"...Newtonian physicists were startled to discover that at the core of the atom, at the center of matter there is ... nothing, no thing, pure energy. When they reached into the most fundamental building block of nature, they found a pregnant void--stable patterns of probability striving to connect with other patterns of probability. This discovery revolutionized the physical sciences, initiating the quantum era. By the same token, we are startled to discover that at the core of the person, at the center of selfhood there is ... nothing, pure energy. When we reach into the most fundamental basis of our being we find a pregnant void, a web of relationships. When somebody asks us to talk about ourselves, we talk about family, work, academic background, sports affiliations, etc. In all this talk, where is our "self"? The answer is nowhere, because the self is not a thing, but, as Jarome Brunner says, "a point of view that unifies the flow of experience into a coherent narrative"--a narrative striving to connect with other narratives and become richer..."

(с) Fred Kofman, Peter M. Senge, "Communities of commitment: the heart of learning organizations."