- Setting for the Enlightenment Experience: Leo describes meditating alone in Virginia, surrounded by its sprawling green hills and natural landscapes. He was using a technique called 'do-nothing', where you let go of any attempt to control your awareness. Though at first, his mind wandered, it eventually started to focus more and began exploring a concept called 'spaciousness'.
- Exploring Spaciousness during Meditation: Leo had a mini insight while observing a tree, realizing that there is essentially nothing in front of or behind the tree. He explains that our usual perception involves conceptualization of other objects or spaces in front and behind what we are observing. However, when truly focused and meditating on our sensory visual field, there's just the object observed and nothing more - a concept he refers to as 'spaciousness'. This led him to further explore the idea.
- A Shift to Self-Inquiry: His meditation session included an exercise where he traced a line from a distant tree back to his body, realizing there was no point of contact. This insight led him to focus on the sensations in his body and realize they weren't originating or ending anywhere. He extended this realization to his visual field as well, leading him to question the separate experiencer of his body. He began to practice self-inquiry, asking himself 'Who am I?', a process he admits takes effort and honesty.
- Self-Inquiry and Conscious Traction: To get real answers from self-inquiry, Leo emphasizes the importance of 'conscious traction', which is achieved by focusing and repeatedly asking oneself deep questioning queries. He indicates the need to disregard logical answers to stay focused on getting conscious traction. The process ultimately reveals that we are not just our bodies and minds but the observers of them and leads to further self-exploration on 'who is the perceiver'.
- Questioning Identity Constructs: Leo reflects on his understanding of his identity as 'I, Leo', realizing it's merely a belief and a societal construct. He highlights that the perception of a solid, coherent self is arbitrary, equating self-identification to identifying oneself as a limited part of the whole. Through meditation, he experiences a profound sense of not knowing who he truly is, advocating for this state of true unknowing as crucial for personal growth.
- The Value of Emptying the Mind: Leo discusses the necessity of emptying one's mind to gain new insights. During meditation, he was able to enter a state where he questioned the truth and substance of his thoughts. This state made him more open to unconventional ideas, such as being omnipresent rather than an individual entity moving through the world.
- Experiencing Complete Silence and Peace: Leo details his experience of complete silence and peace during meditation. His awareness expanded, his visual field transformed, and he experienced omnipresence, profound happiness, and a sense of being in absolute now. This state, according to him, could not be achieved through thinking but required conscious effort.
- Detachment from Thoughts: During his self-inquiry process, Leo becomes keenly aware of everything in his field of awareness. He experiences a shift in perspective and becomes separate from his thoughts, observing them rather than identifying with them. He realises that thoughts have no inherent meaning and are merely phenomena.
- State of Complete Presence: Leo describes a state of being completely present and connected to reality. In this state, he felt complete, full and experienced the highest joy. This state, in his opinion, led him to question whether it was enlightenment or a peak experience.
- Understanding the Enlightenment Journey: Leo shares an ancient Zen metaphor, Ox herding pictures, which symbolises the journey towards complete enlightenment. He claims that he has caught a glimpse of the tail of the Ox, indicating being on the right path towards enlightenment.
- The Long-Term Impact of the Experience: Leo concludes by stating his recent meditation experience has permanently expanded his mind, and he can meditate for longer periods. He emphasized the importance of self-inquiry and how sharing his process will help others understand and identify potential pitfalls.
- Relatability of the Journey: Leo explains his decision to document the entire enlightenment journey from the beginning for its relatability. He criticizes traditional yogis and Zen masters for being ineffective as they don't show the complete process, making it hard for common people to understand their teaching.
- Sharing Fresh Insights: Leo shares that he is in a constant quest for new insights. He assures that he intends to provide a raw, behind-the-scenes look into the journey towards enlightenment and all life improvement processes.
- Importance of Understanding Psychological Laws: Leo highlights the essential role of understanding psychological laws to live a fulfilling life. He compares these to physical laws and draws the analogy that just as understanding physics is necessary to fly to the moon, understanding one's psychology is crucial for self-improvement. He encourages viewers to apply these principles consistently. He ends with the promise of going deeper with his viewers and inviting them to join his free newsletter.
- Utilization of the 'Well' Technique: Leo uses a technique he calls 'the well' where he tries to draw a line from a distant object back to him. He explains this process leads to the realization that there is no point at which his finger (or line of vision) touches him, reinforcing a sense of insight. He then focuses his attention on bodily sensations and realizes these sensations are not coming from or going anywhere, they're just surrounded by nothingness. Leo therefore asserts that there isn't any distinct entity experiencing these sensations.
- Adoption of Self-Inquiry Method: Switching from the do-nothing technique, Leo begins self-inquiry by posing the question, "Who am I?" or "Who is the perceiver?". He asserts that this method can be challenging as it requires generating honest, tangible answers, which initially may not be logically correct. But as he continues with this process, he begins to feel that he is an amalgamation of body, mind, and the perceiver. He then challenges his initial assertion and postulates that he is, fundamentally, the perceiver of thoughts.
- Mind Expansion through Identification Questioning: Leo recounts an experience where he realizes that his identity as 'I Leo is an arbitrary fulfillment of societal conditioning. He compares his sense of self to a slice of pizza, suggesting that the identification of oneself as an individual slice is simply an arbitrary partition of the whole pizza. He conveys that upon this realization, he experiences a deepening sense of not knowing who he truly is, which creates a foundation for self-inquiry and personal growth.
