“A Ten-Fold Path of Transcendence,
Part 3 - The Power of Your Secret Name”
Some metaphysicians claim that the subconscious does not have a sense of humor. They also say that the subconscious ignores words like “not” and “no.” In other words, some metaphysicians talk as if the subconscious is not as smart as your conscious mind. I believe the subconscious is smarter than most metaphysicians think.
The subconscious remembers everything, which shows one way it is smarter than the conscious mind.
Consider this: just thinking something doesn’t always manifest it; the thought must be believed, it must be established through mental discipline of some kind before it has significant effect. Anyone who has tried to “program the subconscious” knows that. In other words, the subconscious does not accept as truth just any old thought that crosses your mind. The subconscious stores everything, but it is not indiscriminate; in some ways, it is closer to Universal Mind and has more understanding than you have in your conscious mind.
The subconscious knows when you are consciously lying; that is why “lie detectors” work. The subconscious gives the lie away by manifestations in the body. Some people can fool lie detectors, but evidently it takes conscious effort to get the subconscious to cooperate with lying. You must consciously work to get your subconscious to accept something as true. Now if your subconscious knows when you are lying, then it also knows when you are joking. If it understands the word “yes,” what reason could there be to suppose that it doesn’t understand the word “no”?
Since in many ways the subconscious is actually smarter than the conscious mind, what basis can there be for thinking that it has no sense of humor and that it doesn’t understand words like “no” and “not”? These are theories without any logical or scientific basis.
It is important to understand that your subconscious understands “no” and “not,” because otherwise it would be pointless to study the Ten Commandments. If the subconscious did not understand the word “not,” then every time you consciously heard, read, or thought “you shall not kill,” your subconscious would ignore the word “not” and accept the suggestion “you shall kill.” By studying the Ten Commandments, you would be programming your subconscious to: have other gods, make graven images, use God’s name in vain, kill, steal, commit adultery, bear false witness, and covet.
This brings us to The 3rd Commandment:
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.” Or, “you shall not take the name of the I AM your God in vain.”
People in biblical times believed that a given name said something about a person’s nature or significant factors accompanying their birth.
If some significant change occurred in the person’s life that was believed to be affected by God, that person’s name would be changed, e.g. such name changes are found in the book of Genesis: from “Abram” to “Abraham,” from “Sarai” to “Sarah,” and from “Jacob” to “Israel.” The belief that a person’s name indicated that person’s nature was held not only by Hebrews but in other cultures such as in Native American culture. Even today, some people still change their names for religious reasons, e.g. from Cassius Clay” to “Muhammad Ali”; from “Lew Alcindor” to “Kareem Abdul Jabbar”; from “Francis Gumm” to “Judy Garland.” Ok, maybe that last one wasn’t for religious reasons, although Judy Garland was an “idol” to some.
Moses would have believed that knowing God’s name would give him and the Israelites power to call God and get God to help them. That is why Moses asked, “If the people ask ‘what is his name?’ what shall I tell them?”
When Moses asked for God’s name, he was not asking for a given name or a nickname in the modern sense. Moses was asking one of the most important questions that anyone can ask; he was asking to know the essential nature of the ultimate power in the universe.
Answering Moses, God used the first person singular form of a verb meaning to be or to cause: “I am” or “I cause to be.” The name signifies that ultimate being is ultimate cause. However, in the story, the name God told Moses to tell the Israelites was Yahweh, which is technically the third person singular form of the verb: He is or He causes to be. In a sense, God’s private or “secret” name meant “I am,” but his “public” sacred name meant “He is.” In a literal and superficial sense, the prohibition against “using ‘Yahweh’ or ‘He is’ in vain” was a religious taboo, something that one should not do for religious reasons. However, metaphysically speaking, the secret name “I AM” is the name that cannot be used in vain. Every time you say “I am,” something happens in consciousness.
“I AM” is the name of essential unchangeable being, from the perspective of that being. Thus, the name of God from a God-perspective is eternally “I AM.” “I AM” cannot truly be said about anything changeable. Only Spirit can truly say, “I am.”
