Finitude of Consciousness - When the Self Dissolves in Sleep - Decolonial Neuroscience Sfn Lat Brain Bee

First-Person Consciousness

“I am the consciousness that perceives itself to be. During the day, I sustain myself through tensional selves: I focus, calculate, project, defend. I turn body and mind into a control center. But as I fall asleep, something in me begins to dissolve: sentences fragment, images lose meaning, until there is no longer an ‘I’ that thinks. In deep sleep, I discover that my finitude is not an end — it is the opportunity to reorganize myself.”

Consciousness and the Tensional Self

• Damasian Consciousness: arises from the integration of interoception (viscera, homeostasis) and proprioception (position and movement).
  
  

• Tensional Self: the practical form of consciousness during wakefulness, sustained by muscular and visceral tensions.
  
  

• Mental Hyperspace: the reference space where the self anchors; within it, consciousness can be marked by pain, pleasure, attention, or silence.
  
  

• Natural finitude: as sleep begins, the Tensional Self dissolves, opening space for other modes of being — fruition, reorganization, forgetting.
  
  

Stages of the Finitude of Consciousness in Sleep

• N1: language loses coherence; words appear disconnected, as if the linguistic self were fragmenting.
  
  

• N2: partial stabilization occurs with spindles and K-complexes, supporting memory and motor skills while the conscious self weakens.
  
  

• N3: silence takes over; the Tensional Self dissolves almost completely, freeing the body for metabolic reorganization.
  
  

• REM tonic: extended proprioception (Apus) is revised, reconfiguring the body-territory within virtual scenarios.
  
  

• REM phasic: feelings and symbolic narratives emerge, reshaping consciousness without fixing a rigid self.
  
  

Neuroscience of Finitude

• EEG: reduced frontal activity and increased slow-wave activity in N3 mark the dissolution of the narrative self.
  
  

• fNIRS: lower prefrontal oxygenation during N3 indicates disengagement of executive control.
  
  

• SpO₂: its decrease during sleep allows metabolic and neural reorganization.
  
  

• Integration: the finitude of consciousness is not emptiness but an active process of restoration and balance.
  
  

Blocked Finitude

When consciousness fails to dissolve (insomnia, rumination, anxiety), the Tensional Self remains in vigilance. This traps the mind in Zone 3, maintaining prefrontal hyperactivity and preventing fruition and metabolic reorganization.

For Clinicians and Caregivers

• Encourage routines that favor the gradual dissolution of consciousness (rituals, darkness, silence).
  
  

• Teach patients to welcome “not thinking” as a healthy part of sleep.
  
  

• Use metacognition and critical fruition practices as preparation for rest.
  
  

• In palliative care: present the dissolution of consciousness as an experience of peace and belonging, not as failure or loss.
  
  

Conclusion

The finitude of consciousness is not the absence of being but its deepest form of reorganization. When the Tensional Self dissolves in sleep, the body returns to Zone 2 — the space of silent belonging, where life sustains itself without effort.