Sri Aurobindo points out that the inherent limitations of the knowledge based on the framework of the human instrument of knowledge, makes it impossible to obtain, simply by entering into the subliminal inner being, the complete knowledge. There are ranges of knowledge both above and below the range within which human awareness can function, even in its most extended form. In the investigation of the different forms of knowledge, the knowledge by identity versus the separative knowledge, it is therefore necessary to take the next step and proceed to the next level of awareness to obtain our answers.
He describes it this way: “In the subliminal, therefore, even enlarged into the cosmic consciousness, we get a greater knowledge but not the complete and original knowledge. To go farther and see what the knowledge by identity is in its purity and in what way and to what extent it originates, admits or uses the other powers of knowledge, we have to go beyond the inner mind and life and subtle-physical to the two other ends of the subliminal, interrogate the subconscient and contact or enter into the superconscient.”
Of course, the subconscient is dark and obscure, and does not yield up its secret oneness. Thus, Sri Aurobindo points us toward the other direction for further illumination: “The superior superconscient ranges are based upon the spiritual consciousness free and luminous, and it is there that we can trace the original power of knowledge and perceive the origin and difference of the two distinct orders, knowledge by identity and separative knowledge.”
Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Book 2, Part I, Chapter 10, Knowledge by Identity and Separative Knowledge, pg. 544
Sri Aurobindo Studies 