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Richard Lang and Sam Blight describe a phenomenon they call “interoceptive vertigo” as a psychological response that can arise during deep self-inquiry.
This arises when attention turns inward and the assumed sense of a localized, solid “self” begins to dissolve or cannot be found in direct experience.
In such moments, there may appear a sense of instability, disorientation, or fear—similar to losing a familiar reference point.
The idea of a fixed “me” located in the head or behind the eyes is revealed, through inquiry, to be more of an assumption than a directly observable entity.
When this assumption is questioned, the mind may interpret the absence of a solid self as a kind of threat, triggering resistance.
This resistance is what they refer to as interoceptive vertigo—a kind of internal “spinning” that comes from losing psychological footing.
The fear is not of “nothingness” itself, but of the implication that the familiar identity structure may not be what we thought it was.
As a result, the mind often reverts back to habitual identification with thoughts, memories, and the narrative sense of “me,” because it feels safer and more stable.
This return to the conventional self is not seen as failure, but as conditioned reflex—an instinctive movement toward psychological familiarity.
The key insight is that what blocks recognition of “no-self” is not the absence of truth, but the resistance to unfamiliar clarity.
When the fear is not acted upon, the sense of openness can be experienced not as annihilation, but as ease, spaciousness, and peace.
In this framing, “being nobody” is not the problem; the problem is the mind’s interpretation of it as loss rather than freedom.
The transition involves learning to stay present with the unsettling sensations of identity loosening, without contracting back into habitual selfing.
Over time, this allows the apparent “vertigo” to settle into a more stable recognition of open awareness without a central self.
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