One of the things that helps people remain in the Bardo is the very fact of their continued existence, even if this existence is of a limited nature. This is why Hans Vollman states, “Here I am. I am here.” By saying this, he’s able to convince himself that he hasn’t yet died. Of course, this interpretation leaves no room for the truth, which is that Vollman is in a transitional state. While he sees life and death as binary—thinking that a person is either fully alive or fully dead—he fails to grasp that there might be a kind of existence that takes place
between these two states.