Some of the best Christians I ever met were atheists

When coming into the rooms of recovery we are often spiritually and morally bankrupt and spirituality is more than uncomfortable it is painful liken onto when shadows recoil from the light.

Often times an out side power source is sought in order to begin the weaning off process from the all consuming self destructive ego.

 For the ego will sacrifice the body on the altar of pride in a vain attempt to stay alive, the preacher said: vanities of vanities all is vanity.

And our rebellious uniqueness often times demands a power greater than ourselves ( If not but a towers height,  surely a head and a shoulder) some take idle idols found in the natural world, some that are irrationally profane, and some even default to the God of their fathers. For all are welcome in our spiritual kindergarten of pain.

 For they cannot bear meat now, but milk they must receive; wherefore, they must not know these things, lest they perish.   Joseph Ben Joseph

 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.   Saul T

Time takes time and as we grow spiritually we also grow in effectiveness and in understanding.

There is nothing as unforgiving as an old road that has just been mended so too a sinner who has just become a saint.

The bigger the sinner the greater the saint

(No matter how far down the scale we have gone our experiences can help others, the further down the scale, the greater the ability to help)

 The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.
Oscar Wilde

Some of the best Christians I ever met were atheists.

To you I’m an atheist; to God, I’m the Loyal Opposition.     Woody Allen

An atheist says there is no God and lives like there is one, and the agnostic says

There might be a God and lives like there isn’t.

The atheist can’t find God for the same reason a thief can not find a policeman.

How often does the Christian turn the gospels into commerce? When  trading  goods and services for the exchange of a particular behavior or a refrain from such to avoid a spiritual debit or to receive a spiritual credit in an endless cycle of deposits and withdrawals, banking on the accumulation of a  sufficient where with all to insert an amount to turn about the pearly gate turnstile. Or to avoid the singe that comes from within by putting off quenching the worldly burn that has charred a gaping hole in the spiritual pocket book.

Honesty, kindness, humility, charity, love and service are their own rewards for they are but seeds that are sown that harvest the spiritual fruits that are sweet to the taste and most desirable, acceptance, serenity and peace of mind.

Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.    Jeshua Ben Joseph

If you always do the next right thing, it will surprise some and amaze the rest.    Mark Twain

The atheist just does the next right thing, because it is the next right thing to do. He tolerates his neighbor for he would have the same consideration in return, Having no law there is no punishment affixed having no yard stick  he can only measure  by and through the consequence of behavior. He does not trample upon because he would not be trampled and having little or no fear from the loss of face, lying seems illogical in the course of the human race.

No fear of hell, for it rings no bell, and paradise was never lost because none could ever be found, that all there is, is right here and right now, and life is just what you make of it, he walks in the sparks of fiery thoughts in a self propelled ignition.

The good news is that it is not required by the program to believe in God, and its not required by God to believe in him either, for it is agreed “Chose you this day whom you will serve” as this puts all men on equal ground and choice remains the cornerstone of the program of recovery as well as all spiritual growth.

“If a person wants to be atheist, it’s his God-given right to be an atheist.” Michael Patton 

The agnostic lives in the dim undefined shadows of neither faith nor fact, a wanderer on the borders of outer darkness a no mans land of non commitment and refuses to make a conventional stand and thus will fall for the philosophy of man, assuring the promise of ease and comfort that regales in a pompous rebellion.

He cries, lo demands more time so he can procrastinates the day of decision with undefined cause to add to his every widening confusion never to reach a strategic conclusion. Neither fare nor foul, hot nor cold to only be spewed from the mouth as being Lukewarm from a defiantly embolden regurgitation.

The hedonist  lives in the addiction of physical distraction and will toss in his bed like a broken hinge in his head, but he too can get well if he has the capacity to be honest.

The trudge is a shoulder to shoulder journey with purpose of conviction, for we are exclusively all inclusive.  We are less than kin and more than kind with no judgment to be found; for love and tolerance is our code and service to our fellow beings we have found to be the lightest load.

