Part 7

I AM that I AM is one of the principal Bible terms for God. It means unconditioned Being. It means the great Creative Power that is absolutely unlimited. It is an attempt — and a very successful one — to express, as far as language can, the infinity of God.

"I AM" means you — the individual. It is an assertion or affirmation of existence and needs to be qualified in some way. We say, for example, "I AM a man" or "I AM a woman," "I AM an American" or "I AM a Spaniard," "I AM a lawyer" or "I AM a baker," "I AM a Republican" or "I AM a Democrat." In each case we state an important fact about ourselves, and to that extent we limit ourselves — not in a negative sense, but in a positive and constructive sense.

If I AM an American, I AM not a Spaniard; if I AM a man, I AM not a woman, etc.

Now God (I AM) is absolutely unlimited, and the only phrase which can express this is I AM that I AM. I AM — what? I AM — pure unconditioned being, unlimited, and unspecified in any way. To affirm that God is any particular thing would imply limitation, or at least a circumscription, and God is unlimited.

It is man's business to be something in particular, and not to try to be everything, because he is an individualization. If you struck all the notes in the scale together you would only have confused noise. Music consists in the selection and special groupings of certain notes.

In God's universe each one of us has his place and it is our business to find that true place and express it — to play our part correctly in the great orchestra. God, however, is the Great Conductor and the whole orchestra too, unlimited and without beginning and without end.