“I Am” is your secret name too. Why a “secret” name?
Your given name, your nicknames, your thoughts, feelings, soul, consciousness, and body can all be changed. Only from your essential unchanging spiritual identity can you truly say “I AM.” It is a secret name in the sense that no one else can call you “I AM.”
Just here it is important to note the difference between using the law of mind action and knowing the truth that sets you free. There is a difference between “knowing Truth” and “believing and receiving.”
The law of mind action gives outward form to thoughts and words that are accepted as true. The law is: “what you believe, you’ll receive and achieve.” The law is indifferent to the truth or falsity of your beliefs. The law operates only with what you accept as true. So you can use the law of mind action to manifest what you desire and what you do not desire. Through believing, you can manifest anxiety or calmness, doubt or faith, hatred or love, illness or health, lack or prosperity, sorrow or joy.
On the other hand, knowing the Truth is thinking and understanding truth thoughts. Part of thinking truth thoughts is claiming your divine nature. “I AM Spirit” is a Truth thought. “I AM Life” is a Truth thought. “I AM Light” is a Truth thought. Realization of Truth – knowing the Truth - is a mystical experience of Oneness that always manifests as some greater good in personal experience. That is “knowing the Truth” that sets you free.
What happens in your consciousness and experience when you think or say “I AM”? Whenever you think or say “I AM,” you are identifying your very being with whatever follows – true or false. When you identify with you true eternal nature, i.e. when you identify with God in you, you open your conscious mind to experience that Truth. When you identify with anything less than divine ideas, you are identifying with a false idea; you are using the name “I AM” in vain. The more you identify with an idea, the more real that idea seems to you. The idea grows in your subconscious and manifests in your experience in some way.
You cannot change what you truly are; you cannot change your “I AM.” However, you can change your experience. You can dis-identify with false ideas with the words “no” or “not,” and identify with Truth with the words “I AM.” You can dis-identify with what you do not wish to experience and identify with what you do want to experience.
In the Bible, the sacred name “I AM” is associated with divine ideas, the Truth about God and about your own nature – God in you. You can use these biblical statements to open your consciousness for a more divine experience of the world. You can use them as a standard for dis-identifying with false ideas that manifest as false and negative experience.
There are many “I AM statements” attributed to Jesus in John’s Gospel:
“I am the Way” to the Father, to God; “I am the Truth” of your nature: “I am Life”; “I am Light,” i.e. true consciousness or intelligence; “I am the bread” or true substance and supply; “I am the Good Shepherd” or benevolent guiding wisdom; “I am the True Vine” or principle of unity, connecting all beings.
There are similar ideas associated with the I AM in the Old Testament.
“Yahweh-nissi” meaning “I Am is my banner” or standard, i.e. “God-nature is the standard I follow.” Examples of Truth statements from this name are: I AM not “only human”; the Divine nature of the I AM is the standard I follow. I AM the Good Shepherd. I AM the Way.
“Yahweh-shammah” meaning “I AM there” i.e. I AM omnipresence. Examples of Truth statements from this name are: There is no absence of God the good anywhere in the universe. I AM the omnipresence of God the good here and now. I AM the True Vine.
“Yahweh-Jirah” meaning “I AM sees” or “I AM omniscience.” Truth statements from this name are: There is no absence of Divine Intelligence anywhere in the universe. I AM the omniscience of God here and now. I AM the light of the world.
“Yahweh-shalom” meaning “I AM peace, prosperity, and well-being.” Truth statements from this name are: There is no absence of God’s peace, prosperity, or wholeness anywhere in the universe. I AM divine peace. I AM prosperity. I AM the true bread. I AM wholeness. There is no absence of Divine Life anywhere in the universe. I AM divine life here and now.
“Yahweh-tsideqenuw” (sid-kay-new) meaning “I AM just,” or “rightness,” i.e. I AM truth. Truth statements from this name are: There is no absence of divine justice and truth anywhere in the universe. I AM the justness of God. I AM the Truth of God here and now.
These are all statements of Being and Truth. And so it is.