Erinn Earth commented:

 For one who knows oneself as the spiritual self would have to imagine, or pretend, to experience a no self situation.

Juxtaposed to this I will contradict myself by thinking that on the other hand, a person with no feeling of the self (no experience of the ocean) should benefit from imagining it. 

 When I reach emptiness and knowing, there really is no option to imagine a self or try to feel out a self.  It would be a pretense for me as well.  Perhaps one's sense of identity, however it evolved, determines which spiritual path one will follow with confidence, resolve and success. Good luck!