The literature of Alcoholics Anonymous says as alcoholics, " Our
egomania digs two disastrous pitfalls. Either we insist upon dominating
the people we know, or we depend upon them far too much. If we lean too
heavily on people, they will sooner or later fail us, for they are
human, too, and cannot
possibly meet our incessant demands. In this way our insecurity grows
and festers. When we habitually try to manipulate others to our own
willful desires, they revolt, and resist us heavily. Then we develop
hurt
feelings, a sense of persecution, and a desire to retaliate. As we
redouble
our efforts at control, and continue to fail, our suffering becomes
acute and constant. We have not once sought to be one in a family, to
be a
friend among friends, to be a worker among workers, to be a useful
member of society. Always we tried to struggle to the top of the heap,
or to hide underneath it. This self-centered behavior blocked a
partnership relation with any one of those about us. Of true
brotherhood
we had small comprehension."
It is in the letting
go of self and trusting in God that allows us to accept others as they
are and to relinquish control. The greatest gift I have
received from the program of A.A. is to have true and honest relations
with those around me. We can learn how to interact with others through
our interaction with God in the Eleventh Step. We can learn how to love
and how to allow ourselves to be loved We can learn how not to interact
with other personalities, which we can like or dislike, but
rather to interact with the part of them that is good, the part of them that is God.
It is in the letting go of self and the trusting in God that allows
us to accept others as they are (and ourselves as we are). This allows
us not only to relinquish control but to have no need or desire to
control at all.
This is beautifully, accurately, and inspirationally stated. I fully comprehend that my soul-bereftness caused the concurrent rapacious need to both dominate and depend. My self-centeredness was self-torturous. When, through the sequential incorporation of The Twelve Steps into my daily life I was enabled to rid myself of me, I began to feel and find The True Power Within me. In the Second Step, I began to understand not only the nature of Trust but that Trust was an inherent part of my nature, finally awakened through the integration of all the Steps into my thoughts and actions. The folly (what a perfect descriptor) of control has given way to the fullness of Trust. On a day-to-day basis, this transformation has become the cornerstone of my peace and happiness.
ReplyDeleteMichael When we are no longer attempting to defend our human instinct as we are trusting in God and living in the will of God that our fear is eliminated and along with that the manifestation of our nature is loving and forgiving with no effort on our part...Thank you...Armand
ReplyDeleteTypo above
ReplyDeletethen our fear