The Bible remains
locked to us if we gloss over the facts. Examining the difference between Jesus
and Christ while exploring the purpose behind the birth of two Jesus children,
as well as the baptism of Jesus, does not completely make sense unless we understand
the reason why Jesus was born in the
first place. He didn’t come to save us;
he came to show us how to save ourselves!
To express it in
the simplest way possible; a human being was required - Jesus - to take into
himself a mighty cosmic being called Christ, so that every human being could
personally experience the I AM.
What is this I
AM? The first time we hear about the I AM is after Moses sees the burning bush
which is not consumed, and then he has his famous conversation with God. Moses
asks God what his name is, and the response is Ehyeh asher ehyeh I AM that I AM (Exodus 3:14). We also find this term I AM in the New Testament in the Greek words ego
eimi.
Moses and the Burning Bush by Arnold Friberg
Before the time of Christ, human consciousness was not sufficiently
developed to experience the I AM. To have this experience required high levels
of initiation as was the case for the great initiate Zarathustra. The only way
the general population could experience the I AM was in a secondhand way
through Elijah in the Old Testament, and Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita.
Elijah's Chariots of Fire, Byzantine Museum, Athens, Greece
Only through the birth of two Jesus boys, as well as the baptism of the
30 year old Jesus when the Christ Spirit entered into him could we have this
personal, firsthand experience of the I AM. Because of Zarathustra’s initiation
into the I AM before its time, he played an influential role in this process through
his involvement in the birth of the Matthew Jesus. A second Jesus, described by
Luke, whose pure being was not tainted by life on this earth, was also
required.
Why did this I AM take so many convoluted paths before it became
accessible to human beings? The short answer is that it can’t just be given to
us, we have to earn it. Human consciousness had to evolve to a point where it
could handle the power of the I AM, and it has been a long time in the making;
from Adam to Elijah to Jesus and now to us. The power of the I AM is like fire;
it must burn in us but not consume us. One way we can recognize it our
consciousness is when we are angry but the anger does not consume us.
So what is this I AM, is it God or is it human? Well, simply put, it is
both. The I AM is that part of God that is in
us. Its main role is to make us creative as God is creative. Whenever we
express our talent, in those amazing moments when we do great things, it is the
I AM expressing itself in us. We also see it when people who don’t like each
other ignore their differences and work together in, for example, an emergency.
The I AM knows no boundaries of color, creed, gender or nation.
A powerful example of the nature of the I AM arose in a conversation
between Michael Parkinson and Paul McCartney which went like this:
“This is just me in here. Paul
McCartney is some guy over there doing amazing things. If I thought that was me
constantly it would blow my head off.”
The I AM is certainly a mysterious and powerful thing. It can make us
anxious and even fearful. Perhaps for this reason knowledge of it has been
hidden from us by the churches and secret societies down the ages. The time has
come for us to be aware of it and to use it to the best possible effect in our
lives. The challenge is that we have to discover it ourselves; it can’t be
taught. We can read about it but then it is up to us to have our own firsthand
experience of it.
Every detail in the Bible about the life of Jesus shows us how we
prepare ourselves to work with the I AM. The previous posts about Repent, Sin
and the Word introduce us to ways in which we can strive to become fully human,
which means fully integrated with this I AM. In my book I Connecting : The
Soul’s Quest I explain it in a non-religious psychological way.
While I recommend the Bible to discover the true meaning of the I AM I
must stress that it is NOT about any specific religion; each religious
expression is a path up the mountain to the pinnacle of knowledge of the I AM.
Nor is it about dogma and definition, this knowledge can only live in us if we
strive to become aware of our own true nature, that is, to really know
ourselves.
I am always uplifted and inspired when I read the final words in St
Matthew’s gospel: “I am with you always, to the close of the age." In the
Greek it says: ego eimi, I AM, always with you till the consummation of
this period of time.
First published on Huffington Post
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