I'm not more than a small system that is part of a larger system - trying to be identified as something to itselfΒ so it can understand something else it's experiencing in comparison to what it's identified itself as.Β Thus ego emerged, as awareness capacity grew. We are nature.
Building our world through a duelist lens may be the greatest philosophical mistake our species has made and may lead to our extinction. Inner mind and external world are not separate things - agency does not free us from nature but is just nature expressed as yourself.
So long as you try to be like something else (even if you look so much like it, you fool yourself) you are still not the authentic thing. Look inwardly instead. If you're going to try and be like something - be like you. Only you can do that perfectly.
We learn as we reflect and thoughts come into our awareness. We reflect with mindfulness so we can step out of our own way and see what awareness will bring.
It's just a dance
A dance with the devil
Until the song stops
And you put down the shovel
Your own grave dug
But that's just how life is
You dance till you don't