The ancients knew that the secret name of God had power. Now we do.
Man must realize that he is one with I AM. He cannot realize this as long as false beliefs fill his conscious mind. A vessel that is full cannot be filled. It can only be filled after it has been emptied. There is seemingly no room for ideas of Truth in the mind that is full of false thoughts. The “demons” (negative, false thoughts) must be driven out before healing of wrong conditions due to wrong mental states can take place.
As the student practices self-denial by denying the belief in separation from I AM, he will find it much easier to grasp the idea of Oneness with God. Denial is made by the human mind and in the human mind, for the human mind is denying itself. Think of the following and it will help you to see this point: The branches of a tree do nothing of themselves. We are mistaken if we say that they grow the leaves and produce the fruit. They can do nothing but keep in contact with the tree. If for one moment a branch were cut off from the trunk of the tree, its activity would cease. God as Universal Life, represents the sap in the tree flowing through all the branches. All mankind draws Power, Life, Mind and Intelligence from the same Source.
Man’s lack of manifestation in the world of affairs, has been due to the fact that he has lacked in this . . he has not been conscious of his Oneness with I AM. Since we only have that of which we are conscious, you can understand that a lack of consciousness will mean a lack in manifestation. The bay is a part of the ocean, having the same water though it appears to be separated. The appearance does not affect the truth; the bay is always a part of the ocean, regardless as to appearance declaring otherwise. We may have the consciousness of our Oneness with God as we vibrate with God.
I AM
The words “I AM” are sacred as the divine name, expressed completely as “I AM That I AM.” This is the name of God.
Many people realize a more dynamic and positive power in affirmations based upon the Absolute or “I AM” than in statements expressed in the relative sense of becoming. For example, “I AM Life? “I AM Wisdom? “I AM Joy.”
To understand this fully, realize that the affirmation is one of perfect truth concerning the real self, and that the ideal or model is lifted up to view for the purpose of actualizing it.
We must clearly understand that reality is synonymous with eternal perfection, and what we know as the actual represents the embodiment of the ideals represented in unfolding consciousness.
I
The term “I” is usually employed to designate the actual person speaking. In the practice of absolute affirmation one uses the “I” in speaking as the real individual “in the image and likeness of God.” As we continue to speak from this plane of consciousness, the qualities of the real “I” or individual are made more and more manifest in the personality.
IDEAL
The ideal is the pattern in the consciousness of what we are to be, to do and to attract. As our ideals correspond more with the real and perfect, the actual conditions of life will be correspondingly transformed. We progress by advancing our ideals, and pressing forward with calm determination to realize them.
As the artist centers his mind on the model whose face or form he is to depict, so the attainment of the ideal consists of our concentrated attention upon the ideal.
Cherish the ideals of health, of happiness, of youth, of success. Be absolutely confident of their fulfillment. By causing our ideals to increase in power and beauty, our incentive and ability to live will grow accordingly. The world is primarily transformed through a change in the ideals of the people.
Ideal people and ideal environments are also attracted as we hold these ideals in mind.
IMAGINATION
Imagination is the master power of visualization or picturing out of ideal desires, and living in the consciousness, for the time being, of their reality. Through this power one unfolds and grows to an Infinite degree. The right use of imagination makes men Gods and earth Heaven. All joys and all abilities follow the appropriate exercise of the power of imagination and the activities which the constructive imagination brings to fulfillment.
Through this power, one can rebuild his body and express health to the most inspiring degree. Radiant beauty can be realized, and also eternal youth of an ever-ascending quality. One can be original and creative, and express these qualities in superb discoveries and inventions.
Character can be molded; destiny can be made; success and fortune are assured through the genius of imagination.
Imagination is a most substantial force with power to make and remake the things about us. In due time, the cities of our nation will be absolutely transformed by the power of constructive and applied imagination. Every man, woman and child will be rich, healthful and happy.
Unconditioned consciousness is God, the one and only reality. By unconditioned consciousness is meant a sense of awareness; a sense of knowing that I AM, apart from knowing who I AM; the consciousness of being, divorced from that which I AM conscious of being. I AM aware of being man, but I need not be man to be aware of being. Before I became aware of being someone, I, unconditioned awareness, was aware of being, and this awareness does not depend upon being someone. I AM self-existent, unconditioned consciousness; I became aware of being someone; and I shall become aware of being someone other than this that I AM now aware of being; but I AM eternally aware of being whether I AM unconditioned formlessness or I AM conditioned form. As the conditioned state, I (man), might forget who I AM, or where I AM, but I cannot forget that I AM. This knowing that I AM, this awareness of being, is the only reality.
Why must the new thought pattern be couched in the present tense? Why do we say, “I AM PROSPERITY” instead of saying, “I SHALL BE PROSPEROUS”? Why must we claim something we do not have? Life always works in the present tense by direct affirmation. Jesus declared, “I AM This,” or “I AM That,” or “I AM The Other Thing,” and immediately the thing decreed began to take form according to Law. To say that we shall be prosperous is well and good, but we are putting our prosperity off until some future time. To affirm our good in the present is to cause it to appear. Law, plus acceptance, plus belief is the pattern. If the idea of prosperity is to become a power in our lives, we must inwardly accept it as a present fact. Our thought, will, imagination, and feeling must agree with what we say.
Say to yourself . . “I AM one with the Life Force that runs the Universe, the great I AM of which Jesus said ‘Before Abraham, was I AM.’ I AM energy. I AM power. I AM filled with omnipotent life. The vitality of God permeates every fiber of my being. I AM well and whole in every part of my body. I AM made up of billions of cells of Intelligent Life, and that Intelligence is guiding me to Health and Happiness and Prosperity.”
