In yesterday’s DM, we celebrated St. Patrick’s feast day by meditating on a new translation from John Philip Newell of a poem attributed to him and by demonstrating how creation-centered the Celtic spirituality is.
(Jansenism, exported from France in the 17th century to Ireland, and based on Augustine’s abusive dualism, poisoned Irish spirituality for centuries with a perverse Christian attitude that is the opposite of Celtic spirituality—one that puts down nature and sexuality and could not be less Celtic in almost every way. Unfortunately, it was exported to America with Irish immigration.)
Another dimension to Celtic spirituality is the “I am” poems, prayers that once again begin with the universe and celebrate the awe, wonder and grandeur of the cosmos and our place in it. The cosmic Christ is everywhere in these ancient prayers which, like St. Patrick’s poem, serve as a breastplate or strengthening device for us in these times that call for courage and strength and the spiritual warrior to stand up to truth and justice and love.
Celtic scholar John O’Donohue calls the following poem “the first poem ever composed in Ireland.”
I am the wind which breathes upon the sea,
I am the wave of the ocean
I am the murmur of the billows,
I am the ox of the seven combats,
I am the vulture upon the rocks,
I am a beam of the sun,
I am the wild boar in valour,
I am the salmon in the water,
I am a lake in the plain,
I am a world of knowledge,
I am the point of the lance of battle,
I am the God who created the fire in the head.
How unmodern and unlike Descartes’s teaching this is—he who declared, “I think therefore I am.” This is about community—“I am because everything else is. I am in everything and everything is in me.” The Divine “I am” is omnipresent if we learn to see correctly.
In the Biblical tradition, God is the great “I am.” This is what Moses learned on asking how to tell the Jewish people who God is. In the Book of Exodus (3:13f.), we are told: Moses asked: ‘But if they ask me what his [God’s] name is, what am I to tell them?’ And God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am….I Am has sent me to you.’ (Also translated: “I am who I will be.”)
In John’s gospel, Christ is depicted as declaring his own “I am” on several occasions. “I am the good shepherd,” “I am the light,” “I am the door,” etc. Scholars are saying that Jesus did not talk this way, so it is likely that gospel writers who wrote these things some sixty years after Jesus lived were putting these words into Jesus’ mouth. In either case, they offer powerful insights about Jesus’ relationship and ours to the divine.
And they strengthen us for the “good fight” that we are called to stand up and fight for. A fight to redeem democracy which is, after all, founded on the dignity of the human person and the divine “I am” in all persons.
And the Celts are doing a parallel thing with their “I am” poems. And they are not alone, for the “I am” practice and language can be found around the world as we will show in forthcoming meditations.
Adapted from Matthew Fox, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Flowing From Global Faiths, pp. 171, 176-179.
See also: Matthew Fox and Bishop Marc Andrus, Stations of the Cosmic Christ.
And Fox, The Coming of the Cosmic Christ.
And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.
And Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ, pp. 31-50.
And Fox,“The Christ of the Cosmos: Meister Eckhart Meets Teilhard de Chardin and Thomas Berry,” and “The Historical Jesus: Meister Eckhart Meets Marcus Borg, Bruce Chilton, and John Dominic Crossan,” in Fox, Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior for Our Times, pp. 15-34, 97-116.
Banner Image: The sun through a Celtic cross. Photo by Jonathan Brennan on Flickr.
Queries for Contemplation
Do you feel a deep sense of interdependence and community with the sacredness of the universe when you pray the ancient “I am” poem above? Have you ever written your own “I am” poem? I highly recommend it.
Recommended Reading
One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths
Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of theological position papers but a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.“Reading One River, Many Wells is like entering the rich silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you read this text, you reflect, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Truly no words can fully express my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to contemporary spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit
Stations of the Cosmic Christ
By Matthew Fox and Bishop Marc Andrus.
