I-am, I-am-I I-am-I denotes self-consciousness in which the essential consciousness is reflected in a transmitting vehicle or soul. I-am denotes simple unadulterate being, and is used as a name for the cosmic self.

Thus the I-am-I is a lower manifestation of the I-am, which is abstract and incomprehensible to ordinary human mentality. Philosophically, I-am-I is a temporary production of Purusha working in and through the prakritis, or of the image-making power inherent in human consciousness called ahankara (the "I-creating" faculty); so that when evolution has been completed, the I-am-I or self-consciousness will have risen through its various higher forms to become at least for a manvantara the cosmic self.

The consciousness expressed into the phrase I-am is also, when compared with the cosmic self, the limited and therefore imperfect demiurgic state, the Demiurge being the production of that cosmic self. Hence, not only the I-am-I, but likewise the I-am, are withdrawn and become latent during pralaya in paramatman or the inexpressible divine.

See also EGO; SELF

(See also: I-am, I-am-I, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

I Ching (Chinese) Also Yi King. The Book of Changes; also Holy Book of Mutations, these mutations being the manifestations of tao.

The text of the original treatise is from a system of eight trigrams and 64 hexagrams, composed of whole and broken lines, thus: (illust) which, by altering the positions of the whole and broken lines form the changes in the diagrams. This has been assigned by scholars to Fu-Hsi (30th century BC). The first extant commentary on it is assigned to Ching Wen, founder of the Chou dynasty in 1122 BC, and his son.

There have been many explanations offered regarding this work, called by many the Qabbalah of China: some see in it only a system of divination, a lunar calendar, phallic worship, or again the vocabulary of a tribe whose very existence had to be postulated for this purpose. Both Taoists and Confucianists regard the I Ching as the holiest of books; Confucius declared that he would like to give another 50 years of his life to its study, while the only Chinese commentator who is said to have understood it was Chu Hsi (1130-1200).

In the Hi-ts'ze (or so-called Appendices to the work) the universe is described as a living organism called T'ai-ch'i (the supreme being, or most ultimate). The processes of birth and rebirth, or the production of life, are due to the manifestations of tao by means of the yang and yin.

"To Yang belong the numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9; to Yin belong the numbers 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10. There are then five celestial and five terrestrial numbers; these rows of five operate upon each other, and each number has one with which it corresponds. The sum of the celestial numbers is twenty-five. It is in accordance with these factors that the processes of the Universe are effected, and the kwei and the shen do their work" (Hi-ts'ze).

Speaking of the I Ching, Blavatsky says:

"the Stanzas given in our text . . . represent precisely the same idea. The old archaic map of Cosmogony is full of lines in the Confucian style, of concentric circles and dots. Yet all these represent the most abstract and philosophical conceptions of the Cosmogony of our Universe" (SD 1:441).

(See also: I Ching, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

I H S Well-known Christian monogram, taken as being the initials of Iesus Hominum Salvator (Jesus Savior of Men); and the first three letters of the Greek Iesous ((Greek char), Jesus). It is also a monogram representative of Dionysos used in the Mysteries. As a Latin abbreviation, having mystic significance, it means acrostically, In hoc signo victor eris (in this sign thou shalt be victorious).

See also JESUS

(See also: I H S, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

I. N. R. I. Four letters found at the head of pictures of Jesus on the cross, and generally interpreted as the initials of Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum (Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews) but according to others representing a Rosicrucian motto: Ingne natura renovatur integra (by fire, nature is renewed entire).

(See also: I, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

I't (Sanskrit) In the Puranas, a king (SD 2:406)

(See also: I't, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Ad-i Name given by the Aryans to "the first speaking race of mankind" in the fourth round (SD 2:452). The root ad is prominent in many ancient words: Sanskrit adi (first, primeval); Hebrew 'Adon (lord), 'Adonim (angles or planetary lords) -- "the first spiritual and ethereal sons of the earth" (ibid.). The Sons of Adi (sons of the first) are often called Sons of the Fire-Mist (TG 6).

