Spiritual Principles

Tolerance, patience, love of one another, kindness, honesty, consideration. These are all spiritual principles that are important for me to put into my life. Why? Because I want continued recovery from alcoholism and this is what AA winds up being about. I need to take ACTION on these principles; actually make an effort to BE tolerant, loving, kind and thoughtful.

When I do this I am doing Gods will, not mine. My will used to be me going through life doing what I wanted and wronging others sometimes to get what I thought I needed.

It is through trying to continue to BE the kind of person that has turned his will and his life over the care of God that I continue to get Gods protection from the insanity of the first drink and a contented life of peace and serenity.

I could not abstain from alcohol and drugs myself for very long. Of course I had to abstain through using self will in the beginning but that would only last for so long. I ultimately needed Gods help to do it permanently and have recovery.

That's what the steps are for, to give me a  spiritual awakening and give me a connection with God strong enough to access Gods power to abstain 100 percent of the time. I could not do that on my own using self discipline. I found out that AA is not about self discipline. It's about relying on a Higher Power, because after all I am powerless over alcohol. Otherwise I wouldn't need AA.

Thankfully AA is not a religion but a simple practical spiritual program of action.

Thankfully AA is not a religion nor is affiliated with any religion. I would not have accepted that when I first came around because I was a staunch atheist. AA is very open when it comes to spirituality. One can choose their own understanding of God. What a wonderful thing. In fact there is no requirement to have any concept of God at all to do the first three steps. Only a willingness to seek. How cool is that! I was able to do the first three steps by just having a willingness to believe that there might be a Higher Power that could help me.. I then did steps 4,5,6 and 7 and then around step 7 I started feeling something helping me stay sober. I came to know that as God or a Higher Force that I accessed by doing the steps. I had 6 months sober; something I had not done in a long time. AA works if you work it.

 

That something I felt helping me after doing my 7th step is what I call God now. I still don't believe in Christ or Buddha or Alah or the God of Abraham, but I believe without a doubt that there is a Higher Force that helps me stay sober if I stay spirituality fit by doing the steps.. In fact I write this because I need to do the 12th step as much as I can.. carry the message. 

 

The message of AA:

 

Recovery from alcoholism and thus abstinence from alcohol through achieving a spiritual awakening by doing the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.

The simple program of AA. Short summaries I like to use in online meetings.

I've been attending a few online meetings lately. I find, as is the case with many face to face meetings, that the focus tends to be on people talking about methods of using self discipline to stay sober. I think this is mainly because there are quite a few new people who are fresh out of rehab or treatment centers and are using "tips" from these treatment centers to stay sober. Treatment center tips and methods are good in the short term , however, as many of us who do the program of AA know, theses "tips" or methods for not drinking only last so long. No matter how hard a real alcoholic may try to apply self discipline they will ultimately find it ultimately fail. 

I was able to "put my mind to it" or "keep my guard up" for about 2 months at best but would go back to it because of the "obsession of the mind" part of alcoholism that the AA book talks about in the chapter "More about Alcoholism".  

So, here are some short blurbs I use and have heard over the years to try to illustrate in simple language the program of AA.

Trust God, Clean House, Help others. AA is a simple program.

I can't, Higher Power can, I think I'll let Higher Power help me by doing the steps. Simple but not easy at times... action, action and more action. Faith without work is dead - AA

I have an illness that I can't combat myself. If I am willing to seek a God of my own understanding that God will give me power to abstain where i couldn't on my own. How to seek that power is to do the steps.

A) we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives

B) Probably no HUMAN power could have relieved our alcoholism

C) God could and would IF he were sought

Simple but not easy at times - action, action and more action