"Hume only used the word 'bundle' to describe the self once, but the word stuck and many now use the term 'bundle theories' to describe a family of positions similar to Hume's. One reason it stuck is that a 'bundle' sounds chaotic and disorganized and so it conveys a sense of the idea's implausibility that critics exploited. The same could be said of Hume's phrase 'nothing but a heap or collection of different perceptions,' but 'bundle' is pithier. One of Hume's contemporaries, Thomas Reid, critically attributed to him the view that 'what we call the mind, is only a bundle of thoughts, passions and emotions, without any subject.' The key word here is 'only.' For many, it just seems incredible that we can be nothing more than a mere bundle of perceptions. But there is nothing 'mere' about it. The universe is no less incredible because it is 'only' a vast collection of atoms. Indeed, perhaps it is more so. Nor are we any less remarkable because we are made up of our thoughts, feelings, memories, desires, and sensations." Julian Baggini