I Am Presence
February 1999

Q. Could you talk about the I Am Presence?

I have always seen the I Am Presence as part soul, part Spirit. 

We use the term 'I Am Presence' because of the I Am. The I Am is not only to me the soul, but also containing the spirit element. The 'Presence' is meaning that it is present, it’s a live entity, a being that you can invoke. 

It is a higher part of your own consciousness and, if you invoke it, which we do in the Basic Exercise* and throughout service work, it actually hears and it sends. 

See, look at you. Let’s look at the truth. How much energy have you got? Not much. Physical beings haven’t got that much energy. But if you invoke the soul and spirit self within you, and ask that soul and spirit self, and I think the 'I Am Presence' is a good name for that, to send down upon you this or that energy, this or that colour, flame or light, or help you in this way or that way, it will obey – it has to obey. 

So, as you work with your I Am Presence, your soul and spirit will be revealed to you, and you will feel that you suddenly are more than an ordinary human being. You have energy to use. You have certain knowledge that comes to you, and you feel different, you feel very much different. 

And it is very beautiful the first time it happens, because I remember when I did the Basic Exercise the first time or the second time, and I felt this enormous presence of my I Am Presence, and I knew exactly that it was. It was outside of myself, still part of myself, and simply, it had all the energy, the skills, the talents, the knowledge that I didn’t have in my physical self. 

And invoking it and working with it, you merge – takes time – you merge. Slowly you get more and more skills, talents, knowledge, and so forth.

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*'The Basic Exercise' is the original name of the practice now called the ‘Flame Meditation’.