" Resting upon the pre-logical unity of the body schema, the perceptual synthesis no more possesses the secret of its object than it does the secret of one's own body, and this is why the perceived object always presents itself as transcendent, this is why the synthesis appears to be carried out on the object itself, in the world, and not within this metaphysical point that is the thinking subject...Each appearance of the thing that falls before our perception is still nothing but an invitation to perceive more and a momentary pause in the perceptual process. If the thing itself were attained, it would from then on be stretched out before us without any mystery. It would cease to exist as a thing at the very moment that we believed we possessed it. What makes up the 'reality' of the thing is thus precisely what steals it from our possession. The aseity of the thing--its irrecusable presence and the perpetual absence into which it withdraws--are two inseparable aspects of transcendence. "

― Maurice Merleau-Ponty , Phenomenology of Perception