For when we are in the service of our fellow beings are we not in the service of out God and in that service and in that moment are we not divorced from self dilution, self seeking, and self pity and in the service and in that moment is that not when we make our conscious contact with our creator, who lives from moment to moment, eternity to eternity, life ever lasting, the magic words in A.A. is Action and more Action for faith without works is dead.

See you on the radio

RumRadio.org

Joseph

Meditation: An attempt at thinking not to think

GOODNESS AND THE GENEROSITY OF THE HEART IS THE BEGINNING OF MEDITATION 
Meditation: Medicine for the mind

As of late I have been breaking bread and communing with the evangelical Christian singles. Although I am not of that particular ilk of religious veneration of conviction, for I consider myself a zealot and a humble elitist when it comes to being a perpetual student with an ecclesiastical predisposition.

The phenomenon of speaking in tongues is embraced as a badge of higher spiritual attainment, both in private and in outlandish public displays of very enthusiastic non interpretative rhetoric in a babble of blather, that is euphemistically liken unto the  “Gobbledygook” of the mad hatter.

For the record I do believe in the spiritual gifts of tongues as long is there someone there to interpret thereof, a language of the heart that that can be readily conveyed, otherwise all there is a void filled with a fervent incomprehensible noise that lays no claim to the wisdom of understandings impeccable frame.

So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. Saul T

There is a rub, as there always was; the unintelligible resonant voice is tantamount to chanting, liken unto what the Buddhists do, thus creating a spiritual high in the form of an altered state of consciousness, Alpha!, even Beta I Theta.

A distraction has been found from the constant chatter from the appellate court in continuous and infernal noise from the bench, wrenched snugly in the undisciplined  head, and often times has late night sessions even after we have turned in and then have been tossed out of bed. A board of directors that constitute a committee of competing voices like a monkey swinging on vines of right and wrong that branch out in dark deep wells of regrets that are long since gone.

The quelling of the mind has been a noble quest and some religions make it a focal point. The Japanese use simple propositions with no apparent answer so initiates can meditate on a question that poses no answer “The sound of one hand clapping” (perhaps an idle slap to non-receptive rump, initiating an indignant clap to the face of a fool with a thump that resounds in the thunder of blunder)

The Buddhists attain higher or alter states of consciousness with the resonant chant of repetition. The Hindu believes that if one could slow the mind to a pause and then to a full  stop you now become a conduit to universal consciousness, and will be taken up in a fiery self conflagration to Nirvana. (Which is Hebrew for Valhalla?)

Contemplative prayer is meditating on the word of God. When Reading the Bible especially the King James Version, because it is in Middle English with its unfamiliar vernacular thus requiring  the mind to slow down changing its state in and through a thoughtful contemplation.

All these disciplines and there are more, many more, are all but an attempt to know the peace that comes from the quieting of the mind. God had admonished Be quite and know that I am God.

 Meditation takes discipline; the problem with discipline is that it takes motivation, the problem with motivation is that, not now becomes manana . 

In recovery we are asked, lo, implored to keep it simple, simple but not stupid. I suggest to my new sponsees that prayer and meditation is an essential part of the recovery process.

If we are both on the same page as far as flavor of spiritual or religious conviction it makes it easier, if not I suggest for them to pray to whom it may concern.

I suggest getting down on ones knees, if this isn’t familiar or regular habit, start by putting your shoes under your bed, so now you are already down on your knees (Being on your knees is a sign of respect and humility to God, versus being forced to your knees from the humiliation of the alcohol disease)

In the morning ask for help and at night a simple thank you for another day and another night clean and sober, free from alcohol’s blight) You have just now spoken to God, to complete the conversation a listening time is required, stay on your knees and remain in the quite for twice as long as you prayed, stay in the feeling and stay in the moment neither thinking or trying how not to think, just be, it might a little uncomfortable at first being alone with your thoughts until you realize you are not alone, you are beginning a relationship, one on One with the creator of the universe, how cool is that?

