Anything within one’s perceptual field may potentially become a fixed reference point. I guess by “fixed” I mean something more like “continuous”. Take for instance the body: it’s one thing within your perceptual field (the sum total of your possible experiences) which we take for granted as being completely continuous, from one perceptual state to the next. While our bodies seem to remain, in fact our experience of them changes constantly: we feel fat, we feel ugly, we feel horny. And so on. Consider then how much more unstable and discontinuous our identity beyond our immediate experience of our body becomes. We seem to change in large or subtle ways depending on who we’re around, what’s happening, what we’re doing - in other words, what stimulus we’re presented with within our perceptual field (our stage, the sensorium).
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As biological organisms, there seems to be an operational imperative driving continuous state-to-state recognition and defense of one’s physical body.
There’s a natural, inherent need for organisms and the physicality to survive; to fight for survival. Sometimes this is superseded by individual sacrifice for the survival of the ‘family’ or species, as exhibited by insects in defense of their colony, or, arguably, humans in war time.
Why do people suffering in excruciating pain from terminal disease still cling to life? Of course some people prefer euthinasia, but others still want to remain attached to their meaty body. They must have a strong will to maintain their physical existence, or fear what comes after.