You only have an actual, individual & personal self if it is an informed self;
the self everyone is born with (as is obvious to all) comes not informed,
and in fact (via ordinary educational methods) IS never fully so.
 

Man’s genetic template produces in his nervous system what he calls, consciousness, and in consciousness is produced what men refer to as their self  --
an intangible entity, as opposed to their physical body,
and this self seems to vary as much from person to person as does body type,
but in common do all natural born selves soon believe themselves
basically aware mentally of what life is about,
and diligently on track to be eventually fully so informed there about.
 

This is civilized humanity’s standard set up,
but an individual with slightly non standard wiring & programming has access to
a perspective of this situation that tells a story of what man is about,
substantially different from the one held/accepted by the majority.
 

Everyone’s self is as much their own as is their body,
(which, for a super alert mind is all that really need be noted)
and normally constructed men find no fundamental fault with
their consciousness’ concept of this apparent reality;
each man’s mind/self assures him and itself with almost every breath
(albeit not necessarily overtly) that it is him --  individually and uniquely  --
and that it is fully informed as to what is going on with life, with other men,
and with itself (or close thereto).
One feature for certain is that the self with which each man’s nervous system comes, carries the belief that it CAN be made fully knowledgeable of the various
intangible matters inherently held by consciousness to be of special importance to
a civilized, educated and thoughtful man;
any ignorance this indigenous self may confess
it will profess to be instructable thereabout,
but by and large, at any given, unexamined moment,
an ordinary man’s self feels itself to be fully informed of the subject on which
it is instantly holding forth --  at least in comparison to the other mortal with whom
it is verbally/mentally holding forth/contending/jousting.

From a more objective vista, this is a non commencer, truth being that
the native self is born as informed of the life-thing as it will ever be:
this mental self can be increasingly informed regarding the nature of the
physical world, but is as hip at birth to everything else as it will ever be;
as with all good certain-man-stuff, this cannot be proven,
nor made sufficiently comprehensive to even be examined by ordinary minds  --
it’s just a fact, which you either instantly grasp as valid or you never will.
From every practical perspective, even before a man’s consciousness is
settled enough in place to speak and have memory,
it (for all insects & porpoises) is as informed of the nature of man, itself, and life
as it will ever be.
Genetically, so it be with all:
a gazelle is born fully informed in gazelleness,
and so too a human, even with their addition of consciousness;
men are born fully informed in how to be human and also in how to be conscious,
and informed of things (specifically for our interest: non physical things),
and with 99.99999% of men  --   end of story.
 

The self they are born with  --  one programmed to accept itself as being
fully informed as to itself, and the entire spectrum of man’s cultural/spiritual/psychological (and all other intangible matters) world, is the only one they will ever know (to be most indulgent in the employment of the word, know);
it will never enlarge  --  but indeed may shrink  --  with age,
and will never become more enlightened
(but can seem to become tolerant-come-indifferent  --  again, with age);
it (for all intelligent discussion based on observation) is a fixed feature  --  tale told.
 

The other meaningful facet to this for the few is that without you achieve
the transformation of consciousness that comes from realizing what is going on,
the self you have is not YOUR self –
it does not belong to YOU, but rather is part of common community property,
owned and controlled by everyone else’s consciousness  --
not in any sense, belonging-to, or reflective-of you individually.
 

An ordinary man truly does not possess anything like a personal self  --
his own, privately owned, free standing home,
but instead is installed in a world sized condo whereby what seems to him to be
the full statement of his self, and his consciousness is nothing more than
a one six billionth of the whole structure.
A routine man’s self & consciousness does not think what it wants to think –
but rather  --  what everyone else’s wants it to think,  indeed  --  forces it to think.
Your self is born just as much an inseparable part of collective human consciousness as is your body of the physical mortal species, and only by an extraordinary swipe
can this inherent arrangement be altered.
 

The ancient idea/feeling/suspicion that man is not as conscious as he could be,
but mentally lives in large part, as though asleep and in a dream,
and from which, through extraordinary effort, he can awaken,
can be seen as an oblique noting that a man’s apparent self --
the overt, verbal manifestation OF his consciousness  –  Is not his own,
but simply a small, inseparable piece of humanity’s collective consciousness,
and that only by achieving the realization does he come to actually HAVE a self
that is personally his.
 

Your natural-born, un realized, un transformed, un-personally-informed self
can never grasp what is going on with life and  man;
an uninformed man has no real individual self,
and a man sans an actual personal self will be forever uninformed;
when you recognize this on your own you will instantly understand both that
no one knows anything  --   and why.
It is not a matter other men’s consciousness being stupid  --
but rather that they do not have one,
all they have is a miniscule, meaningless piece of a gigantic,
impersonal consciousness which they by birth are made to speak of as being theirs.