1
00:00:00,347 --> 00:00:01,131
the deeper you meditate

2
00:00:01,467 --> 00:00:02,492
the easier you are to brainwash

3
00:00:03,107 --> 00:00:04,266
what if I told you

4
00:00:04,267 --> 00:00:06,586
that the most sophisticated mind control groups

5
00:00:06,586 --> 00:00:08,432
do not bother brainwashing you at all

6
00:00:08,586 --> 00:00:10,551
they do exactly the opposite

7
00:00:10,627 --> 00:00:12,105
they teach you to meditate first

8
00:00:12,106 --> 00:00:13,865
they teach you to observe your own thoughts

9
00:00:13,867 --> 00:00:14,772
they teach you to watch your breath

10
00:00:15,106 --> 00:00:16,472
they teach you to experience the present moment

11
00:00:16,667 --> 00:00:17,411
you learn it

12
00:00:17,586 --> 00:00:19,025
you feel like you have woken up

13
00:00:19,027 --> 00:00:21,265
you feel like you finally see the truth

14
00:00:21,266 --> 00:00:21,652
and then

15
00:00:21,867 --> 00:00:23,512
you are completely trapped

16
00:00:23,898 --> 00:00:24,243
hello

17
00:00:24,618 --> 00:00:25,083
hi everyone

18
00:00:25,339 --> 00:00:26,423
I am Leo Wang

19
00:00:26,738 --> 00:00:29,464
today I want to talk about a question I have thought about for a long time

20
00:00:29,898 --> 00:00:33,624
why are the people most deeply controlled by mind control groups

21
00:00:33,698 --> 00:00:35,304
usually not the confused ones

22
00:00:35,419 --> 00:00:37,563
but the smart ones the highly educated

23
00:00:37,859 --> 00:00:40,243
even practitioners with years of meditation experience

24
00:00:41,278 --> 00:00:44,522
look at the spiritual groups around the world that went badly wrong

25
00:00:44,757 --> 00:00:46,363
from Aum Shinrikyo in Japan

26
00:00:46,397 --> 00:00:49,562
to that American group that sold itself as self improvement training

27
00:00:49,797 --> 00:00:52,602
the profile of their core members is strikingly consistent

28
00:00:52,997 --> 00:00:54,062
highly educated

29
00:00:54,357 --> 00:00:55,842
capable of independent thinking

30
00:00:55,918 --> 00:00:59,482
many already had a background in meditation or yoga before joining

31
00:00:59,717 --> 00:01:01,323
these people are absolutely not fools

32
00:01:01,397 --> 00:01:03,357
it is precisely because they were too smart

33
00:01:03,357 --> 00:01:04,503
and too hungry for the truth

34
00:01:04,718 --> 00:01:06,242
that they became the perfect targets

35
00:01:06,637 --> 00:01:08,117
our intuition tells us

36
00:01:08,117 --> 00:01:09,717
the stronger your awareness is

37
00:01:09,718 --> 00:01:10,843
the harder you are to fool

38
00:01:11,078 --> 00:01:12,596
someone who sits in meditation every day

39
00:01:12,598 --> 00:01:15,483
should be harder to manipulate than someone who never reflects

40
00:01:15,718 --> 00:01:17,483
but reality is exactly the opposite

41
00:01:18,155 --> 00:01:21,120
Yale psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton

42
00:01:21,196 --> 00:01:23,675
after studying a large number of thought reform cases

43
00:01:23,676 --> 00:01:26,080
and modern mind control groups

44
00:01:26,155 --> 00:01:28,321
proposed eight criteria

45
00:01:28,556 --> 00:01:31,080
one of them is called mystical manipulation

46
00:01:31,676 --> 00:01:32,301
what does that mean

47
00:01:32,795 --> 00:01:35,280
it means the controller deliberately engineers

48
00:01:35,316 --> 00:01:38,801
spiritual experiences that look spontaneous and inner

49
00:01:38,836 --> 00:01:41,321
so you believe you realized it yourself

50
00:01:41,355 --> 00:01:43,961
when it was actually carefully designed

51
00:01:44,515 --> 00:01:46,681
this is completely different from classic brainwashing

52
00:01:47,075 --> 00:01:50,161
classic brainwashing says I will tell you what is right

