I AM that I AM - The Manifest Cookbook

I Could Have Had A V8

Are you old enough to remember the old V8 commercials on tv? The commercials that I refer to are the ones that had different people saying “I could have had a V8”. They frequently were on television during the time of the 1970’s and 1980’s.

V8 is a drink produced by the Campbell Soup Company. It is primarily tomato juice, but it also has 8 other vegetables in it, hence the name V8. The commercial was so ubiquitous at the time that the phrase was coined of someone “having a V8 moment”.

A Healthy Alternative

The basic premise of the commercial was to sell V8 as a healthy alternative to soda or other sweet drinks or snacks. I will walk you through one of the commercials. As the commercial begins you see a young guy with a can of soda in his hand. After a few seconds, he stops as if thinking of something. Then a picture of a large can of V8 flashes up on the screen. Then back to the guy who gives himself a palm slap on the forehead. At the same time, he says out loud, “I could have had a V8”!

The next scene shows a woman stuffing a cupcake down her gullet. Likewise, the picture of the large can of V8 is flashed on the screen. Then back to the woman. She puts the cupcake down. She also gives herself a palm slap on the forehead saying “I could have had a V8”! Then you see a hand pouring a glass of V8. An unseen announcer touts the benefits of V8.

The final scene shows a woman seated at a desk. She has a cup of coffee in her hand. A large can of V8 flashes on the screen. Then back to the woman. She says, “I could have had a V8” while giving herself a palm slap with her other hand.

A V8 Moment

The long running series of V8 commercials spawned the phrase “having a V8 moment”. This phrase meant that you proceeded in a situation in a certain way that you quickly regretted. Or it could also mean that upon reflecting on an event in the past, you now see how you handled it all wrong.

The phrase even entered the world of the television animated comedy, “Family Guy”. In this particular episode, Peter Griffin is laying on a psychiatrist’s couch. The psychiatrist asks Peter to reach back into the deepest memories of his childhood. Peter then says that he recalls a traumatic childhood scene. In the scene, when Peter gave his father a Father’s Day card, his father grumpily told him that he was not his real father.

At this recollection, Peter sits up in the couch and says, “Oh my God, Francis Griffin wasn’t my real father! I wonder what else I repressed in my memory”. After a second or two, he says, “Oh my God, I could have had a V8”, as he gives himself a palm slap.

It Is Poison

How often have you had a V8 moment? That moment when you realize that you did not so the right thing in a situation or event. I confess that I have had way too many. I certainly wish I had the ability to go back and do things differently in those situations. It is the old “if I knew then what I know now” conundrum.

There is something vitally important for you to remember about every V8 moment. Refrain from allowing them to become recurring feelings of regret. Lingering regret is toxic. It is injecting yourself with poison. To learn from your mistakes is growth. Sometimes it takes awhile before you learn something. To revise your subsequent actions based on what you learned from your mistakes is the productive option. Choosing to live with never ending regret is detrimental. It produces nothing good. It is sin.

It Is Going To Happen

The ultimate V8 moment occurs after your body stops functioning and you are declared dead. At that time, your spirit energy, your essence, travels to another realm of existence. You will then experience your life review. It will be an observation and evaluation of your entire lifetime. It will cover everything. You will see your first moment of consciousness to your last breath of life. You will see the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful.

There will undoubtedly be V8 moments galore. Of course, there will be good things to view as well. Nothing whatsoever will be hidden. Everything will be laid bare. Nothing will be covered up. You will see the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful. A unique feature will be the ability to see how your actions made a difference (or made no difference). You will be able to see the effect (or lack of effect) that you had on others. Your life review will be glorious or it will be pure hell. It entirely depends on you. Like it or not, the life review is gonna happen. You can’t say I didn’t warn you.

Yes, Absolutely Yes

At one time or another, everyone has said “If I only knew then, what I know now”. I readily confess that I have said it regarding a whole assortment of things in my past. If I knew then what I know now, I would have definitely done some things differently. How do you know which ideas to follow in order to live successfully? How do you know when to speak up and when to shut up? When you reach that fork in the road of life, how do you know which side of the fork in the road to travel? Is there a testing device that you can use? The answer is yes. Absolutely, yes.

The book of Matthew describes the unfailing testing device. Ask, and it shall be given. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will open. ALL who ask, will receive. ALL who seek, will find. ALL who knock, will gain entry.

