THE NAME OF GOD AS REVEALED IN EXODUS 3:14

An explanation of its meaning

K J Cronin

An Explanation of the Meaning of the Name of God as Revealed in Exodus 3:14

1
There is a God.
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.[57]
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 the condition of existence in which there are no differences by which to be distinguished.
It is the condition of perfect oneness in all aspects of existence.
In perfect unity there is no distinction of one from another.

In perfect unity there is only one.[58]

 2

Perfect unity is the condition of existence in which there are no differences by which to be distinguished.
Therefore in the condition of existence where All-That-Is was God, and He was perfect in unity, the only conceivable object of perception would have been identical to the mind that would perceive it.[59]
In such a condition of existence there was neither subject to perceive nor object to be perceived.
If there was neither subject to perceive nor object to be perceived, then there can have been no activity of mind.

Therefore in the condition of existence where All-That-Is was God, there can have been no activity of mind.

Awareness requires the activity of mind.

Therefore when All-That-Is was God, He was not aware.[60]

 3

For mind to be active there must be an object of perception for it 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 enter the realm of existence something to constitute an object of perception for Him.

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.[61]

4

There is no such thing as non-existence.[62]
There is only existence.
The realm of existence is comprised in its entirety of God and His creation.

Therefore the entirety of the first awareness in God was His first 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 cannot be any separation because there is nothing else in the realm of existence 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 first awareness of the condition of His creation in the beginning.

5

In the beginning Creation was without form.

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

Awareness is the experience of existing.

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

In that which had no form there was absolutely no formed thing to behold.
The experience of existing in relation only to that wherein there was absolutely no formed thing to behold can perhaps best be 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 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'.[63]

6

 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 knowledge of His Self as distinct from all other.

The knowledge that God had of His Self as distinct from all other was His knowledge of Personal existence.

Therefore 'I AM' was the articulation in God of the knowledge He had of His Personal existence.

His Personal existence does not change.

Therefore 'I AM' is the articulation in God of the knowledge He has of His Personal existence.

7

 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 articulation of the perfect knowledge of the one named.

The knowledge that God has of His Personal existence is perfect.
Therefore the articulation in God of the knowledge He has of His Personal existence is His perfect name.

'I AM' is the articulation in God of the knowledge He has of His Personal existence.
Therefore I AM is the perfect name of God.

Thus is I AM the name of God.