Self-Knowledge and Self-Realization

QUESTION SENT TO ME:


Hello, 


What is the real difference between the I Am and the I? For when I try to abide in being, it "feels" as if the I and the I Am share the same "core", or are identical even. It is the "reference" point to which the I refers, it seems. Is there some "truth" in this, or am I way off? 


P.


RESPONSE:


They are the same although at times they will appear to be different. But in the beginning and in the end they are identical.


QUESTION:


What does this mean? I.e. is this relevant somehow? 


RESPONSE:


"What does what mean?"


They are identical except during the process of investigation, at times they can appear to be different. At the beginning of the search, the mind is not subtle, so they seem the same. During the search, the mind gets subtler, and some make a distinction between I and Am, and I and I am. Some near the end of the search claim their is only amness.


But at the end, everything is seen to be the same, because what was before observed as distinct from me, becomes recognized as me as a projection. 


I am the beginning and the end.