"Glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory I had with thee before the world was."
"Glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory I had with thee before the world was."
"A Parenthesis in Eternity" by Joel S. Goldsmith"A Parenthesis in Eternity" pdf file Chapter 7 - The Sacred Word I AM THAT I AM: EXODUS 3:14
In an attempt to fathom the mystery of God, to explain what can never be explained, and to encompass what can never be encompassed, man has used words. But words can never explain God. There can never be a word that is God. Not even the word God is God, nor the Words Mind, Soul, Spirit, or Truth, for all these are effects objective to the person voicing them. There are no synonyms for God in absolute truth. Those that we Use are really only attributes descriptive of God. Soul is an attribute of the purity of God; Spirit describes God's incorporeality; love, mind, principle, and law are facets of God-be-ing; but none of these IS really God. When we are done with all these words, we are no closer to God than we were before: we have not found God. And so, we go on to another word, and another word, and another word. Finally, we realize that we cannot find God in a word, in any word out here. Ultimately, we come back to the one word which holds the secret of the ages--I. I is neither objective nor subjective, and that I is the I that I am, the Knower. It is the Knower and the known, that which knows and that which is known; and I am both: I am He. If all the words that we use as synonyms for God really were God, the room in 'which we are sitting and repeating those words would be aflame with illumination, and there would be no disease or discord in it. But all we are doing when we repeat these words is declaring or affirming them, and since nothing happens, they therefore cannot be God. There is no word that we can think of that is not the elf of the thinker, and the thinker must be greater than any word he can think, voice, declare, or write. Regardless of what word we utter--even the word God--there is an I that utters it, and an it to be uttered. After all the words have come and gone, and we cannot see or hear them any more, I still remain. I must be greater than any thought I can entertain, or an concept I can hold or form, greater than any belief or theory that can formulate or accept. Any word for God, except one word, would still leave an It and a me. The only word that obliterates everything but itself is the word I. I is the ultimate word behind which we cannot go because I is the thinker, the be-er, the doer, the consciousness, the cause. There is word that really expresses God except the word I. If any other wor is used, th ere is still an I declaring it, and certainly the I that declared it, thought it up, invented, or discovered it would be great than any of the words. What was it but the understanding of the word I th at mad Moses the leader and the saviour of the Hebrew people? This word was so sacred tha t its use was reserved only for the high priests, an they were never allowed to voice it except on one day a year, when they were hidden in the Holy of Holies, in the inner sanctuary of the temple, and nobody was allowed to be there to hear it. Moses guarded this word carefully because he knew that human beings tend to use the word I falsely. They use it to identify themselves as Jim, Bill, or Mary. If they were told that I is God, they would translate that to mean that Jim is God, Mary is God, or Bill is God; and we would have human beings going about flapping their wings and sacrilegiously mouthing, "I am God." For that reason the word I was held as a sacred, secret word, the knowledge of which set the priests apart, and it was that knowledge which constituted their priesthood-this understanding of their true identity. With th is understanding they could minister to the needs of those who came to them, because anyone who knows the I can immediately give up all concern for his own welfare, can feed the multitudes, supply, support, and heal them. King Solomon, too, had learned this secret and, during the building of his great temple, he promised that when it was finished all those who had worked on the building would be given the password that would enable them to travel in far places and always command a master's wages. No one was permitted to know this password until he had gone through every stage of his craft, from that of the lowest apprentice up to that of a master. Symbolically, this means that ignorant, illiterate, uncultured, and unspiritual human beings are the apprentices, the lowest grade in spiritual evolution, and in that state they could not be given this password because it would do them no good, but if they worked up through the various stages of humanhood until they arrived at a place of discernment, of masterhood, they would be given the word because they would then be able to understand it. And what was that password? I AM. Those who know I AM will never have to look to "man, whose breath is in his nostrils" for anything. Anyone who realizes I AM can travel any place in the world, with or without scrip. Everything needed will be provided for him out of Withinness. He does not have to depend on charity, on the good will of anybody, or on influence. He carries with him everything that will ever need. The I AM known to Moses, Solomon, and Isaiah was the secret eaching of Christ Jesus: "I have meat to eat that ye know not of. . . . I am the bread of life . . . . I am the way, the truth, and the life. . . . I am the resurrect ion, and th e life . . . . I and my Father are one. Yet the "Father ... is greater than all." In other words, the invisible part of us is greater than the visible, and I is greater than we a because we are fed by the I that we alread y are. I is not another wor invented by the mind of man; It is not another power, presence, or character created in time or space: It is the I that we are that fee us, whether in the form of material for books, lectures, food on the table, clothing, housing, or transportation. It all comes from the I. The ultimate of the correct letter of truth is when we go beyon using a word like God to where we are left with nothing but I, or I AM. And th at is enough. I is God: there are not two. When this reveals itself to us, something warm, joyous, and sacred has taken place within us. This is the "pearl of great price." Would