Reading Highlight

When pure perception is forced into an exact definition by confining it to a word (in this case, “robin”), the sense-of-self arises in that moment. The sense-of-self and the word are mutually dependent upon one another, but it feels as if “I am experiencing a robin.” More specifically, the self arises with the knowledge that the sound is a robin. Knowledge requires a knower, and the self is the mental overlay onto the perception. The self is not inherent in the sound or in the perception, but through knowledge the mind attempts to make the perception that is intrinsically empty into something, in this case a bird.