For instance, since we are self-consciously aware, we are ourselves recursive, and are thus B statements in the Axiomatic System A called the Universe. We are neither seamlessly and unconsciously blended with the Universe in which we find ourselves, like a rock is, nor are we completely separated from that Universe, for we perceive it, and conceive of it based upon those perceptions. And perception is perception of something that is other than the perceiver (perceiver and perceived are not identical), but also something that cannot be nonrelational to the perceiver (perceptual perspective is itself an interrelation of perceiver and perceived).

The Buddhists express this condition by saying that the self is neti, neti (not this, not that); in Christian thought, this idea is reflected in the maxim that we are IN the world, yet nevertheless not OF it.

We also, as self-consciously aware human beings, possess present yet imperfect self-awareness. We are thus neither Gods, who would perfectly self-coincide, nor things lacking all self-awareness whatsoever. We lack the unchanging being of either of these - either the perfectly knowing being of Gods or the utterly insensible being of things; we become; that is, we grow and change in understanding within our individual personal histories and the courses of our lives.

The snake of self-conscious awareness must recursively bite its own tail, but cannot swallow its own jaws, and the flashlight of perception cannot shine a light upon its own conceptual batteries.