we throw such a treasure out for th lovers of baubles to trample on or to put in a ten-cent mounting an wear? If the I of us is God, what is there external or internal to that can thwart God's will, destroy God's life, or destroy God's mind or body? Is there a God up in the sky? Is there a God sitting on a cloud? there a God floating in the air? Is there a God walking around on earth? I know not any; I have never seen or heard of any. The only God that has ever revealed Itself is the one that has come throu th e still small voice which is uttered within me. But there is nothi within me but me; I am the only being that I am, and if I hear a st small voice, it must come from 'within the depths of my Self. I cannot be what. is called a human self; it must come from that Se of me which I recognize to be divine . If " I and my Father are one, I must be that one; and therefore, unless I know that I in the mind of me am He, I do not know God. I AM--not the bold, brazen "I" man that wants to walk up an down the stree t saying, "I am God," but the I-man that sacredly an secretly has received this inner assurance: Be still, be still: I am God. You be still! Do you not know that in the midst of you am God? I will never leave you. I am come that yOU might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly. You be still! I am in the midst of you. I am your being, I am your bread, your meat, your wine, your,water. Let that mind of yours be still; let those fears be still! There are no powers external to you, there is no God in words or thoughts. I am God! This is the "pearl," "the pearl" that must be hidden so that it is not trampled upon, but it is a "pearl" that must be shared. It can be shared, however, only with those who can receive it sacredly and be trusted with it , because when it is given to the unprepared human mind, th at mind wants to use it to conquer the world: "Oh, I am God, now I want a million. Ah! I want ten million, a hundred rnillion. Why not? I am God!" But to the Soul that is prepared, It whispers: "Oh, I am God: I do not need an ything, I do not want an ything. I have all that I need, I have all that I want, and the world 's baubles are of no interest to me." We cannot he that I that is God and still be interested in name, fame, or fortune. These will come to us, but by that time, we will not value them. As long as there is an "I" seeking God, we have not come home. Only when we realize that I is God are we at home in Him, at peace, for when we know that I and the Father are one, we have nothing to be unpeaceful about, nothing to fear and no one to fear, nothing to hate, nothing to resent. Neither life nor death can separate us from the love of God. In sharing this "pearl" it may be that a few who learn of it will misuse it and thereby destroy themselves. They will not destroy us; they will not destroy the world: they will destroy themselves. Nevertheless, in spite of such persons, this truth must be revealed in order that those able to accept it can be completely free-spiritually free In the realization of the great wisdom that Moses veiled from his r eOPle and that the Master was crucified for revealing: "I AM THAT I AM. . . . I and my Father are one." If divine Grace has given us the wisdom to accept this--and nothing can give it to us but divine Grace-let us accept it sacredly and keep it secret, not mouthing it or letting anyone know that know it. If we tell a person not developed or trained in spiritual wisdom that God is I, in his unillumined state, he will think that we are deifying a human being. This is not true at all. The human being has to "die" in order that the I which is his true identity may be revealed in a Its purity, completeness, and fullness. That I which is God is the of you, but it is also the I of me, for there is only one I, one Ego. There is only one divine Life which I am and which you are. The Infinite Way teaches that a person must never say "I am God" because it is not true. No human being is God. If a human being were God, then every word that he spoke would heal the sick raise the dead, and open the eyes of the blind , but it does not. Why? Because a human being is not God. But when he goes back into the Kingdom of his own being in peace and in quiet, and hears the Voice speak to him, "Fear not; I am here," that is God with in him uttering His voice, and the earth, the error, melts. We are the instruments, the witnesses to God's word, and that Word is I. But we must not speak I: we must hear I. These things a so sacred and so secret that they should never be voiced by anyon they are true only if they well up within and are heard in the inn sanctuary of our being. When we are in prayer and feel that stirring which means that God is on the field, a healing or an improvement takes place beca nothing can ever stand in the way of that I-nothing. We cou voice It from now until doomsday, and nothing would happen, but if It voices Itself through us, then It becomes the Word made flesh. The only thing that heals is the word of God, and even though. may use the old familiar language, it always comes through as fresh inspiration because it has come up out of the depths of the Soul. This teaching does not claim th at you and I are God: this teaching reveals the I within you and within me, not by virtue of our speaking It, bnt by our hearing It . This revelation does not make us one with the Father: it establishes within us the realization that before Abraham was, I and the Father were one. That 1 is the presence and the power, and It is omnipresent and omnipotent. I is the embodiment of everything necessary for our unfoldment, so that if we should leave our home with nothing, we could walk wherever we chose--around the world if that is to our purpose--and reach our destination, as long as we did not l ook outside ourselves, hoping someone would help us or give us a ticket or a dollar. Anything is possible as long as we hold to I AM. When we know that I is here, I is there, and I is everywhere, we can use any one, or all, of the many synonyms there are for God--Life, Truth, Love, Soul, or Principle. It makes no difference because we are merely using terms describing attributes of God. No one can ever define God for us, however, because I is indefinable. We do not know what we are: we are a mystery even to ourselves. There is an I within us that has never been known to anybody. If, in sacredness