the chosen ones
your brain was born with one less filter
is there someone like this around you
something that took you three months to figure out
he listens to you for two sentences
his eyes light up
and he says
I get it
and he is not just humoring you
he really does get it
you notice he understood not just what you said
he even understood the part you left unsaid
then there is another kind of person
you bring up a deeper topic with him
like the nature of consciousness
like the meaning of life
like why there is a universe instead of nothing
and he just keeps the conversation going naturally
as if he had already thought these questions through a hundred times
but you raise the same topic with another friend
and the way he looks at you
is like you are speaking alien
what exactly is this difference
is it IQ
not entirely
is it education
also not entirely
some people are highly educated
very logical
but past a certain depth the conversation just stops
and some people may never have gone to college
but the moment you say something
they get it instantly
in everyday folk language
these people are called the chosen ones
in spiritual practice circles
this is called deep wholesome roots
in occult circles
this is called a high frequency
but if you tear off all three labels
what is actually underneath
today I want to use three knives
from three completely different directions
to cut this phenomenon open and take a look
hello
everyone
I am Leo Wang
the first knife
cognitive neuroscience
in 2021
an authoritative journal from Oxford University Press
published a study on personality traits and brain networks
the researchers found something very interesting
in the Big Five personality model
there is a dimension called openness to experience
people who score high
have rich imaginations
are curious about new things
and are easily moved by beauty and deep thinking
people who score low
are more practical
prefer certainty
and have no interest in abstract topics
so what was the key finding
in people high in openness
there is a system in the brain called the default mode network
and its internal connections are looser
the default mode network
I have talked about it many times in earlier videos
it is the automatic storytelling system in your brain
whenever you are doing nothing
it starts running
it writes the story of who you are
the story of what happened to you
the story of what you should do tomorrow
it is the main factory that makes you feel like yourself
in ordinary people the default mode network is tightly connected
it runs like a smooth old machine
clicking away telling the same story over and over
you are John Doe
you are an engineer
you have a wife and two kids
your life is supposed to look like this
the smoother this story runs
the more certain you are about who you are
and the more rigid your explanation of the world becomes
but people high in openness are different
their default mode network is more loosely connected
if the ordinary self narrative system is a wall
a high openness self narrative system is more like a set of blinds
light can come through the gaps
what does that mean
it means their answer to who am I is far less solid
they more easily shake up their existing cognitive frameworks
more easily accept a completely different perspective
and more easily hit a moment where one sentence makes them think
wait a second
maybe my whole understanding was wrong
notice
the point of this finding is not that these people are smarter
it is that their brains cling less to conclusions they already hold
now let us look at another related concept
back in the nineteen nineties
the psychoanalyst Ernest Hartmann
proposed a concept called psychological boundaries
he divided people into thick boundary and thin boundary types
for thick boundary people
there is a clear line between reality and fantasy
and a clear line between self and others
they live in a highly structured inner world
this is not a bad thing
these people tend to be very stable
and very reliable
and thin boundary people
the wall between reality and fantasy is blurry
they have vivid dreams far more often
they are more easily overwhelmed by music or art
and more easily forget they are watching a movie while watching one
the insulating layer between them and the world is thinner
after extensive testing Hartmann found
that thin boundaries correlate strongly with intuitive ability
the correlation coefficient reached zero point four to zero point five
which in psychology already counts as a strong association
in other words
the people whose sixth sense seems uncannily accurate
are very likely thin boundary personalities
they are not psychic
the filter in their brain is just thinner
now here comes the more interesting part
there is a psychological concept called absorption
people high in absorption lose themselves completely in an experience
losing track of time while listening to music
feeling consciousness leave the body during meditation
or even dropping into an extremely lucid state in ordinary daily life
a German research team
published an important finding in 2005
they found that absorption
is linked to a gene polymorphism of the 5-HT2a receptor
specifically
there is a gene site called T102C
people carrying the T/T genotype
have a higher density of this receptor in the brain
and they score significantly higher on absorption
why is this finding so crucial
because the 5-HT2a receptor
happens to be the main target of psychedelic drugs
whether it is LSD or psilocybin
their core mechanism is activating this very receptor
stop and think about that for a second
the people who naturally find the world more transparent
and slip more easily into deep experiential states
