How I Used Truth - Lesson 3 - Annotation 5
Why should a Truth seeker not use such phrases as "I am sorry" and "I am afraid"?
5. The lesson has brought out that I AM is the name of the Lord or law of our being. In using such phrases as "I am sorry" or "I am afraid" we are unthinkingly using the name (or nature) of the Lord to bring to ourselves negative conditions. It is by our words that we identify ourselves with the mental causes that produce limited conditions. When we lower the use of the I AM power from the spiritual to the mental only, we become subject to the "mental law of cause and effect" and will reap the harvest of our negative sowing.
"You do not connect that far-away I AM that inspired Moses with your own little everyday I am . . . Yet there is but one I AM . . . That which says 'I am' in all men, women, and children is identical. It is like the mathematical (number) 1. All the combinations of figures that were ever conceived are but the repetitions of this digit. It is the son of the principle, mathematics. It is inspired by it’s principle and all the possibilities of that principle are open to it" (Talks on Truth 76, 77).
No one else in the world can say "I am" for us; another must either say "you are" or "he (or she) is." As we have already brought out in this lesson, I AM is our "identification card." Whether we are using the name I AM in full recognition of its meaning, or using the words "I am" in everyday conversation, we are still identifying ourselves with whatever we attach to the words.
The I AM (Lord) in each of us is our creative power, expressing through our formative power of thought. The business of I AM is to attend to our every call and to bring into manifestation that which we declare by our words -- spoken silently or audibly. We have already learned that the I AM is the Lord or law of our being. On page 115 of the book Lessons In Truth we read these words concerning "your Lord":
"Your Lord is He who will deliver you out of all your troubles. Your Lord has no other business but to. . . . make you mighty with His own mightiness made visible; whole with His health; perfect by showing forth the Christ perfection" (Emilie Cady Lessons In Truth 10:40).
It is vital that the Truth seeker should do all that he can to identify himself consciously with that which is divinely true of God and of himself as a son of God. One Truth writer has stated it very clearly in this way:
"When you say 'I am’ never follow it with anything that you do not believe to be true of God. The I AM is the voice of God's authority in you. ... It should not be used lightly or carelessly, for it is fraught with power. To say 'I am weak' is to apply this power to the idea of weakness" (The Sunlit Way 46, 47).
On page 43 of the text, suggestions are given as to how we may refer to occurrences in our life without using the name I AM in a downward way (How I Used Truth 43).
Every affirmation involving the name I AM, identified with that which is the Truth of God and man, is like a "building block" in our consciousness. When the true meaning is felt deeply, as well as voiced, then the divine idea embodied in it becomes established in our thinking and feeling. We begin to form the good habit of using the power of I AM only to declare and claim the Truth that "shall make [us] free" (John 8:32) from undesirable situations. We allow the very words we speak to be tools that will help to lead us into restored health, harmony, and happiness.
"In every place where I record my name I will come unto thee and I will bless thee" (Exod. 20:24).
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Preceding Entry: Explain the Third Commandment, "Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain" (Exod. 20:7).
Following Entry: How do we ask "in His name"?
