Didi, please, would you help clarify the two statements: 

1] That which I know I cannot be. I am the knower of the body; therefore, I am not the known.
2] Consciousness knows itself. In this instance, the knower and the known are the same. 

Answer:

The two statements refer to two different kinds of knowing.

1] “That which I know, I cannot be.” This refers to the Witness Consciousness:

This is the method of discrimination between the Seer and the seen, the Knower and the known, the Witness and the witnessed.

• • The body is known,
  • Thoughts, feelings, sensations are known,
  • Even the Waker-identity is known.

Therefore, none of these can be the essential Knower. They are objects appearing within Consciousness. Here, the Knower and the known are distinct:

• • Witness Consciousness is the Knower.
  • The body-mind-world is the known.

This pointer helps withdraw the false identification of “I” from everything observable. “I am the Knower of the body-mind-world; therefore, I am not the known.” Here, the distinction between the Witness and the witnessed remains. This is the subject-object stage of inquiry.

2] Consciousness knows itself. In this instance, the knower and the known are the same. This refers to the Pure Consciousness:

Here, the Knower and the known are not two. Consciousness is simultaneously that which knows and that which is self-evidently present. It does not need another knower to confirm its presence. Its very Being is its Knowing. This is not subject knowing object. It is immediate, non-dual Knowing. “Consciousness knows itself.” Here, the distinction between Knower and known dissolves. Pure Consciousness does not know itself as an object. Its Being is Knowing. It is self-luminous and self-evident.

Therefore, there is no contradiction. The first statement removes the false identification with the known. The second reveals the nature of the true Knower. I am not anything that appears within Consciousness, yet I cannot stand apart from Consciousness to know it. I know Consciousness by being Consciousness.

So the movement is:

Witnessed objects → Witness of the objects → Pure Consciousness in which neither Witness nor witnessed remains separate.

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