by Anonymous

In the beginning, there was “I Am”. “I Am” had no form”. “I Am” had no name. “I Am” knew no fear. “I Am” did not judge. “I Am” had no desires. “I Am” was Pure Being…always Present… always Complete… and there was no other.

Then one moment, I cannot say when, I was born…and at that moment, so was born the world, which I knew to be “not I”. After that moment, there appeared “I” and “not I, the world”.

Unlike “I Am”, I had a form. Unlike “I Am”, I had a name. Unlike “I Am”, I had fears. Unlike “I Am”, I had desires. Unlike “I Am”, I saw separate things, and named them, and judged them, desiring some, while avoiding others.

In time, I was informed about the existence of God. Those who informed me said that God was infinite and eternal, having no boundaries of space or time. But they also said that I was separated from God. This was a mystery. How could I, or anything else, possibly be separated from that which has no boundaries of space or time?

The mystery seemed insolvable, until I recognized that “God”, like “I”, is just a word…a spoken/written symbol representing a purely human thought, created by humans, for use by humans…a tool, used to isolate and communicate one mental image as distinct from all other mental images.

But nouns and verbs and times are not themselves parts of reality… they are parts of speech. Nouns function to focus rational human awareness on particular things, and imply that the things they represent are separate from each other… but they are not. Verbs function to focus rational human awareness on particular actions, and imply that the actions they represent are separate from each other…but they are not. Times function to focus rational human awareness on particular moments, and imply that the moments they represent are separate from each other…but they are not. Though nouns and verbs and times are separate tools that allow us to individually and collectively focus rational awareness, the realities that they represent are all parts of a greater, flowing unified Whole, which limited human minds and senses cannot possibly observe in its glorious Totality.

Albert Einstein, who intuitively understood the nature of reality, wrote: “A human being is part of the whole, called by us universe, a part limited in space and time. He experiences “himself”, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion of consciousness is kind of a prison for us, restricting us to our own personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

Like Einstein, Jesus was aware of this “himself”…this “delusion of consciousness”, which humans, in their limited awareness, believe to exist and themselves to be. Notably, he instructed in all three synoptic gospels that it must be “denied” in order to gain eternal life. Indeed, “I/me/myself” must be denied. Why? Because they are a lie… a delusion… they not exist, except in our individual and collective imaginations. As such “we” cannot possibly be separated from the infinite and eternal “ONE”. I/me/myself is who we believe ourselves to be…”ONE” is who we are. This is the good news that Jesus shared, and prayed for.

“The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be One even as we are One, I in them thou in me, that they may become perfectly One, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me.” (John 17:20-23)

The knowing of “I AM”, which is the name of God, can only be experienced when all delusion of there being a separate “God”, “I” and “world” cease, just as when we are as children “for such as these will enter the Kingdom of Heaven”.

In the beginning, there was “I Am”. “I Am” had no form”. “I Am” had no name. “I Am” knew no fear. “I Am” did not judge. “I Am” had no desires. “I Am” was Pure Being… always Present… always Complete… and there was no other.