The human mind is unique in that it can observe itself  •  many buddhist teachings, including the teachings on ego, come from simply looking directly at the mind and taking an interest in what arises  •  the sense perceptions are one obvious component of mind  •  the thinking process is considered to be a sixth sense perception  •  a second aspect of mind is the unconscious, or base consciousness  •  a third component of mind is a very subtle but ongoing thread of self-consciousness that labels everything that arises in the mind as “my” experience  •  something colonizes our experience, and that colonizer is ego fixation or ego orientation  •  the point is to be able to discern the difference between perception that is tainted by this subtle ego acquisition from a more free-flowing or pure awareness