To “conceive” or “imagine” (maññati) is, according to the commentary, to think in terms of a “self”, proliferating experience through craving, conceit, or views until it is constructed for me. This usage draws upon such passages as Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.3.20, where due to ignorance, a person “imagines” in a dream the fearful things they saw when awake, or at the highest level, “imagines I am this all” (ahamevedaṁ sarvo’smīti manyate). See MN 1:3.3.