Being You: A New Science of Consciousness

by Anil Seth

The essence of selfhood is neither a rational mind nor an immaterial soul. It is a deeply embodied biological process, a process that underpins the simple feeling of being alive that is the basis for all our experiences of self, indeed for any conscious experience at all. Being you is literally about your body.

The experience of “being a self” is a subset of conscious contents, encompassing experiences of having a particular body, a first-person perspective, a set of unique memories, as well as experiences of moods, emotions, and “free will.”