To make a long story endless I would tell you a firsthand account of David E. . .

Early on in his recovery he was having an animated conversation with God as one man talks to another, after a bit of time he chimed in his mind that he was not speaking to God he was but talking to himself, David confided that he was not being slighted when he heard a still small voice exclaim the words that were understandably clear and most distinct, “I am you, but you are not me”

See you on the radio

RumRadio.org

Joseph

Nobody ever forgets where they buried the spiritual axiom

It is a spiritual axiom that every time we are disturbed, no matter what the cause, there is something wrong with us.
If somebody hurts us and we are sore, we are in the wrong also.  But are there no exceptions to this rule?  What about “justifiable” anger?  If somebody cheats us, aren’t we entitled to be mad?  Can’t we be properly angry with self-righteous folk?  For us of A.A. these are dangerous exceptions.  We have found that justified anger ought to be left to those better qualified to handle it.

A spiritual proposition with a wrinkle or two

Richard a friend of a friend had long term sobriety and always had some very intriguing and thoughtful shares. Richard has gone the way of all flesh for he was on the clock from having done much too much methamphetamine. Richard had been told by his physician that his heart would give out from the taxing abuse in about five years, he lasted six.

Richard did get his fifteen minutes of fame as promised by Andy Warhol. Richard had two guest appearances on the Oprah Winfrey show. Richard was one of the supporting characters in the book and then the movie “Eat, Pray, Love” Richard from Texas  ”if you want to get to the castle of groceries, you have to swim the moat”

I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strangely, I am ungrateful to these teachers.     Khalil Gibran

Richard was one of my most unexpected teachers. Richard was a dedicated practitioner and follower of Siddha Yoga. Siddha Yoga is a spiritual path that is guided by the meditation teacher and Master Gurumayi Chidvilasananda.

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints (a Mormon). This created a polarity and a disparity of charity as Richard would on occasion ridicule my Christian understandings and perceived ritual of beliefs as deleterious and inconsequential at the very least.

Richard had an innate ability to evoke feelings of enmity, hostility, antagonism, animosity, rancor, antipathy, and animus, by doing so he would  receive a form of  vicarious pleasure and even an increase in his energy  level from the pain and suffering of others. I still believe that this is the antipathy of evil.  If evil is about intent I believe he engaged in such a way to make one consider an alternative philosophy but  his method  only produced enmity, disharmony, and rancor.

I had once quoted a scripture in a meeting that Richard was attending as it was germane and to the point but the threat of Christian understanding was emotionally incendiary to Richard. I was not uniquely selected for this abuse as Richard would do this routinely to anyone that disagreed with his philosophy. Terence was the friend of a friend and Richard was his best friend. Terence in the end was not even immune from Richards’s animus and their best friendship was brought to a grievous cross roads ending.

Prov. 16: 28

28 A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends.

My biggest lesson came when I was running late to a recovery meeting at Hill toppers. I walked in as Richard was sharing with great passion and enthusiastic aplomb, he went on that he found anyone who would intentionally cause someone any form of distress, pain or anguish was a reprehensible reprobate. My chair nearly slipped out from under my butt. The behavior he found most unacceptable was his very own, for in him it found a safe harbor and a familiar home. The A.A. adage that when we point a finger of accusation that there is three fingers pointing back at you, (the accuser.)

Portrait of Dorian Gray

If we could see ourselves as other people see us we would truly be humble Thomas Merton Trappist monk

If we could see ourselves as other people see us, we would disappear on the spot Cioran, E.M. Philosopher

 That if God gave us the power to see ourselves as others see us, it would from many a blunder free us, and foolish notion.” Robert Burns, Poet.

When I come across my own hidden character defects that I can readily perceive in someone else, I am disturbed.

