As John makes clear, it is not God who disappears, but only our concepts, images, and sensations of God. This relinquishment occurs to rid us of our attachment to these idols and to make possible a realization of the true God, who cannot be grasped by any thought or feeling. At the time though, it seems like abandonment, even betrayal.

Individuals engaged in deep self-exploration under the influence of BPM IV experience a cluster of themes centered around breakthrough and transcendence. The volcanic arousal and suffering of the previous stage of BPM III eventually reach the extreme limit, then culminate in a sense of total failure on every imaginable level—physically, emotionally