I'm a New Earth (and so can you!)

Hm. "A New Earth" is interesting. It deals with ego. I have a huge ego, hence an entire blog dedicated to mundane shit like what I eat and how far I run. And I've always admitted to having a huge ego (in certain regards), though I do realize that, say, in instances where I desire to have my ego stroked it's all rather fleeting. You get stroked, and you feel pretty good, but then you're back to square one. Which likely is because I'm not "in the Now" or whatever the mantra of this book is.
I don't buy into fame, or the concept of fame. I'm not materialistic and I don't seek happiness in objects. I don't (for the most part) think that my ideas or my spirituality or my knowledge is better than yours: it's likely just different and I'm glad you're different and that (hopefully) we can still be friends because I will likely learn and grow from our differences. I'm somewhat (but not entirely) hung up on my physical appearance, but I'm letting it go as time progresses. Also, I am not my profession. Furthermore, I disagree with much traditionalism as to what constitutes a husband/partner, a parent, a relationship, etc. (for example, why do we reward people because they have a $5,000 ring on their finger, or think that it is a symbol of some kind of resolute achievement?) .
The thing I can't reconcile with this book so far is the following passage (which relates to a child's sense of "I" and "mine" through his sense of ownership of a toy):
"And so as the child grows up, the original I-thought attracts other thoughts to itself: It becomes identified with a gender, possessions, the sense-perceived body, a nationality, race, religion, profession. Other things the "I" identifies with are roles - mother, father, husband, wife, and so on - accumulated knowledge or opinions, likes and dislikes, and also things that happened to "me" in the past, the memory of which are thoughts that further define my sense of self as "me and my story". These are only some of the things people derive their sense of identity from. They are ultimately no more than thoughts held together precariously by the fact that they are all invested with a sense of self. The mental construct is what you normally refer to when you say "I". To be more precise: Most of the time it is not you who speaks when you say or think "I" but some aspect of that mental construct, the egoic self."
Yeah. I don't care for that passage. Ultimately your nationality, gender, race, religion and profession are arbitrary. They could be A or they could be B based on any number of circumstances (hence I don't refer to myself as an accountant). Roles, too, are bullshit. Roles infer that there are some confined labels to which you should subscribe to, and I've never been good at that. Nor has anyone in my immediate family. What's a "boyfriend" or a "wife"?
But it is the accumulated knowledge, opinions, likes, dislikes and things that happened to me in the past that make me who I am. I don't understand how they can be equated with ego or be construed as negative. These things, these memories, these opinions and this knowledge were key components to getting me to the here and now, and therefore cannot be excluded from it.
A choice that I make today or tomorrow may stem from the time that my brother sliced his leg open at Lasqueti when he was little and was bleeding profusely. An opinion that I form is a result of a lengthy conversation that I had with a close friend over lunch recently. My accumulated knowledge has kept me employed for the last fourteen years and ultimately (and ironically) paid for the purchase of Mr. Tolle's book.
I guess I'm arguing towards a "sense of self" here. I'm not sure how it meshes with the concept of letting go of one's ego and being in the now, so I'll reserve judgement until I'm done the book (which seems to really be Buddhism as packaged nicely for Westerners - sorry, I'm forming opinions early, but that is how it comes across thus far).
Mostly, I'll admit to being kind of tired.
And also? I like my sense of self (which is ego), but I think some ego is healthy and we should not forget the steps (or missteps) that we have taken to arrive at where we currently are.
But fundamentally? I'm super pissed because I'm supposed to run 12 miles tomorrow and that means a water belt and I haven't worn a water belt since the Victoria Marathon (where I re-qualified for Boston because I have a huge ego and I'm rad).
Stroke it.
Stroke it...