“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment ” - Buddha
“The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.” - Thich Nhat Hanh
“Life is Now. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be” - Eckhart Tolle
“Before Abraham was, I Am.” - Jesus (John 8:58)
You cannot really argue with that line-up can you! It is like a who is who of spiritual awakening history.
The phrase ‘I Am’ has been one of the most controversial in history. Jesus repeats it several times in the Bible including the mind bending statement “Before Abraham was, I AM”. It is also mentioned directly and indirectly through the work of Eckhart Tolle which I have gained huge wisdom from.
All spiritual seekers and religion founders speak of the same one truth and its spiritual awakening. It is the same truth just expressed by different voices. It is similar to hearing about a football match from fans of opposing teams. Each have their own interpretation but ultimately they all saw the same game. The phrase “I am” means a breaking apart from the dimension of time. When you are in time you are subject to suffering, illness, dis-ease and on the positive side you can plan for the future and learn from the past. When you are in presence in the state of “I am” or “being” you cannot experience illness. Illness requires time. Jesus experienced timelessness and knew, as Zen Masters do today, that the mind cannot comprehend it so bypassed the mind. A great teacher will always tailor his teachings to the student.
“I am” is the state of a mind before it judges something which is the ultimate spiritual state – empty of preconceived notions. You are a human BEING remember, BEING right now. “I am X” means that something is not x which must be so it can be compared too. This is the first phrase which splits the world into two and takes away oneness. When something is described, there must be an opposite to compare it to or it could not be. This is why Lao Tzu says “Difficult and easy complement each other. Long and short define each other. High and low oppose each other.” I am is totally barren of judging. I am X brings multiplicity into the world.
When Jesus uttered the mysterious and profound phrase “Before Abraham was, I AM”, he knew that people would try and understand mentally in the dimension of time what this means but there would be no answer. How could you be in this moment, before something that has already happened? In this way it is similar to a Zen poem which has the aim to awaken you because there is no logical explanation. For example, when your foot touches the ground it is the foot feeling the foot. That one was a huge awakening for me.
It does not mean that he is God as common interpretations will have you believe. Jesus was a man like us all. He had emotional times like in the garden of Gethsemane, got angry at the people selling things in the church etc. These common interpretations come from trying to logically interpret what Jesus meant when the truth is actually ridiculously simple and you will only find it when you stop looking. Jesus is consciousness, perfectly awoken. And since he “Is” that means that he is now. Jesus understood that the spirit can never die but the form, or what he calls “being of this world” can die and shift form whenever it wants to. His form died but his spirit is here.
You are essentially presence. Whenever you are not presence, you are mind. When you are in your mind you are in the past and future so the present gets put on autopilot. The only place of possible change in your life is put on autopilot.
I remember starting to search for deep truth around 14-16 years old. I read books of people like Marcus Aurelius and time management and whilst they were good they felt somewhat skin deep and superficial and I had yet to find anything truly deep.
One day during my university life I was in a book store and saw the book “The Power of Now” on a bookshelf and bought it impulsively without ever having heard of the author or book previously (scarily similar to what happened to someone that I know). After reading it for a while I realised the deep truth in it and experienced alignment with the now for the first time.
It was incredible, everything was fresh and I was aligned with it all, a huge spiritual awakening. I knew that everything was good in the universe and that nothing external could beat this knowing that all was good mixed with deep joy. I remember taking a job after that shuffling files and at dinner times I would walk around the local streets finding trees and plants and having experiences like Moses with the burning bush. You can sense their aliveness by sensing them for the first time not through labels. When you look at something without a label and are totally focused on it, you sense your inner connection and can harm nothing as you know it as yourself.
Since that day I have read the book, I pretty much every week at least once. That was years ago too as I am now 20. It has bought a dimension of depth into my life through its spiritual awakening that I never had before and I see around me many are still blind too.
