That the “self” is not real, as an experience, is false, but otherwise, true
I am completely human. “I” am an illusion produced by something best understood as “machinery” and not at all like an independent “spirit.” “I” am a projection of a projector. My entire consciousness is in fact a projection wholly dependent upon what is humanly understood as "machinery." I cannot escape being this projection: my machinery/senses force "perception" upon all intelligent action and social communication. As a consequence, there is no intelligent human experience which does not include a “perceiver,” an experience of a "self" that is distinct from what is perceived. The claim that the “self” is not real, as an experience, is false, but otherwise, true. This is neither a paradox, nor a contradiction.