I experience Y, I understand X - but what is the 'I' that experiences and understands?.

What of identity? The term ‘identity’ comes from the Latin ‘Idem’, which literally means, ‘the same.’ Thus we have an essential character that appears to run seamlessly across contexts and is expressed in everything we do. People often experience this essential character, as the prime mover, an original essence that is always with them. So when we say, ‘I experience Y,’ ‘I understand X,’ we refer to an ‘I’ that transcends yet includes our other levels of experience. It is the essential entity ‘I’ that is doing the experiencing, understanding, believing, etc. Thus, we are able to enact contradictory behaviours. I feel I am an independent person, yet at times I can be very dependent.

Or we can accommodate the contradictory by, for example, subtly overdoing the performance of something we feel demeans us. In this way we can deride the whole process, separate ourselves mentally from the unpleasant task and thus preserve a measure of self-respect.