Sense Impressions

The lesson describes sense impressions arriving from outside as material upon which the mind works to produce thought. This gives perception a preparatory role: the source connects what is received with what is subsequently made of it.

The preceding page says people mistakenly assume awareness of all sensations received by the mind. It portrays unconscious regions as larger than the small conscious area ordinarily identified with one's mind, introducing a difference between reception and conscious notice.

The material metaphor helps distinguish an impression from a finished idea. The accompanying account of unconscious reception remains the source's theory, and should not be converted into a claim that every unnoticed impression can be recovered or that hidden information is reliably accessible.