are born with more of this receptor in their brains
their biological hardware
and that of people who need psychedelics to briefly reach a similar state
run on the same neurochemical pathway
one person takes nothing at all
and still sees extremely vivid inner landscapes in meditation
another needs mushrooms to have a similar experience
it is not that the first one is further along in practice
they simply shipped with different receptor configurations
this is what the first knife shows us
what we call being chosen
on the operating table of neuroscience
is a set of measurable physiological parameters
how loosely the default mode network is connected
how thick or thin the psychological boundaries are
and the density of the 5-HT2a receptor
the second knife
Yogacara
if you watched my earlier videos on Yogacara
you should remember a concept called the imputed nature
put simply when our consciousness perceives the world
it automatically puts a label on everything
and then mistakes the label for the thing itself
you see a flower
your brain says
this is a flower
flowers are beautiful
so you think what you see is the flower itself
but what you actually see
is a labeled version rendered for you by your brain
the real flower
that dependently arisen reality
is hidden behind your labeling system
the imputed nature
is that layer of filter sitting on your brain
now here is the key
Yogacara holds
that the imputed nature is not equally thick in everyone
why is that
because the seeds stored in the alaya consciousness differ
in the Yogacara framework
your eighth consciousness
the alaya consciousness
is like a giant database
holding two kinds of seeds
one kind is called name and word seeds
the encoding of all your past experience
the other kind is called wholesome root seeds
in modern terms your innate tendency to see through labels
some people carry unusually many wholesome root seeds
and unusually strong ones
what does that mean
it means their imputed nature is naturally thinner
the filter others need thirty years of practice to grind down
was already thin the day they were born
this is what Buddhism calls deep wholesome roots
or sharp faculties
the Sixth Patriarch Huineng was illiterate
but when he heard someone recite that line from the Diamond Sutra
give rise to the mind that dwells nowhere
he was enlightened on the spot
you might hear the same line a hundred times
and think it sounds reasonable
but you never get that instant of penetration
it is not that you are stupid
your imputed nature is just thicker than Huineng's
your labeling system works too well
so well that you cannot tell you are seeing the world through labels
you can try a small experiment right now
look up
glance at any object in front of you
what did you see
a table
a cup
a wall
did you notice
before you even really looked at it
your brain had already stuck the label on
name function good or bad like or dislike
these labels arrive so fast
so fast that you cannot tell
whether you saw the object first
or saw the label first
this is the imputed nature
it is not a Buddhist technical term
it is what you are experiencing right now
the seed differences Yogacara described fifteen hundred years ago
and the thickness of the imputed nature
and what neuroscience found about default mode network connectivity
and the differences in 5-HT2a receptor density
all point to the same phenomenon
one just uses the language of seeds and consciousness
the other uses the language of receptors and functional connectivity
this is why I keep saying
Yogacara is not a religious doctrine
it is cognitive science from two thousand years ago
the third knife
information theory
there is an old philosophical idea called the filter hypothesis
this hypothesis did not come from Buddhism
it came from the French philosopher Henri Bergson
and the British writer Aldous Huxley independently
their core claim is
the brain does not produce consciousness
the brain filters consciousness
like the filter cartridge on the water pipe in your home
the water comes in from outside
but what you drink has been filtered
Huxley said
our brain is that filter cartridge
the information in the real world is infinite
but to keep you alive in this world
your brain filters out ninety nine point nine nine percent of it
keeping only the sliver useful for your survival
from the perspective of information theory
this is a signal to noise problem
the signal
is the raw information of the real world
the noise
is the labels categories and simplified models built for survival
an ordinary brain is an extremely efficient noise reducer
it compresses a flood of information into something called everyday reality
you live work and raise kids inside that compressed reality
and it works very well
but the cost is
you can barely see the signals that got filtered out
the so called chosen ones
in the language of information theory
are simply people whose filter has a lower attenuation coefficient
their brains filter out less information
so they pick up faint signals that others cannot receive
that sounds like an advantage right
but I have to show you the other side of the coin
when the filter gets thinner
it is not only useful signal that comes in
more noise floods in too
this is why people high in openness with thin boundaries
also tend to be more anxious
more prone to over empathize
and more easily overwhelmed in crowds
that thin filter of theirs
while letting them see more of the truth
also makes it harder for them to stay stable in daily life
have you ever noticed
the people you find unusually clear sighted
often do not fit in socially
and the people whose sixth sense is uncannily accurate
tend to be rather sensitive
even a little fragile
