The complete synthesis of the various aspects of man's being into the higher unity of the human person has proved to be a grave difficulty for modern psychologists. Integrating these two large groups of items constitutes the body-mind problem so prominent in modern psychology. Usually the empirical Ego is observed by the individual in the performance of some action. It may be a bodily action, as when I pay attention to manipulating a tool, to humming a tune, to pronouncing words, etc. I am aware, for example, that something has struck me, that I feel the cold wind, that I have a pain or headache, etc.
Every individual has a history of past experiences.
The traces of these experiences are stored away in the mind and are, to a greater or lesser degree, capable of recall at the present moment. While many events have been forgotten and are perhaps permanently beyond recall, I am usually able to remember the principal experiences of my childhood, youth, and adulthood. Success and failure, education and environment, influence a person in remarkable ways. This change can also occur through a change in memory itself. Injury and illness may bring about a state of dissociation in the memory content.