They’ve gamified your existence, turning every breath into a metric, every action into a score. On this episode of The Observing I, we confront the uncomfortable reality of life as the ultimate rigged game. From the fleeting dopamine hit of a digital badge to the constant pressure of social media leaderboards, we dissect how the illusion of progress is designed to strip away your authentic self and turn you into a pliable commodity.

We'll explore the philosophical implications of living in a world where your potential is monetized and your very being is observed, analysed, and manipulated. This is about more than just apps; it’s about regaining your sovereignty. Discover how to reject their rules, cultivate true intrinsic motivation, and forge a path where your victories are real, unquantifiable, and solely your own. Break free from the score and remember what it means to simply be.

Much love, D

What if the ground beneath your feet remembered more than you do? What if the stories you inherit, the ones whispered across centuries, aren’t just echoes, but living forces shaping who you are?

In this episode of The Observing I, we journey into the brutal and beautiful world of memory - how it survives in land, in language, in blood. Through the lens of the Icelandic sagas and the raw tension between the outsider and the remembered, we explore the haunting question: are you in the story, or are you the story?

We’ll examine how memory becomes a weapon, a mirror, a map. How sagas are more than folklore, they’re survival strategies wrapped in narrative. How identity is not something you choose, but something handed to you in the form of ancestral pain, half-truths, and rituals you're still learning to name.

This episode is for anyone who’s ever felt like a stranger in their own life, a witness to histories they can’t fully claim but feel in their bones. A reflection on what it means to carry stories that aren't yours, and to live a life that is a saga, whether you realize it or not.

This isn’t nostalgia. This is war. This is memory with teeth. This is the story speaking through you.

Much love, David

You were told this world was real. That flesh was truth. That gravity meant something.

But what if none of it was supposed to happen?

This is the dream.

The broken one.

Welcome to Sophia’s Dream - the story of a divine feminine being who reached too far, fell too hard, and accidentally gave birth to a blind god who built this world like a prison with beautiful wallpaper. His name is Yaldabaoth. He thinks he’s God. He’s not. He’s just the architect of your forgetting.

This isn’t spirituality. It’s myth with teeth. It’s philosophy with blood under its fingernails. It’s consciousness trapped inside a loop, screaming to remember what it is.

You're not just in the dream. You are the dream.

And the dream is watching you back.

We talk recursion. Cosmic code. The observer and the observed. Why pain keeps repeating. Why you can’t stop thinking there’s something behind the curtain. Why waking up hurts like hell - and why you still have to do it.

If you’ve ever looked around and thought, “This can’t be all there is”, you’re already halfway out.

This episode won’t save you. It’ll make you remember you were never lost.

Much love, David

We cheer the hero. We hiss at the villain. But what if we've had it backwards all along?

In this episode of The Observing I, we dig deep into the ethics of monsters, and uncover the uncomfortable truth: villains might be the only ones telling it like it is. From Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor to Killmonger, Tyler Durden, Joker, and Walter White, we peel back the polite layers of morality and ask “who gets to be the hero, and who gets exiled for telling the truth?”.

This episode is not about justifying evil. It's about exposing the hypocrisy in our heroes, the selective morality of modern storytelling, and the monsters we bury inside ourselves to stay “good.” Through psychological and philosophical lenses - Jung, Nietzsche, utilitarianism, and narrative propaganda - we confront the darker mirror of the human psyche.

This is your warning: we’re not pulling punches. No capes. No redemption arcs. Just raw truth and ethical dissonance bleeding under the spotlight.

Forget good versus evil. This is truth versus comfort, and only one walks out.

My microphone has died, so I had to record this one on the iPad. That means the audio is a bit choppy but, fear not, a new mic is on it’s way. Next week we’ll be back to the usual levels of compression.

Much love, David

What if everything you think you are is just a performance? A glitch. A mask. A beautifully rehearsed hallucination mistaken for truth.

In this episode of The Observing I, we dive deep into the architecture of the ego - how it forms, why it lies, and what happens when it collapses.

