Since then, the immediate presence, the intimate union of the understanding with the thing known is necessary, it is clear that as the _me_ has this immediate presence only for itself and its own acts, the fact sought for must be the _me_ itself. That which is immediately present to us is the facts of consciousness; by them we place ourselves in communication with what is distinct from us. In case then that we must find a primitive fact, the origin of all others, this fact must be the _me_. If we deny this consequence, we must deny the possibility of finding any fact which may be the source of transcendental science. Here we see how the apparently most innocent philosophical pretensions lead to fatal results. 107. There is here certainly very little chance for evasion, but there is one so specious as to merit an examination. The fact, which is the scientific origin of all others, is not necessarily their true origin. By distinguishing between the principle of being and the principle of knowledge, all difficulty seems to be avoided. It is absurd and contrary to common sense, that the _me_ is the origin of all that exists; but not that it is the representative principle of all that is or can be known. Representation is not synonymous with causality. Ideas represent but do not cause the objects represented. Why, then, is it not possible to admit a fact representative of all that the human understanding can know? It is certain that the perception of this fact must be immediate, that is, it must be supposed intimately present to the understanding perceiving it; for which reason, it can be nothing else than the _me_: this, however, is not to deify the _me_, but only to concede to it a representative force, which may have been given to it by a superior being. It makes the _me_ not an universal cause, but a mirror which reflects the internal and external worlds.