I AM a law unto myself.
Let us wake up to this law. Let us think of things as we want them to be, not as they are.
Resolve now to do your own thinking. Be the divine thinker of your own thoughts. No one else must do your thinking for you. No one else must splash his ideas all over you, all over your mind, for you to work out. If someone is making you unhappy, start a different trend (your own trend) of thinking. Go within your chamber of mind as frequently as necessary and know that no one has the power to make you unhappy unless you accept the idea and permit it to take root in you. “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.” Think happiness and happiness will come to you. You are the way to your own happiness. I AM happy, creates happiness. You can think the happy idea and soon you will find happiness about you. The Force is the Great Servant. It works out the ideas we give to it. You need no longer be bound to lack if you will live with the idea of plenty. You need no longer be deaf if you will live with the idea of hearing.
I AM That I AM is one of the principal Bible terms for God. It means unconditioned Being. It means the great Creative Power that is absolutely unlimited. It is an attempt . . and a very successful one . . to express, as far as language can, the infinity of God.
“I AM” means you . . the individual. It is an assertion or affirmation of existence and needs to be qualified in some way. We say, for example, “I AM a man” or “I AM a woman,” “I AM an American” or “I AM a Spaniard,” “I AM a lawyer” or “I AM a baker,” “I AM a Republican” or “I AM a Democrat.” In each case we state an important fact about ourselves, and to that extent we limit ourselves . . not in a negative sense, but in a positive and constructive sense.
If I AM an American, I AM not a Spaniard; if I AM a man, I AM not a woman, etc.
Now I AM is absolutely unlimited, and the only phrase which can express this is I AM That I AM. I AM . . what? I AM . . pure unconditioned being, unlimited, and unspecified in any way. To affirm that I AM is any particular thing would imply limitation, or at least a circumscription, and God is unlimited.
It is man’s business to be something in particular, and not to try to be everything, because he is an individualization. If you struck all the notes in the scale together you would only have confused noise. Music consists in the selection and special groupings of certain notes.
In God’s universe each one of us has his place and it is our business to find that true place and express it . . to play our part correctly in the great orchestra. God, however, is the Great Conductor and the whole orchestra too, unlimited and without beginning and without end.
“Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven,” God’s will for you is for riches, for happiness, for health. If you haven’t these now, deny the lack. Deny the wrong conditions. Say to yourself . . “There is no lack in Heaven. There is no disease there, no weakness, no trouble or conflict, no worries of any kind. There is only love and plenty.”
Then take your beliefs out of the images around you, which are merely the result of your previous belief objectified and put all your faith, all your hopes, all your strength and abilities into making your new Heaven images come true.
You CAN do it. But you must believe so firmly that you can actually ACT the part. As the Prophet Noel told us “Let the weak say . . I AM strong!” And the poor say, I AM rich. And the sick say, I AM well. And the miserable say, I AM happy. Say it, repeat it until you believe it . . then ACT the part!
I AM is the perfect and full expression of invisible Spirit. It is the Universal Mind in action. I AM is health. I AM is prosperity. I AM is success. The I AM is the Principle and Power of God and the invisible power of man. What we call your mind and my mind are two manifestations or expressions of the One Mind. We do not say you have “an air” and I have “an air,” or that a fish has “a water.” There is one water in which fishes live; one air which we breathe; one Mind of which we are all a part.
Concepts are the most difficult to overcome. Even a concept of ourselves, no matter how great that concept may be, is a limitation. Let us get this straight otherwise you will not receive the benefit of the teachings of the Masters. A concept of yourself no matter how great it may be is a limitation. Therefore we want no concepts of ourselves. Why, our minds must be entirely and completely free. What the Masters mean by that is this: you cannot conceive how mighty you are. You cannot conceive the Infinite Spirit in a concept. When you make a concept of yourself you have created an image or an idea of yourself, as it were, in the mind, and it must remain such, and as that concept grows and solidifies there is no longer any progress because what you think you are. Therefore we want no concepts of ourselves. We want the freedom of knowing that I AM. Nothing else than knowing that I AM!
“I AM Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord.” Our ideal murmuring in our hearts is the alpha; in order that it become the omega, we must enter into the feeling that it is ours now, and walk the earth knowing that it is so. Failure to realize our desire over a long period of time results in frustration and unhappiness. I have talked to many men in different parts of the country; their frequent complaint is that for years they have tried in vain to attain a certain ideal or position in life, and that they have failed miserably. They did not know that the desire to be, to do, and to have was the Still Small Voice speaking to them, and all that was necessary was for them to say, “Yes, Father, I accept and believe it”; then walk the earth knowing that, “It is done.”
All I AM Quotes From The Power of I AM Volume 2 are from the following Authors
Fay Adams, U. S. Andersen, Raymond Charles Barker, M. MacDonald-Bayne, Joseph Benner, Kate Atkinson Boehme, Thomas Parker Boyd, Louise Brownell, H. Emilie Cady, Robert Collier, Florence Gloria Crawford, Mrs. Dan M. Davidson, Walter Devoe, Franklin Fillmore Farrington, Charles Fillmore, Emmet Fox, John Seaman Garns, Harry Gaze, Neville Goddard, Henry Hand, Shirley Bell Hastings, Ernest Holmes, C. W. Kyle, Christian D. Larson, Elinor S. Moody, Joseph Murphy, Janeski Robenoff, Robert A. Russell, John Milton Scott, Elizabeth Towne, Thomas Troward, Helen Wilmans