We must hold our identities lightly

The self is an illusion because it does not persist. One cannot point to a region of the brain or body and state one's self is located there. If we can see the ego "as an interdependent stream of dynamic experience" (Ricard 159), we can understand that an unwavering, unchanging self does not exist.

[...] yes, there is a self, but it's simply a mental label for the stream of our experience, the association of our body and consciousness, which is made of parts and is ephemeral. There is nothing more than a conceptual, nominal self. Why should we be so obsessed with protecting and pleasing the self at any cost (Ricard 143).

The self is a projection that allows us to function in this world, and naming it is a convenience in much the same way we name rivers. Rivers have characteristics that are similar across them, but each river is distinguishable from another, while also the individual river never being the same, as it is constantly flowing and in flux. The self becomes problematic when we attach a static attribute to it or believe that the self is me.