"I AM"...your perceptions of...

[raregem]

I am asking what the two words " I AM " mean to you.?

[Tony]

We all use words differently.

I am, is a dualistic statement.
It says, “I am aware of being.”
It is a high state, but not the subtlest.

Being aware of I am, has a time element.
Pure being, the subtlest of presence, has no time element,
There can be no “I” just isness!




Tony

[Swanette]

I am asking what the two words " I AM " mean to you.?


I feel that " I AM" a creator of my world here as a human on this earth. We are all 'I AM' creators of our reality here. From what Simon Parkes, Ion, and many others have said > the 'veil' has been lifted within the past few years and we are becoming aware of our own power to think and create for ourselves. This is the same 'veil' that was written about in the Bible and is also called the 'fallen state of being'.


http://halkinnaman.com/ed/audio_rr/ion_separation.mp3

http://halkinnaman.com/ed/audio_rr/ion_power_joy.mp3

http://halkinnaman.com/ed/audio_rr/ion_power_joy.mp3

[Chip]

The "I" is source. "Am", is the relationship that we have as being a part or even wholly of source.
We are all, we are one.

[Robin]

Very interesting thread! This bears no short answer.

I am going to attempt to give my interpretation in lieu of the wise words of J.R.R. Tolkien. I believe that the Lord of the Rings is a very complex, philosophical, and somewhat allegorical piece of literature. I believe that it is riddled in metaphors that we all can benefit from. I am going to write select passages from the chapters: The Old Forest and In the House of Tom Bombadil. Tom Bombadil, who is also my Avatar, is a most interesting character in Tolkien's works. In my opinion, he is a metaphor for Mother Earth herself, in which we are all intimately tied to.

The Lord of the Rings is kind of like my "Bible." But unlike folks who take the Bible literally word-for-word, I realize that Tolkien's works are full of metaphors that we should take meaning from for our own personal, spiritual understanding.

Tom Bombadil: metaphor for planet Earth
Goldberry: metaphor for purity
Hobbits: metaphor for Ignorance
Ring: metaphor for Ego. When we cover ourselves with ego, our true selves "disappear"
Elf/Elves: metaphor for the soul

'Master Merry's being squeezed in a crack!' cried Sam.

'What?' shouted Tom Bombadil, leaping up into the air. 'Old Man Willow? Naught worse than that, eh? That can soon be mended. I know the tune for him. Old grey Willow-man! I'll freeze his marrow cold, if he don't behave himself. I'll sing his roots off. I'll sing a wind up and blow leaf and branch away. Old Man Willow"'

Setting down his lilies carefully on the grass, he ran to the tree. There he saw Merry's feet still sticking out--the rest had already been drawn inside. Tom put his mouth to the crack and began singing into it in a low voice. They could not catch the words, but evidently Merry was aroused. His legs began to kick. Tom sprang away, and breaking off a hanging branch smote the side of the willow with it. "You let them out again, Old Man Willow!' he said. 'What be you a-thinking of? You should not be waking. Eat Earth! Dig deep! Drink water! Go to sleep! Bombadil is talking!' He then seized Merry's feet and drew him out of the suddenly widening crack.


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'Fair lady Goldberry!' he said again. 'Now the joy that was hidden in the songs we heard is made plain to me.


O slender as a willow-wand! O clearer than clear water!
O reed by the living pool! Fair river-daughter!
O spring-time and summer-time, and spring again after!
O wind on the waterfall, and the leaves' daughter!'
Suddenly he stopped and stammered, overcome with surprise to hear himself saying such things. But Goldberry laughed.

'Welcome!' she said. 'I had not heard that folk of the Shire were so sweet-tongued. But I see you are an elf-friend; the light in your eyes and the ring in your voice tells it. This is a merry meeting! Sit now, and wait for the Master of the house! He will not be long. He is tending your tired beasts.'

The hobbits sat down gladly in low rush-seated chairs, while Goldberry busied herself about the table; and their eyes followed her, for the slender grace of her movement filled them with quiet delight. From somewhere behind the house came the sound of singing. Every now and again they caught, among many a derry dol and a merry dol and a ring a ding dillo the repeated words:



Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow;
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow.
'Fair lady!' said Frodo again after a while. 'Tell me, if my asking does not seem foolish, who is Tom Bombadil?'

