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Joel 2:27 · World English Bible

Joel 2:27 Meaning You Will Know That I Am Among

You will know that I am among Israel, and that I am Yahweh, your God, and there is no one else; and my people will never again be disappointed.

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What does Joel 2:27 mean?

There is an I Am at the center of you, prior to your name, your history, and every thought you have had about yourself. To feel that I am in the midst of you is to know this presence directly, not as a belief but as the aliveness beneath all your doing.

From the Ego v. Being reading below.

Joel 2:27 through 1 lens

The same verse, read by one tradition.

EGO & BEING

Ego v. Being

There is an I Am at the center of you, prior to your name, your history, and every thought you have had about yourself. To feel that I am in the midst of you is to know this presence directly, not as a belief but as the aliveness beneath all your doing. There is none else: this awareness is the one constant while everything on the surface comes and goes.

Shame belongs to the ego, to the mind-made image of yourself that is forever measuring and finding itself wanting. When your identity rests in the presence within rather than in that fragile image, shame has nothing to hold to. Knowing what you truly are, you are no longer ashamed, because there is no longer a false self to defend.

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Ego v. Being lens

Live Joel 2:27 today

  1. When shame comes up today, over an old mistake or a sent message, feel where it sits in your body and stay with it as awareness rather than as the one being accused.
  2. In a conversation where you catch yourself managing how you come across, drop it for a sentence or two and just be present with the person. The relief is immediate and they feel it too.
  3. When criticism lands in an email or a meeting, take one breath before you answer. Feel the aliveness in you that is still here, untouched, and reply from there rather than from the image defending itself.

Who are you underneath the version of yourself you keep defending?

The same truth in other traditions

Upanishads

The self at your center is not your name, your body, or your story. It is the awareness all of those appear in, and it has never been diminished.

Zen

Find the face you had before you were born. Whatever you can be embarrassed about came later.

Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius

What is best in you cannot be touched by anyone's opinion. Guard that, and the sting of being judged loses its grip.

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