What ever you think, feel, sense, or perceive, this is not you. There is no individual self to make choices, to feel pain, suffering, or joy. If left to its own devices, the separate self will reinvent itself in any way possible. It will find any reason, any excuse, to say, ‘Here I am, look at me! I am this, I am that, I like this, I don’t like that,’ etc.

The separate self is also known as the ‘I’ thought, the ego, Little Mind, the individual self, or even that which identifies itself as the observer or witness (although these might be considered the brightest manifestation of the wily little character).

There’s one problem here. Krishnamurti says, ‘Thoughts create the thinker.’ In other words, if you look closely at this I that you identify with as your being, you find that it is only a creation of thought and can therefore be only a thought itself. And what is the true nature of a thought? It is a ghost. It arises in that which knows, in that which is aware of all coming and going, in that which never comes and goes itself.

Whatever you think of yourself—I am good, I am bad, I am smart, I am stupid—it’s just one thought replacing another. Your opinion of yourself or another has no basis in reality because there is no you or other to begin with. There is no ‘me’ to become anything, to achieve anything, to do anything, to lack anything, to gain anything.

You may feel a sense of unworthiness, or a grand sense of purpose, but either way there is no you to suffer or succeed. Where is this you? Find it right now. You can’t because it is just an idea, and all ideas, thoughts, come and go. Your actual being is that which never comes and goes, is unmoving, unchanging, and limitless. True, you can never be found, yet you are everywhere.