'He is,' said Goldberry, staying her swift movements and smiling.

Frodo looked at her questioningly. 'He is, as you have seen him,' she said in answer to his look. 'He is the Master of wood, water, and hill.'

'Then all this strange land belongs to him?'

'No indeed!' she answered, and her smile faded. 'That would indeed be a burden,' she added in a low voice, as if to herself. 'The trees and the grasses and all things growing or living in the land belong each to themselves. Tom Bombadil is the Master. No one has ever caught old Tom walking in the forest, wading in the water, leaping on the hill-tops under light and shadow. He has no fear. Tom Bombadil is master.'


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Whether the morning and evening of one day or of many days had passed Frodo could not tell. He did not feel either hungry or tired, only filled with wonder. The stars shone through the window and the silence of the heavens seemed to be around him. He spoke at last out of his wonder and a sudden fear of that silence:

'Who are you, Master?' he asked.

'Eh, what?' said Tom sitting up, and his eyes glinting in the gloom. 'Don't you know my name yet? That's the only answer. Tell me, who are you, alone, yourself and nameless? But you are young and I am old. Eldest, that's what I am. Mark my words, my friends: Tom was here before the river and the trees; Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn. He made paths before the Big People, and saw the little People arriving. He was here before the Kings and the graves and the Barrow-wights. When the Elves passed westward, Tom was here already, before the seas were bent. He knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless--before the Dark Lord came from Outside.'


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'Show me the precious Ring!' he said suddenly in the midst of the story: and Frodo, to his own astonishment drew out the chain from his pocket, and unfastening the Ring handed it at once to Tom.

It seemed to grow larger as it lay for a moment on his big brown-skinned hand. Then suddenly he put it to his eye and laughed. For a second the hobbits had a vision, both comical and alarming, of his bright blue eyes gleaming through a circle of gold. Then Tom put the ring round the end of his little finger and held it up to the candle-light. For a moment the hobbits noticed nothing strange about this. Then they gasped. There was no sing of Tom disappearing!

Tom laughed again, and then he spun the Ring in the air---and it vanished with a flash. Frodo gave a cry--and Tom leaned forward and handed it back to him with a smile.

What I want to point out in these passages is that Tom Bombadil (Earth) is a very powerful, ancient, loving entity. Earth, or Gaia, finds the beauty in all living creatures, but does not claim any ownership at all whatsoever in any creature that inhabits her. Placing names or labels on Gaia is not sensical, as labels are just figments of the massive ego of humanity. Earth simply IS. We are all one. There is no superior "God." We are all "God."

The purity of Gaia is such that she is not tempted by ego like humanity is. In the passages, Tom (Earth Gaia) is not tempted or affected by the power of the ring (ego). Tom remembers how things once were before humanity came and corrupted everything. Humanity has become a poison that has disrupted the beautiful melody Gaia once sang. We are spiritual vibrations that must harmonize with one another...which is why you see so many references to singing in these passages.

So to answer your thought-provoking question, raregem, the phrase "I am" to me means the acknowledgment that we are all one. The Earth is our home and she provides us with everything that we need to understand the depth of our personal spirituality.

[turiya]

"I am" means "being" is not.
I is ego, intellect, that which thinks. Descartes states "I think, therefore I am" ... ego is... when ego is, being is not.
Being & thinking cannot exist together. It is either one of the other.
A Dreaming mind is a thinking mind.
Dreaming ends when one awakens from dreamstate.
No mind, is a non thinking mind.
With no mind, being is the experience.
In other words, when 'thinking' is, 'being' is covered over by a layer of thought.

turiya :cool:

[Tony]

When I refers to an I, we are referring to another..an image of itself.



Tony

[greybeard]

The recognition of "I am" or from the book by Nasargadatta "I Am That" is an important staging point in spiritual progress but ultimately that falls away too.
and what is left is "ONE WITHOUT A SECOND" there is no other---its beyond duality and non-duality---both form and formless and neither.
Beyond all description.
The serious study of enlightenment will, for many, lead them to the teaching of Sri Ramana Maharshi & Nisargadhatta Maharaj.

http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/201908.Ramana_Maharshi

http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/172897.Sri_Nisargadatta_Maharaj


Chris

[Delight]

Word, I AM, Word
One that only I have heard
If not, free will would sound absurd.
I AM part of Creation

This temporal place is the world I play
The making of a beautiful day
Just a moment I will stay.
I AM from Creator.

