What happens after everything falls apart? In this episode, Sensei Michael Brunner offers a powerful reflection on Case 41 of the Blue Cliff Record, where Joshu asks what follows the “great death”—the collapse of the self we’ve clung to. Drawing from Zen koans, Dōgen’s teachings, and the raw honesty of lived experience, this talk explores how awakening does not lie in bypassing pain or rebuilding old identities, but in stepping forward—with nothing left to hide—into the clear light of presence. With warmth, clarity, and compassion, Sensei invites us to stop patching the past and instead meet our lives fully, in the daylight. A talk for anyone who has known loss, change, or the quiet courage it takes to begin again.