the secret: you are [that]. i am too.

"Tat tvam asi"

Literally translated from Sanscrit, it means interchangeably “Thou art that” and “That art thou.”   

It is generally taken to mean that your soul or consciousness is wholly or partially the Ultimate Reality [God]. That is to say, even before the creation of the universe, a unitary, divine consciousness existed, and that this consciousness is identical to your deepest self…it is the relationship between the individual and the absolute. (Encyclopedia Brittanica, Global Oneness)

Before you go and think I’ve gone all wacky new-age on you…

I met a nun this weekend at my silent retreat. On her wrist, she had this phrase tattooed. She explained it to another retreater in my hearing, and I thought about the phrase for the rest of the day (since I couldn’t talk, I just thought a lot!)

Thou art that. I am that and that is me. That.

It implies an unbroken link between ourselves and that which created us. If we stripped away all of our faults and human-ness, our egos and selfishness, our emotions and hearts… and in all that stripping to our foundation, left only our souls, would we be surprised at what we saw? Because, perhaps when you remove the sin and the pain and the scars, in the most elemental aspects, our souls reflect God.


Genesis says “And God created man in his own image.”

Image (Strong's #6754): The word צלם (tselem) is literally a shadow which is the outline or representation of the original.
"And Elohiym, the Great Powerful One, filled the man with a representation of himself "
When we read "And God created man in his own image" our minds form a mental picture of what we look like and then attribute this picture to God himself. In the Hebrews’ mind it is not the appearance of something that they concentrate on but its function. This passage is not implying simply a picture of man or God, but their function. Through the Hebrew words of this text we see that God had placed within man a shadow or representation of his own function - goal, purpose, thought, etc. It is our responsibility to live our lives as representatives of God, acting in the same manner as he would. (Ancient Hebrew Research Center)

So here’s the thing: God made us, divinely, in his image. With his purpose, with his thought. In our purest forms, we can look at our soul and see God in that creation, the same way we can look at the beauty of nature, or the laughter of a baby, or the sounds of water and see God in creation.

When I create a piece, it is not separate from me, it IS me. When I hear a Bach piece, I have heard part of him. When I spot a Picasso, it is undeniably a Picasso.

That got me to thinking… why is it so hard for me to see God in myself?
Who am I to criticize or question my purpose?

Who am I to decide that I am not good enough, not smart enough, not _____ enough… because the fact is,
I was made in his image.

My FUNCTION in this life is to act in the same manner as God:

to live my life with radical compassion,

to love with abandon,

to forgive,

to create.

Not because it is God’s requirement of me, no...

Because it is who I am, when everything else falls away, I am that.
God is within me.

And here’s the other thing I figured out. If I am that, YOU are that, too.

God is not just your creator, he has put himself inside of you; he is your most basic element.
Deepak Chopra said “I see the other in myself and myself in others.”

Everywhere is the reflection of you, because you are part of the greater whole, and the greater whole is part of God. It is all his creation, it is all his heart.

You are the secret of God’s secret

You are the mirror of divine beauty.

-Rumi