as you're distinguishing between actuality and concept, eventually you're going to discover that more and more of the stuff that you thought was real is actually just conceptual context. (0:25:28)

And you're going to strip that away, and strip it away, and strip it away, to the point where you're going to start to lose your mind. Because reality is going to start to collapse underneath you. You're not going to know what's real or unreal anymore, other than what's actual. (0:25:43)

Right? You're going to start to question things like whether you were born, whether you have parents, or whether there exists a Milky Way. Or whether a Big Bang ever happened. Because you're going to realize none of that stuff is actual. And once you start to realize this, it's going to actually be quite frightening and a little bit disturbing. Because you're going to feel like you're going insane. (0:26:06)

And that's exactly correct. So the mistake that people make is they think that, oh no, I'm doing something wrong. No, you're doing exactly right. Everything is exactly right. What you're realizing is just that, how imaginary most of what you call reality is. And that can be a little disturbing. So don't worry about that. Keep going. Keep going deeper. So now, think of consciousness as it's arising in the neurons in your brain. (0:26:41)

Right? That's what science tells us. That's what science says consciousness is. So think about that. As you're sitting here and you're looking around this room, you are telling yourself that all of this is some sort of activity of my brain, the various neurons and chemicals in there. They're doing all of this. But notice that that's concept and imagination. Compare it with your hand. (0:27:08)

Pull out your hand. Look at what's actual. Now think again about your ideas about the brain. All imagination. Now, here's a really tricky one. Think about your body. Can you notice that your body is concept and imagination? You might say, well, but Leo, what do you mean? The body is actual. Look, the hand, you were showing me the hand and that's actual. That's not imagination. (0:27:41)

But this is not the body. This is not what you think the body is. When I say the word body, you have a very specific concept and image that comes to mind for you, of your body. This is a conceptual imaginary construction. Now, if you actually want to contrast that with what's real, what's actual, then close your eyes and actually feel what we would traditionally call the body. (0:28:18)

Just feel it. But notice that whatever you're feeling, you're not feeling the body. There's a, it's like a cloud of various kinds of sensations from your feet to your abdomen, to your back, to your chest, to your face, to your hands. There's various kinds of amorphous sensations. Certain parts of it you can't even really feel at all. And so what you've got, you've got a cloud of various kinds of sensations. (0:28:55)

Now those sensations, those are actual. But that's not the body. The body is a very specific imaginary construct that you have. Now you might look down and say, well, Leo, I'm looking down here and look, I'm seeing my body. So there it is. How can you say the body is conceptual when I'm looking at it? But what you're looking at is not the body. (0:29:20)

What you're looking at is some stuff. And what exactly it is, you don't quite know, unless you project a lot of concepts onto it. (0:29:34)

You don't really know what it is you're looking at. You don't even know that it's you. You think this body is yours? You think you're in control of this body? You think you were born in this body? You think this body is responsible for everything that you're seeing out there? You think that this body is perceiving that table and that lamp and that cat and that dog and that tree and that wall? (0:29:57)

All of that, notice that that's concept and imagination. Now, think of all the teachings that you've gotten from me, from actualized.org. Everything I've ever shared with you, every insight, every idea, everything you've ever learned from me. Notice that that is concept and belief. That is all you ever get from me, is concept and belief. Not just for me, but any teacher. On any subject. (0:30:40)

Now, compare that to your hand. This is actual and everything I've ever told you. That's all concepts and belief. See? The biggest trap with all of these teachings that I teach is that we have to communicate through concepts and through beliefs. There's no other way. That's inherent to communication. So we're always dealing with this inherent limitation to communication. And you have to be able to understand these various pointers, these conceptual pointers that are being given to you, and then go beyond them to actuality. (0:31:28)

You see? So, when I tell you something about your hand, what you need to be able to do is you gotta say, oh, he's talking about my actual hand. Let me look at my hand. Oh yeah, that's my hand. Oh yeah, actuality. Here it is. That's what he's talking about when he says the word hand. Right? But most people who listen to my videos never ever do that. (0:31:49)

Never. And that's why they misunderstand 90% of the things that I say. Now think of God. Whatever your ideas and thoughts about God are, whether you believe in God or don't believe in God, whether you like God or hate God, whatever your religion told you about God, bring all that to mind. And notice that that's a concept and that's imagination. Get that? Now pull out your hand. (0:32:33)

