MISIDENTIFICATION

We mistakenly believe that we are our thinking mind, but the thinking mind is, in fact, the outside world.  We are the inside world, the Atman, our true identity.

The outside world is time-bound, transient, unreliable.  The inside world that is the Atman is timeless, steadfast, abiding. 
 
The outside world, because it is in flux, is the source of suffering, whereas the inside world, which never changes, does not cause suffering.

The thinking mind often misreads the outside world, of which it is a part, but the Atman, the inside world, pure consciousness, never misreads anything.  It strictly witnesses.

Lastly, the thinking mind creates the egoic self.  While the Atman mistakenly identifies with this egoic self early on, it soon sees it for the illusion it is and abandons it.