(See also: Ad-i, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

I Am That I Am 'ehyeh 'asher 'ehyeh (Hebrew) A title given by Jehovah to himself, a variation of I-am-I, indicating that Jehovah, whatever he may claim to be, is merely one of the gods of the manifested world, a Demiourgos, and not the Supreme.

See also AHIYE

(See also: I Am That I Am, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Personality In distinguishing between individuality and personality, individuality is the simple fact of essential self-consciousness, the recognition that "I am I"; whereas personality is saying that "I am Mr. Smith." In other words, individuality is the recognition of oneself as a distinct non-partite egoity, and personality is the identifying of oneself with a particular aggregate of qualities, the latter serving as vehicle for the individuality.

(See also: Personality I, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Cimmerians In Greek mythology a people who dwelt in a land of mist and darkness, variously placed, as by Homer in the extremest west on the ocean; in historical times, a people in the Palus Maeotis, who were driven away by the Scythians. The Cimmerians were contrasted with the Hyperboreans, who inhabited a land of perpetual sunshine.

(See also: Cimmerians I, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

I-am-ness Ahankara, self-hood, egoship; an evolution of consciousness centered in manas, by which manas becomes the field for the play of self-consciousness. Also, the illusion of separate selfhood.

(See also: I-am-ness, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Ch'i. See KHI

(See also: Ch'i, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

I Hi Weu (Chinese) Appear in ch. 14 of Tao-te-Ching (SD 1:472)

(See also: I Hi Weu, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Ab-i-hayat. See AB-E-HAYAT

(See also: Ab-i-hayat, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Burham-i-Kati. See Borhan Quatiu {SD 2:366-7}

(See also: Burham-i-Kati, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

I-em-hetep or Imhetep (Egyptian) Imouthis, Imouthes (Greek) Also Imhotep, Imhot-pou. He who comes in peace; the Egyptian deity presiding over medicine, especially in connection with its learning and science; a son of Ptah who, with his brother Nefer-tem, was regarded as the third member of the great triad of gods at Memphis.

The Greeks equated him with Aesculapius. He was regarded as the god of study and in later times took on some of the attributes of Thoth or Tehuti as the scribe of the gods. During their life he healed men's bodies; after their death he superintended the preservation of their bodies, and was regarded as one of the protectors of the dead in the underworld. He is termed the Logos-Creator in conjunction with Kneph (SD 1:353).

(See also: I-em-hetep, Imhetep, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

A E I O V These five vowels (V is the classic U) were often inscribed on Roman temples, after the manner of the Greeks, who recorded the number of the root-races in their temples "by the seven vowels, of which five were framed in a panel in the Initiation halls of the Adyta" (SD 2:458).

These five vowels have the same essential meaning as the Oeaohoo of The Secret Doctrine. They are symbolic of the seven kosmic breathings of the universal spirit or primal logos; in other words, of the seven kosmic original fires or energies whose breathings throughout the universe are the life or streams of lives which form the background of the universe.

Consonants were mystically considered to be the vehicles of sounds or breathings or "voices" which were the vowels. Consonants gave the vowels body, in the same way as spirit expresses itself through the rigid structural framework of entities. "The manner of pronunciation depends on the accent. This is an esoteric term for the six in one or the mystic seven. The occult name for the 'seven-vowelled' ever-present manifestation of the Universal Principle" (TG 239).

These five- or seven-voweled voices, sounds, or breathings also represent the seven fundamental fires or energies of the human constitution. All ancient mystical schools had their own way of viewing and explaining these vowels.

(See also: A E I O V, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Dzog-pa'i-Ku rdzogs-pa'i-sku (Tibetan) Body of bliss, equivalent of Sambhogakaya {BCW 14:392n}.

(See also: Dzog-pa'i-Ku, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Burham-i-Kati. A Hermetic Eastern work.

(See also: Burham-i-Kati, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Ab-i-hayat (Pers.). Water of immortality. Supposed to give eternal youth and sempiternal life to him who drinks of it.

(See also: Ab-i-hayat, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )