What you are saying has a ring of truth to it that I can faintly grasp, but it lacks a substance that makes it tangible to me. Probably my lackings, for I've had this experience with various self-help books that had a lot to say, they just did not know how to say it. Certainly, the way you put, it comes across very eloquently, but it just doesn't feel right to me. There is that little nagging in the back of my head that will not let me accept what you are saying. It's hard to explain.
Anyway, a number of those self-help books that left me in a funk were the "The Secret of Letting Go," "Freedom from the Ties that Bind," both by Guy Finley and also, his mentor, Vernon Howard, and the book of his that I have read is "The Power of Your Supermind." All three of these books talk about a negative self that keeps you back, and ruins your life. So the idea is to destroy this negative self and let your positive self prevail. He used a bunch of confusing metaphors that he never really connected back to reality, and all in all just gave me an identity crisis. Not very enjoyable, I'll tell you that. But it did get me thinking about the meaning of self and consciousness, which I'm sure pretty much everyone has done, so it wasn't a complete loss. My point was, is, that when you start seperating different versions of yourself, questions must be raised, questions about the meaning of self that I can't at my current status in life really get a feel for. My loss I guess. 
Oh well, I'll just have to make the best of what I've got. 
