All things belong to a whole. All things are therefore related to us even as islands are connected together by the earth, which projects them. Our separateness is an illusion, for our divine Self not the ego knows only unity. The desire for infinite bliss is our hidden motivation in everything we do. We seek pleasure because, deep inside us, we long for the bliss of our true nature.
Pleasure is the distorted reflection of bliss in the mirror of our worldly expectations.
Our consciousness of separation from that nature, and from one another, arises only because our attention is superficial. We are spiritually myopic, the consequence of concentrating too exclusively on this one body, these particular feelings, the thoughts in our little brains. Nor does thought make us aware of our existence, as Descartes declared, for without awareness one cannot think at all. And in order even to think we must be aware that we exist. But of course, even this would not be a definition.