The Anthropomorphic Urge to Otherize

Govinda said: “But what you call thing, is it something real, something intrinsic? Is it not only the illusion of Maya, only image and appearance? Your stone, your tree, are they real?” “This also does not trouble me much,” said Siddhartha. “If they are illusion, then I also am illusion, and so they are always of the same nature as myself. It is that which makes them so lovable and venerable. That is why I can love them. (Location 1343)

The anthropocentric attitude of othering is a hard complex to break. We are all mortals, just like the squirrels and the amoeba that float in the sea.