When I am already fearful, Hungry, angry lonely or tired the interaction no matter how benign, a row can easily occur because there is something already wrong with me and any interaction I am prone to a “left handed” outburst of emotion deflected to an innocent third party.

The other night at Primary Purpose here in HoustonI had attempted once again to give a newcomer young lady a RumRadio.org business card. She was initially intrigued to receive it as Big Book sponsorship information.

I engaged her in the telling her of what she find on the website, when a longtime nemesis Tara (the terror) and the new comers  sponsor gingerly grabbed her to whisk her away from our conversation with that’s enough from you!

In a moment I let go with an epithet, oops years of badgering and frustration found its way into my mouth.

She then instructed her sponsee to rip up the card, I said just give it back I only had a few. I was talking to another newcomer and Tara’s physically  ripped boyfriend accosts me and tries to pick a fight, he is about 25 yrs. younger and a head and a shoulder larger,  as the push came to shove and he saw I wasn’t backing down he let it go with I can hurt you “old man” he was pulled away before any blows were landed.

I quickly decided that I had the perverse lips and apologies of forgiveness was in order and if nothing else I have learned that crow is easier to swallow while it was still warm. I made my way to Tara and asked for forgiveness, for my behavior she readily agreed and proceeded to take her pound of flesh. I asked if she would only take a look at the website we could put this rancor to rest.

She said she had looked at the site and with a surprise to her acknowledgement I asked then what was the problem? She replied you were hovering over her. I said you know we have had 180,000 hits to the site and she screamed back “I don’t want to know any of that”.

Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy? …

I turned to apologize to Denis the boyfriend her would be protector of his ladies honor, curiously Tara indicated she didn’t want me to do that (I think she was hoping for a little bit more mileage) Denis was readily agreeable and shook my hand twice, I think once mano to mano as I didn’t back down, and then as an acknowledgment of exercising program principles.

I would not have normally reacted that way except that my frustration overflowed, and for whatever reason, something was already wrong with me.

See you on the radio

RumRadio.org

Joseph

It’s a dark night of the soul, when recovery starts to grow cold

“We were having trouble with personal relationships, we couldn’t control our emotional natures, we were a prey to misery and depression, we couldn’t make a living, we had a feeling of uselessness, we were full of fear, we were unhappy, we couldn’t seem to be of real help to other people” — Big Book, page 52

An Old timer with 55 years of sobriety writes about his experience with a very important and much too often misunderstood major part of everyone’s recovery;

The “Spiritual Transformation Cycle – the Dark Night of the Soul and how to make it through those times when you’re unable to call on your previous Spiritual awakening or growth and become negative, angry, depressed, self-centered and destructive and want to give up and drift away from the Program:

My Alcoholics Anonymous birth date, February 6, 1957, my naked birth date, August 15, 1930, so it is safe to say I am in the twilight of life. Before it is too late I need, I want to pass on an important experience not often shared. We know countless reasons alcoholics never make it to the doors of Alcoholic Anonymous or stay if they do. A subject masterfully covered in a wide range of writing and speaking. Here we address an important area of sobriety too often misunderstood;

The Dark Night of the Soul is a major part of the Spiritual Transformation Cycle. Our Higher Power causes this life changing experience, not our personal effort or lack of effort, or changing events. Only our Higher Power can transform us to a higher consciousness. We want to offer enough information to spot this important part of the human condition, the Dark Night of the Soul.

If at the first sign of the Dark Night we choose to surrender everything, letting the natural Spiritual Trans-formation Cycle run its course, we could save ourselves pain and frustration. With a completed cycle we often experience a fulfillment beyond our expectation, overflowing with awe, love and gratitude. Before we reach that wonderful state of bliss we have a serendipity journey to travel out of the darkness into a new light, guided and directed by the tender mercy and grace of our Higher Power. In this article we focus on the Dark Night.

Learning how to live a new way of life is grounds for problems. Doing what we should not or not doing what we should or resisting change produce problems. To correct these apply the Program tools at our present level. Our Higher Power governs the Dark Night not our efforts contrary to problems we make up.

