Thank you very much for your reply, tarin. And, also thank you for splitting the thread, as I wasn't sure the proper etiquette on that kind of thing.
Your answer clarifies a lot, but your last statement brings new questions!
tarin greco:
apperception is where one entirely disappears (and leaves no trace).
Perhaps I have difficulty understanding these things in non-spiritual ways. For "the mind becomes aware of itself" I just could get what was meant by that statement in a down-to-earth factual way... it sounded so spiritual... sorta equivalent to Conciousnes turns back on Itself or something... like "being" aware of "being." But, the way you described it with relation to the eyeball and the physical event of seeing has helped a lot.
Now, the same with "one entirely disappears"... at first glance, that sounds spiritual again... like a unitive experience, or perhaps like: "the self is absorbed into being itself" kind of thing. Perhaps you could help me bring it down to earth a bit.
My experience of apprehending what it is to see was one in which there could be no room for a self, because the experiencing was so direct. As I reflect on it now, it was in some way like "I" disappeared entirely, but not in a mystical way at all. It was more like "I" disappeared and what was left was the physical sensations which were there all along (and the apprehension of those sensations), but as there was no "I" process distorting the experience, it was experienced with a different quality from the ordinary quality of daily life. There was nothing special about it though, and maybe that's where I'm confusing the PCE with a mystical experience. Would it be accurate to say that the PCE isn't special?
Thanks again for your response, and all that you've written here on this website. I'm enjoying it thoroughly.
- Daniel