Tag Archives: steps

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Ernest Holmes: “Turning from everything that denies this and quietly contemplating the Perfection of the Inner Man, who is an incarnation of God, we meet the Great Reality in the only place we shall ever discover It, within our own hearts and souls and minds.”
Alcoholics Anonymous textbook: “We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis it is only there that It may be found.“

In my research I have found more than one example of common language between Ernest Holmes and Bill Wilson.  This is evidence that those two chatted, and I have a lot of fun imagining what those talks must have been like!

This concept of going within to find a Higher Power is one of those paradoxes that we frequently find in spiritual teachings.  Surrender to find strength they say.  Give up to find a solution they say.

This concept of going within to find a Higher Power is also a paradox, and can also be quite scary.  I’ve had newcomers tell me that the idea of using something within themselves to get sober simply does not work for them.  I get that.  When we are first in recovery, our insides are scrambled.  Perceptions are skewed, ideas are....to put it bluntly...a bit “out there.”  It truly is a dangerous neighborhood inside.

But it does not stay that way forever.  I believe that the Big Book was written for beginners.  You can find evidence of this throughout the book.  The “great reality” statement is in step two of the book, which tells me that it is a good idea to begin to change our beliefs of where God is found sooner rather than later.

I can tell you that it was only when I began to contemplate the idea of a great reality deep within me that I was able to move from a consciousness of victimhood to one of personal empowerment.

In New Thought, we teach that there are 4 levels of consciousness:  life happens to me (victim), life happens from me (beginning to sense our own power), life happens through me (I am a channel for God), and life happens as me (I am One with God).  In the steps, this process begins in steps 2 and 3, continues through 6 and 7, and is deepened and enriched in steps 10 and 11.  We get our power back in step 10, and in step 11 the Big Book encourages us to strengthen our connection with a God of our understanding by exploring other spiritual paths.  By the time we get to step 10, going within should no longer be a frightening place to go.  We truly do find that Great Reality deep within us.

This means that what happens “out there” no longer has the power to affect us, because we have an inner strength upon which to draw.  It is a great way to live.

Explore the deep reality deep within you by joining me on a group camping retreat in Death Valley.  March 6-8.  Details and registration here.

 

 

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Here we are again, back with this word:  power.  Do we have it?  Or not?  If you have read my book, you know that I believe that the 12 steps, as they are laid out in the textbook of Alcoholics Anonmous, are for beginners.  It was never an intention for us to go through life powerless.  Yes, we are very much powerless at certain times in our lives.  But that isn’t a bad thing.  Think of powerlessness as a doorway, through which we can step into and thus walk experiencing lives of power.  We get our power back in the 10th and 11th steps.

In New Thought this week, Centers for Spiritual Living all over the world are following a #100YearsOfScienceOfMind theme, based on the Ernest Holmes book Living the Science of Mind.  This week’s entry is titled “Thinking Affirmatively” and begins with this quote:  “THERE is a Power for Good in the Universe greater than you are, and you can use It.”

Just like in the steps, there is a process to get to the place where we can use this power.  Ernest Holmes describes basically a three step process:  1.  Oneness.  We are One with this Power for Good.  2.  The trend of our thoughts and beliefs will either attract or repel good in our lives.  3.  Change the thinking and the beliefs if what you are attracting is not pleasing to you.

The process is a bit longer in the steps, and a bit more detailed, but basically the same:  1.  admit, or discover, there is something in life not to your liking.  It isn’t working anymore.  2.  Find and develop a higher power.  3.  Take personal responsibility for your life by discovering yourself, your fears and how you react to those fears.  4.  Clean up the mess.  5.  Begin to live life based in spiritual principles.  6.  Continue to do introspection and develop a sense of and connection with a higher power.  This is where you get your power back.

Combine the two teachings, and I can tell you that life gets better than you could ever imagine!

If you want a jump start on creating more good in your life, consider going on retreat with me, to Death Valley in March.  Here is a link with more information.

 

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I get asked all the time:  what is God's will for me?

Indeed...this can be one of the most difficult questions to successfully answer, at least in the beginning of recovery.

On the surface, it would seem, from the traditional language, that we are asking to know the will of something outside of ourselves.  Something we can't understand, can't define and really have no clue about.  And yet, this Something, we are told, is what guides and shapes our lives.  If we let it.

It can all be very confusing.

I know for me, in the beginning of my recovery, I looked at the language:  "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with God as I understood him, praying only for the knowledge of his will for me and the power to carry it out."   I looked at that and thought, "my god is not a him, and he isn't separate from me, and I've learned that I can pray for all sorts of stuff besides just will and power."  And I took it a step further, "I'm NEVER going to be able to stay sober!"  I did not have a traditional christian upbringing.  I was brought up being taught New Thought principles:  that god was within me, it was everywhere present.  I had just hidden it's presence by the use of drugs and alcohol.

Luckily, I had a sponsor who reassured me.  She asked me what I was doing every day.  I said, "I go to meetings, I call you, I'm working the steps, I read that daily meditation book."  She said, "honey, you are going to be just fine.  Don't worry about the language."

She was so wise!  What she told me, and what I heard over and over again, was that my understanding of the principles wasn't as important as my actions:  I needed to simply do the work.  And so I did.

Fast forward to now, 30 years into this deal I have a pretty deep understanding of the principles.  Today I know that my understanding of god is still not based in the traditional language.  Today I know that back then, they  had no other way to talk about spirituality other than traditional religion.  Today I am grateful for New Thought, that takes the traditional language and translates it into something I can understand, that bears the weight of deep spiritual truth.  Today, I know that through the process of introspection (steps 4 and 5), setting things right, communication and knowing my truth (steps 8 and 9), and prayer and meditation (steps 11), I KNOW god's will for me, because I can feel it.  God's will feels right, even if there is sometimes grief (for letting go of what no longer serves) involved.  Not doing god's will feels forced, like a battle, and sometimes manifests as a feeling of having a basketball in my stomach.

Would I ask someone new to recovery to automatically know that god's will is within them?  No.  Remember that the original textbook of AA was written for newcomers.  People who have been under the influence of a substance have no clue how to do an accurate introspection of themselves.  They rightly do not trust themselves or their thought processes.  I say rightly because that thought process has been altered by drugs and alcohol.  It takes time and work to set it right.  Doing the steps the first time around is really about making amends to ourselves.  There is a reason the god's will thing doesn't come up until the 11th step.

Fortunately, by then, self trust has begun to return, and the concept of an inner god that we are one with can then be considered.

So, if you are uncomfortable with the concept of god's will, consider that the solution is one of two things:  do the process of working the steps at a deeper level, or.....find a new god, like it encourages us to do in the 11th step.