The reifying self

Humans mistake identity as reality.

This is incorrect, and is illusion.

Right view, from the Buddhist Noble Eightfold Path, directs us to see the true Self beyond identity. This is to say, to yourself as you truly are.

The mistake or rather misperception, is the continual self-reification where personality identities itself as the "I", "me" or "my".

In Yoga, this is "ahamkara" or ego that perceives itself as the Self.

In spiritual practice, the challenge is to develop witness consciousness which provides the neutral observational awareness to perceive this difference.

Once we are able to perceive that there is a part of ourselves that "watched" the "other", we begin to realize that we are more than we originally thought ourselves to be.

This becomes one of the many steps in discovering inner and outer freedom.