That little puzzle nearly flipped me once.. or perhaps it did!
Seems like it's time to revisit it.. 
No wonder.
That contemplation is part of the hardest Buddhist meditation - on realisation of emptiness and superior seeing.
First contemplation
The emptiness of I
Identifying the object of negation
Although we grasp at an inherently existent I all the time, even during sleep, it is not easy to identify how it appears to our mind. To identify it clearly we must begin by allowing it to manifest strongly by contemplating situations in which we have an exaggerated sense of I, such as when we are embarrassed , ashamed, afraid, or indignant. We recall or imagine such a situation and then, without any comment or analysis try to attain a clear mental image of how the I naturally appears at such times. We have to be patient at this stage because it may take many sessions before we attain a clear image. Eventually we shall see that the I appears to be completely solid and real, existing from its own side without depending upon the body or the mind. This vividly appearing I is the inherently existent I that we cherish so strongly. It is the I that we defend when we are criticised, and that we are so proud of when we are praised.
Once we have an image of how the I appears in these extreme circumstances, we should try to identify how it appears normally, in less extreme situations. For example, we can observe the I that is presently meditating and try to discover how it appears to our mind. Eventually we shall see that although in this case there is not such an inflated sense of I, nevertheless the I still appears to be inherently existent, existing from its own side without depending upon the body or the mind.
Once we have ans image of the inherently existent I, we focus on it for a while with single-pointed concentration, and the proceed to the second stage.
