The mindset is subjective, not objective, and where in the world is the West will depend on the particular mindset. A mindset is derived from abstraction; involving inferences concomitant with personal values, leading to progressively higher levels of abstraction. Science, in analogy, depends on hypotheses (inferences) from which theories are derived, and from which we are led progressively into higher levels of abstraction.

For example, science claims heat is generated by rapidly-moving molecules and cold the result of slow-moving molecules. The sensations of hot and cold, however, do not exist in nature and it is our nervous system, in contact with fast-moving or slow-moving molecules, which makes hot or cold a reality. It is subjective experience because though Arctic waters are freezing to us, it is not to the fish inhabiting these waters. The crux, therefore, which dictates the mindset is immersion which, in continuity, produces the crucial prepossessions that decide.

John Locke, in an experiment, placed his left hand in a bowl of 'hot' water and his right hand in a bowl of 'cold' water for a few minutes. He then put them both into a bowl of 'lukewarm' water. Each hand experienced different sensations where the one from the 'hot' experienced cold and the one from the 'cold' experienced hot. The explanation of the paradox, of the same bowl being both hot and cold at the same time, was due to the 'prepossessions', so to speak, of each hand.

The same applies to whether one sees the West, anywhere in the world, according to the criteria mentioned in the article, or sees it in rigid geographical boundaries. It is akin to the mindset which interpreted hot for one hand and cold for the other. Immersion in environment, like the hands, will produce different or antithetic responses. This is the sine qua non for where or what the West is.

Dudley Au