Our Higher Power transforms the Dark Night into an asset as the cycle runs its course. At the end of this article is a set of useful suggestions for a Dark Night caused by  the many problems our selfish self centerness set into motion.

My first Spiritual Transformation experience was when alcohol stopped working, with everything else. Of course I had no idea what was happening I just knew I was in trouble. I found myself at Alcoholics Anonymous’ door; bankrupt every way a human can be except one, spiritually. I didn’t have an active Spiritual account at the time.

Alcoholics Anonymous showed me the way to open an active Spiritual ac-count that worked. I now make daily deposits and withdrawals. If alcohol continued to work I wouldn’t have found this wonderful way of life I now enjoy.

The Dark Night of a Spiritual Transformation Cycle caused me to hit my bottom, revealing my weakness and my powerlessness. “There comes a time when no human power can keep us from drinking” [or can keep us from going insane]. Without a conscious contact with a Higher Power I could not avoid going through the hell that followed.

Let’s take a look at a common time line for the beginning of a Dark Night of the Soul. Life ranges from great to just getting by for years. We begin to experience a growing discontentment; at first we were not unhappy but not happy. When current levels of important areas stop working altogether or lack satisfaction indeed it is a dark night.

Fighting and resisting this natural Spiritual cycle causes problems of fear, anger, depression, acting out against others or turning on one’s self, sometimes it proves fatal.

Trying to make old tools work as they did before the Dark Night availed us nothing, the harder we pushed the greater the darkness. Revealing our inability to understand, manage or control this dangerous experience. We cannot afford to live on yesterday’s bread – experience because it is fruitless but we keep trying.

Like the caterpillar trapped in its cocoon it somehow created, unable to free its self, alone and unaided, it turns to mush, without an identifiable form. Out of that mush, a beautiful butterfly joins us. Yes, we experience labor pains that come with birth, expansion and growth. Unnecessary pain comes from our resistance.

Like all universal transformations we pass through a journey beyond our understanding, deeper than words. Accepting the Spiritual Transformation Cycle by allowing it to run its course is the easier and softer way, taking us to a higher Spiritual level and a deeper union with our Higher Power.

 The following is a later personal experience of the Dark Night of the Soul.

As a long-term member of Alcoholics Anonymous, actively living this way of life, I found myself radically changing. My experience this time was more intense than my first Dark Night.

Finding myself unable to call on my Spiritual awakening and growth, I became negative, angry, depressed, self-centered and destructive. I soon wanted to give up and drift away from the Program, but I did not.

When I first came into the Program my sponsor convinced me of the importance of the basics,(see daily survival kit) no matter what, keep on keeping on.

Naively I told myself I could avoid by understanding what we did wrong or did not do right. I sought Alcoholics Anonymous members with similar experience. I asked them questions like; “Why did you give up a way of life that has endless possibilities?” They replied in one voice. “Everything important stopped working as I knew it.

                                                                                                                                       Meetings I had loved turned me off.

I lost my conscious contact with my Higher Power. I tried to pray and meditate but it felt unreal and insincere.

The Big Book and my other favorite books no longer held my interest.

I had nothing of value to offer others but I continued service work.

I felt my sponsor talked “bumper sticker” language.

I worked the Steps the best I could but nothing new opened.

I tried to talk to other Program people, what I heard was the basics (see the Survival Kit), which I thought I was doing.

In other words I lost all faith in Alcoholics Anonymous. I felt hope-less.”

I now believe we were experiencing the Dark Night of a Spiritual Transformation Cycle.

 At the first sign of the Dark Night of the soul, part of a Spiritual Transformation Cycle, let everything go.

Yesterday’s bread no longer nourishes our deeper hunger and thirst. Our personal “reality” challenged at every level, falls short.

