Einstein himself once referred to our sense of separateness as "a kind of optical delusion of consciousness." It is a delusion, he said, that limits our caring because it "restricts us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us." To live in the world we'd really like to see, we must, he continued, undertake a deliberate change in perspective: "Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all creatures and the whole of nature."
— Marc Ian Barasch, Field Notes on the Compassionate Life