Acharya Prashant explains that the tendency to take things personally arises from taking one's own 'personhood' too seriously. He argues that the 'person' is a collection of accidental factors such as gender, religion, background, and physical appearance, none of which are chosen by the individual. Since these attributes are largely biological or environmental accidents, the ego's claim of doership or agency over them is a myth. He identifies this fictitious central entity as the ego or the self, which is the root cause of personal suffering and sensitivity to external opinions.