My favorite name for God has always been: I AM WHO AM.
Or simply, I AM.
I'm not sure when this name came into my consciousness. It might have been at the time I took a one year class at UCLA titled ‘The Bible as Literature'. We read the entire King James Version from cover to cover. The course also included the Apocrypha, the books which the compilers of this translation chose to exclude.
The professor who taught this course was fantastic. He spoke of the differences in wording between this version of the Great Book and other translations. He must have been a biblical scholar and whose class I was lucky enough to find. ...Can't remember his name. It was a long time ago.
He was one of the few teachers who seemed to even be aware that I was there. He knew my name, even though there were more than 100 students in the class.
I always sat in the front row. Not a disciplined student, this was one of the few classes in which I received an A. This professor made the subject come alive.
He made us aware of how, as the Bible was translated from one language to another, the meaning of certain words changed. Which in essence, often changed the entire idea or concept.
Around that time, I also took a year course on the 'Religions of The World' and flatly rejected the ideas presented by Eastern belief systems. The idea of rebirth or reincarnation seemed absurd to me. The idea that God was not separate from us seemed strange. This did not fit into my pre-existing parameters.
At that time, I learned there were other Sacred Scriptures. From many traditions around the world. It is only now that I can see the great truths expressed in all of them. That in reality the great Truths are expressed in as many ways as there are people.
I AM WHO AM encompasses the All. Like most raised in Western Society, I have a masculine image of God, and often refer to God as Him. But in my heart, there is the sense of Totality which encompasses the Divine Feminine.
My Spiritual Mother has told us that there has been and still is an imbalance in the world. Women around the world are still being treated as chattel. We must recognize the Feminine aspect of the Great God to restore this balance. Just as we must look at the imbalance between those who have and those who have not. We must work to toward a change.
We must start with ourselves.
Posted by Judi at December 7, 2003 5:09 PM | TrackBack