We are but waves

A wave is a perturbation of matter. The waves on a body of water are not made of that water, they are the pattern of the water's displacement. The molecules of water that go up one moment and down the next are not the same molecules that will rise and fall in subsequent moments. The wave moves along while the water stays behind. Should that wave have a name, say, Larry, then Larry can be identified by his amplitude, frequency, wavelength, velocity, position, but not by the water molecules that appear to compose Larry at any given time.

The atoms and molecules that reside within your brain as you read this are different atoms than those that occupied it a decade ago, a year ago, even a week ago. There is very likely a molecule of water within your body at this very moment that was in the Indian Ocean quite recently, and millions of water molecules formerly of your body that are now lapping the shores of Sri Lanka. The stuff which you comprise is transient and ever-changing. The carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen and phosphorus that make the neurons that store your memories are all different atoms then the ones that were there when those memories were formed. If that doesn't blow your mind, then you've either heard it before, or you need to read it again.

"You" are simply the disturbance that is perturbing the environment through which you currently pass.

If that's the case, and it certainly is, then how can we consider our "selves" as being something apart from our environment?