Look at your hand again. This is actual right here. All your ideas about God, that's all imagination. In fact, if you want to understand what God is, look at your hand. This right here is God. I'm not joking. Look at it. Become conscious of it. Sit here for five hours looking at this hand until you realize that this hand is God. I'm not kidding. (0:33:10)

This is it. All your ideas about God, that's nonsense. That's not God. This is God right here. God is actuality. So, why is spirituality and actuality the same thing? Because spirituality is about connecting with God. And what is God? God is what's actual. And what's actual is all of this. Whatever it is, that's God. It's that simple. You're overlooking the obvious. (0:33:45)

Now, of course, you're going to say, Leo, but this is absurd. I mean, my hand is not God. It sounds like you're playing word games here and you're trying to make something that's not God into God. What kind of joke is this? You can't be serious. Again, because you're underestimating the power of the context in which you're interpreting all of this. So when you're looking at this hand, you can't see the God of it because you think it's my hand. Your idea that it's my hand is blocking you from seeing that actually, no, this is God. I mean, it's just that simple, but it's going to take you a lot of time looking at this thing to realize what's being said here. (0:34:33)

This is not an easy thing to get. Requires a lot of consciousness. A lot of consciousness. You have to be really conscious of what this hand is. And of course, not just this hand. You can you can look at a cat or a dog or a tree or a lamp or a wall and realize that it's God. God is this entire field right here, this whole field that's conscious, that's self-aware. This self-aware field is God. Now, think of your death and non-existence. Right? (0:35:13)

You believe you're going to die. You're worried about dying. What is that? What is death? Notice that's a concept and that's imagination. So this entire time that you've been alive, you've been worried about death in all sorts of ways. Whether it was near missed car accidents or being on an airplane and getting some turbulence that frightened you or maybe you went to get an STD test and you were afraid for a few days of what the results might be. (0:35:58)

What is all this? This is all you fearing your death, right? So what is all that? That was all concept and all imagination. It wasn't actual. Ta-da! Non-existence is an idea that exists. Pull out your hand again and notice that this thing, this is actual. This is existence right here. Now, think of non-existence. That right there, that's imagination. There's no such thing as non-existence. There is only existence. (0:36:39)

There is only life. There is no death. But again, notice all of the objections that your mind comes up with. Oh, but Leo, but what are you talking about? That can't be true. That doesn't make any sense. But what happens if you shoot yourself? What happens if you drink some poison? What happens if you jump off a cliff? What about all that? All of that is your imagination. (0:37:05)

Which you are lost inside of. I mean, there's not much to say about this stuff because it's so obvious. You either get it or you don't. There's no arguing with me here. It's not like you're going to bring up some scientific proof or some evidence or some whatever to demonstrate something. Don't argue with me. There's no arguing here. Look at your hand. (0:37:32)

This is it. This is actuality. Everything else is imagination. All your arguments are imagination. And how do you know that's true? Not by believing me, but by looking at it. I'm not asking you to buy into some philosophy of mine here. I'm just pointing to you what is the case that you're overlooking. Right? So, don't agree with me that death is a concept. (0:38:10)

Rather, look in your actual experience and notice. Compare the hand here, this is actuality, with death. What is death right now? If I'm thinking about death, what is that? Oh, yeah, that's imagination. Okay. Yeah, he's right. He's right, it's true. Of course it's true. That's how this process works. Now, think about truth. Everybody loves to be a crusader of truth, a champion of truth. (0:38:45)

Everyone thinks they have the truth. What is the truth? Whatever you think the truth is, bring it up to mind right now. Bring to mind the most true things that you know. And notice that that is concept and imagination. That is not the truth. You want the truth, pull out your hand. This right here, look at it, be conscious of it. Yeah, that's the truth. (0:39:18)

This is the truth right here. The truth is not some lofty, metaphysical, philosophical, arcane, esoteric thing. It's your hand. This is the truth. This room you're sitting in, this is the truth. That's it. Everything else is not the truth. That's it. Think of your political preferences, whether you're conservative or liberal, Republican, Democrat, whatever. Think of your highest political ideals, whether it's equality or freedom of speech or civil rights or justice and fairness and law and order, whatever it is. (0:40:01)

Bring it up. What is that? That's concept and imagination. All of it. Yeah, but Leo, I think that the Constitution is really good and I think freedom of speech is the most important thing. I think liberty is the highest ideal. That's all imagination. Yeah, Leo, but do you want to live in a society that's not free and that's going to be filled with totalitarian Nazis and communists and all this? (0:40:34)

