Does consciousness intentionally delude itself into believing it is not itself, i.e, that there are others where there is in reality only itself? YES. And if this were to be the case; what would be the motivation? LOVE. It almost seems certain to me that consciousness upholds its illusion of separateness to escape its singleness, its oneness, its aloneness.
It is common knowledge that Existence, God, Consciousness, Singularity, Self, I is Self-Existent and that as such 'all is One Self without a second' which is why I equates to what I call 'Oneself Itself Is'. Consciousness experiences itself as the sum total of its own reality. The previous sentence is the meaning behind I Am That I Am; which also is common knowledge. Any separation is Self-illusioned. Self illusions itself to be separate. God imagines there are others where there is only God. The illusion of separation is thus Self-caused by I, Self, the Singularity, Consciousness, God. There are ten-thousand ways to explain it. But there is only one purpose for this Self-created veil. The purpose of this Self-illusioned separateness only exists to experience companionship, love, warmth, community, connection, togetherness and for no other reason whatsoever. Humanity simply needs to align to God's purpose (which is it's own purpose for there no separation in God). The purpose is the coming together as One (dare I add the word) Love.
~ Wald