I AM that I AM In my opinion the only way to truth and to life is in the GREAT I AM of the DIVINE. We do so by trusting the NOW of GOD. Jesus taught it to his disciples. Jesus said; I AM is the way, I AM is the truth, I AM is the life. Like some of the followers of Jesus if we get caught up in the past of who we were; we get distracted. (Peter did when he remembered denied knowing Jesus as a friend, because he was afraid of the consequences) Later Peter had regret, the guilt, and that image was driving his life until he recognized Jesus on the beach who simply asked Peter to tend his sheep, if he truly did love him. If we don’t live in the present the past will drive our lives and we will continue that cycle of life and never be free from the past. We will continue to do the same thing over and over again, thinking things may change. Even if we hope that GOD will change things this is still not trusting in the NOW. Trusting in the I AM of GOD is recognizing the desire within the image of those things in the past you we are still holding on to in the present. If we trust the past in the signs, symbols or images of our past it will control our present or our future. In other words, “where is our trust in GOD of the NOW?” If we look to first story in the Garden, GOD asked Adam and Eve “Where are you?” GOD wanted to know about the NOW of humanity. GOD still wants us to know the NOW and wants to know where we are in the NOW.
Eve and Adam’s problem in the Garden was the sign, symbol or image of the apple. The apple represented the future for the couple who were in truth at that moment in the NOW in paradise. In the past and in the present Everything was good. This Apple was also considered good, until that image became to Eve something she would trust more than her present reality. She wanted something better than trusting the present of paradise. Eve’s desire became a desire to be wise, she wanted her eyes to be opened. She wanted to choose between good and evil for herself. She wanted to be like God. She wanted to use the illusion of her freedom of will. (that is if she or we really have free will). If we trust in the NOW of who GOD is and know that GOD determines our will, our suffering will pass. In Eve’s mind or thoughts she was suffering too much in the present to let GOD determine her future or to trust that she actually doing GOD’s will. Either way, she wanted change. She wanted to be free of GOD determining her direction. She didn’t care if it was right or wrong. The decision was made before she ate the fruit. She was blinded by her desire. She couldn’t see that she was already free in the present. She didn’t recognized the love in that moment of the NOW. She was in paradise, wisdom, truth, life, love; all things good were available to her. GOD’s image in the present was the paradise; but instead she wanted to be independent free to determine her own future. A creation of GOD’s hand became the focus. The symbol, the apple became her focus, her desire became the driving force in her life. She was already separated from her present self and GOD. She was suffering. She had a need to eat that apple that in her eyes would bring a new and better future. She ate, consumed took into her being the sign, the symbol or the image; it became the apple of her eye. Like a finger pointing to the moon, she wasn’t paying attention to the LIGHT that gave radiance to the moon. She was focused on herself, her finger, her image to worship and her desire in order to be free.
By eating her present changed her past, she would never be that person in paradise and this NOW included her soul mate Adam was included in that future, because they trusted a desire for something beyond what was in the moment. Therefore, if we trust in the NOW of GOD we are changed. This mean letting go of any illusions of our freedom of will and allowing our suffering to go, knowing that GOD’s future is a paradise for us. With this Kingdom vision we become like Moses.
In the story about Moses, he is in the wilderness and discovers GOD’s image in the midst of the burning bush. This volcanic bush like flame burned like a bush and wasn’t consumed. Moses could have got caught up in that image in the wilderness. Who wouldn’t be amazed at a bush that burns, but is not consumed. Moses didn’t get trapped by the image. Instead Moses he recognized GOD working in, around and from that image. This was no sun or moon GOD instead this GOD was for Moses in the moment of the NOW. He was aware of the holiness on the ground that he walked. He asked for the image in which to trust. This image that GOD gave to Moses was this. GOD said; I WAS, I AM, I WILL BE. This is a GOD of the past, present and future. When Moses trusted in the GREAT I AM THAT I AM his future changed forever. The image of Moses was changed because of GOD. Therefore, for us too~ how we understand the signs, symbols and images are important for us to discover GOD in them and allow GOD’s Spirit to guide us. GOD’s presence was seen in the burning fissure that looked to Moses to be a burning bush and he took off his shoes because of the ground that surround it, according to Moses to be HOLY ground. Moses was focused on GOD and not trapped by the sign, symbol or image. Moses trusted in the GREAT I AM and became an instrument, a sign, a symbol, an image to represent GOD in a future of GOD’s determining. Fear, humility and a willingness to serve was a purpose that Moses found his experience with the DIVINE. He heard the voice of GOD coming from the bush in a language he could understand. Like Jesus he struggled with the voice in the wilderness. The voice had Moses struggle with his call to purpose. This purpose was beyond where he had been; and helped him to recognize who he was so that he could become an instrument of a future hope. This welcoming of the presence of GOD into the present moment enabled Moses to trust in a future that the GREAT I AM would determine. Every time we try to live outside ourselves, our present, our NOW of being, we are going to fail, because our reliance is on the illusion. Moses had the wisdom to recognize GOD’s image in more than one thing throughout the rest of his life. He could see GOD’s image in the staff, in the cloud during the day and the pillar of flames at night. He could see the image of GOD in the stone tablets. Several of the ironic points in the story of Moses was how he literally broke GOD’s law because he (Moses) didn’t see GOD’s image in the golden calf. And yet he used an image of a snake upon a stick to heal GOD’s people from death caused by the same creature. Hmm; Isn’t this is the same image that some lift up as the Christ? So I wonder “What is our sign?” What image brings an aware of who GOD is? Do we have a sacred cow or a snake on a stick? Is our symbol an apple or some mystical fruit? Are these symbols just a way we use our own fingers to point to the moon while missing out on the reality of seeing GOD in everything?