That's imagination. No, Leo, but it's real. The constant Nazi concentration camps were real. The communist gulags were all real. That's imagination. Yeah, Leo, but what should we do? How should we run our government and structure society? That's imagination. Watch out for how your mind sucks you in. Your mind will extort you. You realize that your own mind is extorting you with fear. Fear of everything that's going to go wrong. (0:41:15)

If you don't buy into its imaginary schemes. That's what's going on here. Every single objection you have to what I'm saying is just fear. It's a knee-jerk fear reaction. Notice that. You're afraid of what happens if we question science. You're afraid of what happens if we question your God. You're afraid of what happens if we question morality. If we question religion. If we question the constitution. (0:41:38)

If we question politics. (0:41:40)

If we question reality. You're afraid of what's going to happen. It's like, oh no, Leo, but what's going to happen? Am I going to lose my life? Is something bad going to go wrong? Is society going to go to hell? But all fear is imagination. Pull out your hand and look at it. Is there any fear here? When you're looking at the actual hand, is there fear here? (0:42:03)

There's no fear. There's just the hand. That's actual. Fear is imaginary. But Leo, if I don't fear, then I could get myself killed. Remember that death is imaginary too. So, the worst thing you think will happen if you get rid of fear, which is your death, is itself imaginary. Imagine that. Again, don't believe me. Sit down and actually look. Is what I'm saying true? (0:42:50)

Remember what truth is. Truth is right here. This is truth. This is truth right here. So, is what I'm saying truth? Take a look. Think of all of human history. Everything that you learned in school. From the crucifixion of Christ to Julius Caesar and the Mongol hordes, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution and Galileo and Isaac Newton and World War I and World War II and the assassination of JFK and all of this. (0:43:41)

Think about human history. Notice what that is. That's concept and imagination. Compare it with your hand. This here is actuality. Hitler and World War II. That's imagination. Think of atoms and molecules. Maybe you're looking at this hand and you're wondering, yeah, what is it made out of? It must be made of cells and those are made of organelles and those are made of molecules and those are made of atoms and those are made of quarks and things and strings and quantum particles and things. (0:44:29)

But what is all of that? That's concept and imagination. Compare that to what's actually here. None of that, none of these molecules or atoms or anything is actually here. What's actually here is what's actually here. Not anything else. Nothing you think is actually here is here. Only what's actually here is here. And lastly, take a small object, find any small object lying around you, like a pen like this. (0:45:07)

It could be anything, a pen, a piece of paper, a book, a tennis ball, a paper clip, something small you can hold like this. And now, look at it. Look at this object as though you're looking at it for the very first time in your life. And as you're looking at it, sort of make love to it with your eyes but also with your fingers. (0:45:37)

Like feel every part of this object, trace every line and every curve on this object with your fingertips, slowly. And also with your eyes. And just marvel at its existence and its actuality. And become conscious right here, right now, that this thing is actuality. This is actual. And just feel it and look at it and just really take your time and go very slowly with it. (0:46:14)

And just wonder what is the substance of this thing, what is this thing made out of? (0:46:20)

And be very careful that your mind doesn't come up with all sorts of conceptual answers like metal or plastic or glass or rubber, but just look at it. Notice, for example, if you're feeling rubber, like right now I'm feeling some rubber here on this grip of this pen. That feeling of rubber, what is that? The feeling of rubber is not rubber. So what is the feeling of rubber? (0:47:03)

What is the feeling of plastic? The feeling of plastic is not plastic. And just keep doing that. And contrast that with any thoughts or ideas you have about that experience. See? This right here is actuality. This is how spirituality is done with these types of exercises that we did here together. So, I want you to keep grounding yourself in your direct experience. So what we've been exploring here is direct experience. (0:47:55)

That's another word for it. Actuality, direct experience. Truth, being, consciousness. These are all identical. They all point to the same thing. And keep making the distinction in your mind between concepts and imagination and actuality. Keep sharpening this distinction. Keep practicing it over and over and over again. This is going to take a lot of work. This is going to take hundreds and thousands of hours of your life to do this work, but it's going to be highly worthwhile. (0:48:27)

And you're not going to know the full benefits of doing this work until you actually do this work. Because the benefits of it are actual and not conceptual. If I told you all the benefits, I could. But if I told you all the benefits, all that would be would be just more concepts. And so what you would have is you have a lot of concepts about the benefits, but you wouldn't have the actual benefits. (0:48:54)

