The importance of Step Three is that a decision is made (in fact it is a final choice) for our thought process to no longer be propelled by our human instincts (our self will) but rather by the will of God through inspiration. Inspiration is defined as, "the thoughts of God implanted in the mind and soul of man."The Third Step is, "We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him." In the Big Book Alcoholics Anonymous in the chapter "How It Works" it states, "The first requirement (in taking the Third Step) is that we be convinced that any life run on self will can hardly be a success." As stated prior to this, "Remember that we deal with alcohol, cunning, baffling, powerful. Without help it is to much for us. But there is One who has all power -that One is God. May you find Him now!" The chapter goes further in stating, "Selfishness - self-centerednes! That, we think, is the root of our troubles... So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making. They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self will run riot..." Self will is our thought process propelled by our human instincts. In the Big Book it says "above everything we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness and there seems no way of entirely getting rid of self without His aid."
I learned in the program of Alcoholics Anonymous that we have three basic instincts, a social, sexual and security instinct. These instincts are God given and necessary for life but in us we can never get enough of what it is we think we need . The great psychiatrist Sigmund Freud defines an instinct as "a bodily need manifested in our thought process." It is there that our character defects exist - but these same defects, which will always exist to some extent in our human nature, cannot possibly be manifested in our behavior when our thought process is propelled by God's will, through inspiration.
Written by Armand
In my experience, the misuse of the word "will" has been accompanied by the misuse of the word "willpower." In a "you can do it" world, I've spent forty years in the corporate world, have run over twenty five marathons and many more half-matathons, have not had a drink approaching forty years. Through all of those seemingly willpower-inspired accomplishments, I spent most of that time misunderstanding the use of will. It has only been by finally incorporating The Twelve Steps into my life that The Power Within me provided the comfort and peace of mind to surrender my will. The most obvious change is the magnificent infusion of energy that I now possess, and the ability to use that energy to give myself away. In its simplest terms, a change in form, a transformation has occurred. An exchange of self-will for His will.
ReplyDeleteMichael you make some important points. Driven to my knees by a self inflicted crisis I could not evade I had to answer this question. Either God is or He isn't, either God is everything or He is nothing. The Third Step provides the path for that to occur and explains how it must occur. I have made a final choice that going forward my thought process will no longer be propelled by my human instinct but rather by the will of God...Thank you...Armand
DeleteAfter praying for Gods will for my day today I was looking for a map in my purse i noticed a folded piece of paper. Not knowing what it was I opened it up. It had AA meeting times listed in an hour for a church near my hotel. That to me felt like God's direction / will / guidance / inspiration.
ReplyDeleteSpiritual Being welcome back. Thanks for sharing your experience...Armand
DeleteThis Comment Is From A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic
ReplyDeleteHaving been brought to my knees through my own best efforts, I soon discover that any further attempts at self reliance are now pure acts of insanity birthed in the mind of a madman who's been locked too long in the basement of a three alarm blaze. Yes, a life lived free from the slavery of alcohol is indeed a very brief proposition If I linger too long at the precipice of Step Three while continuing to entertain those same thoughts, behaviors and lifestyle choices that precipitated my demise.
I was now left with a final frightful choice, for the 12 step program of AA tells me there is only one way to bridge the gap to the "Father of Light" who was and is the only true path to freedom and the serenity that follows. But who is this God and how would I know for sure that He will even hear me? After all, It is one thing to believe there is a God and quite another to make a decision by faith to actually know Him. For some, the living testimony of their sponsor is enough. For others a little investigation into the history and practices of the founders will be essential and will clearly reveal that the miracle of regeneration they experienced, the strength they received, and the hope they conveyed to those still suffering is hidden in plane sight on almost every page of the very book they used before their personal testimony contained in the Big Book was ever published. That book is the Bible and the Gospel of Mark 9: 14 - 29 holds the answer..
For here we find a frantic father, desperately seeking relief for his demonized son. Not only out of the immense love for his son but no doubt to also be freed from the constant burden that caring for such an individual, so loved, requires. No doubt he sought every local logical source of human and spiritual ingenuity available to effect a cure, all to no avail. He hears of the miraculous works of Jesus, a furtive hope is kindled, he sets out into the wilderness. But hopes are dashed as Christ's own disciples are impotent against the author of his sons's beastly captivity .
Jesus arrives on the scene, questions the father who relates his desperation, the failure of His disciples to effect a cure, then pleads "Have mercy on us and help us if you can." "If I can?" Jesus asked. "Anything is possible if a person believes." The father's heart laid bare instantly cries out "I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!" He had opened his heart and laid his innermost need bare before the Master. He asked for a miracle and... It was provided as Jesus cast out the Demon and the son is restored to full health. In that instant, lost hope transformed into saving faith as he and his son became living testimony of what the world at large considers impossible.
For me, the father represented the "functional alcoholic" I considered myself to be in this seeming dichotomy and his possessed son, my disease. His plea to Jesus, "Have mercy on us and help us if you can." makes it clear that he considered the demonization a shared experience inexorably linking the two of them together for a seeming eternity of pain and horror with absolutely no cure on the horizon. He, like I, had no idea of what to expect, only that having tried all other manner of "cures" I was now willing to reach out in desperation to a Hand unseen whose promise of recovery was still in my mind an improbable myth. This, I did. And my obsession for alcohol and the diseased thinking of an alcoholic mind was removed as far as the east is from the west.
It matters not how we come to the Mercy Seat. All that matters is that we are willing to come.
A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic.