The Significance of 'I Am that I Am' in Spiritual Awakening

"That is the real spiritual awakening, when something emerges from within you that is deeper than who you thought you were. So, the person is still there, but one could almost say that something more powerful shines through the person."

–Eckhart Tolle

In the Bible, Exodus 3:14, when Moses encounters the burning bush, YHWH said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

This seemingly redundant and oversimplified sentence "I am that I am" to describe God left many scratching their heads or made it too easy to overlook for millenniums. Reactions swing on both ends of the pendulum when the most basic participle is used to create everything into existence–a paradox.

Nonetheless, the truth often lies in the root, so let's dive deeper into the meaning of "I am".

To Be or Not To Be

"I am" comes from the verb to be. The literal definition of the verb to be is to exist. Existence. Admittedly, it is one of the easiest verbs to overlook, yet, few realize that it is the most important one in the vocabulary of all languages because it is universal, cosmic, and spiritual at the most fundamental level.

To be is the base participle to form continuous tenses. I am happy, I am sad. One must be first in order for any other layer to be added on to that initial base of existence. Without it, there is no you, me, emotions, actions, or anything at all. After all, we are human beings or rather, humans that are being. Therefore, we already are being.

I am is the formless where form can be shaped from.

Those who eventually recognize, realize, remember being or return to their truest self, underneath all the layers of self-concepts, conditioning and identification, experience a shift in consciousness or a spiritual awakening. That moment usually marks the point of no return in someone's life, whether it is only a glimpse or a permanence. You’ve awakened and there is no going back from that point forward. You’re set up to be on a different path, a different kind of life stemming from a deeper understanding of the basis of your nature and essence. I am is the formless where form can be shaped from. Each being on Earth came into existence through the breath of YHWH (I am), which is why breathing is the most fundamental component to living. Learning how to breathe properly is to be truly alive, an underestimated source back to Source.

Meditating to Awaken

Meditation's ultimate purpose is to experience existence (being) without the layers of emotions, thoughts, identity, space, and time. Although the beginning stages of meditating can be challenging and often frustrating, this practice helps quiet those layers and helps one go deeper within oneself, which once deepened enough, can lead to a potential spiritual awakening through the recognition of who one truly is. However, this should not become the end-goal but rather help slow down from the fast-paced and busy minds and lives. Through the practice of awareness and consciousness, one can break free from the outdated unconscious conditioned internal system that is on autopilot. Once one comes from a place of being, even any sort of doing comes from that place of being and it is a completely different experience altogether. It becomes a continuous flow state.

How to Know You're Having a Spiritual Awakening?

You are immersed into the absolute present moment where there is nothing else that matters other than what you are being in that moment. In being, each moment becomes all that there is, all that is needed, all that you are doing, nothing more, nothing less. It's a feeling of being at the right at place, at the right time, doing the right thing, even if it's a simple mundane task such as doing the dishes. Things that used to matter don't matter as much anymore. Problems are no longer problems. They just are and there is an immense sense of relief and peace that follows that: Liberation. It’s a moment of complete surrender and rejoicing to what life is offering moment by moment and you begin to understand true blissfulness.

Through the natural unfolding and progression of one's awakening, everything becomes a path of least resistance. Things suddenly seem to become ever so simple and clear, a knowingness that does not come from overthinking but rather from this ever flow state emerging from your essence of your being. You just know what to do and how to do it, moment by moment. One can begin to realize that this beingness has always been there, and can think ‘How could I have missed it when it was right under my nose this whole time?’

Spiritual Awakenings, whether it be ten seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years are typically almost always temporary vs. permanent but a spiritual awakening is just the beginning. With the right dedicated practice and guidance, gradually, I am a strong believer that one can reach the point where this becomes their natural or abiding state.

Humanity's Great Purpose

You're switching gears from Survival Mode to Purpose Mode.

We are witnessing a global phenomenon happening where more and more people are awakening around the world at a rapid pace like we have never seen before. People are awakening spontaneously, accidentally, through intention, practice, guidance, and more. When you live from a place of your True or Higher Self, you begin to experience True Free Will. This kind of Freedom or Liberation comes with great responsibility and a chance to a new kind of life, which becomes your destiny. You're switching gears from Survival Mode to Purpose Mode.

"We need enlightenment, not just individually but collectively, to save the planet. We need to awaken ourselves. We need to practice mindfulness if we want to have a future, if we want to save ourselves and the planet."

–Thich Nhat Hanh

Awakening to our True Selves is the gateway to a higher consciousness. We are living during an extraordinary time: we are witnessing, participating, living the beginning of the shift into the New Earth. We are at a very important tipping point in human evolution. As more individuals awaken, the awakened collective grows and elevates Earth’s vibrational frequency higher to eventually be able to ‘tip over’ as a whole, into a new paradigm, a new dimension, our next destined evolutionary stage. Heaven on Earth will be manifested from the inner to the outer. On a the timescale of a human's life, this can be sometimes be difficult to see or feel because we are too close to it but on the macro scale of humanity’s historical timeline, this is the first shift of its kind in terms of magnitude and speed. This is not your typical gradual evolution in a "natural order". This is a quantum jump on a planetary scale.

But never mind all that, first things first, we must awaken on an individual level. Go within, root down deep.

I am.