Ask, seek, knock are, of course, all metaphors for prayer. Feel free to study the original language. You will discover the true intent of the terms, ask, seek and knock. The true intent is to guide the reader to engage in a continuous ongoing action. This is clearly stated in another Bible verse, “Pray without ceasing”. Ask, and keep asking for guidance. Next, seek, and keep seeking for the right way. Then, knock, and keep knocking. The door to the wisdom of the Kingdom of God will be opened. Continually ask, seek and knock. As a result, if you do this every day, every day of your remaining life will be fruitful. And that, my friend, will make for one orgasmic life review.

Why Do You Exist?

Here is the progression of the average human being. I fully understand that there are variants and exceptions from this progression. First, you are born. Then, you grow up under the auspices of a father and mother. You go to school. Next, you graduate school. Then you get a job. You earn money. You find a place to live independent of your parents. Next, you get married. Then, you have children. You go to work every week for the next forty to fifty years or so. Then you retire from the work world. Next, you live in retirement for an unknown number of years. Then, you get sick and die. Then, within a few generations, all memory that you ever even existed, is gone forever as if you were never born.

If that was all there was to it, you would be no different than a bird, or a squirrel, or a goose. Live. Eat. Shit. Sleep. Work. Copulate. Reproduce. Die. You are different however. You, as a human being, are a child of God. In the book of Genesis, it is stated, “God created mankind in his own image”. Human beings are in the image of God in their spiritual and intellectual nature.

An Expression Of The I AM

You are an expression of a power infinitely greater than you – the Infinite Power, The I Am That I Am – God. Your awareness of being expresses God. First, your mind generates your thoughts. Then, your thoughts generate your feelings. Next, your thoughts and feelings (including your intuition), generate your beliefs. Your inner beliefs then generate all the outer circumstances of your entire life.

You exist in order to demonstrate the glory of God. You exist to express the Most High in a myriad of infinite ways. God has granted you power. God has granted you freedom. You were born with this freedom. Understand that there is only One Presence – God. That One Presence is within you at all times. Spend some of your allotment of time, every single day, without fail, dwelling within the Kingdom of God. Be thankful – thankful you do not have to beg some capricious and arbitrary deity for something that may or may not be granted depending on what mood they are in.

Your Two Precious Possessions

Gold. Cryptocurrency. Stocks. Cold hard cash. Real estate. Classic automobiles. Jewelry. Fine art and other collectables. Society holds these as highly valued commodities as well as precious possessions. They pale in comparison however, to your two most precious possessions. These possessions are your mind and the allotment of time you are permitted on Earth. It is vital to your success in life that you treat them as your two most precious possessions.

If you are young, then start now to learn the art of conscious manifestation. Use your abundance of time to learn how to create your desired reality. Equally important is to shed yourself of the “I’m going to live forever” mentality. You do, but not on this Earth plane of existence. Most importantly, this mentality wastes your precious commodity of time.

If you are middle-aged, there is still time. Call a time out. Step away from everything for a brief bit. Completely and honestly evaluate how you are using your time. Instead of using time on any form of escapism, use your time to create a reality where escapism is completely unnecessary. Do it now. Life really flies by faster than you think.

If you are old, be at peace but also be urgent in the use of your time. There is no longer any time to waste. Not even a single day. Cast aside all resentments as well as any grudges that you have built up over the years. Throw them away. They imprison you in a prison of your own making.. It is very important so I will repeat that –grudges and resentments imprison you. Allow yourself to express Universal Mind. Pay no attention to the opinions of others if it conflicts with you dwelling on the Presence of the Almighty.. Fulfill your true purpose, whatever it may be, while you still have time.

You Possess A Fortune – Use It

Can you think? Then you have a functioning mind.

Are you still breathing? Then you have time.

They are your fortune. Use your fortune to the very best of your ability. Use them in concert with the guidance of Universal Intelligence. Likewise, treat every day as a precious gift, because it truly is, you know.

Conceive. Believe. Receive.

Independence Day – July 4, 1776

July 4, 1776, is a monumental date in the history of the United States of America. It was on that date that representatives from all thirteen colonies approved the final wording of a formal and irrevocable severing of all ties to the kingdom of Great Britain. The Declaration of Independence, signed by fifty six representatives, was the document that officially changed the thirteen colonies into a new, independent country, the thirteen United States of America.

The United States Declaration of Independence subsequently became a model for similar documents all over the world. President Abraham Lincoln made it the centerpiece of his policies during the Civil War. One particular sentence in the document became one of the world’s most well-known statements of human rights. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. The word unalienable means “that which cannot be given away or taken away”.

What Happened Next?

The representatives of the thirteen colonies, now referred to as the Founding Fathers, then had the document published and distributed all throughout the thirteen colonies. Any remaining colonial legislatures still operating with nominal loyalty to Great Britain were declared null and void. New representative legislatures were established in their place.

