* Crossposted in SIP_AA
* Crossposted in RECOVERY
* Crossposted in 12_STEPS
Dear All,
As I sit here in my room I can glance up and see the Share calendar
which has been turned to the new month of October and the caption under
the photograph is the thing which has jumped out and urged me to write
this little piece:
        What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the
        maintenance of our spiritual condition.
So often, it seems to me, there can be a creeping apology in the Rooms
which is expressed to the new member quite contrary to the suggestions
in the Big Book and God is quietly detached, lest there should be too
much of the smack of 'fanaticism' which might 'put the new recruit off'.
Instead of the main emphasis being rightly placed on the Spirituality of
the Programme and the 'cop-out' for the fanatical atheist inherent in
the expression 'as we understood Him' being allowed to be a mercy rather
than whole power of the message, I have heard it said in meetings that
the newcomer can choose whatever idea of God that suits them - even a
chair leg will do so long as the image is 'usable'!
For this alcoholic, there is a world of difference between asking a
newcomer to open their minds to a Higher Power of their own 'conception'
and asking them to stay with their problematic free will and imagine a
God of their own choosing to 'use' in 'their own' programme.
Attention to detail was of paramount importance to the founders of our
Fellowship and when I hear the Serenity Prayer being introduced time
and time again with the throw away and apologetic introduction...'using
the word God as a Higher Power of your own choosing...', I cringe at the
disempowerment unwittingly expressed as a supposed key to a necessary
spiritual development.
Much more cathartic is the introduction...'accepting the word God as a
Higher Power of your own understanding...' -- though I do realise that
we alcoholics are proud of the structure of apparent anarchy within
which we collectively recover, still there are dangers of degeneration
which can threaten the Fellowship to a point where our collective
Spiritual condition is in fact disabled through our own oral laziness rather
than by any Fire and Brimstone attack by a supposed 'Lower Power'.
I am reminded of the exchange of letters between Bill W. and Jung as
described in the book 'Pass It On', where both these remarkable men from
their own different experiential positions concurred that the alcoholic
has at the root of his/her problem a Spiritual Hunger. This fact is
again mentioned in the story from the Big Book, 'Freedom from Bondage'.
Perhaps we should remember the suggestions in the Big Book from page 93
where we are told to ...'Stress the spiritual feature freely.'
We arrive at this Recovery broken instruments with many of our fuses
blown - Step 2 opens the way for a repair of our inner circuitry and
the Programme then begins to replace our fuses and rebuild our inner
insulation. Power is not switched back on within our System until Step
11 is in place and this after Recovery has started in Step 8.
This Power is the only Power which God grants, through our efforts to
grow in prayer and meditation, which can possibly energise our new vehicle
of Life. If we slack off in our efforts within these maintenance Steps of
10, 11 and 12 then it is as if we have a shiny new car which we must
'push' out to the Rooms at regular intervals whilst trying to pretend that
we don't know that there is no engine under our bonnet!
I would search high and low for my 'favourite' tipple; I must search
even harder in sobriety to find my favourite Spiritual 'wine', where
this beverage is the writing or exercise which best fits my constitution
and aptitude exactly as is suggested in the '12 and 12' in the chapter
on Step 11.
Just for Today......I will be unafraid!
Kind regards,
 Andrew D.
Message penned by Andrew D. in Kingston-upon-Hull, England
on Tuesday, 1 October 1996 at 14:17.  >>-PGP key available by Netmail-<<
Fido: 2:2502/28.4 - Email: Andrew_D.@p4.f28.n2502.z2.fidonet.org
.!. Society like air, is necessary but not complete for life.
--- Terminate 4.00/Pro
---------------