So instead, what I want you to have is the actual benefits, rather than the concepts and ideas of benefits. So if you've been watching actualized.org for a long time, and what you have is a lot of ideas, but you're struggling to get the actual benefits. You only have the theoretical benefits. That's because you're not doing the actual work. And so therefore, what you have is you have only ideas of the benefits, which is better than nothing. (0:49:25)

It's better than where you were when you started when you know about any of it, about any of this stuff, where you were just depressed and miserable and lost. It's better than that. But you got to go one step further, which is to get the actual benefits. I want you to be very honest with yourself about the benefits you get from this work. (0:49:49)

Or really any teaching for that matter. Any teaching. You got to be brutally honest with yourself and ask yourself this. Yes, I've been learning all this stuff, but what actual actual benefits have I gotten? Not theoretical benefits, because you have a bunch of benefits you think you've gotten from your imagination. (0:50:09)

What are the actual benefits that I've gotten from my meditation, from my yoga, from my psychedelics, from my reading of books, from my listening to those videos, from my listening to these videos, from my attending this class over here, from my listening to that person over there. What's the actual benefit? And what you'll discover is that the actual benefits are a lot lot lower than your imaginary benefits. (0:50:36)

And that's going to be a little bit disturbing at first. It's not comfortable to realize that. But also, that's a very important realization, because then you start to realize like, oh yeah, so I've been getting hooked on these imaginary benefits, but where are the actual benefits? How do I get me some of those? And then you realize, oh yeah, I gotta actually be doing more practices, and then you'll start to do more practices, and you'll actually start to see more actual benefits. (0:51:03)

Every insight or lesson that I share with you through these videos, you must locate them in your direct experience. It's not enough just to hear them and to understand them, you must locate them. You must match up the words I use with actuality. Let's go through a few examples of what I mean, because this is going to determine the difference of whether you're going to get huge results or minuscule results with these teachings. (0:51:44)

So, for example, I might tell you as an insight or a lesson that direct experience is all that exists. That's the insight. Direct experience is all that exists. Do you agree with me? Do you disagree with me? It doesn't matter, because that's just a concept. When I say direct experience is all that exists, that is pointing to something. So what you need to do is you need to go to the next step and not just agree or disagree with me, but you need to actually sit down and look at actuality. (0:52:28)

Actuality is what's happening right here. And then look at it and say to yourself, well, is what he's saying true? How do I know what he's saying is true? Is it true that direct experience is all that exists? Let me look. That's an experience. That's an experience. That's an experience. That's an experience. That's an experience. The thoughts in my mind are an experience. (0:52:51)

Oh yeah, everything is experience. So direct experience is all that exists. That's what he was saying. That's true. Oh, okay. Now I got it. I got it. Or take this other example. I've said in the past that evil is a concept. Do you agree with me or disagree with me? It doesn't matter whether you do or don't. Because when I say that evil is a concept, I mean that you need to pause, look at actuality, look at your hand, look at it and ask yourself, is this evil? (0:53:36)

No? Okay. So there's no evil here. Is this one evil? No. Is that dog evil? (0:53:46)

No. Is that cat evil? No. Is that person on TV evil? No. And you go through this until you realize that evil... What is evil? Oh yeah, it's a concept. And then you got it. The mistake is to try to argue with me. Like, oh no, Leo, but what about Hitler? Hitler was truly evil. How dare you? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. (0:54:18)

All of that is imagination. That is not doing the work. Doing the work is to actually open up a history book of Hitler, find Hitler's photograph in the history book, look at that photograph with your consciousness, look at what's actually there, the actual photograph, and ask yourself, is that actually evil? And what you'll realize is that it's not. Nor was Hitler in the flesh. (0:54:55)

If you want to imagine Hitler in the flesh. If you looked at him in the flesh, you would also realize that he's not evil. Don't believe me? Actually do it and see. Of course, you can't do it with Hitler, because Hitler's just in your imagination after all. But you can do it, like, with some other person that you really hate, who's still alive and who's real, and who maybe you could look at from a distance. (0:55:21)

If you think he's evil, then you probably don't want to come too close to him, but you could look at him from a distance, maybe through a binocular, and then ask yourself, is that thing that I'm seeing through the binocular, is that evil? And you'll realize that it's not. Another example. I've said in the past that everything is consciousness. Do you agree with me? Disagree with me? (0:55:46)

Doesn't matter. Look, look what is here. Look at this hand until you realize that this hand is consciousness. This is consciousness. This is consciousness. That's consciousness. That's consciousness. Oh yeah, it's all consciousness. Let me try to think of something that isn't consciousness. Oh, I thought of it, but thoughts are consciousness. Okay, so everything is consciousness. Oh yeah, that's correct. I've said in the past that meaning is a concept. (0:56:31)