53
00:01:50,556 --> 00:01:54,920
mystical manipulation makes you feel you discovered what is right

54
00:01:55,355 --> 00:01:56,761
the first one you can resist

55
00:01:56,995 --> 00:01:59,360
the second one you do not even know who to resist

56
00:01:59,636 --> 00:02:02,080
because it feels like your own judgment

57
00:02:02,756 --> 00:02:03,580
have you ever thought about

58
00:02:03,875 --> 00:02:04,780
what this means

59
00:02:05,396 --> 00:02:06,060
it means

60
00:02:06,315 --> 00:02:07,920
your awareness itself

61
00:02:07,955 --> 00:02:09,920
can become a tool used against you

62
00:02:10,551 --> 00:02:11,715
let me give you an analogy

63
00:02:11,831 --> 00:02:12,956
you go learn to drive

64
00:02:13,111 --> 00:02:14,815
the instructor first teaches you how to use the rearview mirror

65
00:02:15,111 --> 00:02:16,095
how to judge the distance between cars

66
00:02:16,310 --> 00:02:18,155
how to feel the feedback from the steering wheel

67
00:02:18,391 --> 00:02:19,230
you learn it

68
00:02:19,231 --> 00:02:21,556
you feel you can finally read the road clearly

69
00:02:21,711 --> 00:02:24,589
but what if the instructor tampered with your rearview mirror

70
00:02:24,590 --> 00:02:26,076
and installed a distorting mirror

71
00:02:26,151 --> 00:02:28,270
everything you see is warped

72
00:02:28,271 --> 00:02:29,676
and you have no idea

73
00:02:29,871 --> 00:02:32,116
because you have learned to trust the mirror

74
00:02:32,190 --> 00:02:33,629
the better your driving gets

75
00:02:33,630 --> 00:02:35,056
the more you rely on that mirror

76
00:02:35,271 --> 00:02:36,516
the more dangerous you are

77
00:02:37,231 --> 00:02:37,776
awareness

78
00:02:38,030 --> 00:02:39,595
is the rearview mirror of consciousness

79
00:02:40,246 --> 00:02:43,691
Buddhism has a very precise concept called the self witnessing aspect

80
00:02:44,006 --> 00:02:46,610
the most widely known account in Yogacara

81
00:02:46,726 --> 00:02:50,450
breaks the process of knowing anything into four layers

82
00:02:50,765 --> 00:02:51,990
the first is called the object aspect

83
00:02:52,325 --> 00:02:53,890
that is the object you see

84
00:02:53,966 --> 00:02:55,571
like this flower in front of you

85
00:02:55,925 --> 00:02:57,444
the second is called the perceiving aspect

86
00:02:57,446 --> 00:02:59,770
that is the act of seeing the flower itself

87
00:02:59,846 --> 00:03:00,890
the capacity to see

88
00:03:01,126 --> 00:03:02,965
the third is called the self witnessing aspect

89
00:03:02,966 --> 00:03:05,210
that is knowing that you are looking at the flower

90
00:03:05,485 --> 00:03:07,484
the fourth is called the witnessing of the self witnessing

91
00:03:07,485 --> 00:03:10,890
that is being able to confirm you really know you are looking at the flower

92
00:03:11,224 --> 00:03:12,368
what is the self witnessing aspect

93
00:03:12,944 --> 00:03:15,548
it is the ability of consciousness to turn around and look at itself

94
00:03:15,983 --> 00:03:17,668
you are not just thinking

95
00:03:17,823 --> 00:03:19,868
you also know that you are thinking

96
00:03:20,224 --> 00:03:21,509
that is awareness

97
00:03:21,983 --> 00:03:24,702
modern cognitive science has a very close concept

98
00:03:24,703 --> 00:03:25,988
called metacognition

99
00:03:27,024 --> 00:03:27,209
alright

100
00:03:27,464 --> 00:03:28,429
here is the problem

101
00:03:28,663 --> 00:03:30,103
legitimate meditation training

102
00:03:30,103 --> 00:03:32,748
has developing the self witnessing aspect as its core goal

