THE NAME OF GOD AS REVEALED IN EXODUS 3:14

An explanation of its meaning

K J Cronin

 
A website dedicated to the
interpretation of Exodus 3:14
 
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An Explanation of the Meaning of the Name of God as Revealed in Exodus 3:14


There is only one God.

God is the only creator.

The Creator must be before His creation can be.

Therefore,


God was before He created.
 

All that is not God is His Creation.

‘All That Is’ is God and His Creation.

God Was before He created.

Therefore, there was a condition of ‘All That Is’ where there was only God.


Before He created, ‘All That Is’ was God.
 

God is perfect.

Disunity is imperfect.

Therefore in God there is no disunity.

In God there is perfect unity.


God in Himself is perfect in unity. 

Perfect unity is a condition in which there are no differences by which to be distinguished.

It is a condition of perfect oneness in all aspects of being.

In perfect unity there is no distinction of one from another.

In perfect unity there is only one.


 In perfect unity there is no other.
 

The experience of being is comprised in its entirety of the apprehension and assimilation of, and the engagement in, the phenomenon of being.

All experience of being is mediated through the agency of mind.


Mind is the capability to experience being. 


The realm of being is comprised in its entirety of self and other.

All that is not self is other.


Awareness is the experience of being.

Therefore,


Awareness in its entirety is of self and other.
 

Awareness is the experience of being.

Mind is the capability to experience being.

Therefore awareness requires the activity of mind.


Therefore if there is no activity of mind, there can be no awareness.
 

Perfect unity is a condition of being in which there are no differences by which to be distinguished.

In perfect unity there is no differentiation of mind from all else.

Therefore in a condition of being where ‘All That Is’ was One, and that One was perfect in unity, there can have been no independent activity of mind relative to all else.

In a condition of being where ‘All That Is’ was One, and that One was perfect in unity, the only conceivable object of perception would have been identical to the mind that would perceive it.

In such a condition of being there was no differentiation of subject from object, and so there was neither subject nor object.

If there is no subject and there is no object, then there is neither subject to perceive nor object to be perceived.

If there is no subject to perceive nor object to be perceived, then there can be no activity of mind.

Therefore,


In the condition of being where there was only One, and that One was perfect in unity, there can have been no activity of mind.


Before He created, ‘All That Is’ was God.

God in Himself is perfect in unity.

Therefore before He created there was only One, and that One was perfect in unity.


 Therefore when ‘All That Is’ was God, there was in Him no activity of mind.
 

Awareness requires the activity of mind.


 Therefore when ‘All That Is’ was God, He was not aware. 


For mind to be active there must be an object of perception to be active in relation to.

When ‘All That Is’ was God there was no such object of perception.

Therefore,


 For God to become aware, there had to be something other than Him in the realm of being to constitute an object of perception for Him. 

Therefore the object of God’s first perception was that which was other than Him.

Therefore the first awareness in God was His awareness of that which was other than Him.


 Therefore, to become aware of Himself required first that God become aware of other. 

God is aware.

Awareness in its entirety is of self and other.

Therefore God’s awareness in its entirety is of Himself and other.


All that is not God is His Creation.
Therefore all that is other than God is His Creation.

Therefore God’s awareness in its entirety is of Himself and His Creation.


To become aware of Himself required first that God become aware of other.

Therefore to become aware of Himself required first that God become aware of His Creation.


 Therefore God’s own Creation is the other of which He first became aware.
 

That which is created must have a beginning.


Therefore the first awareness in God was His first awareness of the beginning of His Creation.
 

There is no such thing as non-being.

There is only being.

The realm of being is comprised in its entirety of God and His creation.


Therefore the entirety of the first awareness in God was His awareness of the beginning of His Creation.


In the first instant of His awareness God cannot have perceived His creation as an entity absolutely distinct from Himself, because the entirety of His first awareness was of His creation, and so He was not yet aware of Himself to distinguish His creation from.