“We have to stop fighting everyone and everything.” (Alcoholics Anonymous) Yesterday’s tools fail. The Spiritual Transformation’s natural flow will integrate the lower into higher levels of consciousness if we can get out of the way.

Our Higher Power is inviting us through the Spiritual Transformation to a higher level. Our Higher Power will guide us if we are willing to surrender to His Will. Pain comes from resistance – the shortcut on this journey, let go and let our Higher Power do for us what we cannot.

The God within us deals with our Spiritual immaturity and also deals with the rest of my defects just by our following a few simple actions.

Applying the Daily Survival Kit.

Suggestions:

 When everything stops working, ask the following two questions:

1. Am I doing something I should not be doing? .. If your answer is no, move on. .. If your answer is yes, see if knocking it off helps.

2. Am I not doing something I should be doing?.. If your answer is no, move on… If the answer is yes, take whatever action you need, see if that helps.

If no measurable change, you may be entering a Spiritual Transformation Cycle. Incorporate the following into your daily program.

SURVIVAL KIT

The Alcoholics Anonymous Program is Spiritual principles that expand with use. We feel it fails us in the Dark Night of the Soul.

That does not mean the Program isn’t working. It means our past understanding of the Program no longer works or needs a major upgrade.

Spiritual Transformations come and go. Keep practicing the basics:

.. Don’t use one of your addictions to fix the program

.. Keep going to meetings (set a minimum)

.. Keep looking for service work (get out of self)

.. Keep turning to your Higher Power (no matter how useless it feels)

.. Keep reading Program books (one line at a time)

.. Don’t withdraw (Spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally, socially)

.. Tell Program people your experiences

In Alcoholics Anonymous we can share in a way that can make a useful difference, 24/7. For this I am deeply grateful.

Do we just fade away?

Do we return to our primary addiction?

Do we switch addiction?

Do we settle for a “dry-polar” life?

Do we find a new way that works?

Do we practice the basics (Survival Kit) until the Spiritual light shines away the darkness?

Do we wait for the miracle?

Do we chip away the useless and harmful, as we currently understand it?

Do we leave the results to our Higher Power? The choice is ours.

 Doctors clear away obstacles and create an environment where the natural healing takes place. That’s a great metaphor for the Program and for a Spiritual Transformation Cycle.

(anonymous guy with 55 years, sometimes sober, sometimes dry, but always found his way back through the doors of recovery).

See you on the radio

RumRadio.org

Joseph

A.A. threatens to fire God, demands more benefits and less participation

Be quick to see where religious people are right. Make use of what they offer. They may not all be right, but try to see where anyone may be right, a statement of humility and another such statement.” We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us”
It’s been rumored that Clancy I. has made the observation that in some areas of the country A.A. has been slowly and deliberately elbowing God out of the rooms of recovery.  I do not believe that this phenomenon is unique to A.A.  for I find  this to be a common and progressively  deleterious  attitude and that A.A.’s are but a reflection of those declining social mores , we are but a microcosm of societies’ ills as a whole.

The decline of a God consciousness has been very gradual and almost imperceptible viewed in the short term. A Hollywood movie that would have been rated   R for restricted, in as little as 10 years ago has slowly crept into the social unconscious and is now perfectly acceptable as a PG 13 (Parental guidance for ages 13 and under)

2,000 years of Christianity jettisoned for politically correct ‘Common Era’ has replaced the familiar Anno Domino AD (the year of Our Lord) and BC Before Christ with the obscure terms Common Era and Before Common Era.

No one knew there they were being offended until someone explained it  to us.  Why we should take an exception to the fact how Christ so changed the world in which we live that we would mark time by his comings and goings is an acknowledgement of both awe and respect.

Society is slowly being desensitized by the constant  sensationalism of media arousal while being anesthetized with drugs, alcohol and pornography and now readily accepts “what once was evil is now good, and what once was good is now made evil”. The fabric of society is slowly being torn apart. The recovery community once a beacon of hope, love, tolerance and service has now in ever widening circles have become but a mirror of the attitudes and corrupt customs of  our society as a whole.

