The isolated self is not the original self or degree zero of selfhood onto which all else is layered, it is only made to seem that way. It is rather a particular and contingent extrapolation of the logic of any appearance whatsoever. You are free to move the centre in either direction from this historical point and the alternatives appear to be radically divergent and irreconcilable. In fact the space is curved and both ways lead to the same jumping off point. You can get there the hard way or the easy way, but no telling which is which.