John_Mann, I am having a little trouble with understanding your opening post, and that may be because of an issue with semantics. The self (note the lower case s) that is an illusion is a mentally created "me" that people believe themselves to be. But when this idea of me is investigated the search for it comes up empty because that me cannot be found as an actual and real entity. The only thing that can be found of that me are ideas and beliefs one has about oneself. So in this sense there can be no self awareness because there is no self to be found.
Going one step further, what remains when all ideas of me stop completely, when no "story of me" runs through the mind? All stories ABOUT me come from memory; they are tied to past events or imagined futures stored in or created by the mind. In other words, stories are dependent upon a mentally created time, and those stories are constantly being replayed in the mind where the "me" is the starring character of the drama it finds itself in. But in the NOW, in this very moment, when no thoughts of past or ideas of the future are entertained, something remains present and undeniable. In this very moment of now, where life is actually lived because it's the only "time" that truly exists, there remains the sense of existence, of Be-ing, of Am-ness. That SENSE of existence has a liveliness to it that is alert, silent, still, peaceful, and CONSCIOUS. This is sometimes referred to as true nature, the real Self (note the uppercase S). To know oneself as THAT and to knowingly abide in/as That is called Self-realization. Another term for this is enlightenment. In other words, enlightenment is one's true state of being, and by its very nature it is Self aware - it is the ONLY thing that is aware.
However, this Self is not actually a "thing" that can be isolated and looked at as though it has some physical qualities to it. It is that to which all phenomena appears; it is the witnessing consciousness of everything that happens. This is what masters endeavor to point out to people. The "little me" that is created by the mind is not aware of anything, much less "self aware" because because it doesn't really exist; it's only an illusion created and sustained by mental activity, but it isn't aware. It is the Self alone that is aware. You are that Self, and to know oneself as that rather than the mind created me is to be enlightened. This is "liberation" from the dream of me and the awakening into reality as it actually is.