this is not a coincidence
these are two sides of the same coin
the thinner the filter
the more you see
and the more you have to bear
there is a saying in Zen
great doubt great awakening
small doubt small awakening
no doubt no awakening
translated into today's framework it means
the less stable your cognitive system is
and the easier it is to break
the more likely you are to go through a total reorganization
while people with extremely solid cognitive systems
live in a world with a very high filter attenuation coefficient
very safe
very certain
but also very closed
so the word chosen is not really an accurate one
a more accurate way to put it
is that in these people's factory settings
the filter simply came out thinner
this is neither a blessing
nor a curse
it is a difference in cognitive structure
whether your eyes are near sighted or far sighted
whether your blood type is A or B
is essentially the same kind of thing
Yogacara calls this the differing maturation of seeds
when the seeds ripen
the experience accumulated over countless past lives differs
so the cognitive structures that emerge differ too
some people's seed configuration makes their imputed nature thin
which makes it easier for them to see through labels
and also easier for them to feel out of place in this labeled world
now think back to that friend who gets it immediately
and think again
about why talking with certain people feels like the frequency matches
it is not mysticism
your brain filters just happen to sit near the same attenuation coefficient
you filter out roughly the same amount of information
so the reality you see is roughly the same
and the people whose frequency does not match yours
have attenuation coefficients far away from yours
the two of you are simply not seeing the same world
I made an earlier episode
asking whether the people around you
are images rendered by your alaya consciousness
the core argument of that episode was
the world you see is not the objective world itself
but a version rendered for you by your eighth consciousness
today's episode digs one layer deeper
we not only see that everyone renders a different version
we also see
why they are different
because the filter on top of the renderer differs in thickness
and that thickness
is to a large extent determined by genes
it is a factory setting
but this is not the end of the story
because neuroscience also tells us
the brain has a crucial property called neuroplasticity
the connection strength of the default mode network is not fixed
meditation research confirms again and again
that long term meditators show clear changes in that connectivity
their brain filters are being gradually retuned
in other words
your factory settings really do matter
but they are not your destiny
you can change your filter parameters through sustained training
this is what spiritual practice actually is
not gaining some kind of superpower
but adjusting the parameters of that noise reducer in your head
letting more of the raw signal come through
so the real question is not
am I one of the chosen ones
the real question is
are you willing to go and turn that knob
some people shipped with the knob already in a fairly open position
since childhood they felt something about the world was off
and they were thinking about questions they were not supposed to ask
other people shipped with the knob screwed down tight
but they can loosen it bit by bit
through meditation
through reading the classics
through practicing over and over in daily life to see through labels
Yogacara calls this transforming consciousness into wisdom
turning the grasping of the sixth consciousness into observing wisdom
turning the self grasping of the manas into the wisdom of equality
in today's language that means
moving your noise reducer out of the survival only mode
and gradually into a mode closer to the raw signal itself
but let me add one thing
turning the knob is not a matter of better or worse
not everyone needs to thin out their filter
some people live in a world with a high attenuation coefficient
very certain
very grounded
and very happy
you are under no obligation to chase seeing more
seeing more does not mean being happier
sometimes it is exactly the opposite
but if you were born with a thinner filter
if you have felt out of place among people since you were a child
if you keep thinking about questions others consider pointless
then here is something I want to tell you
there is nothing wrong with you
your brain just shipped with different factory settings from most people
and that difference
is both your vulnerability
and your deepest gift
the key is whether you can learn to live with this thin filter
learn to take in more signal
without drowning in it
learn to see more of the truth
and still function normally in this labeled world
this may be the most important lesson in a chosen one's life
but saying all this a deeper question suddenly hits me
if the brain really is nothing but a filter
then the ninety nine point nine nine percent that got filtered out
where did it go
did it disappear
or has it been there all along
and your hardware simply will not let you see it
and what if one day
the filter is switched off completely
that state
could it be what the ancients called
seeing your original nature
I will not unpack that question today
I will leave it for you to sit with
which kind of person do you think you are
are you the one with a thick filter
living inside certainty
or the one with a thin filter
constantly rubbing against the world
or are you the one already trying to turn the knob
how did you discover your frequency was different from other people's
I would love to hear your story
I am Leo Wang
see you next episode