Each of us experiences life as a continual flood of sensations and thoughts that we combine into a powerful sense of being a singular individual, master of our own self. But we aren’t just free agents with our own experiences, loves and hates. We are evolved, sexual, communal, multicellular organisms. Our bodies are beautiful at every scale, down to the trillions of cells from which we are made.
We are also the product of four billion years of evolution, shaped by the divergence and merger of different lineages. The unity of life on Earth becomes clear when we zoom in. Under the microscope, many differences fall away: sulphur-loving microbes, malaria parasites, mushrooms, parrots and humans all share a common organisation, common parts and a common language.
Zoom out. Once born, even if raised by wolves, we are embedded in families and communities that give us identity and purpose. We carry names we did not choose and tell our stories in a mother tongue not our own. We are parts of larger wholes — families, friendships, cultures, societies and the natural world — living in a web of interactions that makes us who we are.
Each of us is much more and much less than a simple ‘I’. By expanding how we understand the self, this book offers a deeper appreciation of what it means to be human and alive, and points towards ways of aligning our lives with the other creatures with whom we share this beautiful planet.
