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The Inner Being Far Exceeds the Limits of the Surface Personality · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  In order to function in the outer world, we wind up
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  filtering out most of the input that comes our way, such that
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  only a very small percentage of what we perceive or experience
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  actually comes into our waking awareness.
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  The rest is captured and held somewhere in what we call the
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  subconscious level of our being. To come forth only under
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  circumstances that trigger the awareness, or with prodding
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  under the influence of techniques such as hypnotism or
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  various forms of regression therapy that take us back into
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  circumstances and events and let the mind examine the
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  observations of the event from a new angle.
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  Without such a filtering process, we would have a
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  tremendous amount of data to process and we would be
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  functionally paralyzed into inaction.
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  The filtering process is one that is refined as we focus our
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  attention on various interests or outcomes and target data that
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  will aid us in achieving the desired result.
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  This does not imply, however, that the rest of the input is
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  ineffective and has no impact on the direction, response and
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  actions we take, rather that we consciously only pay attention
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  to certain key factors while the others influence us unseen and
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  unnoted. While we focus our attention on
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  the external world and our waking self, there is much more
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  to existence and the significance of each being than
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  just that external interaction. The inner being has a much wider
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  range and scope of action than the limited and filtered life of
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  the surface personality, Shriorobinda notes Quote This
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  concealed self and consciousness is our real or whole being, of
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  which the outer is a part and a phenomenon, A selective
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  formation for a surface use. We perceive only a small number
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  of the contacts of things which impinge upon us.
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  The inner being perceives all that enters or touches us and
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  our environment. We perceive only a part of the
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  workings of our life and being. The inner being perceives so
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  much that we might almost suppose that nothing escapes its
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  view. We remember only a small
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  selection from our perceptions, and of these even we keep a
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  great part in the storeroom where we cannot always lay our
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  hand upon what we need. The inner being retains
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  everything that it has ever received.
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  And has it always ready to hand. We conform into coordinated
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  understanding and knowledge. Only so much of our perceptions
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  and memories as our trained intelligence and mental capacity
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  can grasp in their sense and appreciate in their relations.
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  The intelligence of the inner being needs no training, but
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  preserves the accurate form and relations of all its perceptions
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  and memories. And though this is a proposition
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  which may be considered doubtful or difficult to concede, in its
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  fullness, can grasp immediately, when it does not possess already
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  their significance. And its perceptions are not
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  confined, as are ordinarily those of the waking mind, to the
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  scanty gleanings of the physical senses, but extend far beyond,
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  and use, as telepathic phenomena of many kinds bear witness a
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  subtle sense, the limits of which are too wide to be easily
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  fixed. The relations between the
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  surface will or impulsion and the subliminal urge mistakenly
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  described as unconscious or subconscious, have not been
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  properly studied, except in regard to unusual and
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  unorganized manifestations and to certain morbidly abnormal
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  phenomena of the diseased human mind.
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  But if we pursue our observation far enough, we shall find that
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  the cognition and will or impulsive force of the inner
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  being really stand behind the whole conscious becoming.
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  The latter represents only that part of its secret endeavor and
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  achievement which rises successfully to the surface of
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  our life. To know our inner being is the
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  first step towards a real self knowledge.
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  If we undertake this self discovery and enlarge our
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  knowledge of the subliminal self, so conceiving it as to
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  include in it our lower subconscient and upper
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  superconscient ends, we shall discover that it is really this
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  which provides the whole material of our apparent being,
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  and that our perceptions, our memories, our effectuations of
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  will and intelligence, are only a selection from its
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  perceptions, memories, activities, and relations of
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  will and intelligence. Our very ego is only a minor and
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  superficial formulation of its self consciousness and self
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  experience. It is as it were, the urgency
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  out of which the waves of our conscious becoming arise.
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  End Quote Reference Shriorobindo and the Mother, The Hidden
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  Forces of Life, chapter 2, Hidden Forces within pages 30 to
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  31.