The "Big Book" of Alcoholics Anonymous says, "We may face indecision, we might not be able to determine which course to take. Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or decision. We are often surprised how the right answers will come after we have tried this for awhile. What used to be the hunch or the occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind. We find our thinking will be, as time passes, more and more on the plane of inspiration. We come to rely upon it." The dictionary defines inspiration as, "the thoughts of God implanted upon the mind and soul of man." I do not need to run the thoughts of God through my intellect - I instantaneously perceive them as truth. The question becomes, will I be obedient? Is my behavior going to be propelled by the will of God or by my human instincts? The back half of the Eleventh Step says, "...praying only for the knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out", as my human nature will never do the will of God.
It is here that a recovered alcoholic lives, in the will of God, through CONSCIOUS CONTACT.
Written by Armand
My experience, enabled only by incorporating The Twelve Steps into my life, has shown me that conscious contact is, in reality, the confluence of my conscious with my unconscious. The merging and melding of my human nature with my divine nature, or spirit. Unless and until the spiritual action of integrating the Steps into my daily life occurred, there was no exit from me, no way out of my self-and-only-self will. I lived in pain, modulating from low-grade to severe depending on my emotional non-balance. The question for me is no longer Who or What or Why The Power is. The vital questions are only Where and How. Page 55 in The Big Book tells us Where - "deep down within us. In the last analysis, it is only there that He may be found." The answer to the question of How can be found in Step Two in The Twelve and Twelve - "I had only to stop fighting and practice the rest of AA's program as enthusiastically as I could." Thus, I found The Power Within me with Whom to have contact in this very moment - now, enabled in every way through my own prayer and my own meditation, no one else's. My conscious contact is personal, it's vital. And it's purpose is for it to be given away by the recipient and bearer of the Gift - me - to the person who still suffers, and to all those on our common path.
ReplyDeleteMichael the actual program of Alcoholics Anonymous (the 12 steps incorporated in the Big Book) is not hard to learn but unless one can experience the fruits of the 12 Steps the knowledge is meaningless. If an alcoholic is to recover from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body than the transformation of thought that must occur is essential and must be complete. This can only happen through the absolute surrender of our nature to the will of God...Thank you so much...Armand
DeleteThis Comment Is From A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic
ReplyDeleteIn this modern and technological age, with it's confusing clatter of human pedagogy, situational ethics and moral relativism, there is yet a timeless and eternal call still being proclaimed by the Creator and Sustainer of all:
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me"...
When we became even the least bit willing to answer that call we soon discover that the 12 Steps of AA are in the order they are for a reason and Step 11 is no exception. Every step is recorded in the past perfect tense forming the collective testimony of each personal yet unified journey on this divinely inspired road less traveled with a simple clarity seldom encountered in secular writings. There is no me as the focus proclaimed. There is solely Himself, as the ultimate destination named. God can only be experienced when all other forms of mere human ingenuity are abandoned and surrendered to a fervently desired Person who is the only Faithful and True Author of Life through the only path He has proclaimed, a humble and contrite heart.
The Steps, in their entirety, bear unimpeachable witness through a collective personal testimony to God's never ending outreach of grace to anyone who is willing to surrender and embrace the immutable truth of His Word and manifests the undeniable Presence of His Person the moment we make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to His care. It is He that is the source of an ever increasing desire to understand Him and His ultimate reason for His creation.
It is He, who sweeps away the carnage of our past and our morbid dread of the future. It is He, who authors the Fruit of the Spirit as a never ending manifestation of the divinely desired relationship that, once barred from within, is now free to inspire our every conscious moment. It is He, who provides the grace to yield ourselves to Him as our old desires are systematically swept away and it is He, who lovingly compels us to inwardly nurture and surrender to this ongoing and ever broadening relationship with the Creator, Sustainer and Lover of our souls.
Just as the 11th step bears witness that God Himself is the instigation and inspiration of our growing desire to commune with and please Him, Step 12 testifies that this once desperately lived life begins to bear the unmistakable witness of Gods presence and purpose through the Holy Spirit who now resides within to reveal Jesus, drawing those still suffering from the insatiable, desperate loneliness of a life without hope to true and eternal freedom. Yes, although we live In a world gone mad, be of good cheer; for the Alpha and Omega, the only True Source of eternal peace, joy and hope still proclaims:
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me" - Revelation 3:20 -
A Grateful Recovering Alcoholic
A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic. a personal relationship with God in this moment is a conscious contact. There we can know peace. Thanks Armand
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