Seething Center, 39th Day of Spring, 526 M.E. (Deneb): "If I can guide my thoughts to recognize there is no essence of me,  that my self is the unfolding of perceptions and that they're constantly changing," British neuroscientist Anil Seth told Michael Pollan, "I think it reduces the existential pain of illness, at least a little bit." 

When we are suffering, Pollan concludes, the impermanence of the self can be a comfort. 

Zen Master Dogen would not have disagreed. The primary point, he states in Zuimonki, is to separate from your ego. To do so, he taught, you have to consider impermanence. "Our life is like a dream," he says. "Time passes swiftly. Our dew-like life easily disappears." Since time waits for no one, we should try to do good for others as long as we are alive and not worry about our own selves or our reputation.   

I'm three-quarters of the way through Pollan's A World Arises. If this book doesn't end with him becoming a full-fledged Buddhist, he's missed the truth right in front of his eyes.