ABSTRACT
This chapter serves as an interlude to remind us that the boundaries of the self are quite different from the boundaries round ordinary physical objects. Even my body-self has boundaries which are different from the boundaries to cups and saucers and postagestamps. When I drive in my customary car and am getting through a gap, I think ‘I’ am this wide. In someone else’s car it takes a while for me to learn that ‘I’ am a different width. When playing tennis, ‘I’ reach the ball with no more movement than is required. When I use a mallet and chisel, ‘I’ cut the wood. This is how I think of the things I use every day. Any tool is difficult to use while I behave as though ‘it’ did the work. I have to feel that it is I. When strangers look in the garden from the street, I feel intruded on. I have a personal space round me, and I feel invaded if a stranger comes too close to me. If a burglar comes into my house and shits on the floor, I feel broken in on and dirtied.
