Alcoholics Anonymous Blog & Video | Dec 27 | DonInLondon | Step 12 "Freedom To Choose"
"Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs..."
December 27, 2013 Step Twelve Month: freedom to choose my path on a daily basis always starts with step one. Admitting I am powerless over alcohol and that if I drink life will become unmanageable. Admitting powerlessness over alcohol gave me the freedom to ask for help and learn about the big picture of life all over again. Out of isolation and back into inclusion with the world, not a fantasy about the world I wanted or desired, inclusion in the real world and inclusion in reality. Participating in the truth, love and wisdom of now.
A definition of insanity: "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result." Albert Einstein. The power that restores me to sanity on a daily basis is seeking the truth in each situation I find myself engaged. Engaging in the truth means I need to find out what other people see as the truth of now. The spiritual connection: "the ability to cope with reality in the moment of now." Previous Archbishop of Canterbury. Indeed I could suggest I surrender to the truth, love and wisdom of now and cope. Not my opinion and belief, the truth as I and others see it by participating and sharing our beliefs and opinions to get to the truth everyone lives today. Best not consult with politicians, their truth is based on their opinion and belief and their self-interest?
Step three: a decision to let go my self will, self will which will keep me isolated and full of self opinion and belief. One outlook is never enough to live the truth of now because it requires a greater wisdom than mine. Not stuck in old beliefs and opinions, I can surrender to the truth of now, the love of now and the wisdom which grows on a daily basis. Who is God as we understand him? I don't know the answer to that one, a definition of God which satisfies everyone in the sense that God is the Supreme Being. I'm content to surrender to this understanding: that God manifests as truth, God manifests as love and God manifests as wisdom learned by humanity in the moment of now. God as a metaphor and also a reality manifesting as: truth, love and wisdom in the moment of now. Ever present in the imperfectly perfect moment of now.
I was listening to a theologian at silly o'clock last night. A very well read and practising religious individual. Having risen through the ranks in their particular religious sect, and also having read all the books they could from other religious faiths, he had come to his own understanding of God. And a bit like my philosophy, that if we could see the absolute truth love and wisdom in the moment of now, we would have perfect information to proceed and make decisions perfectly. But we don't have that ability. That is why it is a good idea not to get stuck in some ideological, or theological pattern which separates you and offers prejudice against others and the horror and conflict which follows. In life we all have the same starting point, and then our history causes the most awful conflicts across the world. I am pleased to be in a fellowship where everyone is allowed their own opinion and belief, and nobody can take it away.
Imperfectly perfect in fellowship means we are all probably wondering how to get to the truth a day at a time, keep our sanity, and depending on our personalities, some are looking simply to find a path back to "new" normal living, other more competitive types are probably trying to be superior recovering individuals. It is not for me to judge either way, and not to criticise one bit. Although we may all have started in the same place, being born into the world, every experience thereafter will have made us the way we are today. And that is why I love the fellowship I have come to live in, an anarchic democracy, which holds together through each groups conscience. Each group surrendering to the greater good: truth, love and wisdom and decision-making in the moment of now. I often find the group conscience to be a very disagreeable enterprise, because I don't get my way. And I am glad I don't get my way, because my best thinking got me to fellowship far later than was good for me, and the group conscience decisions are better decisions than I would make on my own.
Emotional and spiritual: being part of the flow of life, part of the reality of now and coping with the reality of now. If we don't like what we are doing, we can start to change direction, we can make good decisions based on truth. But if we are just disappointed with life, fearing something, feeling prideful, and our ego is excluding truth shared by other people, we are likely to come unstuck, and then stuck in a rut which leads to desolation and exclusion. If we go with the flow, have courage to change, have faith in doing the next right thing and the confidence to ask for help, our direction is towards inclusion, action which is positive and happier outcomes. And if the first we do not succeed, we start again and look at the truth of now. It is progress and never a perfect outcome beyond the: imperfectly perfect, ever present moment of now.
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