Page 57 - NAMAH-Apr-2025

Insight

Knowledge by Identity

James Anderson

Abstract
The soul is the only entity within that truly sees and, because of that, it truly knows. This is identity
and it is a state of complete becoming. It is the key to oneness within ourselves and oneness with
the Divine. The state of identity can assume universal proportions and take us to the threshold of
transformation. One brief moment can truly ignite and activate one’s life.

But we do not truly know until we identify
with what we see. In Sri Aurobindo’s words,
“The original and fundamental way of knowing,
native to the occult self in things, is a knowledge
by identity…. (1)” True knowledge comes from
beyond the mind. At highest level of the
ordinary mind, reason does its best to sift and
disseminate by means of differentiation and
comparison. It is only second-hand knowledge.
Its contents are meagre and superficial.

Knowledge by identity however, comes from
the province of the soul:

“Knowledge by identity and the wisdom which
results from it that always see the point where
We are all in a process of becoming and we all apparently contradictory things harmonise,
become what we know. Yoga is becoming. complement each other, form a perfectly
Our destiny is a becoming. This yoga and coherent, coordinated whole (2).”
destiny is essentially about becoming what we
essentially are. It is all about re-discovering True knowledge necessitates being conscious
ourselves. of one’s soul.

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