Inner Work

For the week of December 24, 2007

I Am

(Part 6 of 9 in the Inner Work Series The Stages of Presence)

At this stage of our work on presence, we need to address the question of who is present. We truly enter this life, this moment, through stillness, through the cognizing field of consciousness that underlies all. The who, the self that enters consciousness is our will: that which directs our attention, sets our intentions, makes our choices and is the doer of what we do. We cannot directly perceive will in the ordinary way, because our will is the one who perceives. But we can be that one, we can live as intention and we can act from our I Am. When we do, this special quality of will, this I Am enters our being and takes responsibility. To have a taste of this, simply mean and feel I Am as you say to yourself “I Am.” That is who you are.

However, this is not our usual state. In our typical mode of living, we do not choose, we do not inhabit the center of our being. Rather, we let the habitual yet adaptive patterns of our personality make their default choices on our absent behalf. We live a pre-programmed life of habit.

Whenever we work on presence, though, we quickly come to the question of who is present. And in that very question, we begin to find and live the answer: I Am. While the question “Who am I?” may not be answerable, by taking it to heart we become the answer. In presence we become the will to be.

Presence is incomplete without someone who is present, without I Am. For this week, enter presence by being the one who is living your life.

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