Self-consciousness, movies, halls of mirrors and immortality

Self-consciousness could be defined as 'awareness that experience is happening'. A cat wakes up feeling hungry and 'decides' to hunt, catches a mouse and eats it. I wake up feeling hungry, make breakfast and eat it. 
One difference between me and the cat is the concept of self.
I can think 'I am eating breakfast' - the cat has no language and can't formulate such a thought. Essentially self-consciousness involves removing myself one step from reality so I can invent an 'I' which can be referred to. This is a uniquely human ability which can get us into all sorts of trouble:

• We can pretend we are in a movie in which we are the main protagonist.
• We can create endless chains of self-consciousness: "I am aware that I am thinking 'I am eating breakfast'" .... and so on to infinity.
• We can delude ourselves into thinking that the 'I' we have invented actually exists - and is immortal.