- True 'Not Knowing' as a Means of Progress: Leo elaborates that reaching a state of genuine 'not knowing' of oneself is critical in the journey of self-awareness and enlightenment. This state is characterized by acknowledging the potential arbitrariness of one's identification and thus inviting the realization that one's sense of self may, in reality, be fundamentally unknown. Such a state of 'not knowing' provides fertile ground for further introspection and questioning in the pursuit of enlightenment.
- The need to "empty your cup": Leo highlights the Zen Buddhist principle of having an "empty cup", stating that for a Zen master to fill it with new knowledge, one's cup must first be emptied. He explains how he felt his mind truly got emptied, becoming open to the possibility of being something not physical or human.
- Establishing an open mind: Leo describes focusing on trees and the stones around him, deeply contemplating about his true identity. He details how he shifted from active meditation to passive engagement, saying it felt as if the meditation was doing him, rather than him doing the meditation.
- Importance of mindfulness over thoughts: Observing his own thought process, Leo realized his thoughts lacked inherent truth or substance. Recognizing thoughts simply as mind phenomena, he was able to detach from them.
- Awakening to Omnipresence: Leo elaborates on an insight: the possibility of him being omnipresent. Although it started as a thought, he transitioned to embodied understanding of this concept. Leo likened himself to a 360-degree camera, positioned everywhere and nowhere. He states that he got a real, tangible sense of omnipresence, almost akin to being God.
- Experiencing the absolute now: Leo recalls feeling a moment of complete silence, peace and bliss wash over him, aligning himself with the concept of the 'absolute now.' He emphasizes that absolute now is more than just being present - it resembled omnipresence, like being a divine entity observing itself.
- Observing the thought stream: Leo details his increased lucidity during this state, as he became acutely aware of each individual thought. He felt he was separate from his thought stream, leading to the realization that each thought's only substance is its phenomenal nature. Despite this profound experience, he still felt a sense of self.
- Shift in perspective during meditation: Leo experienced a shift in his perception during meditation that resulted in him feeling like he was both above his body and omnipresent. He felt joyous and complete during this experience, finding absolute bliss in simply existing in the present moment.
- Questioning the experience: Despite the profound experience, Leo questioned if this was true enlightenment, suspecting that it may be a temporary peak experience. He had a desire for the feeling to be permanent and became concerned that it might be transient.
- Waning of state and observation of beauty: As the sun set and the landscape around him became increasingly beautiful, his elevated state began to wane. After 90 minutes, the feeling of omnipresence faded, and he returned to a more typical state of perception but retained a sense of calmness and bliss.
- Consultation with the Zen master: Leo shared his experience with the Zen master leading the retreat who laughed and explained that Leo had caught a glimpse of the path towards enlightenment, citing a Zen metaphor of seeing the "ox's tail."
- Enlightenment metaphor: The Zen master referred Leo to the ancient Ox herding pictures as a metaphor of the stages towards enlightenment. The Zen master explained that Leo is at the stage of catching a glimpse of the ox's tail, indicating that he's made significant progress in his enlightenment journey, but is not there yet.
- Reflections post-experience: From the experience, Leo gained insight into the nature of thoughts and confirmed that the meditation techniques he's been practicing are yielding results. His mind was expanded, and his daily meditation practices have become more powerful.
- Motivation to share and improve the process: Leo closes by expressing motivation to share the process he used to reach his current state of consciousness. Although he does not claim his experience to be enlightenment, he encourages others to pursue it. He emphasizes the importance of practicing proper "self-inquiry" and urges viewers to re-watch the video to identify any pitfalls they may be experiencing in their self-inquiry process.
- Leo's response to criticism about discussing enlightenment: Leo addresses criticisms about discussing enlightenment while not being fully enlightened. He explains his choice to document his journey from the start as a simple man, which he feels is believable and convincing to viewers, as opposed to waiting until becoming enlightened to present the process. He compares this approach to the teachings of traditional yogis and Zen masters who, he believes, may not provide as relatable and practical guidance due to the disconnect between their advanced knowledge and the experiences of their followers.
- Characterizing the enlightenment journey: Leo highlights the struggles, doubts, and leaps of faith that comprise the journey of self-realization, emphasizing that these elements are a vital and normal part of the process. He accentuates that even if he becomes enlightened, his personal enlightenment will not dissipate the doubts and struggles one might face on their unique journey. He insists that viewers must engage with and negotiate their doubts directly.
- Clarifying his style and intentions: Leo acknowledges that he might come off as cavalier or arrogant in his videos, but clarifies that it is not his intention. He prefers the outspoken approach when discussing personal development as it offers a direct, honest, and raw perspective. He clarifies that his teachings are not set in stone and often include fresh insights, showcasing the ongoing process of personal development and enlightenment.
- Encouraging experimentation and acknowledging personal development struggles: Leo emphasizes the importance of experimenting with different approaches in personal development and highlights that the process could be challenging and filled with struggles. He encourages viewers to test his ideas in their own lives and retain what works.
- Future content and commitment to sharing insights: Leo previews future content that includes insights from his retreat, promising it will be beneficial for improving mindfulness, meditation, and the journey towards enlightenment. He also invites viewers to check out his website, Actualized.org, where most resources are free.
- Psychological laws and personal fulfillment: Leo discusses the importance of understanding psychological laws in personal development. He compares these laws to physical laws, underlining that mastery over these principles can lead to profound life transformations. He shares that his followers who apply these principles consistently are seeing significant results. Leo ends by encouraging viewers toward an extraordinary life, to subscribe, and promises to continue sharing deeper insights.