I AM word here, a divine desire of the heart
In lila I AM a fractal of All, yet only part
It is why I arrived and will depart.
I AM following Creator.

Greater or subtler places I will find
Because worlds are just a trick of mind
and ALL by Creator well designed.
I AM blessing Creator.

A trick of the light
But not seen as slight
meant to help soul feel power's might.
I AM grateful Creator.

Because as I AM here
I grow a greater sphere
In my own deep dissolution of fear.
I AM beloved of Creator.

I AM the child taught to sing
If I will, releasing suffering
To Creator's hands my small gifts bring.
I AM one with Creator.

Thank you, Maggie

[Milneman]

Sam...I'm really getting to like you a lot. I read LOTR at least once every two years, along with The House at Pooh Corner.

[Robin]

Sam...I'm really getting to like you a lot. I read LOTR at least once every two years, along with The House at Pooh Corner.

Thanks! Likewise. ;)

I've read the books five times and have watched the films over 70 times each. In other words I've spent over 800 hours (over 30 days) of my life digesting the Lord of the Rings. :loco:

[Milneman]

Without going all...analytic..heh

"I am" is an idea.

Where do ideas exist?

[fourty-two]

When focusing on I AM
to my physical body means/brings a clarity of zingey, dancing happiness in every cell, and to the rest of my being - I AM feels/is that for which I can find no words to describe - but its good.

[Joe Akulis]

The serious study of enlightenment will, for many, lead them to the teaching of Sri Ramana Maharshi & Nisargadhatta Maharaj.

I wonder where the experience of enlightenment will lead? :-)

[Johnny]

I am asking what the two words " I AM " mean to you.?

In Danish, it means: jeg er. :)

It is the answer to; who am I.

And the full answer is: I am, that I am.

Johnny

[Johnny]

Without going all...analytic..heh

"I am" is an idea.

Where do ideas exist?

No No No ! Where do the ideas come from :)

[Johnny]

The serious study of enlightenment will, for many, lead them to the teaching of Sri Ramana Maharshi & Nisargadhatta Maharaj.

I wonder where the experience of enlightenment will lead? :-)

Away from ignorance, and /or replace the ignorance :)

[Johnny]

Thank you SamwiseTheBrave, it seem I should see the dvd's again, with all that in mind.

Johnny

[DeDukshyn]

I believe it is about a state. "AM" indicates Being. "Being" - relates only to a state of existence -- a particular state that is centered fully in the present moment, outside of time, and outside of physical. The statement is more a fact about what is not being indicated more than what is.

From the pure state of "Being", Source flows into this realm through that being-ness.

Humans are meant to be "Human Beings" -- but we have lost what this actually means, but this is still a hint of what the overall "plan" is supposed to encompass - Humans, becoming the I AM -- and reaching that state of Being, where source flows through. As Jesus put it, "In this world but not of this world"

In a sense, it is a statement that declares, that the fact that I have an existence - an experience, is the only worldly description that is valid to describe you -- all else are labels.

My 2 cents ;)

[GoodETxSG]

I AM, I WAS, I IS, I BE.. I am an IS BE... a term used by many... especially Interdimensional Being's... but many of you already know this.

[raregem]

Thank you everyone for your truths. I have had to really "absorb" some of your writings. So thought provoking. One of you made me cry,...over joyed . SamWise, post #5 is so poignant and I enjoyed reading the excerpts. Your insight has opened up a new way for me to "see". I love allegory. I also enjoy your writing. I have been attracted to your avatar. Great history. TY.
The poem in post #9 by Delight: Now I want to take each stanza, print it on beautiful paper, frame each one individually, place in areas around the home and watch visitors responses, lol.........whee
Or do the same in really small print;)

[markpierre]

I guess you have to be that to answer it. 'I am' hungry. 'I am" angry. In my experience it's no different than that.
'I am' not even here sometimes.
There is no 'me' who's hungry, there's just a mandate to eat. I think birds build their nests and turtles head for the sea
in much the same state of mind.

[Crystine]

The very tiniest segment of ones first knowledge of self-awareness.

[william r sanford72]

a walking talking concious mirror of divine creation.as above so below.