Meaning is something you project onto actuality. So you look at this hand, and you ask yourself, does this hand have meaning? No. You look at that table and you ask, does that table have meaning? No. Does that dog have meaning? No. Does anything have meaning? Does this room have meaning? Does this experience have meaning? Oh yeah, it doesn't, does it? Anything that I think has meaning, let me look at it. (0:57:09)

Oh yeah. What is meaning? Oh yeah, it's my imagination. There's the actual thing and there's my imagination, which is projecting the meaning onto the thing. Okay. Yeah, that's correct. Meaning is a concept. How about when I say the self is a concept? The self or ego. You. I've said many times before that you are a concept, but what does that actually mean? This one's very, very tricky. (0:57:46)

What you need to do is stop thinking about it and actually look at what's happening right here, the actuality of your hand. (0:57:57)

Start there. And ask yourself, is this hand me? No. Is this arm me? No. Is this face me? No. What is me? What is the self? What is the ego? And you keep looking and looking and looking until you realize that, oh yeah, the self is an imagination. The imaginary self. That's what that is. That's what I am. I've said in the past that you are God. This gets a lot of people riled up. (0:58:46)

Leo, how dare you? You're so arrogant and egotistical and all this blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you contradict my religion. And you, you don't understand non-duality. And you, you're, you, you, you're not even enlightened. How dare you say such things? All of that is imagination. Or you could look at your actual hand and realize that this hand is God. And not just this hand, but this arm, this torso, this head, and everything around here. (0:59:22)

Now that one's going to be difficult. It's not easy to realize that everything's God. That requires a radical, radical, radical elevation in your consciousness to realize that. A radical decontextualization of this experience that you're having now. Because see, the problem is that you think that you exist as an ego. And so because you think you exist as an ego or as a self, you think you were born. (0:59:56)

Therefore, you think that you are this biological being. Because you need to explain what you are. So you explain to yourself conceptually that you're a biological creature. And you explain to yourself that biological creatures can experience all of this stuff. This experience, this experience is my experience as a biological creature. And that's what I am. That's what you tell yourself. And so what you don't realize though yet, is that actually what you've done is you've usurped God. So what this is, this is God. But because you have all these concepts explaining where you came from, and you need to explain to yourself why you exist. (1:00:36)

Because you believe you exist. And you don't want to admit that you're a belief or an imagination or a concept. What you need to tell yourself is you need to say that all of this is mine. And it's part of me. And it's coming from me. From my brain. It's being rendered by my brain and the neurons and all this. And it's all connected to me, to my body. (1:00:55)

And this is all me. And I feel me. And it's all me. Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. So you're just walking around saying me, me, me, me, me all the time. So you're saying me, me, me so much that there's no room left for God. What you've done is you've taken God and you've recontextualized God into yourself. And you've split yourself off. (1:01:13)

Such that this is God, but you can't see God because you've put yourself in the place of God. This is literally what the devil does. (1:01:21)

So by definition, you are the devil. The devil is one who takes the place of God. Like the cuckoo bird I told you about in the self-deception mechanisms episode. I told you about the cuckoo bird who finds a nest of other birds full of eggs. That cuckoo bird gets in there. She lays her egg amongst all the other eggs. And then that cuckoo egg, it hatches first before all the other eggs. (1:01:53)

And then it proceeds to kick all the other eggs out of the nest. And pretends to be the only surviving baby of those other birds. And then those birds, they just buy into it. And they believe that that bird is their baby. And the mother cuckoo flies off and does other things. So this is exactly what you have done with God. Ta-da! That's it. (1:02:25)

God is not some supernatural, mysterious thing out there somewhere in the clouds. No, no, no. This is God. This, right? All of this. Everything you've ever experienced is God. Actuality is God. But you can't see it. Because you've mistaken God for you. Now, of course you're going to say, Leo, but I don't think I'm God. That's right. Because you've so mistaken God for you that all there is is you. (1:03:00)

See, you've taken the place of God so totally that you've basically killed God and you've only left yourself. And now you walk around asking, oh, where's God? God, such a stupid idea. God, God is the dumbest idea you could possibly believe. You walk around saying all this while you are God, convinced that you're not God. It's the fucking dumbest thing you could possibly do. (1:03:25)

