[The Tenth Point]
It may be said:
He states: “If that form becomes present to you in some way other than inhering in you, intellectual apprehension occurs without inherence in you. It is known that a thing’s presence to its agent, insofar as it is present to something other than itself, is no less than its presence to its recipient.”
The response is:
The expression “a thing’s being present to another without inhering in it” is ambiguous. It may mean that it comes into his ownership, or that it is with him and in his possession. It may also mean that it becomes available for him to benefit from in some way, assisting him and acting as his partner.
Thus, you may be told: “This money, this house, and this slave are yours.” Or: “This has become available for you to borrow or rent.”
It may also be said: “This woman has become available for you to marry; this companion or partner, for you to accompany and enter into partnership with; this teacher, for you to learn from; and this enemy has fallen into your hands and into your grasp”—and other such expressions.
It is known that none of these kinds of presence entails knowledge without awareness subsisting in the knower. Rather, unless a living being has awareness subsisting in himself of what has become available to him, he is not aware of it.
Awareness is the first degree of knowledge and intellectual apprehension. How, then, can someone who is not aware of a thing know it or intellectually apprehend it?