A quote by C.G. Jung

When you play roles, you are unconscious. When you catch yourself playing a role, that recognition creates a space between you and the role. It is the beginning of freedom from the role. When you are completely identified with a role, you confuse a pattern of behavior with who you are, and you take yourself very seriously.

This is why, as we develop, we are constantly splitting into various identities. With enough fragmentation, I can be one person when I am alone or with my selected circle; and another, opposite, person when I am with those who mirror the aspects of myself I have been conditioned to hate and reject, and not see any inconsistency in myself. I am the

The artificial ego-entity that the world (and Dostoyevsky himself perhaps) believes to be Dostoevsky is discovering a deeper, wider, smarter, braver personage that has traveled across leagues and eons to reach this present moment and will continue its passage long after "Dostoyevsky" is gone. The artist himself is disposable. What endures

When your thoughts become your identity that is called ego. Ego is a case of mistaken identity. You believe that the illusory thoughts that come and go are your true self. Your true self is the dimension of you that does not come and go.

The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, personal and family history, belief systems, and often also political, nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. None of these