103
00:03:33,144 --> 00:03:34,609
you sit there watching your breath

104
00:03:35,024 --> 00:03:36,269
a thought drifts in

105
00:03:36,304 --> 00:03:37,089
you do not chase it

106
00:03:37,464 --> 00:03:38,788
you just watch it

107
00:03:39,103 --> 00:03:41,308
this is training your self witnessing aspect

108
00:03:41,424 --> 00:03:42,989
so you can step back

109
00:03:43,024 --> 00:03:45,149
and see how your own mind operates

110
00:03:45,623 --> 00:03:47,709
this ability is extremely important

111
00:03:47,903 --> 00:03:50,908
it is one of the core tools in what the Buddha taught

112
00:03:51,103 --> 00:03:54,109
and the theoretical basis of modern mindfulness therapy

113
00:03:55,021 --> 00:03:55,407
but

114
00:03:55,782 --> 00:03:57,227
pay attention to this but

115
00:03:57,382 --> 00:03:59,621
the self witnessing aspect itself is neutral

116
00:03:59,621 --> 00:04:01,026
it is just a mirror

117
00:04:01,181 --> 00:04:02,486
a mirror can reflect the truth

118
00:04:02,822 --> 00:04:04,227
and it can reflect an illusion

119
00:04:04,382 --> 00:04:06,347
what matters is not how bright the mirror is

120
00:04:06,421 --> 00:04:08,866
but what is placed in front of it

121
00:04:09,406 --> 00:04:13,131
psychology has a classic study called the Milgram obedience experiment

122
00:04:13,485 --> 00:04:16,131
ordinary people were told to give electric shocks to another person

123
00:04:16,325 --> 00:04:19,011
as long as the authority in the lab coat said continue

124
00:04:19,125 --> 00:04:20,430
most of them kept going

125
00:04:20,805 --> 00:04:22,370
even when the other person was screaming

126
00:04:22,685 --> 00:04:23,391
what does this tell us

127
00:04:23,846 --> 00:04:26,891
obedience to an authority frame runs deep in human bones

128
00:04:27,775 --> 00:04:29,100
now imagine this

129
00:04:29,215 --> 00:04:32,900
if the person in the lab coat were not a stranger running an experiment

130
00:04:33,136 --> 00:04:36,301
but a spiritual teacher you trust from the bottom of your heart

131
00:04:36,655 --> 00:04:39,020
and if he were not ordering you to shock someone

132
00:04:39,056 --> 00:04:41,540
but guiding you to observe your own mind

133
00:04:42,095 --> 00:04:43,681
how powerful would that obedience be

134
00:04:44,215 --> 00:04:46,741
so powerful that you cannot even feel it there

135
00:04:47,341 --> 00:04:50,385
sophisticated mind control groups understand this perfectly

136
00:04:50,700 --> 00:04:52,546
their playbook has three steps

137
00:04:52,981 --> 00:04:53,406
step one

138
00:04:53,700 --> 00:04:54,786
give you something real

139
00:04:55,341 --> 00:04:56,945
they really do teach you to meditate

140
00:04:57,101 --> 00:04:59,705
they really do teach you to observe your emotions and thoughts

141
00:04:59,861 --> 00:05:03,226
they really do give you a taste of deep calm and clarity

142
00:05:03,900 --> 00:05:04,885
this part is not fake

143
00:05:05,221 --> 00:05:07,426
this is genuine meditation technique

144
00:05:07,741 --> 00:05:09,945
you really do benefit at this stage

145
00:05:09,981 --> 00:05:11,426
body and mind both get better

146
00:05:11,621 --> 00:05:13,265
this step builds trust

147
00:05:13,932 --> 00:05:14,398
step two

148
00:05:14,653 --> 00:05:15,737
swap out the foundation

149
00:05:15,932 --> 00:05:17,891
once you trust the method

150
00:05:17,893 --> 00:05:20,458
they slowly start introducing a specific worldview

151
00:05:20,693 --> 00:05:23,937
like only our teacher can take you all the way

152
00:05:24,093 --> 00:05:26,492
like the outside world is polluted

153
00:05:26,492 --> 00:05:28,937
and only here can you stay clear

154
00:05:29,133 --> 00:05:31,177
like that unease you feel

155
00:05:31,213 --> 00:05:33,458
is exactly your karma stirring up

156
00:05:33,533 --> 00:05:35,177
and you need to practice even deeper

157
00:05:35,333 --> 00:05:35,677
notice

158
00:05:35,932 --> 00:05:38,492
these ideas are not poured into you all at once

