The I AM Imagination
We have reached the very depths of the Gospel of St John now. This is the chapter about the raising of Lazarus. Lazarus is ill, Jesus says its ok but then Lazarus dies and Mary and Martha accuse Jesus of neglecting what they see as his duty. The fifth I Am saying erupts from the middle of the story.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25f
The raising of Lazarus heralds the real power of the I AM. This is the power that is to be at the disposal of every individual person - a resurrection power. So two thousand years ago we were given personal access to our I AM and today we hardly know what this I AM is. Consequently this resurrection power remains a mystery.
If we contemplate the activities of Christ as they are reported in sacred writings we will begin to experience its characteristics. Christ is the key that gives us unrestricted access to our I AM which dwells mainly outside our being. This access is a two-way process; our action and its response. In our reaching out we signal our willingness to receive its activity into our being. As we develop trust we allow the I AM more and more access to our daily lives; it in turn works more fully in us.
A great tool for building an understanding of our I AM and its power is Imagination. Through active Imagination we can create a reality for ourselves about our relationship with our I AM. The following framework is one way that we can develop our own personal I AM Imagination.
Imagine your being as an egg-shaped, multi-coloured mist extending outside, around and through your physical body. At the centre of this mist is a tiny spark – your self, the part you are speaking from when you say “I”. Your I AM, your Real Self, is outside this egg. See this Real Self as a golden mist, reaching down to your multicoloured being. Sometimes it touches the surface of your being, sometimes it withdraws into the universe. See it as a flowing, continual movement like gentle waves kissing the shore. Sometimes the sun, the light of Christ, glistens in this golden mist making it finer and lighter, dancing. Sometimes the sunlit mist shines into your egg-shaped being like light through a dark forest. It is as if a pathway opened up in your being and your Real Self could engage with your small “I”, the tiny spark. This would happen at times when we are less anxious, more peaceful, more giving and thoughtful. Imagine the tiny spark starting to flicker into a small flame within you. See it flickering up to the golden mist that is your Real Self. Become aware that you feel light and strong and calm when this connection is made.
As you maintain this connection direct your attention to your posture. Experience the uprightness of your physical body; feel as tall and straight as the letter “I”. … Now move your attention to your voice. Think about the power of your voice, the tone of your voice, the sound it makes as it forms words. … Then direct your attention to your thoughts. Remember how you feel when your thoughts are clear and concise. The satisfaction when you are able to work through to a solution. This is when you are really conscious.
This is the resurrection power within our being. We have raised our consciousness out of the tomb of our body. We have become conscious of the fullness of our being. Remember this feeling. We can bring this resurrection experience to mind often during the day.
Another resurrection experience is to imagine being with the disciples when they encountered the resurrected Christ. In your imagination see Christ standing before you saying, “Peace be with you” - keep doing it till you feel the reality of it. You will feel a peace actually flow through you, raising you up. Your whole being will feel lighter, finer. If we practice it often enough then we are able to use it during the day whenever we need it. When we experience fear, annoyance, judgement from another person, or find ourselves quick to judge others we can interrupt the thoughts and feelings with the “Peace be with you.”
John records the story of the disciples seeing the risen Christ in chapter 20 - imagine their fear! Have you ever seen a ghost? Seeing one in the movies is frightening enough. Or imagine that a spiritual being has manifested beside you in the room. Then as quickly as you can let those words “Peace be with you” wash over you and feel the fear subside.
These resurrection exercises are not techniques; they are a way of life. They are as essential as breathing or eating and drinking. If we are to have Life we must connect up with our I AM. We must have regular doses of I AM in our daily activities. If we don’t we will die and there will be no resurrection.
Christ left us the ritual of bread and wine to remind us of the resurrection power. He is the great I AM that enters the flesh, transmutes the blood and promises that if we believe in the I AM, though we are dead, yet shall we live, and whoever lives and believes in the I AM shall never die. Do you believe this?
Lower and Higher Self
I have always had trouble finding a suitable mental picture illustrating the relationship between our small 'I' and our Higher Self.
I like Kristina's way of putting it.
When I work on it with my imagination the following arises.
Imagine a canvas. We at first paint the entire canvas a solid gold color. Then we color a small egg shaped portion in the middle of our canvas a muddy, solid brown.
Now imagine that through some ingenious process a small portion of the gold that had been covered up with the muddy brown begins to glow through the muddy brown, and after a time, a small speck of the muddy brown color dissipates.
Then we would see a small spark of gold in the middle of the muddy brown.
Now imagine that the gold spark begins to 'work' on the muddy brown, and gradually transmutes its color to include all the colors of the rainbow, starting at the center of the muddy brown, with our spark of gold, and working out to the periphery.
Now if these rainbow colors were translucent, we would be able to see thru them to the base of gold.
Once the rainbow colors extended out to the absolute limit of our muddy brown color, it will have completely disappeared and we will see once again that there has been a connection with the golden color all along.
This seems to be a good way of visualizing to oneself the relationship between the lower and the higher self.
One can go even further with this visualization.
One could imagine to oneself that the golden spark, when still surrounded by the muddy brown, cannot see the surrounding gold, because it is after all surrounded by darkness.
Only when the golden spark has worked and worked and worked on the muddy brown to the point that it (the muddy brown) is completely transmuted to the translucent colors of the rainbow will it be able to see that it has been a part of something larger all along- it just couldn't see it.