To avoid misunderstandings I would like to point out what the esoterist means by “knowledge through contact”.
It is the contact, the
fusion or the bridge between parts of the same conscience.
Specifically, it is the re-union (contact) of the material conscience, linked to the senses (personality), to the centre of the metaphysical conscience (spiritual self).
In other words the “knowledge through contact” evolves in the fusion between the physical self (reason) and the superior Ego (intelligence), or in the unification between the impermanent and permanent Self.
Here, despite the difference in terms, the meaning is that knowledge through contact is the exponential development of the psychic abilities. It is the event in the mind in which the knowledge acquired in previous lives is added to the experiences lived in the present.
According to the oriental tradition the previous memory originates the Karma. It is a memory called “causal body” because it reacts to the law of Cause and Effect. The origin and cause of the many advantages and disadvantages characterize the “individual physical destiny”.
I think it's clear that knowledge through contact is the development of the inborn abilities of the single individual when his mind is put in condition to interact with the noblest (real) part of himself, which is the spiritual conscience. 