I mean, it's just like it's it's absurd what you're doing. It's absurd. It's absurd. It's it's disgusting. I mean, it's disgusting. You're a devil and you do this because you're so full of yourself. That's it. It's just pure ego, pure devilry. That's all you're doing. That's all you're doing here. But of course, one final twist to this tale is that God and the devil are actually identical. (1:03:53)

So, um, God is the devil. God creates through illusion and through devilry. But I'll leave that for you to discover. Remember, don't argue with me. What I'm saying, is it true? Is it true what I'm saying? Look for yourself. Here's another insight I've shared in the past, which is that happiness. What is happiness? Happiness is acceptance of the present moment, regardless of whatever it is. (1:04:28)

That is precisely the definition of happiness. Is that true? Do you need to go into Google and type it in to see if it's true? Do you need to go ask your psychology professor if what I'm saying is true? No. What you do is you locate happiness right now in the present moment. Look at this hand right now. Ground yourself in actuality. Okay, that's actuality. (1:04:57)

Now, feel your emotions. That's also actuality. Whatever feelings you have in your body. (1:05:04)

Are you happy right now? Maybe yes, maybe no. Now, make yourself feel happy. Right now, make yourself feel happy. And how do you do that? By looking at the definition. What is the definition of happiness? Acceptance of the present moment, whatever it is. So, fully accept this present moment. And as you do that, notice yourself becoming happy. Happiness is enjoyment of the present moment. (1:05:33)

So, start to enjoy the present moment. Whatever it is. It doesn't matter. I don't care if you have a pain in your back or if there's something in your life. It doesn't matter. Whatever is, is what you need to be happy about. So, be happy about whatever you have. If you have a toothache, be happy about your toothache. And notice yourself being happy. (1:05:52)

And then you say, oh yeah, it's true. And maybe throughout the week when you become sad or frustrated or angry, you could try it again. And you can ask yourself, wait a minute, why am I not happy right now? Oh yeah, it's because I'm resisting the present moment. I don't want the present moment, I want something else. I want a future moment. I want my imaginary moment. (1:06:24)

And I'm denying what's right here, right now. That's why I'm unhappy. Oh, okay, got it. It's true. What Leo said is true. And the last example is that death is a concept. So again, don't argue with me about what death is. Look in your direct experience at what death is. What is death? You're imagining it. Notice that there cannot be death unless you're imagining it. (1:07:00)

So by definition, death is an imagination. This isn't rocket science. Super obvious stuff. But you gotta actually do it. Don't just believe me on it. Some of these things that you will discover as you do this investigation will be very radical and shocking. And they will seem like... It's like, no, can this possibly be true? No, Leo, it can't possibly be true. That's right. (1:07:28)

Because you have so many false beliefs and notions that you've picked up from your society, from your religion, from science, from culture, from everywhere. That now, when you actually see the truth, the truth is so radical compared to what you've been taught or what you've imagined that most people, when they see the truth, they dismiss the truth and instead go back to their imaginations because they say, nah, the truth can't be like this. (1:07:52)

Can't possibly be like this. That's not what I've been taught. That's not what I've been told. That's not what I've thought about before my whole life. That's right. The truth is something new. The truth is something different. And you have to be open to that. Be open to new radical truths. Let the truth shock you. Let the truth be whatever it is. Don't second guess actuality. (1:08:21)

You see, whatever is actual, go with that. Rather than your ideas about what should be true, what would be good to be true, what religion told me should be true, what science told me... No, no, no, no. (1:08:35)

This is what's true. This. And it doesn't care about who told you what. Or what you want to be true. This is true. Keep grounding and re-grounding yourself over and over and over again, especially in your hands. This is one of my favorite exercises these days. It's just looking at my hands, grounding myself in the actuality of my hands. This helps me to break out of my mind. (1:09:04)

And I want you to notice over the next week and over the next month how your mind is going to be pulling you back into imagination land. So you're going to have to be doing this exercise over and over again. It's kind of like with lucid dreaming, you know. In lucid dreaming, they tell you when you're inside your dream, look at your hands. (1:09:21)

And that will be a trigger to get you to realize that this is just a dream. Well, we're sort of doing that, but a little bit of the opposite. We're actually looking at our hands to realize that our hands are what's actual and that everything else is concepts. As a homework assignment, I highly recommend that you contemplate using your journal the following four questions. (1:09:48)

What is a concept? What is a belief? What is imagination? And what is actuality? When you contemplate here, like I talked about in my contemplation episode, and how to contemplate using a journal episode, when you contemplate, you're not just thinking, but you're actually looking at what's actual. So, to answer the question what is a concept, you need to actually actually feel the concept inside. (1:10:26)

