
The image that you have of yourself is a social institution -in the same way as it is, for example, a social institution to divide the day into twenty four hours, or to divide the foot into twelve inches, or to draw imaginary lines of latitude and longitude which are purely imaginary over the surface of the earth. It's very useful to do that because these lines are the means of navigation, but there are no lines of latitude and longitude on or over the earth-they are imaginary. You cannot, for example, use the equator to tie up a package, because it's an abstract, imaginary line. And in just the same way, your image of yourself as an ego is an imaginary concept that is not the organism and furthermore, is not this organism in its inseparable relationship to its whole physical and natural environment.
-Alan Watts
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