In This Video:
Using the visceral experience of waking from a coma as a direct pointer, this teaching explores what happens when the constructed self is completely gone. It’s not just about understanding you're not the body; it's about what you do when that structure falls apart. The key instruction is to resist the urge to 'restitch' the old identity. When the collection of memories, names, and roles is forgotten, what remains is the opportunity to abide as the presence that was there before the story was ever assembled.
- When a familiar story about 'me' dissolves, what is the immediate reflex? Do you try to put it back together?
- Can you feel the body's autonomous functions—breathing, heartbeat—and notice that the sense of a personal 'doer' is an added layer?
- If your name, history, and roles are just a 'recollected bundle' of thoughts, who or what is aware of this bundle right now?
- What daily behaviours or internal dialogues are you engaged in that actively 'restitch' an identity you claim you want to be free from?
TRANSCRIPT
[00:00] You know, coming out of that coma, it's almost simulating an awakening in a way. You have to put everything back together. [00:09] When I first woke up, I wasn't animated like this. I didn't blink like this. I was saucer eyes, you know. I was ridiculed for it. I couldn't not have my eyes wide open. It wasn't possible. It's like a thousand volts running through me. [01:04] And there was nothing there. You came back and it was my body, my life, my name. Or you had to recollect all that, didn't you? That had to get recollected. It was everything was gone. [01:29] Right? It was forgotten because it's of the mind. Isn't it? It wasn't an immediate wake up and knowing exactly what's going on and There's not innately you. It's a collection. [02:30] So it's a little bit like the awakening process when you first wake up. It's like everything's destroyed, it's all it's all blown apart. Everything you thought you were is gone. [03:13] The trick is not to put yourself back together. Don't restitch. Don't restitch everything back together. Let it stay fallen apart. Let the false sheath leave. [05:50] So you got to, you know, in that coma you disappeared, but but there's something still here. So you're not this. Make sense? And you're not the thing you thought you were. You're there's something beyond that. [06:22] And like Nisargadatta says, two chemicals meet and the world appears. [06:40] We can disappear just like a coma.
GLOSSARY
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Don't Restitch
The core instruction to avoid mentally reassembling your old identity after a moment of seeing through it. It's the active allowing of the 'fallen apart' state, rather than rushing to rebuild a familiar but false self. -
False Sheath
The constructed personality and its web of beliefs, memories, and conditioning. It's the overlay that obscures the Substratum, and which can be allowed to 'leave' when you stop restitching it. -
Recollecting
The mental process of gathering memories and data points to build or rebuild the story of 'me'. This highlights that identity is not a fixed entity but a collection of thoughts that must be actively maintained. -
The Collection
Refers to the personal identity as an assemblage of memories, conditioning, and ideas rather than a solid, innate self. Seeing the 'I' as a collection is a key step in deconstruction. -
Disappearance
The direct experience of the personal 'I' being absent, such as in deep sleep, a coma, or a moment of awakening. This reveals that you are the presence in which the 'I' appears and disappears.
Q&A
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What is the connection between waking from a coma and spiritual awakening?
Waking from a coma is used as a direct analogy for spiritual awakening. In both cases, the collected identity—your name, your history, your personality—is gone. You have to 'recollect' it. This reveals that the self is a construction, not an innate reality. The awakening process is seeing this construction fall apart. -
What does it mean to 'not restitch' your false self?
'Don't restitch' is the core instruction. After the false identity is seen through or collapses, the mind's habit is to immediately try and put it back together. The practice is to consciously resist this urge, to let the 'false sheath' leave, and to remain in the open space of what you are prior to that construction. -
If I am not the body or the mind, what am I?
When you disappear in an event like a coma, or in deep meditation, something is still here. Bodily functions continue. There is a presence. You are not the body, and you are not the collection of thoughts that you believed you were. You are the 'something beyond that'—the silent, aware substratum in which the body and mind appear. -
How is the personal self or 'ego' constructed?
The personal self is described as a 'collection' of memories, learned behaviours, and social conditioning. It's not innately you. Like learning to walk, functions are automated and then an 'I' comes in to claim ownership, adding layers of pride and judgment. It's a mental construct that requires constant 'recollecting' to maintain.
“There’s nothing to add. What you are is prior to beliefs, thoughts and labels.
Here we explore and unveil the ultimate mystery of non-dual being.
Reality.”
