The Lexicon
Who you really are
I AM
I AM is the sacred name of your own being — the first and purest sense of existence, spoken by the Divine to Moses and echoed in the heart of every living soul. Before you are anything in particular, you simply are, and that bare 'I am' is the meeting point of the individual and the infinite. Whatever you join to it, the tradition teaches, you call into your experience; for the I AM is creative, and the words that follow it become the law of your life. To know the I AM is to know yourself as the very presence of God appearing as you.
Carried by 8 teachers · across 5 traditions · 4 quotes
The metaphysical and mystical streams converge on this name. The New Thought teachers counsel reverence and care for everything declared after 'I am'; the I AM tradition adores it as the mighty indwelling Presence; Nisargadatta makes abidance in the pure sense 'I am' the gateway to the Absolute. Al-Hallaj, asked who he was, answered 'I am You.' Psalm 46 turns the name into a practice of stillness, that the I AM dwelling within may be known.
In their words
Sit quietly in a relaxed position, and, when wholly at ease, let your mind take in the significance of these words: "Be still!—and KNOW—I AM—God."Joseph S. Benner
I saw my Lord with the eye of my heart. He said, 'Who are you?' I said, 'I am You.'Mansur al-Hallaj
When man makes this ASSUMPTION, when he recognizes that all life is God, he will ASSUME the qualities of God naturally.Walter C. Lanyon
Be still, and know that I am God.Psalm 46:10