159
00:05:38,492 --> 00:05:40,698
they seep in bit by bit

160
00:05:40,893 --> 00:05:43,937
behavioral economics has a concept called the framing effect

161
00:05:44,013 --> 00:05:48,698
the same information in a different frame leads to a completely different judgment

162
00:05:48,852 --> 00:05:53,018
what mind control groups do is quietly swap out your cognitive frame

163
00:05:53,232 --> 00:05:53,778
step three

164
00:05:54,153 --> 00:05:56,477
lock you in with your own awareness

165
00:05:56,633 --> 00:06:00,437
once those ideas are planted in your deep consciousness

166
00:06:00,472 --> 00:06:01,672
your self witnessing aspect

167
00:06:01,672 --> 00:06:03,992
the awareness you worked so hard to build

168
00:06:03,992 --> 00:06:06,398
now starts serving those ideas

169
00:06:06,792 --> 00:06:09,158
you notice a thought about leaving

170
00:06:09,352 --> 00:06:10,792
but your awareness tells you

171
00:06:10,792 --> 00:06:12,018
this thought is fear

172
00:06:12,432 --> 00:06:14,158
fear is a sign of attachment

173
00:06:14,232 --> 00:06:16,357
attachment means your practice is not deep enough

174
00:06:16,672 --> 00:06:19,032
you notice doubt about the teacher

175
00:06:19,033 --> 00:06:20,552
but your awareness tells you

176
00:06:20,552 --> 00:06:23,398
doubt is the ego clinging of manas at work

177
00:06:23,513 --> 00:06:25,037
you should let go of the ego

178
00:06:25,505 --> 00:06:26,250
do you see it

179
00:06:26,745 --> 00:06:28,711
your awareness has not weakened

180
00:06:28,865 --> 00:06:31,550
your awareness is stronger than ever

181
00:06:32,026 --> 00:06:35,951
but now it runs on a distorted foundation

182
00:06:36,266 --> 00:06:38,170
just like that warped rearview mirror

183
00:06:38,586 --> 00:06:39,591
the clearer it is

184
00:06:39,665 --> 00:06:40,630
the more dangerous it is

185
00:06:41,196 --> 00:06:42,915
in the language of Yogacara

186
00:06:42,917 --> 00:06:44,996
they did not touch your first six consciousnesses

187
00:06:44,997 --> 00:06:46,155
they did not make you stupid

188
00:06:46,157 --> 00:06:48,001
they did not weaken your thinking

189
00:06:48,037 --> 00:06:50,722
they did not even directly manipulate manas

190
00:06:50,756 --> 00:06:53,282
that deep rooted self centered mind

191
00:06:53,597 --> 00:06:55,201
what they did goes deeper

192
00:06:55,516 --> 00:06:58,362
they planted new seeds in your alaya consciousness

193
00:06:59,364 --> 00:07:00,549
what is the alaya consciousness

194
00:07:00,965 --> 00:07:04,569
it is the storehouse of all your experience memory and habit

195
00:07:04,765 --> 00:07:05,809
it is so deep

196
00:07:05,924 --> 00:07:08,530
so deep that your everyday awareness cannot see it at all

197
00:07:08,725 --> 00:07:10,530
and then they teach you awareness

198
00:07:10,765 --> 00:07:13,083
the sharper your self witnessing aspect gets

199
00:07:13,085 --> 00:07:17,249
the more you notice the thoughts and feelings sprouting from those new seeds

200
00:07:17,405 --> 00:07:20,330
but you will think they were yours all along

201
00:07:20,525 --> 00:07:22,609
you will feel that this is the truth

202
00:07:23,208 --> 00:07:24,614
it is like a computer

203
00:07:24,848 --> 00:07:26,013
normally

204
00:07:26,129 --> 00:07:29,134
antivirus software scans the system for malicious programs

205
00:07:29,369 --> 00:07:32,054
but if someone first goes into the bottom layer of your system

206
00:07:32,129 --> 00:07:34,893
and plants a virus disguised as a system file

207
00:07:35,088 --> 00:07:38,494
and then installs a very powerful antivirus for you

