If I’m Conscious in Deep Sleep, Why Can’t I Remember It?

In this discussion about sleep and consciousness a man asks why, if we are conscious in deep sleep, we can’t remember it. The conversation also explores the relationship among pure being or deep sleep, the dream state and the waking state.

Rupert says: ‘Deep sleep is pure awareness of being. When thoughts and images are added, we call it the dream state. When sensations and perceptions are added, we call it the waking state. We have a deep belief, from the point of view of the waking state, that deep sleep is the absence of awareness. Therefore, we think we do not have the experience of being in deep sleep. But that’s just what the waking state tells us – it’s not our experience.

‘The reason we don’t remember deep sleep is because we can only remember something that is objective and there’s nothing objective to remember in deep sleep. The mind then superimposes the absence of objects onto deep sleep and says it’s a blank, empty void. But in the absence of experience, there’s just the awareness of being. That’s the experience that shines as deep sleep.’

*This video is from one of Rupert’s in-person retreats at The Vedanta, 11–18 November 2023. For more information on upcoming retreats (many of which can be attended online via livestream) go to:

Timestamps:

0:00 Awareness of Being
0:49 Deep Sleep Is Pure Awareness
1:43 Being Is Always Awake
2:25 Different States of Consciousness
3:39 Deep Sleep Is Closest to Reality
4:55 Deep Sleep Is Not a State
7:20 Awareness Is Always Aware of Itself
8:17 Why Can’t We Remember Deep Sleep?
10:42 The Mind Only Knows Objective Experience
11:55 The Mind’s Blind Spot

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[TheAnirvan]

The ability of Rupert to explain these non dual aspects so immaculately never ceases to amaze me !!

[krisgiovanetti]

"Your waking state mind tells you that deep sleep is the absence of awareness. How do you know that it's not the awareness of absence." This is the most striking, deeply true, revelation that I have ever heard - thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me to see this

[wearehumanpoetry]

When you are aware in "deep sleep " you've got it, when you are aware of all states coming going changing but you as awareness remains, you have unveiled your true self. You can't talk about deep sleep because you can't create a memory from the experience, you just experience it, its not even an experience, you are that. no one can take you there, they can only point you to pure awareness, and you experience "deep sleep" as awareness. Work on awareness in the wake state and dream state, and it will roll over into the deep sleep state, which is not a state but your true self. You will then live as awareness always, not experiencing any state if that makes sense.

[domcp]

This is by far the best explanation I have ever heard about deep sleep and awareness.

[macbally]

Because "deep sleep" doesn't really "happen." Time is an illusion. "Deep sleep" is part of the dream of this world. You only dream that you "deep sleep." You wake up later and "time has gone by." That is part of the dream; part of the simulation, so to speak. No time actually went by. You didn't actually sleep. You just pretended to have an experience where you were a "human" in "deep sleep, " and then believed that you did, just because you woke up and "things around you were different." In other words, your very own dream updated itself to reflect the belief that you "slept, " when you never did. You are eternally awake/aware. That is why you never experience gaps in awareness; because there aren't any. Experience (dream) seems to change; awareness does not. Regardless of the content of awareness, it is always present.

[nsbdnow]

Mr. Rupert's articulation of "thoughts, feelings, perceptions, sensations" as just objects of awareness, rather than components of the "I" just always strikes me as so correct and right on and accurately descriptive of actual experience. I find it amazing he seems to have hit upon such a clear and contemporary way of talking about these topics.

[Nic-tu]

That the most important video i ever saw in my all life, what a blessing we are lucky beyond imagination, thank you thank you thank you🎉❤

[timjonesvideos]

I became aware during deep sleep once. I was like a blissful wave in an ocean of living light, and knew that the person I usually call 'me', was in fact a dream, and that this world is just a mental construct.

[TheSaviorSaid]

My goodness!!
Your explanation of the apparent 3 states has hit me like a bolt from the blue... Thank you

[sandeepnigam]

This treatise of Waking, Dreaming and Deep sleep state and the Turiya, which Rupert mentions, is from Mandukyopanishad. The Upanishads, which form the basis for Vedanta, are the most profoundly glorious scriptures on Existentialism. We must marvel at the philosophical discourses in Hinduism.

