When one speaks of relation, one deals only with the known world within the waking/dream. When the known [waking/dream] goes, he says that because he actually sees the known [waking or dream] going; but he can never see the knower go. He can only say "he does not know" about it. One cannot speak of the known [three states] without the formless knower. But when the known [three states] has vanished, there is nothing to be said about the knower.
The act of conceiving in thought demands two factors. One cannot conceive the Formless Witness, the seer or knower, because he can say nothing about it, without making it an object. It cannot be pulled down to the level of an object, the seen.
The duality of formless witness and the seen[three states] is not the same as the duality of two things in the objective world within the waking/dream, for here both are known and seen, whereas there one is known; the formless witness remaining unknown and all one can say of it is "he cannot make any statement about it. It is incomprehensible.
“If formless witness disappears, as does the three states then one must posit another seer to replace it; but in fact no one has ever seen its disappearance. One never uses the word formless witness without the three states. It has no meaning apart from it. – FORMLESS PATH