This is a book of meditations on the Cosmic Christ, accompanying the images of 16 wonderful clay tablets by Javier Ullrrich Lemus and M.C. Richards. Together, these images and meditations go far beyond the traditional Stations of the Cross to inspire a spirit awakening and understanding of the cosmic Christ Consciousness, Buddha consciousness, and consciousness of the image of God in all beings, so needed in our times.
“A divinely inspired book that must be read by every human being devoted to spiritual and global survival. It is cosmically brilliant.” — Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit
The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance
In what may be considered the most comprehensive outline of the Christian paradigm shift of our Age, Matthew Fox eloquently foreshadows the manner in which the spirit of Christ resurrects in terms of the return to an earth-based mysticism, the expression of creativity, mystical sexuality, the respect due the young, the rebirth of effective forms of worship—all of these mirroring the ongoing blessings of Mother Earth and the recovery of Eros, the feminine aspect of the Divine.
“The eighth wonder of the world…convincing proof that our Western religious tradition does indeed have the depth of imagination to reinvent its faith.” — Brian Swimme, author of The Universe Story and Journey of the Universe.
“This book is a classic.” Thomas Berry, author of The Great Work and The Dream of the Earth.
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
Fox’s spirituality weds the healing and liberation found in North American Creation Spirituality and in South American Liberation Theology. Creation Spirituality challenges readers of every religious and political persuasion to unite in a new vision through which we learn to honor the earth and the people who inhabit it as the gift of a good and just Creator.
“A watershed theological work that offers a common ground for religious seekers and activists of all stripes.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice.
“I am reading Liberating Gifts for the People of the Earth by Matt Fox. He is one that fills my heart and mind for new life in spite of so much that is violent in our world.” ~ Sister Dorothy Stang.
Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election
Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE.
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE.
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.
Meister Eckhart: A Mystic-Warrior For Our Time
While Matthew Fox recognizes that Meister Eckhart has influenced thinkers throughout history, he also wants to introduce Eckhart to today’s activists addressing contemporary crises. Toward that end, Fox creates dialogues between Eckhart and Carl Jung, Thich Nhat Hanh, Rabbi Heschel, Black Elk, Karl Marx, Rumi, Adrienne Rich, Dorothee Soelle, David Korten, Anita Roddick, Lily Yeh, M.C. Richards, and many others.
“Matthew Fox is perhaps the greatest writer on Meister Eckhart that has ever existed. (He) has successfully bridged a gap between Eckhart as a shamanistic personality and Eckhart as a post-modern mentor to the Inter-faith movement, to reveal just how cosmic Eckhart really is, and how remarkably relevant to today’s religious crisis! ” — Steven Herrmann, Author of Spiritual Democracy: The Wisdom of Early American Visionaries for the Journey Forward
9 thoughts on “Staying Strong: The “I Am” Poems of Ireland & the Gospels”
There are ‘enlisted’ men and women soldiers without rank. Then there are the ranking soldiers who direct the ‘enlisted’ into battle. It is they that are capable of strategizing, peace-making and drawing up the battle plans. In fact, it would be totally disastrous for the unranked enlisted to make up individual battle plans and go off on their own either with or without others. Without the solidarity of the group in totality, the battle is sure to be lost.
In our context, we can take the ‘label of spiritual warrior’ too far and become divisive. As far as we have numbers (of the enlisted), we are all apt to have a multitude of impressions and mind-sets as to what a ‘spiritual warrior’ is and how to conduct oneself in what should be a unified battle. To be clear, Jesus expects the ‘enlisted without rank’ to carry on in loving and unifying ways, always and everywhere. And that is always to be ‘Plan A’ for the ranked soldiers who are directing actions to be carried out on the ‘battlefield’. We need to know who we are and what we stand for and then follow the lead for the ‘common good’. – BB.
“We Are and I Am are One in the Same”
“We Are to Know Who We Are, and To Whom We Are Born” (Reprise)
Philippians 2:6 (ESV) “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.”
