Okay so we come to the subject of social and mental conditioning, the Ego, the sense of identity, attitudes to external authority figures, and the whole process of socialization. The Ego is essentially a role or character you play, very similar to a character in a movie or a stage play created by an actor, which you need in order to participate in what we all understand to be society.
How much do you believe in your Ego?
The main issue with religion is not whether you believe in God or not. It's how much you believe in your own Ego and how real your Ego and your sense of self is to you.
Please keep in mind that your Ego or sense of self is what you created in childhood as a kind of compromise between your 'inner world', i.e. your innermost thoughts and feelings, and the external social forces all around you, especially figures of external authority such as parents, teachers, political and cultural figures and so on and so forth.
Throughout your life you have been surrounded by people who without much hesitation have spent time telling you who and what you are, what you should think, what you should believe, how you should behave, and what you should do in life. We all do it to ourselves and each other. This is part of the process of socialization where you go from being a newborn baby and through the space of a couple of decades you become a young adult with a sense of identity, and an Ego, fully intent on being a Somebody or even a Somebody Special out in the Real World.
What do you mean when you use 'I' or 'me' in a sentence?
Who exactly who are you referring to? Who is the real you? Do you know?
The chances are, if you are basing your perception of who you are on your Ego, you're going to arrive at a concept, a belief, an opinion, or a label. Or you might call it an identity, a personality, or character, but you're still basing your perception on a concept, a belief, something you have imagined or created out of thought, something out of your imagination.
Think about this
The Ego is about as much a real human being as a photograph of a tree is a real tree. The Ego is an image, a concept, a set of beliefs, a constant story which you keep telling yourself constantly "This is who I am! This is who I am! This is who I am!"
But are you just a concept or an imaginary character in a made up story? Or are you real?
Let's think about this. Is a tree made of wood, or is a tree actually wood? There is a difference between what is conceptual reality, the reality created by human thinking and human imagination, and actual reality, i.e the reality of the universe and Nature. You see if you're basing your concept of reality and what is real only on the basis of concepts and beliefs, and not actual reality, then it's understandable that you will buy into the false illusion of separateness, and also other false illusions, such as continuity, permanence, cause and effect and self-improvement.
This is where we get into the issues of culture and ideology.