 ”Must a Christ be crucified in every generation for the benefit of those who have no imagination?    George Bernard Shaw

Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?                                   Hamlet 

All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.  Burke

And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone - even alcohol.

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good, and that is by hope, kindness tolerance and love unfeigned. To be continuously engaged in good works and in the service of others, for this is the proper use of the will.

For when we are in the service of our fellow beings are we not in the service of our God? And when we are in that service and in that moment are we not divorced from self dilution, self-seeking and self-pity? and in that service and in that moment is that not when we make our conscious contact without creator who lives from moment to moment, eternity to eternity, life everlasting. The magic word in A.A. is Action and more Action for faith without works is dead.

 There are opposing forces at play, one is rational recovery with its complete disavowment of God, and the other is Celebrate recovery that Acknowledges  Jesus as the Christ and Heavenly Father as the only Higher power.

“A house divided against itself cannot stand”  Abe L.

A.A. has no requirement as such, and is a kin more to a spiritual kindergarten, in that everyone is free to come to their own understanding and spiritual growth or not at their own will and pace.

I ask my church,  if the Twelve Steps are not a gift from God why have you adopted them? And if they are a gift from God why do you feel compelled to change them?

The question is why  are so many threatened by the concept of God or have the need to coerce their own beliefs on others, and  prefer to lean towards the outer fringes  and not take comfort from the center of love , tolerance, and service?

The good news is that it is not required by the program to believe in God, and its not required by God to believe in him either, for it is agreed “Chose you this day whom you will serve” as this puts all men on equal ground and choice remains the cornerstone of the program of recovery as well as all spiritual growth. “If a person wants to be atheist, it’s his God-given right to be an atheist.” Michael Patton

PLEASE  STEP AWAY FROM THE ROCK

My answer would be:  We don’t fight against flesh and blood, but principalities, dominions and wickedness in High (and low) places.

We are like the passengers of a great liner the moment after rescue from shipwreck when camaraderie, joyousness and democracy pervade the vessel from steerage to the captain’s table.

Pride: The disavowment of God or of the need thereof.

Natural man has been an enemy to God and has been so since the fall, (and the winter does not look much better, but but the spring will come with the promise of the resurrection of renewal and by the summer time the cotton will be high and the cat fish they be a jump’in)

Thus pride will always go before the fall.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Me is all I need!

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.                  Invictus

Ridicule is death to the ego and the ego will sacrifice the body on the altar of pride in a vain attempt to stay alive, the preacher said vanities of vanities all is vanity.

See you on the radio

RumRadio.org

Joseph

Da Plane Boss, Da plain! Tattoo into your Consciousness, it’s The Spiritual Plain

To get well, little charity, in the ordinary sense of the word, is needed or wanted. The men, who cry for money and shelter before conquering alcohol, are on the wrong track.

Yet we do go to great extremes to provide each other with these very things, when such action is warranted. This may seem inconsistent, but we think it is not.

It is not the matter of giving that is in question, but when and how to give. That often makes the difference between failure and success.

 The minute we put our work on a service plane, the alcoholic commences to rely upon our assistance rather than upon God.

He clamors for this or that, claiming he cannot master alcohol until his material needs are cared for.

Nonsense, some of us have taken very hard knocks to learn this truth: Job or no job – wife or no wife – we simply do not stop drinking so long as we place dependence upon other people ahead of dependence on God.

 Burn the idea into the consciousness of every man that he can get well regardless of anyone. The only condition is that he trusts in God and clean house.

When all my needs are met, when I have waxed the cat, walked the fish and dropped off Jiminy cricket at the vet, and if all else fails then and only then I can get a round toit and then, and only then  will I start working the Twelve Steps.