Actually find a belief and look at the belief, examine the belief, observe the belief to see what a belief is. And so on. Also, a few more homework assignments for you. I want you to spend 15 minutes every day closely looking at your hand or hands, you can use both of them, in silence. Set a timer for 15 minutes and then just sit there and look at it for 15 minutes straight without thinking about it. (1:10:57)

Try to strip all context and all imagination away from it and just look at it like that. And that's going to be your little exercise. And another one that I highly recommend is that you do the same thing but with an object. So, take a small object like this pen or a book or a pencil or something, post-it note, and just sit there and look at it the way that I showed you for 15 minutes straight with a timer. (1:11:21)

And as you're doing both of these exercises, I want you to understand that these are the most pure spiritual exercises that you will ever do. There is no more pure form of spirituality. Forget about prayer, forget about yoga, forget about all that horse shit. This is where it's at, right here. If you can't be conscious that this pen is God, then none of your spirituality matters. (1:11:48)

None of it matters. (1:11:50)

If you can't be conscious that this pen is you, none of your spirituality matters. If you can't clearly distinguish between a concept and the actual thing, then none of your spirituality matters. And also, as you're doing both of these exercises with your hands and the pen, I want you to be reminding yourself. Your mind is still going to be active, you're not going to be able to completely turn off your mind for 15 minutes, unless you're super experienced at meditation. (1:12:26)

So, for most of you, your mind is still going to be churning, so as long as it's churning, you can use it to help you a little bit. And the way you can use it, is you can use it to remind you that this right here, this hand, this is consciousness. And this pen right here, this is consciousness. And so, in fact, you could take the pen and put it in your hand like this, so you've got both of them, and as you're sitting there, keep reminding... so you're looking at it, you're feeling the actuality of this thing here, and then, I want you to... just subtly use your mind to remind you that this is all consciousness. (1:13:06)

Now, at first, when you do that, it might feel untrue, and it might feel like you don't know what that even means. Leo, how can a pen be consciousness? But just keep at it. You're not so much programming your mind or brainwashing your mind, this is not an affirmation. It's just you're subtly pointing your mind in the direction of what's true, which is that all of everything is consciousness. (1:13:30)

It doesn't matter what object you take. You can take a tennis ball, a cat, a dog, a human, a tree, a spaceship, it's all gonna be consciousness, right? So it doesn't matter which objects you use. And just keep doing that. Keep doing that. And you'll start to notice some benefits from this. You'll start to notice how you're actually drawing yourself out of your mind and into the real world. (1:13:56)

And now you start to see what real spirituality is about. And then if you keep doing this long enough, eventually you'll have some deep insights, you'll have some epiphanies, you might even have some enlightenment experiences, some mystical experiences, and then you'll understand why it's called spirituality. But for now, you probably won't. So, this does require a little bit of faith. Faith in the process, not faith in me. (1:14:25)

Not faith in God, but just faith in the process. This is like a science experiment. You need to have enough faith in a science experiment to run the experiment. Could you imagine being a scientist who is so cynical and so skeptical that he can't even go and pick up a test tube and put it in the oven to run his experiment in his lab because he's so skeptical and so cynical. (1:14:51)

You can't have science this way. (1:14:54)

Science only works when you have enough faith to be able to execute the experiment. And many science experiments, you know what, they can take months and years to complete. They could cost millions and billions of dollars. Large hadron collider particle accelerators, those take 5 to 10 years to build, and I don't know how many billions of dollars to fund those, right? So the scientists have to have enough faith that they will go through all this, and you know what, maybe they'll never discover any kind of big particle or any kind of new physical phenomenon. (1:15:36)

They might build this particle collider and it might fail. That's what science is about. That's what experimentation is about. There's always a risk. You're always exploring into the unknown, because if you already knew it, you wouldn't need to go explore it. All right, that's it. Enough of this. I'm done here. Please click that like button for me, and come check out actualized.org right here. (1:16:01)

That's my website. You will find some good resources there. You'll find my book list, you'll find the life purpose course, you'll find the actualized forum, and my blog. Lately, I've been putting a lot of new content on my blog, various kinds of documentaries and videos, very profound stuff there. So make sure you go check that out. And the stuff that I post on my blog is only found on my blog. (1:16:25)