Moreover, while there is an absolute distinction between God and His creation, there can be no separation between the two, because there is nothing else in the realm of being to constitute such a separation.

Therefore in the first instant of His awareness, God did not identify His creation as an entity distinct from Himself, and He did not perceive it as an entity separated from Himself.
Therefore the first awareness in God of the beginning of His creation can only have been His awareness of the condition of His creation in the beginning.

There was nothing else for Him to behold.


Therefore the entirety of the first awareness in God was His awareness of the condition of His creation in the beginning. 

In the beginning Creation was without form.


Therefore the entirety of the first awareness in God was His awareness of that which had no form. 

 
Awareness is the experience of being. 

Therefore the entirety of the first awareness in God was His experience of being in relation to that which had no form.
 

In that which had no form there was absolutely no formed thing to behold.


 The experience of being in relation only to that wherein there was absolutely no formed thing to behold can perhaps be best imagined by contemplating what it would be like to be exclusively aware of, and looking out into, perfectly dark and empty space.

The only way that I can conceive of articulating the experience of being exclusively aware of, and looking out into, perfectly dark and empty space is to simply say ‘there is’.


Therefore I conclude that the articulation in God of His first awareness of the beginning of His creation was that ‘There Is’.


If there is the awareness that ‘There Is’, then there is one who is so aware.

If there is one who is aware, then there is self.

If there is self, then there is ‘I’.

If there is ‘I’, then ‘I am’.

Therefore if ‘There Is’, then ‘I am’.


There Is, Therefore I AM.


Therefore ‘I AM’ was the response in the mind of God to His first awareness of the beginning of His creation.

‘I AM’ was also the articulation in God of His awareness of His Self as distinct from all other. 

Therefore the response in the mind of God to His first awareness of the beginning of His creation was the articulation of His awareness of His Self as distinct from all other.


Awareness is the experience of being.

The awareness of self is the experience of personal being.

Therefore the awareness in God of His Self as distinct from all other is His experience of Personal being.

Therefore the response in the mind of God to His first awareness of the beginning of His creation was the articulation of His experience of Personal being.


Therefore ‘I AM’ was the articulation in God of the first experience He had of His Personal being. 

God in Himself is perfect in unity.

That He is perfect in unity means He is fully God throughout His being.

That He is fully God throughout His being means that there can be no loss or change in His Personal being.

However much He gives of Himself to His creation, there can be no loss or change in His Personal Being.


That there can be no change in His Personal being means there can be no change in the experience He has of His Personal being.

Therefore the experience God had of His Personal being was perfect in the first instant of that experience, and will be perfect eternally.

‘I AM’ was the articulation in God of the first experience He had of His personal being.


Therefore ‘I AM’ was then, is now and will eternally be the articulation in God of the experience He has of His Personal being. 

All knowledge is in God.

All knowledge in God is perfect and had no beginning.

Therefore the knowledge God has of His Personal being is perfect and had no beginning.


God in Himself is perfect in unity.

His knowledge of His Personal being is perfect and had no beginning.

His experience of His Personal being is perfect and was initiated by His awareness of His own creation.

Therefore the experience God has of His Personal being must correspond perfectly to the knowledge He has of His Personal being.


Therefore the articulation in God of the experience He has of His Personal being must be identical to the articulation of the knowledge He has of His Personal being. 


‘I AM’ is the articulation in God of the experience He has of His Personal being.

Therefore ‘I AM’ is the articulation in God of the knowledge He has of His Personal being.

   
Personal identity is designated by means of a name.
The more knowledge of the one named that is articulated in their name, the more completely and specifically does it designate their personal identity.
Therefore the perfect name would be the perfect articulation of the knowledge of the one named.

The knowledge God has of His Personal being is perfect.
Therefore the articulation of the knowledge God has of His Personal being is His perfect name.

‘I AM’
is the articulation in God of the knowledge He has of His Personal being.
Therefore ‘I AM’ is the perfect name of God.

Thus is I AM the name of God.



 
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