It taught me that this moment TRULY is the only moment there ever has been or ever will be. Consider this. Have you ever experienced something that did not happen in this moment? Of course not. Jesus WAS before Abraham, he WAS in a physical body and he is now. Or you could say Jesus is before Abraham, Jesus is the leader of Christianity and Jesus is now. Feel free to replace Jesus with any name/label.
I cannot tell you how fulfilling it is to know the deepest truth for yourself. You have to experience it (in this moment I may add). It is so fulfilling to know that every spiritual path leads to the same truth and there is ways for humans to find this as I did.
“I am” is the deepest spiritual awakening truth there is. An idea is to sit in meditation and say as a mental mantra “I am”. Try it a few hundred times 2 times a day for a week and it will give you a spiritual awakening.It might not happen during the mantras it usually happens as you go about your daily business and the statement is allowed to seep into your deeper consciousness.
“All spiritual seekers and religion founders speak of the same one truth and its spiritual awakening. It is the same truth just expressed by different voices.”
Not true. Truth by definition is exclusive. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life, NO man cometh unto the Father but by me.”
Jesus said that he is “the truth” “the way” “the life” – and there there are NO other ways to get to the Father in heaven except by believing in Him and Him alone.
There is a choice. You can choose to not accept it but the truth remains. It is logically impossible to say that all of what Jesus said is truth while at the same time saying that all other religious leaders were also speaking truth because Jesus Himself said that He is the only way, the only truth, and eternal life comes only through Him.
Therefore if what Jesus said is truth then by necessity all religious leaders who do not believe that Jesus is the only way, truth, and life are not speaking the truth.
I know that it feels better to try and pretend that everyone is speaking the truth but the truth is not always so comfortable feeling. I would challenge you to try this:
In Jeremiah 33:3 God says: “Call to me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you know not.”
If this is true (and it is) then that means that if you call unto God and seek Him out then He will make truth known unto you. Give it a try by reading the Bible. I would recommend reading the Book of John.
Thanks for your post and for letting me comment!
@James – Thanks for the comment James, it’s nice to get some banter going on in here! I read the Bible quite often but have no religious affiliations and like it that way. I think Jesus meant “Him” in the sense of talking about “Him” the God, not Jesus the physical man. I don’t believe a God would allow us to only access him solely through a mortal man, his legacy and writings based on his teachings. You can find him by humbling yourself and looking inside.
Yes, the Bible teaches that Jesus was 100% man while also being 100% God at the same time.
The Bible also teaches in John 18:37 that the reason that Jesus came to earth was to “bear witness of the truth”.
In other words, Jesus was not just any mortal man. Jesus was God. He was sent by God to show us the truth, save us from our sins, and provide the one and only way to find truth and salvation.
Outside of salvation from Jesus – God is NOT within all of us and we CANNOT find Him simply by looking within ourselves. In the book of Romans the Bible teaches that we are all sinners and have all “fallen short” and that all of our (humans) righteousness are as filthy rags to God.
This is why it is so powerful that Jesus came to not just show us truth in Him but to offer us salvation because outside of Jesus there is no other way to have eternal life.
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” – Acts 4:12
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8
“For ‘whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’ ” – Romans 10:13
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” – Ephesians 2:8,9
Insightful post Richard. “I am” – I exist, I breathe, I live, – it is a beautiful idea. Our consciousness is the greatest good in this world or any other.
I have gained a little understanding of who “I am.” Before we were born in this life, we belong to a whole, let me call it God. Everything we perceived, everything we learn were already there. We are all one.
Thanks for the comments guys, really appreciating them. With “I am” there is no real understanding. You are the understander.
[...] Richard Shelmerdine presents us with an interesting post on thoughts about meditation and how it can be used to interpret some of the teachings of Jesus in a godless context. I know some of you might not agree with absolutely everything he says, but it is great to have slightly different viewpoints on a range of topics every once in a while, and Richard’s writing is refreshing. Read it at Why “I Am” is A Deep Spiritual Truth. [...]
jesus might be a great person not more, but i wonder why he never revealed his secrets to the people he was so isolated