So long as one takes oneself to be a substantial center of subjectivity or agency, as opposed to a causally connected stream of momentary psycho-physical phenomena, one is mired in primal confusion that makes the cultivation of compassion and the liberation from suffering impossible. Only by recognizing that our identities arise only from our own imposition of a unity and coherence on a complex, multifaceted stream of events and processes can we escape that confusion.

— Jay Garfield, Just Another Word for Nothing Left to Lose