If consciousness is the interaction that the cells in our brain experience collectively, then why do we perceive ourselves as a single being?

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Mostly because we evolved to. It would be difficult for an organism to coherently use its brain to work out solutions to problems while it’s having a constant identity crisis.

That said, there are various things you might want to look into. First is the split-brain condition. This is when the corpus callosum, a neural superhighway connecting the halves, gets severed. Evidence indicates that the two halves of the brain start to develop independent personalities. The various parts of the brain cooperate to create a singular identity.

Split-brain - Wikipedia

The other is a postulation called bicameral mind. It’s not taken very seriously by psychologists today, but it’s good as an idea for how spiritual beliefs developed in the times before technology.

Bicameralism (psychology) - Wikipedia