208
00:07:38,569 --> 00:07:39,434
what happens

209
00:07:40,049 --> 00:07:41,593
the antivirus scans the whole drive

210
00:07:41,968 --> 00:07:43,174
it sees that virus

211
00:07:43,208 --> 00:07:46,734
but its database tells it this is a safe system file

212
00:07:46,888 --> 00:07:49,247
so the more you trust the antivirus

213
00:07:49,249 --> 00:07:51,134
the safer that virus becomes

214
00:07:51,449 --> 00:07:53,653
the self witnessing aspect is that antivirus

215
00:07:53,809 --> 00:07:56,533
the alaya consciousness is that bottom layer of the operating system

216
00:07:57,191 --> 00:08:00,597
and this danger does not only exist inside mind control groups

217
00:08:00,912 --> 00:08:03,231
professor Willoughby Britton at Brown University

218
00:08:03,231 --> 00:08:06,196
studying the adverse effects of mindfulness meditation found

219
00:08:06,352 --> 00:08:08,191
that fifty eight percent of participants

220
00:08:08,191 --> 00:08:12,037
had adverse reactions with negative feelings during mindfulness programs

221
00:08:12,392 --> 00:08:15,356
another survey of the general US population showed

222
00:08:15,431 --> 00:08:19,196
fifty percent of meditators reported at least one adverse experience

223
00:08:19,392 --> 00:08:24,316
anxiety trauma reexperiencing and emotional hypersensitivity were the three most common

224
00:08:24,512 --> 00:08:25,830
what deserves even more attention

225
00:08:25,832 --> 00:08:27,830
is that people with childhood trauma

226
00:08:27,832 --> 00:08:30,597
have a clearly higher risk of adverse effects

227
00:08:31,316 --> 00:08:31,621
notice

228
00:08:31,955 --> 00:08:34,080
this does not mean meditation itself is harmful

229
00:08:34,316 --> 00:08:35,660
meditation is a scalpel

230
00:08:36,076 --> 00:08:37,635
the problem is never the blade

231
00:08:37,636 --> 00:08:39,020
it is who is holding it

232
00:08:39,315 --> 00:08:41,081
and in what setting it is used

233
00:08:41,515 --> 00:08:44,841
when awareness is over activated in an unsafe environment

234
00:08:44,956 --> 00:08:48,440
when a traumatized person without professional protection

235
00:08:48,476 --> 00:08:50,680
is guided straight into the deep layers of consciousness

236
00:08:50,716 --> 00:08:54,040
it can open things you are not ready to face

237
00:08:54,435 --> 00:08:58,680
and mind control groups are experts at using that fragile window

238
00:08:59,379 --> 00:09:03,224
Lifton also mentions another concept in his eight criteria

239
00:09:03,300 --> 00:09:05,305
called doctrine over person

240
00:09:05,660 --> 00:09:09,224
when your personal experience conflicts with the doctrine of the group

241
00:09:09,260 --> 00:09:12,864
you are trained to always trust the doctrine and doubt your experience

242
00:09:13,201 --> 00:09:14,002
but

243
00:09:14,099 --> 00:09:16,905
what if from the very beginning the group used meditation training

244
00:09:16,940 --> 00:09:19,004
to make the doctrine feel like your own experience

245
00:09:19,660 --> 00:09:23,145
then doctrine over person becomes fully automatic

246
00:09:23,379 --> 00:09:25,145
you do not even know it is running

247
00:09:25,379 --> 00:09:28,305
because it feels like you are just being true to your heart

248
00:09:29,248 --> 00:09:31,127
this is the most sophisticated form of control

249
00:09:31,128 --> 00:09:32,887
it does not suppress your free will

250
00:09:32,888 --> 00:09:35,253
it redefines your free will

251
00:09:35,449 --> 00:09:37,453
you think you are choosing freely

252
00:09:37,529 --> 00:09:40,333
but the basis of your choice has been replaced

253
00:09:41,150 --> 00:09:44,094
so how do you tell real practice guidance from mind control

