The Root Of The Problem

         It is through all our experience with our character defects that we've realized and recognized, set boundaries and applied cognitive therapy and behavioral modification but all to no avail - using these methods is like applying a band aid to a festering sore. What we really must do is get to the root of the problem. Our character defects exist in our human nature, not in the will of God. Therefore, if we are willing to perform the work necessary for the Spirit to be awakened within us by living in the back half of The Eleventh Step, "Praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out" (Alcoholics Anonymous) , our character defects will not and cannot possibly manifest in our behaviors. The power to carry out such knowledge must come from God, as our human nature will only try to sustain our selfish desires. Once we have taken this step we have pulled the root of the problem from it's poisonous soils.

          Some of us have learned through our experiences that we must do this - turn from our human nature and live in the will of God - if our character defects are not to exist in our behavior. Many of us have not.  In Alcoholics Anonymous it is often said, "Let go and let God."  The "let go" part is in the letting go of our thought process propelled by our human instincts. The "let God" part is thereafter, in which we surrender to the idea that God will propel our thought process through His inspiration.  Inspiration is defined as "the thoughts of God implanted in the mind and soul of man."  When this transformation of thought has occurred, the root of the problem has truly been healed.         

 

The Bright Spot of Our Lives

         As sponsors in Alcoholics Anonymous we must live the principles of the program if we are to have the integrity it takes to present the principles of AA to others.  We have come to understand that our very lives as ex-problem drinkers are dependent upon the lives we are called to help.  Our lives take on a purpose and meaning that we have not experienced before.
         In the "Big Book" of Alcoholics Anonymous in the chapter "Working With Others" it states,

                "Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as                       intensive work with other alcoholics... You can help when no one else can... Remember                       they are very ill.  Life will take on a new meaning.  To watch people recover, to see them                     help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a                       host of friends - this is an experience you must not miss.  We know you will not want to                       miss it.  Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is the bright spot of our                         lives."

         There is nothing that we can do with ourselves that is more important then helping someone else recover from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. Nothing. In order for this recovery to occur for them in its purest form, those we are helping must develop a personal relationship with God. It is through such a relationship with Him that they will recover. It is through this relationship that they will know serenity, peace and joy, maybe even for the first time in their lives.
         Obviously none of this can possibly occur for others if it has not occurred for us - as we cannot give away that which we don't have. Live this life through Him and in helping others do the same, you will be living within the bright spot of your life.

Another Way To Look At Step Ten

         I like to think of the Tenth Step of the AA program as a hallway - a hallway that I must walk down in order to come into the room in which I can live with God. This hallway needs daily repair as the ceiling is leaking, there are holes in the walls and the floor is buckled. Fortunately, the program of Alcoholics Anonymous has given us an instructional manual so that we can pass through, although we may be encumbered at first.
         Another way to look at this is as if God is the light and my human defects are a clouded glass which no light can shine through.  As I begin to incorporate the program of AA into my life and begin to develop a relationship with God, some of the glass clears and some of the light shines through.  As I continue to incorporate the Twelve Steps into my life, the glass clears even more and even more of the light shines through.  Finally, the day arrives when the glass is transparent and all of the light shines through and it is in this moment that I am one with God and free of the manifestation of my character defects.
          Incorporate the Tenth Step into your daily existence and, eventually, into all your waking moments. We must be persistent. Persistence is the time between the promise of God and the provision of God. Thereafter, a life free of anxiety, fear and resentment can be experienced; cloaked in harmony, peace and serenity.

Written by Armand
Edited by Caitlin Alexandra

The Genesis

          In 1930 a member of the Oxford Group and an alcoholic, Roland Hazzard, visited on more than one occasion with the noted psychiatrist Dr. Carl Jung. After Roland failed to cease drinking multiple times Dr. Jung gave to him the solution for alcoholism -- a vital spiritual experience. Spiritual defined as "of or pertaining to God" and vital as "life giving".  We have to give life to our experience with God. This is accomplished by surrendering our nature to the will of God.
          During what became a historic visit Dr Jung said to Roland, "You have the mind of a chronic alcoholic. I have never seen one single case recover where the state of mind existed to the extent that it does in you."  Our friend felt as though the gates of hell had closed on him with a clang. He said to the doctor, "Is there no exception?" "Yes," replied the doctor, "there is. Exceptions to cases such as yours have been occurring since early times. Here and there, once in a while, alcoholics have had what are called vital spiritual experiences."
           I recant these passages from the chapter There Is A Solution in the "Big Book" of Alcoholics Anonymous to make clear that we do know there is a solution to our alcoholism and that solution is indeed a vital spiritual experience. THE GENESIS of that life-giving experience is God. May you find him now.  
          If you are alcoholic or suffer from the disease of addiction and you wish to recover from the seemingly hopeless state of mind and body, surrender your will to the will of God and you will live in this solution to your alcoholism.

Written by Armand
Edited by Caitlin Alexandra

What Was Our Choice To Be.

        I had admitted I was alcoholic. I believed in God. I drank twice while a member of Alcoholics Anonymous - once for thirteen months and once for ninety days. Only after the second relapse did I fully realized that I had to make a choice. As the "Big Book" of Alcoholics Anonymous says, "When we became alcoholics, crushed by a self-imposed crisis we could not postpone or evade, we had to fearlessly face the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing. God either is or He isn't. WHAT WAS OUR CHOICE TO BE?" 

