I set out on the absurd task of reordering the world to fit my agenda. I try to create a perfect situation, one in which I have everything I want and nothing I don't want. I dream of a life in which all imperfections are removed. In doing so I find myself at odds with the very presence of things.

I find myself confronted with the stubbornness of matter, the fickleness of mood, the ambiguity of perception, the willfulness of thought and habit. As a way of controlling these I split reality into two parts: the bit that is mine and the bit that is not. My body stands in opposition not only to your body but to all other matter. My feelings are the only ones that really count. My version of events is always right. The imperative of my craving is set against the imperative of yours.

— Stephen Batchelor, Buddhism Without Beliefs