There’s a knock on the farmers door.  His closest neighbor with a petition of request, can I borrow your ax? The neighbor implores. The farmer without a moment’s hesitation explains that he is building a well and that he needs his ax to complete the task. Oh! Well if that is the case, then I thank you anyway and I will be on my way. The farmer while closing the door spies his young son who was standing a step inside and just out of view had been  listening intently to the now gone neighbors request, junior asks, Dad you’re not building a well? The farmer responded, “Son when you don’t want to do something any excuse will do”.

We carry the message not the alcoholic

My original sponsor Kenneth at one time was living in a pump house on Lake Travis. Kenneth was a member of Mensa (brainiacs of “The round table”) Kenneth was brilliant and like some brilliant people he could be dangerous, especially to himself.

 The wealthy are often referred to as being eccentric as the poor can’t afford eccentric, they have to settle for just plain crazy.

We have often found the more brilliant the mind the harder the time it has in surrendering to this simple program, for the ego will hide behind the mask of  the mind, the very same  mind that created it, and in the end the ego will sacrifice the body on the altar of pride in a vain attempt to stay alive, the preacher said vanities of vanities all is vanity.

 No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.

Albert Einstein

Kenneth awoke, hung over, in squalor and in filth, he found himself at the jumping off place

Some day he will be unable to imagine life either with alcohol or without it. Then he will know loneliness such as few do. He will be at the jumping-off place.

In a moment of Clarity he knew there was something he needed to do. In my experience most if not all drunks and /or (addicts) at one time or another brush up against A.A. in some form or fashion, it might have been a suggestion from a well-meaning friend, perhaps over heard in an exclamation of contempt from a wino who tried and failed at an all but futile attempt to get well, only to abandoned all hope and deride A.A. as a flawed program.

And then there are those in a moment of alcohol fueled bravado exclaim in a defiant acknowledgement that in fact they are an alcoholic and thus knew how to have real fun and will not be a bore like some glum sober people they know.

Kenneth found his way to the Hope group in Cedar Park Texas, the little yellow house as it looked like a place where alcoholics would go (as it was later described to me) and it really was the last house on the block.

Kenneth drove up in a car long past its prime as it had been recently in an accident and the car was totaled out, he quickly dispatched the proceeds from the insurance settlement with the consumption of alcohol. Kenneth with ingenuity, bailing wire and reams of duct tape kept the rambling wreck rolling along on the south Texas pavement.

Kenneth immediately upon entering the doors was immediately taken in tow by Holly. Holly would grab newcomers as young girls collect stray cats, and would introduce them to their potential new sponsors. Kenneth was introduced to Lance. Lance would assure the newcomer that they can get well from this disease of mind body and spirit but there were certain things that he had to do, And was he willing to go to any length to achieve sobriety?

Lance took Kenneth home, his clothes we quickly dispatched in a black garbage book a shower and soap was made available and a hot meal.  And a meeting of recovery and the outline of the Big Book was also introduced. In short order Kenneth was working a program and was able to find a place it was an old yellow school bus he converted to living quarters, it was located out on Richards ranch a member of the hope group family.

Kenneth today is back at his occupation, a computer programmer and happily married. Assistance was initially forth coming as it was necessary to keep body and soul together, but  he was quickly left to his own devices and thus had to start depending solely on God as he understood him (the spiritual plane) allowing  God to take care of the rest of his needs while insuring acceptance as a spiritual tool..

Kenneth was repairing the brakes on my car when he turned to me and said “I do not have enough money to buy food tomorrow” that statement was an abstract to me, as I always had a stash of cash in reserve and so I had never missed a meal or a place to lay my head for the night. I inquired what where you going to do?

Kenneth replied I am going to do what I always do in these situations, I work with another alcoholic and my needs are always met, and my needs are always met when I work with another alcoholic. This realization had become a working part of his mind, reinforced time and time again through the practical application of program principles. God was doing for him what he could not do for himself, he had made the leap from the service plain, to the intuitive plane and landed  gently back on his feet in the spiritual plain.

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Joseph