[Masi.Capone]

Having done shrooms a few times, there was one unexpected experience where I "fell asleep, " and I was fully aware of my absence in what I recall as a void. Freaked me out! And then another time, I felt myself as tired, and yet the concept of actually sleeping seemed like an impossibility, like a distant memory of this activity I used to do, and as the trip continued I felt so unbelievably awake that I believed I would never have to sleep again! And I'm talking about a calm wakefulness. Not a feeling like I just had several cups of coffee. I wasn't wired. Just awake. The only people who experience what we believe to be sleeping are the people awake that may witness someone sleeping. The same goes for death. We see a body die, but that person is waking up into a new dimension.

[naz]

Good explanation. I like the white paper analogy

[Flower-vw]

This is perhaps the third of Rupert's videos I've watched about deep sleep, thanks so much for posting, the synchronicity is awesome as I had just yesterday posted a comment elsewhere prompted by a previous video of Rupert's on this topic I had seen, and wow, an hour later here was a new video by Rupert on the exact same thing. Rupert Spira talks about our 3 levels or states of consciousness: the waking state which is mental or analytical, the dream state, and the deep sleep state which is not really a state but pure consciousness. Deep sleep, pure consciousness, which is the bulk of our sleep (dreams seem like a long time but they are actually only 5 minutes or less, I've read), is like dying every night because we are purely spirit as though we don't even have a body. Rupert talks about this in a few of his many videos. IMO it's a topic well worth learning about. I find it so unfortunate that we can't remember our deep sleep experiences in our waking state. What we call our waking state is truly the opposite; we are asleep at the wheel, run by our minds, immersed in the 3D simulation. Our dream state is pretty much the same, except our analytical mind is asleep so our minds are just fed mental stuff by the matrix. The waking and dream states are mental. What's called deep sleep is called what it is because our minds are asleep, or at least not active. IMO deep sleep is incredibly fascinating. I mean, WOW!! To know that every night we actually return to being pure consciousness while still in this incarnation and still having a mind; that even while existing in the 3D, we spend a third of our lives as though we are not incarnated at all. We truly are pure consciousness, we just spend two-thirds of our incarnation having forgotten that. Kurt says, remember who you are. We spend one-third of our lives remembering, in deep sleep. And we spend two-thirds of our lives forgetting who we are. So of course the solution is to bring the awareness of our true consciousness into our waking state. The way to do that is by meditation, which removes distractions, and allows our minds to quiet down more and more into stillness. And in that stillness we experience simply being, our pure consciousness, which is peace, joy, love. And from there we can transform our 3D lives. This is why we meditate. I want to soak up everything Rupert says about deep sleep, what could be more important and compelling as we strive to find our way through and out of the simulation labyrinth to our true selves? Love Rupert ❤️

[alisonsalter]

Brilliant unravelling. Amazing tenacity from Rupert. 😊

[esun]

Awareness can always be aware of itself. If awareness is still there in deep sleep why awareness cannot be aware of itself. I have never experienced my being aware of my consciousness during deep sleep. Assuming it is still there without experiencing it is only a belief.

[TommeeKnocker]

Love this, it throws up that “but I wasn’t there” .

[Marc]

1:00 => I had the image of a telescope-antenna from the 80´s. Deep sleep is the biggest tube at the base and then it pulls out the 2nd tube (dream state) out of itself, and then another one (waking state). All the time the BASE is simply there at the BASE :) And the 2nd and 3rd tube can easily be retracted into the BASE.

[hemamalinirs]

Beautiful. You explained it so perfect
Thank you sweetheart, immense gratitude and love ❤🙏🙏

[allenmorgan]

One time I was so depressed I just couldn't bear the weight of existence. I actually felt the physical sensation of depression. Like a weight on me all the time making everything seem hard to do and it got so intense that it was like I broke through some kind of barrier that I didn't know existed and I saw the light of God unobstructed and I realized that I was like a beam of light coming out from God and when I saw God I saw my relative conditioned life in God and everything that existed was not just part of God but rather God was fully and wholly present within everything equally. Then I descended back into normal consciousness again except the depression was gone and it has never returned. Since that time I have gradually regained most of that realization again but less intense. Now I just see it as that is what reality actually is and our individual lives are woven into the tapestry of the universe in such a way that we are a permanent part of it. It is a living tapestry that we call existence.

[centreamata]

So brilliant, it is the first time I hear this way of presenting it and this is mind blowing... Thank you.