I also post videos on my blog, exclusive videos that you don't find on my YouTube channel or anywhere else, only on the blog. And I'll be posting a lot more of those in the weeks and months to come, so stick around. I'll probably be posting a couple of those per week. I've got a lot that I've shot lately. I've got like 10 videos that I'm going to be posting on my blog that I shot, which are sort of in the queue. (1:16:46)

And I'm just waiting for the right time to publish them. So go check those out. And the last thing I'll tell you here, as we wrap up, is just that you need to appreciate the fact that these teachings that I'm trying to offer to you are very advanced. And I don't say that to brag. It's just the case. You're learning about things here that 99.99999% of people on Earth don't know and won't know for another hundred or for another thousand years. (1:17:27)

That's just the case. And this includes scientists and academics and psychologists and intellectuals and philosophers and all of them. They don't know this stuff either, for the most part. A very small percentage of them do. So, we're talking about very advanced stuff here. And the reason it's advanced is because it requires your participation. It requires extreme nuance. It requires dedication, experimentation, personal investigation, putting skin in the game. (1:18:06)

Sitting for hundreds of hours, looking at your hand when you don't want to because you're so bored. That's the cost of understanding these things. (1:18:20)

Did you really think that you were going to get to the bottom of reality? Did you really think that you were going to understand the universe and existence and God and life and death and love and evil and good and mankind and how your mind works? You think you're going to understand all of this just by sitting and watching these videos while you're playing video games or some shit like that in the background? (1:18:46)

You think that that was going to work? It's precisely because nobody wants to pay the cost of doing these personal experiments that hardly anyone understands these teachings. And that's why they're advanced. Because mostly what we do is we just accept whatever our culture teaches us unquestioningly. This is not just true of religion. This is true of every single piece of knowledge that you have. (1:19:22)

All of science, all of logic, all of rationality, all of mathematics, all of politics, of course religion, philosophy, and anything else. All of it. You didn't get it through personal investigation of actuality. You got it through second-hand hearsay. You got it as beliefs and imaginations from other people. Because that's what is easy. And what's difficult about this work is that it's very different from the way that you were taught to learn at school. (1:19:59)

At school you were taught just to memorize stuff and to believe stuff. Even when they were teaching you science, they were teaching about molecules and atoms and chemistry and biology. All of that was just brute force memorization of concepts and beliefs. It's no different than the indoctrination that happens, for example, in Islamic schools in Afghanistan and in Syria and in Iraq. The kind of indoctrination that happens in those schools is exactly, exactly the kind of indoctrination that happens in American schools, European schools, in developed countries. (1:20:39)

Exactly the same. The only difference is the content. And the problem with this is that nobody actually learns how to investigate actuality. And so everyone is operating on beliefs and imagination concepts. And then, when they listen to what I'm saying, they interpret that as just more of the same. And then they start to dispute me and contest what I'm saying and try to come up with clever arguments against things that I've said. (1:21:07)

This is a complete waste of time. Complete waste of time. It doesn't matter whether you believe what I say or don't believe what I say. What matters is what you are willing to investigate for yourself. And what I'm offering here is just... ideas and hints for which parts of life are worth investigating for you. And you don't need to trust me on that. (1:21:31)

Verify it for yourself. Verify for yourself whether it's worth investigating what consciousness is, what... the mind is, what concepts are, what happiness is, what sadness is, what fear is. I'm telling you that these are the most worthwhile things that you can investigate in your life. But... you don't know that. (1:21:56)

The only way you'll know that is by actually going out there and... trying it. Comparing it with other stuff. Whatever other things you want to do. Pursue sex or pursue marriage or pursue... career and money or whatever. Do all that stuff. Compare. And see if what I'm saying is true. And then you'll know that it is. This is what makes actualize.org very different... from most other channels, from most other teachings. (1:22:26)

It's not religion. It's not new age beliefs. It's not even science. It transcends all of that. All of that is inferior compared to what we're doing here. This is direct investigation of actuality. And as we go forward in the future, I'm going to be pushing you more and more... to investigate this stuff for yourself. And I'm going to be offering you less and less answers. (1:22:52)

And pushing you more and more. Because me giving you all these answers... just spoils you. And ends up backfiring for you. And because, honestly, you're not going to understand the things that I'm going to be talking about in the future. If you don't start to seriously do this work. It's already the case. Over the last year, the episodes that I released over the last year are so advanced... that even those of you who think you understand everything... you have only understood 10% of the things that I've said. (1:23:25)

That's how advanced this stuff is. Do not underestimate this work. And stay tuned for more.

(1:23:34)

(2025-08-20)