The Limiting Nature of Frameworks we Cling To

By Lori Lines

​Let’s begin with an exercise. Say to yourself, I am, and then your first and last name. “I am Mary Smith,” for example. What comes to mind when you reflect on who that is? Are you reminded of your accomplishments, your obligations, material possessions, public persona? 

​Now, say to yourself, I am and your first name. “I am Mary,” for example. What comes to mind when you reflect on who that is? Are you reminded of your hobbies, likes, and dislikes, how your friends and family perceive you?

Now, say to yourself, I am, with no qualifier. What comes to mind when you reflect on who that is, absent of the assumptions of others, temporal circumstances, past experiences, and future responsibilities. A challenging concept to grasp for those who have never attempted to do so before. Those who return to this practice routinely through mindfulness or meditation find it profoundly liberating, empowering, and calming.
  
Constructs like, I’m Mary, and I’m a realtor, married, afraid, affiliated “x” political party, or believe in “x” religion are limiting and burdensome. They suppress our inner divinity and true spiritual nature, distracting us from our higher purpose and path to awakening. Constructs hinder our ability to escape the matrix and socially determined concepts of reality that leave us blind to more high vibrational mindsets and perspectives.

When we define our personhood by the organizations, religions, politics, or groups who claim to share our worldviews, we limit ourselves to the standards or qualities we believe these factions represent. There are times when we must proclaim allegiance, take vows, agree to contracts, or otherwise commit to these sects, placing further restrictions on our possibilities and opportunities for growth. Every affiliation becomes a negotiation between what parts of ourselves and our divine path we must forfeit to belong and uphold the values and world schemas of others.
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Interpersonal relationships are no different. When we fail to focus on the “I am” removed from extraneous constructs, we further limit ourselves and our ability to manifest our own reality built upon our values, principles, and higher calling. When we are dutiful to whatever our relational status or our relational selves say about who we are, we fall short of who the divinity of the universe believes we can aspire to be and eventually become.
 
At its core, it is an issue of the temporal versus eternal nature of who we are. All of the utterances of who we are, our identity with friends, colleagues, spouses, families, and ourselves are primarily based on temporal likes, dislikes, experiences, and future projections. This construct-based “I am” is limited to this lifetime, this year, this moment. The great “I am,” absent of constructs, contracts, and allegiances, is eternal. It connects us to the soul we have always been and will ever be. It is our infinite existence from one life to the next and one dimension to the next. This is why when we meditate on the singular “I am,” we are free, empowered, and peaceful.

When we embody this limitless spirit, we can relinquish our labels, constructs, and temporal identities without fear. A fear rooted in the belief that these limiting qualifiers make us who we are, give life meaning, and define our purpose. Those who cling to this belief think that these constructs are the glue that binds together the individual parts of our identity.
 
What actually unifies our collective pieces into the amalgamation of who we are is our endless stream of consciousness. This stream of consciousness is the essential “I am.” It is a river fed from the current of the universal unconscious that connects us all to the bottomless ocean of the divine. In full awareness and acknowledgment of their eternal nature, we can move forward freely to heal, learn, grow, and thrive as both a vessel and conduit of love and abundance.

In Love and Truth,
​Lori Lines 

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