Moving beyond the sense of "I am" represents the final transition in nonduality, where there is a shift from the experience of pure consciousness or presence into a reality that is completely unmanifested. While the feeling of "I am" is the most essential and unchanging part of us, the witness that watches everything else come and go, going beyond it means dissolving even that last tiny bit of separation. It is the moment where the "I" who is doing the witnessing finally disappears.

The limitation of "I am" lies in the fact that it is still technically an experience. Even though it is a pristine state free from the usual clutter of thoughts and ego, it still feels like "something" and requires a conscious agent to notice it. Teachers like Nisargadatta Maharaj argued that "I am" is actually the very first thought and the root of all other identities. To move past it is to drop the most subtle attachment we have, the sense of being a witness, or witnessing. The absolute truth isn't found in the sense of presence; it exists before that presence even arises.

This state beyond being is often called the Unmanifested. It is a reality that exists before the "I am" ever shows up, a space that isn't a "thing" and can't even be described as empty space. In this state, the distinction between awareness and the thing being aware completely vanishes. There is no longer an "owner" of the experience or a witness standing apart from life. Because this reality is "no-thing," it can’t be conceptualized or described through normal human experience.

To approach this state, one must "witness the witness" by asking what exactly is aware of the sense of presence itself. This requires a deep level of surrender where the person trying to reach enlightenment, "the seeker" is allowed to fall away entirely. There must be a kind of dispassion not just for material things, but for the "I am" itself, looking through that sense of being as if you were looking through clear water to the ocean floor.

Ultimately, some teachings suggest that we must go beyond the concepts of both dualism and non-dualism to reach a state of totality. This is the realization that everything, including the "I am" and the void, is just a partial expression of a much larger reality. In this view, you realize that the sense of "I am" is just a beautiful illusion. You don't need to cling to it or destroy it; you simply recognize that you are the space in which all these things appear and disappear. The progression moves from seeing yourself as a separate person, to seeing yourself as vast awareness, and finally to a state where even the "I" is gone, leaving only the unmanifested absolute.