It is something we all take for granted, our sense of having a self. Not like the formless soul, but more like the painted pictures that first appeared on walls during the Renaissance. Some historians believe that the self, as we know it, was not a concept in Greek and Roman societies. There are even societies today that lack that concept, or it is only weak. Think of many East Asian cultures, traditional African societies, and Buddhist and Hindu philosophical traditions.

It is hard for us to imagine living in a world without good mirrors or pictures to see ourselves. And this is only the visible part. We now have TV and movies that show us many selves we can mirror, as well as all the books we can read, and the attention companies give to ourselves and how to improve ourselves.

I think it would be better to recognize that we are originally selfless, especially since the sense of self we possess is actually a construct or perhaps a byproduct of influences like Christianity. Consider Augustine’s Confessions, frequently cited as one of the earliest works of autobiographical introspection in Western literature. He examines his thoughts, memories, and moral conflicts, viewing the self as a unified, reflective entity capable of profound inner scrutiny, but this is a story for another time.