The body as primary identity. Neuroscience describes a "bodily self" based on interoception and body image (Damasio speaks of a proto-self). This is the most immediate layer of identity.

The ego as a construct. The "narrative self" appears as a model that the brain constructs of itself (Metzinger, Gallagher). Default mode networks are associated with rumination and self-referential thinking. Studies on meditation suggest that the activity of this network decreases in experienced practitioners, with less rumination.

Stereotypes and concepts. Cognitive psychology shows that schemas, biases, and categories facilitate perception but also distort it (Kahneman, Bartlett). Understanding these mechanisms reduces their influence.

Emotional burden. Rigid identification with the body and self-image fuels anxiety, comparison, and shame. Science does not establish a "Self" in the spiritual sense: the third identity remains outside its field or falls under open hypotheses (panpsychism, integrated information).

Hinduism

Beyond the three bodies lies the Atman, the Witnessing Self. The ego (ahamkara, the "self-maker") is a function of the mind; to be confused with it is ignorance (avidya). The three gunas (sattva, rajas, tamas) color experience with beneficial or harmful energies. Liberation (moksha) comes from knowledge: for Shankara, distinguishing the Self from non-Self; for Ramana Maharshi, asking "Who am I?"

Buddhism

The "three poisons" (greed, aversion, ignorance) hinder liberation; their opposites open it.

The Buddha proposes a path of experience rather than belief.

Judaism

The Talmud speaks of two inclinations, good (yetser ha-tovy) and evil (yetser ha-ra), which coexist in everyone: dynamics that elevate or weigh down.

Christianity

Saint Paul contrasts the flesh and the spirit (Galatians 5); John Cassian and the Desert Fathers describe the struggle against the thoughts that weigh down the soul.

Islam and Sufism

The Qur'an distinguishes between the soul that incites evil (12:53), the self-reproaching soul (75:2), and the tranquil soul (89:27): three states of the same soul on its journey.

Sikhism

Guru Nanak calls the ego that separates haumai; meditation on the Name dissolves it and opens the way to life lived in the presence of the divine.

Three Faces of Being

First, we are a body: a form that is born, nourished, and ages. Then comes the ego, that voice that says "me," that compares, desires, fears, and defends itself. Many stop there. They inhabit these first two realms as if the entire world were contained within them, and their hearts are burdened with a weight that no one has taught them to lay down.

Yet, a third presence watches over the other two: the Self, silent, ageless, witness to form and ego. It does not stir when they do.

Liberation does not come from a struggle, but from a gaze. It is about seeing the preconceived ideas, the stereotypes, the images we have adopted for ourselves, and understanding how they weave our chains, or sometimes how they open the door.

These three fundamentals permeate us, sometimes luminous, sometimes obscure, depending on whether we ignore them or acknowledge them. To recognize the body without being reduced to it, to welcome the ego without obeying it, to finally find rest in what is observed: perhaps this is the whole path.

And when the burden lightens, we discover that peace was not something to be conquered. It was simply waiting for us to stop searching elsewhere.