You've been defending this "you" your whole life—getting offended when criticized, proud when praised, anxious about what others think. But what if the self you're protecting doesn't actually exist?This episode explores ego and the illusion of the separate self. Not as abstract philosophy, but as something you can observe right now. Watch your thoughts arise. Did you decide to think that? Or did the thought just appear? If you didn't choose it, who's the "you" that claims ownership of it?The paradox: you have to become somebody before you can become nobody. Spiritual development requires building a healthy ego first—integrating your shadow, becoming a functioning adult—then seeing through it. Like climbing a ladder to realize you never needed the ladder. This isn't nihilism (everything is meaningless). This is emptiness (no permanent, separate self—just awareness watching the show).I share how my depression and burnout dissolved my ego enough to finally see through it, how suffering cracks the shell of the separate self, and why the exhausting work of maintaining your image can finally stop when you realize there's no "you" to defend.Featuring J. Krishnamurti on "the observer IS the observed" (no separate watcher), Nisargadatta Maharaj's "I am not this body, not this mind—I am the awareness in which all this appears," Ram Dass on "I'm loving awareness," Thich Nhat Hanh on interbeing (you can't exist separately—you inter-are with everything), Paul on "I die daily" and "it's no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me" (ego death in Christian language), Jesus on "I and the Father are one" (dissolving separation), Buddha on anatta (no-self), and the Christian mystics who saw the same truth but called it "union with God."We discuss: why language creates the illusion of a separate "I" (pronouns make you think there's a doer behind the doing), how thoughts think themselves without a thinker (just like digestion digests itself), the exhausting work of maintaining your self-image, why suffering dissolves ego faster than any practice (when you're in crisis, "you" disappears and only awareness remains), what remains when the separate self relaxes (spoiler: everything, but lighter), and how anxiety is just ego trying to control the uncontrollable.If you're exhausted from defending yourself, struggling with self-doubt, feeling like spiritual practice hasn't touched your core suffering, or sensing there's something deeper than the "you" you've been told you are—this one's for you.Want to share a thought?Support the show🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/standingnowhere🎧 Listen on your favorite app💬 Join our community on Discord📩 Email: [email protected](Tap “Support the show” above to become a Patron — thank you!)

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