         Early on I chose - God is everything. When I made that choice I had no idea of the power of the human instinct, how pervasive it is and how difficult it would be to turn from my nature and to live in the will of God. The second relapse brought me to a state of reasonableness in which I clearly saw that the surrender had to be absolute. In Bill's Story in the "Big Book" it says "Simple, but not easy; a price had to be paid. It meant destruction of self-centeredness. I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all." What will you chose - He is and He is everything or the nothingness which envelops one in the darkness? 

Written by Armand 

Edited by Caitlin Alexandra

No Need To Create A Past

          The program of Alcoholics Anonymous has in place the fabric necessary to weave through and heal our character defects - whether they surface in our daily or our spot check inventories.  If and when necessary we use the Ninth Step which is, "Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others."  If we decide that an amend is necessary we immediately make it in an effort to live in the present. Only in the present can we be in the will of God, where His grace saves us from creating another past which we will need to extricate ourselves from. Once performed, we thread into the necessary fabric The Seventh Step, "Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings."  If our actions cause us to have any shame or guilt, we then use the Fifth Step of the program of Alcoholics Anonymous, "Admitted to God, to ourselves and another human being the exact nature of our wrongs" so that we may be living in the present with a clean slate and a serene mind.
          If we are willing to take our inventories, make our amends, ask God to remove our defects, and share our wrongs with ourselves, God and another human being there will be NO NEED TO CREATE A PAST.  We will have the freedom to exist in the present - in the will of God.
           As alcoholics we have worked hard to free ourselves from our past. If we are willing to weave the program of Alcoholics Anonymous into our lives in such a way that it becomes our life than the creation of a past that, at least subconsciously, is having a negative effect on our present consciousness, will not occur. This is a critical tool in permanent recovery.

An Awakened Life

       We admitted complete defeat; we put our absolute trust in God; we made a decision for our thought process to be propelled by the will of God and not by our human intellect; we asked God to remove anything and everything objectionable from us; we made our amends; we learned through the program of Alcoholics Anonymous and through our life experiences that we must pray and meditate daily. Now, through the grace of God, we are living in this moment in His will and are the very living example of the power of the program of AA. This has and will occur for all of us in whom the Spirit has been awakened. Once the Spirit has been awakened we are then given the power to help others, not only through our words but more importantly, through our behavior. We are acutely aware that in our quest to help others we cannot possibly give away that which we don't have.

       As a result of integrating into our lives the program of Alcoholics Anonymous, we are given the power to help others. It is a wondrous event to see others live AN AWAKENED LIFE. We experience a fulfillment in our own lives as we watch them recover into loving and giving human beings.

The Main Problem

      The "Big Book" of Alcoholics Anonymous says, "But what about the real alcoholic? He may start off as a moderate drinker; he may or may not become a continuous hard drinker; but at some stage of his drinking career he begins to lose all control of his liquor consumption, once he starts to drink. We know that while the alcoholic keeps away from drink... he reacts much like other men. We are equally positive that once he takes any alcohol whatever into his system, something happens, both in the bodily and mental sense, which makes it virtually impossible for him to stop.  The experience of any alcoholic will abundantly confirm this.  These observations would be academic and pointless if the alcoholic never took the first drink thereby setting the terrible cycle in motion.  Therefore, the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, rather then in his body." 
        If the problem centers in our minds and we use our reasoning power in an attempt to solve our problem, than we are trying to solve our problem with our problem.  This will never work, as many of our own experiences prove.  We continued to drink alcoholically even though we knew we shouldn't and after which we certainly did not want to.  Lack of power - that is our dilemma. We must find a new source of power to propel our thoughts.  Our thought process can no longer be propelled by our human instincts but rather by the will of God through inspiration.
       Once we find that source of power - that is God.  We have subrogated our thought process to the His will and we are now at peace.  Our prayer, at this and each moment, is that anyone who suffers from addiction, whether actively or not, may find God as the very chief source of their power.   .     
 

Discovery Through Inventory

           My experience has taught me the value of the daily inventory and all that can be discovered and transformed as we move away from the instincts of our human nature and progress into the world of the spirit.  I have realized there is no need to wait until the end of the day, as I can address the manifestation of my defects as they occur.  The Step Book of Alcoholics Anonymous says "there is the spot check inventory taken at any time of the day that we find ourselves getting tangled up."  I find the spot check inventory to be invaluable.  It may be as simple as identifying unkind thoughts that I may have of people who are not like me in appearance or beliefs, so that I can identify this and deal with it as it is happening and not have to wait until the end of the day to address it.
                When we have completed the first nine steps of the program of Alcoholics Anonymous we have extricated ourselves from the past as we our free of the shame and guilt we carried for years.  By implementing the daily inventory and then eventually moving into the spot check inventory, we can now deal with the manifestation of our character defects as they occur in the present so that in this moment and at this time we are free of the instincts of our human nature and one with God
                We have dealt with and released our past and now we are free of the bondage of self and at peace in the will of God.  DISCOVERY THROUGH INVENTORY is a tool of recovery available so as not to create another unpleasant past that is carried with us into the present.