254
00:09:44,709 --> 00:09:46,594
I have three key signals

255
00:09:46,989 --> 00:09:47,334
first

256
00:09:47,670 --> 00:09:49,435
does it encourage you to leave

257
00:09:49,869 --> 00:09:51,695
real meditation traditions tell you

258
00:09:52,190 --> 00:09:53,114
the teaching is a raft

259
00:09:53,229 --> 00:09:54,834
once you cross the river you put it down

260
00:09:55,109 --> 00:09:56,655
the teacher is a finger pointing at the moon

261
00:09:56,869 --> 00:09:58,075
not the moon itself

262
00:09:58,430 --> 00:09:59,949
if a group tells you

263
00:09:59,950 --> 00:10:01,675
that leaving means losing everything

264
00:10:01,790 --> 00:10:02,895
that leaving means falling

265
00:10:03,190 --> 00:10:04,994
that leaving wastes everything you built

266
00:10:05,109 --> 00:10:06,874
then it is holding you hostage with fear

267
00:10:06,910 --> 00:10:08,754
no matter how good its meditation technique is

268
00:10:09,256 --> 00:10:09,957
second

269
00:10:09,957 --> 00:10:13,163
is your social world getting wider or narrower

270
00:10:13,477 --> 00:10:17,443
real practice makes you more compassionate and open to everyone

271
00:10:17,518 --> 00:10:20,202
you find it easier to get along with anyone

272
00:10:20,477 --> 00:10:21,837
if as you practice

273
00:10:21,837 --> 00:10:25,283
you drift away from friends and family outside the group

274
00:10:25,357 --> 00:10:28,962
feeling they do not understand you they are on a lower level they are lost in ignorance

275
00:10:28,997 --> 00:10:31,122
feeling only fellow practitioners can understand you

276
00:10:31,158 --> 00:10:32,322
then be careful

277
00:10:32,477 --> 00:10:34,842
Lifton calls this milieu control

278
00:10:34,918 --> 00:10:36,683
it is the first step of mind control

279
00:10:36,717 --> 00:10:38,283
and the most critical one

280
00:10:38,518 --> 00:10:41,876
once your social world shrinks to just this circle

281
00:10:41,877 --> 00:10:44,102
all your sources of information emotional support

282
00:10:44,398 --> 00:10:47,482
and identity are locked inside the same system

283
00:10:47,881 --> 00:10:48,226
third

284
00:10:48,522 --> 00:10:50,126
and this is the most fundamental one

285
00:10:50,282 --> 00:10:52,606
is there someone who cannot be questioned

286
00:10:53,201 --> 00:10:56,687
one of the last teachings the Buddha left before he passed was

287
00:10:56,881 --> 00:10:58,206
be an island unto yourself

288
00:10:58,282 --> 00:10:59,567
take the dharma as your island

289
00:10:59,881 --> 00:11:01,927
he did not say take me as your island

290
00:11:02,481 --> 00:11:04,267
there is a saying passed down in the Buddhist tradition

291
00:11:04,682 --> 00:11:05,726
it goes roughly like this

292
00:11:05,881 --> 00:11:07,600
examine my teaching

293
00:11:07,601 --> 00:11:10,287
the way a goldsmith tests gold

294
00:11:10,442 --> 00:11:13,407
hammer it burn it cut it

295
00:11:13,562 --> 00:11:14,626
make sure it is real

296
00:11:14,961 --> 00:11:16,287
and only then accept it

297
00:11:16,961 --> 00:11:18,527
and in the Kalama Sutta

298
00:11:18,642 --> 00:11:21,206
the Buddha lists ten guidelines outright

299
00:11:21,361 --> 00:11:24,047
do not believe something just because it is tradition

300
00:11:24,162 --> 00:11:26,047
do not believe it just because it is scripture

301
00:11:26,201 --> 00:11:28,366
do not believe it just because it comes from your teacher

302
00:11:28,647 --> 00:11:31,091
have you ever seen the leader of a mind control group

303
00:11:31,247 --> 00:11:33,191
dare to say that to his followers

304
00:11:33,806 --> 00:11:34,872
a real teacher

305
00:11:35,206 --> 00:11:36,732
will encourage you to question him

306
00:11:37,007 --> 00:11:38,126
a controller

307
00:11:38,127 --> 00:11:41,931
will use spiritual language to make questioning feel like regression

