This would agree with the traditional reading of Hebrew "YHWH" (the LORD, Yahweh, Jehovah), given to Moses, as I Am That I Am. In the same context, God is identified as I AM.
Then Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" God also said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
*Exodus 3.13-15, ESV
Then, the existence of the thought of "I" and "God" is dependent on what has been called God beyond God, the Godhead. However, for the remainder of this writing we will take the equation "I" and "THAT" to be joined out of a beingness inferred by "AM," which arises along with the distinction arising from the Godhead, which is always more than the concept "God."
Christian nondualism does not annul the "I" or "THAT"; rather, the two are joined in what Christian contemplatives call co-inherence. This means that the "AM" infers that "I" and "THAT" are in each Other. Each is Other to the Other.
Furthermore, "AM" infers that no separation exists between "I" and "THAT." God and the Self are Other-to-Other; still, God and the Self are not separate, or not two others, but Other to Other in a two that is One. Consequently, we can say "I AM THAT" or "THAT I AM" or "AM I THAT" or "I THAT AM" and mean the same thing.
Likewise, the Self and God are THOU to THOU, not separate, but the THOU of "I" is derived from "THOU," from "THAT." The Self depends on God, not God on the Self. God is Source, and "AM," or existing links the existing of the Divine and Self in a single, but not same, existing.
The Christian could, therefore, say, "I AM GOD." He or she could do this, however, only in affirming a union with God, one in which the True Self and the Divine Being are in loving union as One but two-in-One; One in which the Christian is in God and God in the Christian. The Self and God are not the same, but they are not separate; they are a One-Two, or a Not-Same-Not-Separate Unity: even a One-Two-Everyone, more so a One-Two-Everything.
Continued... |