Part 8/12:

The Crude Awakening: Collapsing All Meaning

Perhaps the most terrifying stage is the complete evaporation of meaning. Love, purpose, beauty, pain—they all become indistinguishable, holding no inherent significance. This is not depression but something deeper—a death of the capacity to believe, to care, to have preferences. It’s a void so vast that it can render one into what some call a spiritual zombie: functionally alive but fundamentally disconnected from life.