For van der Leeuw, understanding is the subjective aspect of phenomena, which is inherently intertwined with the objectivity of that which is manifest. Van der Leeuw articulates the relation of understanding to understood phenomena according to the schema outlined in Dilthey’s definition of the human sciences ("Geisteswissenschaften") as sciences that are “based on the relations between experience, expression and understanding” (“"Verhältnis von Erlebnis, Ausdruck, und Verstehen"”). Van der Leeuw correlates subjective experience, expression, and understanding with three objective levels of appearing—relative concealment ("Verborgenheit"), relative transparency ("Durchsichtigkeit"), and gradually becoming manifest or revealed ("Offenbarwerden"), wherein the understanding of what is becoming revealed is the primordial level of appearing from which the experienced concealment and expressed transparency of appearing are derived.