1. Ego is thought to be an enduring ‘something’ that persists throughout the changes undergone by this bodymind.

2. Ego occupies a peculiar position in a first respect: this ego must be married to this bodymind. That is, (a) it can’t be that bodymind A is married to egos X, Y, and Z. Nor (b) can it be that bodyminds A, B, and C are married to ego X. Nor (c) can it be that ego X first takes up bodymind A, then (i.e., successively) bodymind B, then C, and so forth. The relationship between ego X and bodymind A must be unique and ongoing for as long as this bodymind lives.

3. Ego occupies a peculiar position in other respects: (a) it can’t be exactly the same as bodymind A, yet (b) it can’t be totally different from bodymind A either. Moreover, (c) the ego must be self-identical (i.e., self-same) throughout the changes undergone by bodymind A. In a strange sense, the ego “hovers” “around” or “within” bodymind A.

4. Ego does not exist. (a) Ego is either exactly the same as bodymind A, or else it is totally different from bodymind A. (b) If it is exactly the same as bodymind A, then whenever any body part or mental part changes, the ego would change also. But it can’t change while still being a separate, enduring self. (c) If the ego is totally different from bodymind A, then there’s no way of establishing the uniqueness of the relationship between this ego (call it X) and bodymind A. And this for at least two reasons. In the first place, whenever we investigate ego in its own terms, we find no distinguishing marks that tell us that here is a limited, finite, individuated being. We only find awareness. In the second place, we discover no marks that connect it uniquely–or at all–with bodymind A, let alone to any bodymind whatsoever. There’s just no-thing here.

5. The only way to “salvage” ego is to accept that the I is permanent. But doing so involves severing the presumed marriage between I and bodymind A–as well as that between I and any other bodymind (like B, C, or D). What “occurs” is an “expansion” of I to the point at which it is understood to be all-encompassing, whole, complete. This is the Real Self, the only Self that is.

6. Of course, then it becomes clear that there is a self for bodymind A. That self is the Real Self. And the Real Self is also expressed fully in bodyminds B, C, D, …, n.