You’re Doing This to Yourself (And That’s the Good News)

Jun 01, 2025

Happy Sunday, friends!
Today’s article is a spicy one—and maybe the most liberating message you’ll hear all week (or ever).
Let’s just say… if you’ve been looking for the culprit, you might want to check the mirror. 😏

👉 Dive in below:

Lots of Love,

Max 💫💖

Let’s get one thing straight right out of the gate:

You’re the problem. (well, kind of. We’ll get to that..)

I know. Harsh, right? But before your inner character grabs its megaphone and starts protesting with “That’s not very loving!” or “How dare you!”—take a breath. Because there’s more.

This isn’t about shame. This isn’t judgment. This isn’t some spiritual smackdown. This is freedom disguised as a paradox.

Let’s break it open.

In one of the most potent passages in A Course in Miracles—Chapter 27, Section 8—it states:

“The secret of salvation is but this: that you are doing this unto yourself.”

Let that echo for a second. Not your mother. Not your ex. Not the IRS or the patriarchy or Mercury in retrograde. You.

Now, if your character is anything like the rest of ours, it’ll immediately weaponize that truth. It’ll spin it into blame or guilt or some spiritual performance art where you “work harder on yourself” and “manifest better outcomes.”

But that’s not what this is about.

See, the Course isn’t telling you to “try harder.” It’s telling you to stop believing your own story.

You: The Prison Builder

Every single second, your character is assigning meaning to everything it encounters. That hair. That coffee cup. That glance from the stranger. That one text you didn’t get back.

Meaning, meaning, meaning.

“This is good.”
“That is bad.”
“This makes me happy.”
“That makes me anxious.”
"That color makes me nervous. Oh god, is that brown? Why am I sweating?"

But here’s the kicker: the moment you name it—really, the moment you define it—you’ve caged it. You’ve wrapped it in your past, filtered it through your assumptions, and removed any real possibility of truth.

Eastern philosophy says it plainly: once you name something, it’s no longer what it is.

It’s a bird. It was once a magical flying thing that stirred wonder in your being—and now it’s… a bird. Boxed. Labeled. Filed. Diminished. Thanks, brain.

You’ve just built another brick in your perception-prison.

But Wait—Did You Say “My Character”?

Yup. We’re talking about your character. The little you. The narrative self you’ve been dragging around like a carry-on bag stuffed with trauma, assumptions, and all your best TikTok takes on personal growth.

That character is a walking, talking meaning-making machine. It thrives on story. It breathes significance into things that were never asking to be significant. And the ego’s favorite fuel? Lack. Fear. Control.

You’re not bad. You’re just deeply, thoroughly hypnotized.

In your story, your character has been taught to fight for survival by naming everything, sorting it, judging it, labeling it, improving it. But here’s the problem: the moment you start fixing the dream, you reinforce its reality.

That’s why you are your own worst enemy. But not because you’re failing at being spiritual or not “vibing high” enough.

It’s because you believe your story. You believe in you.

“I Don’t Know”: The Most Enlightened Sentence

One of the most spiritually advanced things you can ever say is:

“I don’t know.”

Not as a resignation. As a revelation.

Because your whole perceptual reality is built on what you think you know. And all of that “knowing” is just conditioned projection.

When you say “I don’t know” truly—when it comes from the depth of your being—it breaks the spell. It invites space. And in that space, something deeper than thought can emerge.

The Course calls this a miracle: a shift in perception.

And yes, it might feel like apathy at first. Like the lights have dimmed and the character doesn’t know what to do next. Welcome. That’s called dismantling the illusion. It’s the ego’s worst nightmare—and the beginning of your liberation.

Reframing: Or, How to Trick the Character into Letting Go

Here’s where psychology and nonduality start making out in the corner.

There’s a tool in psychology called reframing. It’s when you shift your perspective on something—let’s say, the color brown (just roll with it)—and instead of reacting with fear, you pause. You see the fear rise. You recognize it. And you realize it’s not real.

Boom. Miracle.

You’ve just interrupted the ego’s pattern. And that teeny, tiny nanosecond of awareness is where freedom slips in.

Change doesn’t start with conquering fear. It starts by seeing it clearly.

Not analyzing it. Not healing it endlessly. Just… seeing it.

And if you don’t know why the fear is there? Even better. You don’t need to know.

You just need to know that it’s not you.

The Character’s Final Stand

Now here’s the thing: the character is not going to go quietly.

Why would it? If the character steps aside, there’s no more drama. No more meaning. No more existential “what should I do with my life?” panic attacks.

Just… stillness.

And to the ego, stillness is death.

But what if that’s exactly where liberation lives?

What if the thing you’ve been searching for—through every vision board, every relationship, every breathwork session and podcast binge—is already here?

Not later. Not when you’ve ascended your trauma or finally manifested the loft in Brooklyn.

Here. Now. In the nothing.

In the silence that remains when the story lets go.

So What Do I Do?

Nothing.

Literally. I mean it. You need do nothing.

There is no “you” to do it.

Now, your character is going to want a plan. It wants a syllabus, a practice, maybe a Himalayan guru with glowing robes and a PayPal link.

But the truth? The truth is so simple the ego can’t stand it.

Stop adding meaning. Stop chasing truth. Stop fixing yourself.

And watch.

Watch the character. Watch the patterns. Laugh a little. Cry if you must. But just watch.

And every now and then, say: “I don’t know.”

Let it break the spell.

Let the miracle in.

Let the story end.

And then… see what’s left.

Because in the nothing, everything begins.

Want to go deeper with this? I talk about these themes every week in my live streams and courses. And yes, you’re always invited to explore what freedom really looks like—outside the box of who you think you are.

Lots of Love 💫💖
Max