and secrecy, we keep locked up inside our own being the word I, that which we are entertaining secretly will reward us openly, and all those who are brought into our presence will feel a divine impulse. It is as if a voice inside of us were speaking and saying, "I in the midst of thee am God, and all that I have is thine." Then we rest on the promise that the Infinite Invisible within is the very Source of our life, that which created us in the beginning. God created us--not human parents, but God . We are spiritually created and spiritually formed, even though to human sense we entertain a physical sense of that spiritual creation. If we will learn to withdraw our gaze from this world and realize tha~ We are not dependent on anything in the external world, we shall begin to understand that I in the midst of us is mighty: I need not put my faith in "princes"; I need not trust "man, whose breath is in his nostrils," but neither need I fear what man can do to me because I carry within me the great Saviour, the great Principle, the I of my own being, the I which created and maintains lne, the I that is the very bread of life: my meat, my wine, my water, l11y salvation, and my resurrection. If this temple of my body is destroyed, in three days something called I will raise it up again. Even if I were unconscious, even if I were dead, I in the midst of me am alive, and that I will ressurect even the body should there be any occasion for that. What is it that restores the lost years of the locusts? I. What is it that resurrects our body, business, home, strength, health, and vitality? I. There is only one divine Presence and Power, and It is all embodied in that which, sacredly and secretly, is called I. The Master had great difficulty in imparting this idea to the Hebrews who had observed ceremonies, rituals, and holy days, but who had been given little or no spiritual enlightenment. All their instruction had been in the realm of the mind and in the observance of outward rites, and that is not sufficient. Spiritual teaching must enter the heart; it must be in the Soul: it must be felt rather than reasoned or thought; it must be intuitively understood. Only then can we take the word I into the sacred and secret place of the m High and dwell there with It. If we dwell in the secret place of most High and abide with that I, let the I abide in us, let that I flood our consciousness, It will impart Itself to us and say: "Know ye not that I am God? 'Be still, and know that I am God'; I in midst of thee am mighty. I will never leave you, nor forsake you. Are we looking to some God other than the I for our health? If we are, we are missing the way. The Tree of Life is truly planted in the midst of our consciousness, and it is all embodied in that little word I." It is I; be not afraid.... I will never leave thee." Let us keep this Word in the center of our being, in our consciousness, keep this Word in our heart. Let us not parade or flaunt It, for if we do, we will lose It. The more silently and the more sacredly we hold It, the greater will be our demonstration of It. No one can boast in the Lord; no one has the right to act as if this secret were his personal possession. It is a secret, but it is not your secret and it is not mine: it is the secret of the mystics of all ages. It was known to Lao-tse of China; it was known to Gautama the Buddha; it is the central theme of the teaching of Shankara; and it is the central theme of the teaching of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Gospel of John. It is the central theme of the life of every mystic. The word I is the secret of the mystic's unfoldment! Even before there was a concept of God in the mind of man, I, God, existed. Before there were any human beings on earth, I existed as the creative Principle of all that is. It is difficult for a person to accept this idea unless there is an answering response within, a something which says, "Yes, that is what I have always believed, but could not voice. That is what I have always known; that is what I feel." I is the sacred word. It is a soft and gentle Presence, yet withal, a powerful Presence. If we have a sense of rightness about this sacred Word, then we can begin to hold It with in ourselves and to live out from the center of our being. Then it is that we can walk up and down this earth as a blessing to all who come our way. When a person has attained a realization of God, his very presence is a benediction to others; and if he is charged with the care of some consecrated place such as a church, temple, synagogue, or truthcenter, the atmosphere of his consciousness so permeates it that even entering it is a blessing. Any place of worship where there is a minister, rabbi, priest; or any person who is truly dedicated to the spiritual way of life is holy ground, so holy that we have only to walk into it to find healing. The stones themselves must cry out with spiritual tongues, "The presence of God is here." It is not the temple that consecrates a man: it is the man who consecrates the temple. It need not be a temple, a church, or a synagogue. What it is, is of little importance. It can be a room in our home, or a chair, but if we are consecrated to God and if we fill ourselves with the conviction of the omnipresence of God, the very atmosphere around us is charged with spiritual power, and those who walk into that place feel its healing influence. Wherever there is this recognition of the presence and the Spirit of God, the power of God is flowing, maintaining our mental moral financial, and physical freedom, and then whenever a need appears, we create what seems like a vacuum within us, a listening attitude, in that second, the right word comes to us, the word of God which is quick and sharp and powerful, and which does the work of healing, reforming, and sustaining. There is only one I permeating every person, constituting all • dividuallife, whether human, animal, vegetable, or mineral. That one I is the Soul of all being, the creative principle, the activity, the cause, the life, and even the body itself. It is both cause and effect It is I which is the sacredness of our being, the Consciousness of our being. That it is that governs us. I in the midst of us is mighty. Take off your shoes in the presence of that word I because you are speaking the holy name of God. Return to the "A Parenthesis in Eternity" homepage |