The self gets an almost metaphysical meaning because it is understood as the sense of I that each of us has. We recognize the self because we understand that our thoughts and feelings are not visible to others if left unexpressed. The self is constructed the moment we start to understand that we are different from others. It is the awareness that goes beyond the cognitive processes of reasoning, as it can not be limited only to the thoughts our brains construct.

The thoughts are of course part of the self, but the self is a form of an immaterialistic, unchangeable subject - the actor who is acting on the behalf of 'I'.