Structure of the ego: it isn't an internalised pecking order, sense of superiority or inferiority, is not built out of qualities, it is identification with a character who has those various attributes. This character exists within a story and only in this way does it 'tell you who you are'. The story is not a random invention, it is an episode belonging to a comprehensive unfolding tale, a unique story whose roots are ultimately mythological. This is the source of the power of narratives. If you encounter a narrative in which the role you identified with is better filled by someone else, and this happens all the time, then your role is immediately transformed into that of a different character, the pretender to that role, etc. This is the ever present threat posed by the other. The deeper you go down the more archetypal and strange, and simpler, the overarching story becomes.