The Inner Path To Christ 4

Meeting the I AM

If you say to yourself, “I am tired.  I am hungry.  I am depressed.  I am happy,” you are describing the changing conditions of your body and your mind.  But if you say – “I am” – you are describing the fundamental part of you that experiences the changes.  The ‘I AM’ is there all the time isn’t it, behind all changes?  But it is as slippery as an eel to catch hold of.  That is why the discipleship is needed. Instead of realising your naked ‘I AM’ you tend to see only your thoughts and emotions, your changing body again.

This – I AM – survives sleep.  It survives the shifting world of your sensory impressions, your thoughts and emotions.  It is the ever-present awareness behind the experience of your life. It doesn’t change with the tides and calamities of events.  This is the rock upon which Jesus suggested building your house, your dwelling place – with your sensory impressions, your thoughts and emotions are the shifting sands he warned against. It is within the awareness of this I AM that the conviction, not belief, in eternal existence lies. It is to the meeting with the I AM that discipleship leads. When you experienced your ‘I AM’ in its nakedness, you KNOW you have existed throughout eternity.  It is not a question of belief, or of being told.  You experience yourself as an eternal being, standing beyond all the shifting winding paths of your body, your mind and feelings.

Perhaps think of it like a mirror or your memory, a mirror or memory reflects the ever moving world of your experience, whatever it is exposed to. Yet the mirror of your awareness or memory is ever there, unchanged.

So, discipleship does not lead to a set of rules, or to certain beliefs, but to an experience.  When you meet that experience you can decide for yourself whether it is valid or not.

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