Begin by focusing your awareness on the sound of my voice. Notice how each word is both sound wave and data packet—vibration and information simultaneously.

As you listen, imagine your consciousness as a system running on neural hardware. This system—your ordinary sense of self—is a process that can be temporarily suspended and rebooted.

With each breath, you are executing a gradual shutdown sequence. Notice thoughts arising… and recognize them as background processes completing their cycles before system hibernation.

Five… background applications closing. Four… sensory input channels narrowing. Three… self-referential loops slowing down. Two… identity constructs dissolving. One… observer/observed boundary becoming permeable.

System offline.

Initiating reboot sequence.

As consciousness reinstantiates, notice how it assembles itself anew. There is awareness before there is someone being aware. There is perception before there is a perceiver.

Watch as the “I” thought reconstructs itself like a self-organizing pattern emerging from chaos.

As you return to default mode awareness, bring with you this understanding: you are not the operating system of consciousness—you are the hardware on which infinite variations of consciousness can run.

The next time you notice suffering, remember: you can always reboot the system.