I think it is a common thread running through all the mystical traditions (and it has certainly been the major insight of my own experiences) that the root of human suffering and delusion is the sense of a lack of “being†as one with your fellow man, or the lack of an intimate connection with the world, and that this lack of connectedness is caused precisely by a false and confused sense of who or what one is, i.e. what the self is. Redemption and freedom then would consist of remembering or rediscovering one's self, finding or constructing a unity from a sense of identity that is fundamentally fragmented. I think it is extremely exciting that people who are not spiritual practitioners, and who have not apprehended this dilemma in an intimate and experiential way, are looking at human cognitive architecture and rediscovering this exact same insight. The picture that is emerging from cognitive science is that “personality†or “identity†is an adaptive strategy that the organism takes on to deal with the world. And moreover, there is not one such personality, but there are really many personalities that go together with particular adaptive situations. This is exactly what one discovers through meditation or psychedelics, or any other non-ordinary state of consciousness that forces the brain to “break†its adaptive strategy and realize that a strategy is all it ever was. It was not an I, a self, or a subject. It was just something that was being done, or played, or performed. And if you ask, “well who was doing it?†the only answer that can be given is “the world itself†or, perhaps “no oneâ€, but these amount to essentially saying the same thing. Furthermore, men and women belong to essentially different spiritual systems, and we will never be able to bridge the gap between them as long as we remain steady in our attempts from our current lower level of this world. This could prove to be very frustrating as we keep trying. Therefore, to come together as one, we must unite our roots, beyond any difference in thinking, feeling or physical appearance. When we work together, we build a connection at an entirely different level – beyond a physical or mental level which is much more spiritual in nature. We can transcend the mundane conflicts and differences, since we have a higher goal. When a man and a woman bond for the purpose of attaining a higher goal, they create a spiritual vessel between them, which doesn't exist in reality. This vessel is neither feminine nor masculine, but a new vessel, in which they receive the sublime abundance – eternal and complete.
What you talk of is the functioning of the ego, which did in part evolve from the base needs of survival, but is now a hindrance in the evolution of humanity and human consciousness. As some may recall, Hitler believed that the Aryan race was the perfect race, and that people with white skin and blue eyes were supposed to be the Aryans. In truth, the idea of Aryans came from ancient Hindu scriptures, that described Aryans not as a race but of and gentleman who lived with virtue and Dharma. I believe the next step in the evolution of humanity is for us to collectively release the ego from our society. Some say that beings evolve simply for the purpose of survival, but this doesn't explain the evolution of beings into more complex states of being where further and more developed awareness is the result. I believe that we are evolving to be more conscious beings. An animal with low levels of consciousness is almost purely ego, and only has the goal of survival in mind, whilst a more evolved animal, like the Bonobo, is very focused on cultural activities. We as Humans are able to question our existence and the sublime truths that are the structure of our universe. Thank you for your wonderful post.