We begin with Narcissus, not as a symbol of vanity, but as a child starving for recognition. Then we break open Lacan’s Mirror Stage to reveal how our earliest sense of self is built on a fundamental misidentification. We explore the ego as interface, a lifelong performance we mistake for personality. And we descend into the terrifying, liberating silence of ego death.

This episode is about the hunger to be someone, the courage to be no one, and the wisdom to dance between the two.

If you’ve ever felt like a stranger in your own thoughts, this one is for you.

Much love, David

What if the most important thing you’ll ever do isn’t think, achieve, or succeed - but truly meet another human being?

In this episode of The Observing I, we dive into the radical, soul-exposing philosophy of Martin Buber - Jewish mystic, existential rebel, and the man who shattered Western individualism with two words: I and Thou. From mystical Hasidic tales to the sacred silence between two people who dare to be real, Buber’s work challenges everything we think we know about selfhood, love, God, and the art of being present in a world addicted to performance.

This isn’t just a philosophy. It’s a way of seeing. And maybe, if you let it, it’s a way back to being fully alive.

Much love, David

Every great story follows a pattern. From Star Wars to The Matrix, from The Lord of the Rings to Harry Potter, we see the same arc: an ordinary person is called to something greater, faces trials, descends into darkness, and returns transformed.

This isn’t just a formula for storytelling - it’s a blueprint for life itself.

In this episode of The Observing I, we break down Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, not as a storytelling device, but as a psychological and philosophical roadmap for transformation. We’ll explore why this myth is hardwired into us, how Carl Jung’s archetypes shape our reality, and what happens when the hero falls into the abyss and never returns.

We’ll dive into the dark side of the Hero’s Journey, from false heroes to those who mistake power for wisdom, and how postmodern narratives are tearing this ancient myth apart. And finally, we’ll bring it back to you—how to apply the Hero’s Journey as a personal philosophy, how to recognize where you are in the cycle, and how to answer the call when it comes knocking.

Because here’s the truth: you are already on the journey. The only question is - are you going to answer the call?

Much love, David

You’ve been lied to. Not just by society, not just by the self-improvement industry, but by the person staring back at you in the mirror. Every belief you hold, every habit you cling to, every excuse you make - brick by brick, you’ve built your own cage. And now, it’s time to tear it down.

In this episode of The Observing I, we’re dismantling the architecture of self-sabotage, exposing the invisible prison of learned helplessness, and torching the toxic illusions that keep us trapped.

We start by revealing how culture, society, and your own mind conspire to keep you obedient, convincing you that the bars around you are just the way things are. From there, we dive into cognitive dissonance and self-delusion, the mental acrobatics we perform to justify our suffering, and why we fight so hard to protect the very systems that hold us back.

We explore the brutal reality of learned helplessness, how failure conditions us to stay small, and why the fear of uncertainty keeps most people from ever escaping.

Then we rip apart the myth of self-improvement, exposing how the industry profits off your insecurities and keeps you addicted to the illusion of progress rather than actual transformation.

From there, we walk into the fire of demolition and rebirth, where the old self dies and a new version of you struggles to emerge. But real freedom isn’t just about destruction- it’s about reconstruction.

We discuss what it takes to build a life that isn’t just another illusion, a framework based on your own principles rather than inherited programming. And finally, we confront the necessary chaos before rebirth, that terrifying void between who you were and who you are becoming, and why if it feels like you’re falling apart, it means you’re finally getting somewhere.

This isn’t about life hacks or positive thinking. It’s about stripping yourself down to the core, sitting in the wreckage, and deciding, for the first time, who you actually want to be.

But be warned, transformation isn’t comfortable. It’s brutal. It’s painful. It’s chaos. And if you’re willing to go through it, if you’re willing to let the old version of yourself burn, then on the other side, there’s something rare. Something real. And for the first time in your life, it will actually belong to you.

Listen now on Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Much love, David

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