(27) “He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I AM not worthy to unloose”.
In verse twenty-seven we are told that the conscious mind is not worthy to unloose the latchet of the shoes of the deeper mind or subjective self. By the subjective self I mean not just the subconscious mind, but the Presence of God or the I AM within us. Feet symbolize understanding, and the shoes cover the feet. In other words, the conscious mind does not know the secret of creation or the manner in which the Infinite Wisdom and Intelligence within man brings things to pass. Its ways are past finding out. The conscious mind cannot unlock or reveal how, when, where, or through what source the answer to prayer will come. Many things seem impossible to the conscious mind, but to the Invisible Power within man, all things are possible. Canst thou believe? All things are possible to him that believeth.
Man will one day realize that his unconditioned consciousness or I AM is the Virgin Mary desiring to express, that through this law of self-expression he defines himself as that which he desires to express and that without the help or cooperation of anyone he will express that which he has consciously claimed and defined himself as being.
Believe, feel that I AM; know that this knowing one within you, your awareness of being, is God. Close your eyes and feel yourself to be faceless, formless and without figure. Approach this stillness as though it were the easiest thing in the world to accomplish. This attitude will assure your success. When all thought of problem or self is dropped from consciousness because you are now absorbed or lost in the feeling of just being I AM, then begin in this formless state to feel yourself to be that which you desire to be, “I AM That I AM”.
There is only One Creative Power. There is only One Source. God is called Awareness, Unconditioned Consciousness, Life. There is only one Life and all things in the world are made inside and out of Life or Consciousness. The Bible calls God I AM, which means Being or Existence. I AM conceives itself to be sun, moon, stars, planets, etc. In fact, everything you see is the I AM in infinite differentiation. There is only one Cause, one Substance, one Source. Whatever you affix to I AM through feeling, you create in your world of expression. That is what the Bible means when it says that there is nothing made that is not made that way. Nothing is made without feeling. If you feel poor, you become poor; if you feel prosperous, you become prosperous; if you feel dignified, you become dignified.
“Leave all and follow Me” is a double invitation to you. First, it invites you to turn completely away from all problems and, then, it calls upon you to continue walking in the claim that you are that which you desire to be. Do not be a Lot’s wife who looks back and becomes salted or preserved in the dead past. Be a Lot who does not look back but who keeps his vision focused upon the promised land, the thing desired. Do this and you will know that you have found the master, the Master Magician, making the unseen the seen through the command, “I AM That”.
Jesus means God is your deliverer, the I AM within you, which receives the impress of your conviction and responds accordingly.
Become Jesus; i.e., become awakened to the Truth and know that there is but one Primal Cause which is your own Consciousness; cease making secondary Causes. To know that your I AM is the only Power, the only Cause, the only Substance, is to free you from all the false gods of the world, enabling you to go forth with the song of God in your heart.
Light means Intelligence, in the Bible. Infinite Intelligence is within you (I AM). Feel and know that you are Divinely led in all your ways and that is exactly what you will experience; then you will know and feel the meaning of and the life was the light of men.
I am sure that you are very familiar with the fact that no one can say I AM for you. That statement is in the first person, present tense. It means you are announcing the Presence of God within as Cause and Creator. Notice when you speak to your sister or son you say, “You are.” When you speak in the third person you say, “They are.”
“I possess the power to say “I AM.” No one can say it for me. I now believe I AM what I wish to be. I live, move, and have my being in that mental atmosphere and no person, place, or thing can get in before me or prevent me from being what I long to be; for, according to my belief, is it done unto me.
There is only one door through which that which you seek can enter your world. “I AM the door”. When you say, “I AM”, you are declaring yourself to be, first person, present tense; there is no future. To know that I AM is to be conscious of being. Consciousness is the only door. Unless you are conscious of being that which you seek, you seek in vain. If you judge after appearances, you will continue to be enslaved by the evidence of your senses.
Unless man discovers that his consciousness is the cause of every expression of his life, he will continue seeking the cause of his confusion in the world of effects, and so shall die in his fruitless search. “I AM the vine and ye are the branches”. Consciousness is the vine and that which you are conscious of being is as branches that you feed and keep alive. Just as a branch has no life except it be rooted in the vine, likewise things have no life except you be conscious of them. Just as a branch withers and dies if the sap of the vine ceases to flow towards it, so do things and qualities pass away if you take your attention from them; because your attention is the sap of life which sustains the expression of your life.
All the quotes in The Power of I AM are credited
to the following authors.
Neville Goddard, Joseph Murphy, Walter C. Lanyon, Walter Devoe, Lillian DeWaters, Emmet Fox, Ella Wheeler, Christian D Larson, Edna Lister, Thomas Troward