308
00:11:42,007 --> 00:11:43,971
make doubt feel like karmic obstruction

309
00:11:44,046 --> 00:11:46,291
make disbelief feel like a lack of affinity

310
00:11:46,710 --> 00:11:47,335
at this point

311
00:11:47,551 --> 00:11:49,475
I want to invite you to run a small experiment

312
00:11:49,912 --> 00:11:50,671
right now

313
00:11:50,671 --> 00:11:53,796
think of one belief you hold without any doubt

314
00:11:54,070 --> 00:11:56,615
whether it is about spirituality about life

315
00:11:56,871 --> 00:11:59,115
or about how the world works

316
00:11:59,430 --> 00:12:00,916
then ask yourself one question

317
00:12:01,511 --> 00:12:02,136
this belief

318
00:12:02,430 --> 00:12:04,070
did I figure it out myself

319
00:12:04,070 --> 00:12:05,335
or did someone teach it to me

320
00:12:06,151 --> 00:12:07,575
if someone taught it to me

321
00:12:07,911 --> 00:12:09,156
before they taught me

322
00:12:09,190 --> 00:12:11,176
did they first teach me how to be aware

323
00:12:12,922 --> 00:12:14,967
this question does not need an answer right away

324
00:12:15,363 --> 00:12:17,648
but if it makes your chest tighten slightly

325
00:12:17,682 --> 00:12:18,648
that is the point

326
00:12:19,003 --> 00:12:20,327
that tightening

327
00:12:20,403 --> 00:12:22,888
is your real self witnessing aspect at work

328
00:12:23,363 --> 00:12:27,008
it is noticing an assumption you may have never examined

329
00:12:28,050 --> 00:12:30,775
awareness is the most precious capacity of human consciousness

330
00:12:31,130 --> 00:12:32,314
but precisely because it is precious

331
00:12:32,569 --> 00:12:34,055
it needs to be protected

332
00:12:34,369 --> 00:12:36,535
protecting it does not mean not using it

333
00:12:36,650 --> 00:12:38,535
it means always remembering one thing

334
00:12:38,969 --> 00:12:40,974
the object of awareness can be swapped

335
00:12:41,089 --> 00:12:43,574
but awareness itself belongs to no one

336
00:12:43,650 --> 00:12:45,135
it obeys no doctrine

337
00:12:45,209 --> 00:12:47,015
and it points to no single answer

338
00:12:48,025 --> 00:12:50,431
when we talked about predictive coding before we said

339
00:12:50,546 --> 00:12:52,870
the brain is not passively receiving the world

340
00:12:52,905 --> 00:12:54,791
it is actively constructing it

341
00:12:54,985 --> 00:12:57,784
everything you see is the best guess of your brain

342
00:12:57,786 --> 00:12:59,110
not raw data

343
00:12:59,345 --> 00:13:02,791
awareness makes it possible to see that construction process itself

344
00:13:03,186 --> 00:13:05,624
but what if someone has already tampered with

345
00:13:05,625 --> 00:13:07,650
the prior model your brain uses to guess

346
00:13:08,145 --> 00:13:09,630
the sharper your awareness

347
00:13:09,666 --> 00:13:13,350
the more deeply you believe that tampered guess is the truth

348
00:13:14,197 --> 00:13:16,721
so the core of what I want to say today is one sentence

349
00:13:17,116 --> 00:13:18,635
the awareness is yours

350
00:13:18,636 --> 00:13:21,081
but the direction of that awareness may not be

351
00:13:21,236 --> 00:13:22,515
when someone tells you

352
00:13:22,516 --> 00:13:26,241
where your awareness should look and where it should not

353
00:13:26,397 --> 00:13:30,121
that is exactly the moment you most need your awareness to examine it

354
00:13:30,590 --> 00:13:32,670
do you think the awareness you have right now

355
00:13:32,671 --> 00:13:33,855
is completely free

356
00:13:34,431 --> 00:13:35,235
or is it

357
00:13:35,271 --> 00:13:38,735
already running inside a frame you never noticed

358
00:13:39,271 --> 00:13:40,595
this question itself

359
00:13:40,671 --> 00:13:43,916
may be the first crack in that frame

360
00:13:44,470 --> 00:13:45,135
I am Leo Wang

361
00:13:45,350 --> 00:13:46,045
see you next episode