The natural state of "being-one-self" is basically related to the inter-determining relationship between positive and negative, life and death, body and mind. We protect ourselves through means of attraction to what might sustain us and rejection of that which might be destructive. On this basis, through our conceptually based perceptions, entangled with our emotions, we gradually develop many layers of self, ego and image identity. The more we identify with an outer layer of ourselves, the more imbalanced and vulnerable we become. In this process, and in particular in highly rational and technological cultures where we no longer are so dependant on our natural body abilities, we tend to lose or repress them. This brings about alienation to ourselves, to nature and our surroundings in general.