Did Jesus not show us ‘the Way’ to be both human and divine at the same time? Our own Godliness then is something that needs not be grasped or taken advantage of, but it is there, it is who we are. Knowing this to be so, would we ever choose to harm another of us who is Divine in nature as well? We are ‘One’ in power, might, love and compassion as the Divine King is. If we rest in that, meditate and contemplate that, how much better off would we and the world be collectively?
It is not risking humility in being who we really are. It is risking humility in trying to be something that we are not. Our sacred humility is tied with our sacred holiness in discovering and realizing our true nature in Jesus the Christ, the Godhead. No, we like Jesus, do not go around claiming overtly that we are God, but we are God. But we know who we are and know whose image and likeness we are, through ‘soul and Christ consciousness’ of the same. We are to know who we are, and to whom we are born. Of this we will eternally celebrate. – BB 12 20 24.
An “I am”poem:
https://www.sedimentofmysoul.com/james
And a poem about mystic Ireland:
https://www.sedimentofmysoul.com/a-journey-into-ireland
Beautiful poems–thank you for sharing.
I love what Matthew Fox and Neil Douglas-Klotz have taught me aboit Jesus/Yeshua’s ‘I Am’ sayings. In Aramaic the word he used was ‘Inana’ – a contraction of ‘Ina ina’ meaning ‘connecting the small I’ to the great and only ‘I’ is ‘the bread of Life’ or ‘the Light of the world’. So profound🙏🏼
Yes! My spiritual mantra lately has been:
“Being~Becoming the Divine Flow of Thy LOVING Evolving Diverse ONENESS
in the Sacred Process of the ETERNAL PRESENT MOMENT….”
As I read the “I Am” statements in yesterday’s meditation, I thought how similar they were to The Song of Amairgin” which I have always loved. And here it is today in your remarks about John O’Donohue. Thank you!
I’ve written a few versions, in past posts a while back, of sorta-poetry about the Mystical Revelation from personal Mystical experience, i.e., the Neo-platonic mystical Revelation, the original mysticism behind the “I AM” statement, the Genesis account, and the Prologue of the Gospel of John. Celtic Christians drew from the original, (pre-Constantine/pre-Augustine), less dualistic Christian mystical tradition.
The fact that people are so astonished to learn that mysticism — and specifically, THIS (Neoplatonic) Mysticism — is deeply woven into the Bible, and is AUTHENTIC Judeo-Christian theology, is a sad statement about the loss of knowledge about mysticism in both Western scholarship and religious traditions. Very few people know that Neo-platonism IS mysticism, that it’s about non-dualism, and that this mysticism is at the core of the Bible. I guess it takes seeing glimpses of it though a different, less censored, “exotic” lens like Celtic spirituality for people to peel away the calcified, dualistic “official” theological interpretations that have been forced upon them, so they can see some of the amazing, deeply spiritual nuances that have been in the Bible all along.
There are many more astonishing nuances within this Mysticism.
But bear in mind, some things are deliberately hidden from plain view, and only hinted at, by mystics. There are things “that must not be spoken”
But mystics HINT.
A LOT.
Thank you Matthew, and thank you Melinda for your reflections. Melinda, I’d like to see your earlier posts. You can find my email on my website. Meanwhile, I’m thinking this morning about the traditional doctrine of original sin which originated in nascent form in the 4th Century by Augustine of Hippo, a doctrine which didn’t make sense from the outset. Here’s why.
In Genesis 1:22, we are told that humankind was created in the image and likeness of God. Shortly thereafter (in Genesis 3) we are told that Adam and Eve were banished from the garden for eating from an off-limits tree, thus learning the difference between good and evil. From this, Augustine and others postulated the doctrine of original sin.
Pause for a minute and think about that. God chose to create humankind in God’s image and likeness. To believe that Adam’s and Eve’s actions caused all subsequent humans to be born sinful is to believe that God’s plan was thwarted almost immediately. Does that sound like a God who is omnipotent? God’s plan was turned on its head within the span of the lifetime of two humans? The first two humans? That would make God a pretty ineffective deity. It makes no sense at all.