The body of the representatives, the Second Continental Congress, sent the Declaration to King George III of Great Britain. Both he and Parliament immediately denounced it as invalid. He proceeded with mobilizing British troops as well as hiring German mercenaries to crush the rebellion. A state of war commenced. It took until 1783 for Great Britain to finally call it quits and put an end to the war. They recognized the United States as an independent and sovereign nation.

John Adams, the second president of the United States and one of the leaders of the independence movement, stated, in a letter to his wife, Abigail: “I am apt to believe that (Independence Day) will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more”. And so it has.

Every year, throughout the United States, on the national holiday of the Fourth of July, there are parades, special events and games, picnics, barbeques, and especially fireworks displays (or illuminations as John Adams referred to them). As a child, I clearly remember that the crowning highlight of Independence Day was attending the fireworks display in the evening.

Your Own Declaration Of Independence

If you have not already done so, the time is now for you to put forth your own declaration of independence. I speak of a declaration of your own personal independence. Independence from the thoughts, the words, the emotions, the beliefs of other people affecting your thoughts, your feelings, your beliefs. It is time to fully claim your inalienable right to live as a sovereign human being.

The American people, by and large, have become dependent on other people, places, and “powers that be” to inform, control and direct how they choose to think and live their lives. You look at the obscene cost of housing, the obscene cost of health care, the obscene cost of a college education. You then turn to politicians and bureaucrats who are incapable of doing much of anything except receive large campaign donations and large fees from giving speeches. All they do is borrow more money from China to shore up the economy. Ignorance, violence and greed are in the process of manhandling America. In the meantime you await the next football game kickoff or the next clearance sale. You do this in between mindless drudgery at the workplace while you continue pedaling faster and faster just to remain in place. All the while there is a little tickle in the very recesses of your mind that pleadingly says “there just has to be some way out of this effing quagmire, there just has to be”.

Well friend, I bear good news. There is most assuredly a way out. It all starts by declaring within yourself your own personal declaration of independence. A glorious and fulfilling independence from the controllers of this world. I tell you this most earnestly from my own life that I have experienced brief tastes and sips of true freedom from the controllers of the world. It is a feeling of ultimate pleasure that cannot be described and should be felt by every human being on the face of the earth. It is life.

Why only sips and tastes? The answer to that is easy. I am a flawed individual who gets swayed by fears and illusions just like everyone else. It is something that I humbly work on each and every day. God has graciously given me the power to manifest despite those flaws. It is something that I will be continually working on until my last breath.

The Mystery Of Independence Thru Dependence

You can do nothing better than to rest each day in the Kingdom of God within. The more you relent and simply dwell on He Who Is All, the more free you will feel. The more that you release your grasp on using your own devices to solve problems, the greater will be your ability to find solutions. The more dependent on Universal Mind that you allow yourself to be, the more independent of a person you become – independent of the controllers of this world. It is an enigma, wrapped in a puzzle, wrapped in a mystery. The greater the dependence, the greater the independence.

From the biblical book of Proverbs in the Old Testament comes this statement: Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge God and He shall direct your paths.

Who is this Lord that you are supposed to put all your trust in? Who is this God that you are directed to acknowledge in all of your ways? It sure as hell is not the hundred and one limited false gods put forth by the world. God is unknowable and transcendent over all. God is Ultimate Intelligence, Ultimate Wisdom, Ultimate Power – the I AM that I AM.

You Can Do Nothing —– You Can Do Anything

So now July 4, 2022 approaches, the two hundred and forty-sixth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the thirteen colonies from the authority of Great Britain. Whoever you are, wherever you stand in life, whatever your circumstances are, it is time. It is time for you to unequivocally declare your own declaration of independence. “Independence from who? Independence from what?” you say. Declare your independence from the control of any person, any group, any entity whatsoever that would block the doorway to your entrance to the Kingdom of God within. Declare your independence and then proceed to gain it by dwelling each day within the Kingdom.

OK, why should you? What’s in it for you? Anything and everything. Money. Relationships. Career, Health. Intercession. Peace. Abundance. Joy. Whenever you choose to follow Universal Law to consciously manifest your reality, it is not you manifesting it, it is Universal Mind. You are merely the conduit for expressing God. That is your purpose in life, to express the Divine. We are created with free will but only when we lose our life will we gain it. Yet another enigma. In the book of Matthew, Jesus Christ stated, ” with God all things are possible”. And so it is.

Through belief, faith in that which the eyes cannot see, you can receive anything that you believe as already received, from your dwelling place within the Kingdom of God.

Believe. Receive.

Tag: I AM that I AM

Time – If I Knew Then, What I Know Now