What comes first, the person or the knower. The person is a very small thing. Actually it is a composite, it cannot be said to exist by itself. Unperceived, it is just not there. It is but the shadow of the mind, the sum total of memories.
Pure being is reflected in the mirror of the mind, as knowing.
What is known takes the shape of a person, based on memory and habit. It is but a shadow, or a projection of the knower onto the screen of the mind. The mirror is there, the reflection is there. The supreme is the sun. It must be conscious.