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There is Leon (a person, an object) and there is awareness (objectless space).

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Leon is an object and as an object has its borders – in time (was born and will die) and in the space (can be described in 3D dimensions). Leon as a physical body and as a collection of thoughts is real for me, himself, and anyone you ask on the street. He is as real as any other object you can focus on, including yourself.

My understanding of an object is anything I can focus my attention on. It could be a physical object (a chair, a desk, a screen), external sensation – (a sound, a picture, a flavour), internal sensation (fear, pain, guilt) or an abstract (a thought, time, life). The main quality of an object is that we can describe it (e.g. where/when it begins and ends).

Object cannot be noticed without the background it emerges from. For example, physical objects would not exist without the space around them, sounds would not exist without silence, thoughts would not exist without silence in your head between them, you would not notice these letters without a white space around and between them. Objects are separated from each other and they can perform various activities (you can often describe their locations in time and the space). They belong to the reality based on doing.

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Awareness is timeless (is always now) and borderless (is everywhere).

It can be represented by space (without ‘the’). You may be aware there is a lot of space inside every atom. It means that space we see between physical objects also permeates them. Space does not end when a physical object starts, it goes through it. Space in this understanding is not an object because you cannot focus on it or describe it. Space has no beginning and end, has no colour, no taste, no texture or smell. It is borderless and timeless. It is a common background of all physical objects and physical objects emerge from it. Space is an example but you can replace it by awareness, consciousness, silence, emptiness… The reality based on space (understood in this way) is still and silent, and is based on being. Awareness (space, silence, etc) is real, we cannot deny it.

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Leon as an object emerges from awareness, is fully integrated/connected with awareness throughout his life and dissolves as an object back into it after his death. Leon does things (as objects do) and it never stops being (as awareness is). The common misconceptions are that Leon ‘does being’ and awareness ‘is doing’.

With this understanding, we can say that Leon is an object and he also is awareness (he always was and he always will be). It depends on you how you want to attend him. You can focus on him as on an object (separated and different from you). You can also let go and become awareness from which he/you/me and all objects emerge and feel total unity, connection and stillness.

The third choice is to balance your attention and see Leon staying aware of space. You can focus on objects staying diffused and feeling that everything is one at the same time. You can see the materialistic side of the world (full of objects you can get) and feel deeply the essence of spirituality (where everything is one, unified). It can make you truly balanced, fulfilled and happy. This is what living in Open Focus feels like.