I’d wager it’s a protective mechanism, honed by evolution. The sense of self is important to maintaining a coherent handle on reality, and to building social b

I’d wager it’s a protective mechanism, honed by evolution. The sense of self is important to maintaining a coherent handle on reality, and to building social bonds - if you see yourself as an ephemeral phenomena - as you are - then it makes both matters considerably harder, and harms your chances of survival. For example, people like to talk about “forever”, when the reality is always anything but - yet they earnestly mean and believe it in the moment as to accept that this too is transient is too painful, and leads to an avoidance of commitment due to the understanding that this is not forever. We have to keep our blinkers on, lest we get spooked by the passage of time and the fleeting phenomenon that is a human life.