Vedanta philosophy describes at great length the distinction
between the ‘Seer’ and the ‘seen’, the Subject and the object, the ‘Ego’ and
the ‘non-Ego’.
The ‘Seer’ is the perceiver, identical with the Subject and
the Ego, and is of the nature of Consciousness and Intelligence. The ‘seen’ is
the thing perceived, identical with the object and the non-Ego, and is
insentient by nature.
The ‘Seer’ is all sentiency; therefore the ‘seer’ and the
‘seen’ the Subject and the object, the ‘Ego’ and the ‘non-Ego,’ are mutually
opposed and must never be identified with each other.
If one associates the attributes of the Subject with the
object, or, vice versa, those of the object with the Subject, one is a victim
of an illusory superimposition, the result of one’s own ignorance. Yet it is a
matter of common experience that in daily practical life people do not
distinguishes between the Subject and the object, but superimposes the
attributes of the one upon the other. Through ignorance they confuse the
Subject with the object. This confusion is observable in every action and
thought of our daily life, and is expressed in such common statements as ‘This
is I’ or ‘This is mine,’ whereby we identify the ‘I’, which is of the nature of
Pure Consciousness, with such material objects as the body, the mind, the
senses, house, or country.
On account of the same confusion we associate the Eternal
Self with such characteristics of the body as birth, growth, disease, and
death; and this confusion is expressed in such statements as ‘I am born,’ ‘I am growing,’ ‘I am ill,’ or ‘I am dying.’
Discrimination between the ‘Seer’ and the ‘seen’ is the road
leading to the realization of Truth. The ‘Seer’ is the unchangeable and
homogeneous Consciousness, or the knowing principle. It is the perceiver, the
Subject, the real ‘Ego.’
The ‘seen’ is what is perceived; it is outside the ‘Seer’
and therefore identical with the object. It is matter, non-Self, and non-Ego.
The seen is multiple and changeable.
Swami Nikhilananda, Self-Knowledge, 43 - 4