self and other part zero

What is this self and other? We are told on one hand that the concept of self is just an idea. From this falls out the conclusion that ending the self at the boundaries of the body is merely arbitrary.

Why do we not regard existence as a whole, and all the suffering that could exist within it, to be our self, or if the word's meaning falls off before we reach infinity - that is, all space - at least to be of our primary interest? After all, what reason can one give another that their pain and suffering, and only theirs, was most worthy of the attention of all? None that I can think of, so far as we're looking for reasons, but still we act day to day as if ours was the most important part in the play.

It is because this little clump of consciousness here is surrounded by a protective shield of hard bone and pain. Our bodies represent a region of space in which all of the matter has been molded into highly ordered structures, in which every atom has been absorbed and recruited to exhibit an order. We find our conscious experience linked with this region, to the degree that we can to varying degrees of depth and with varying levels of effort drive the behavior and growth of the system. Moreover, we have a subjectively verifiable conscious experience of "badness" whenever that order is disturbed too quickly.

It's only natural that our minds would be attached to our bodies, with this set-up in place. Maybe completely, un-parsimoniously attached, but attached nonetheless.