Alcoholics Anonymous states, "the idea that somehow, someday, the alcoholic will control their drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it to the gates of insanity and death. We learned, some of us through relapse, that we had to fully concede to our innermost self that we are alcoholic...The delusion that we are like other people has to be smashed."We learn through the program of Alcoholics Anonymous that we must admit powerlessness over alcohol and that our lives are unmanageable. We must concede to our innermost self that we are alcoholic and, yes, we must admit complete defeat. Once we have done this we have THE FOUNDATION FOR PROGRESS, in the actual program of Alcoholics Anonymous, upon which we can build a real and honest life. This life of pure contribution allows us to be who we were created to be, thus restoring our self-esteem and allowing others to be themselves around us without any judgement on our part. Our real and honest life will be ours to live, measured in and by the love we give away.
Written By Armand
It's not the delusion that we can drink like other people that has to be smashed. It's the delusion that we are LIKE other people which we're not. We're like one another and that's it. My experience is that until I learned to concede to my innermost self that I was an alcoholic, I had never before touched my innermost self. It was the part of me that held the fundamental idea of a power greater than me. But it had to be awakened to that Great Reality through Incorporating The Steps into my daily life. Only then did I find The Power was down deep within me. Personal, meaningful, supranational, divine. This became my foundation for progress and the progress continues each day, reliant only on my giving myself away, for which the opportunities abound. This is The Gift that truly continues to give, and for which I am enthusiastically grateful. Without the men and women who know and taught me to understand Recovery, my life would have remained outermost only and without foundation.
ReplyDeleteMichael the concession to our innermost self that we are alcoholic is the taking of the First Step. Without that not much can be accomplished through the Twelve Steps Of Alcoholics Anonymous...Thank you...Armand
ReplyDeleteIt is in my powerlessness over alcohol that I have found my spiritual strength through the program of Alcoholic Anonymous. The program was the "how", the Big Book, my sponsor and the fellowship were the "what", and God was the "Who". If I had not been completely defeated, I would not of enjoyed the victory I enjoy today, one day at a time, through this program that was so freely given to me. Pure grace.
ReplyDeleteJim thank you for identifying the how what and who. It is only through the Grace of God that sobriety is delivered to all who seek through the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous...Armand
DeleteWe claim spiritual progress not spiritual perfection. If I try to be perfect I set myself up for disappointment. I wanted my 4th step to be perfect but what it was was spiritual progress, I did the best I could at the time and so has it been ever since, keep moving forward with the program and living according to the principles of AA. My foundation to progress was stopping drinking but that wasn't all, I had to take everything that was on offer, the book the meetings service and the guidance of a sponsor who had trodden the path before me. This I too must give away to keep.
ReplyDeleteAnne thank you so much for sharing your experience with us...Armand
DeleteThis Comment Is From A Grayefully Recovering Alcoholic
ReplyDeleteArmand,
for this gratefully recovering alcoholic It is no coincidence that the 12 Steps of AA are recorded by the founders in the order in which they are presented and that their universal experience of that Divinely inspired journey was one and the same. If we surrender to this First Step and keep an open mind we will soon discover that the foundation of each and every step has been written by the finger of God from eternity past and is lovingly brought to life through His person and Spirit in the New Testament of that very same book.
This undeserved invitation for forgiveness and renewal always begins with a call for the humble admission of our present condition, fueled by an underlying desperate desire for escape. For who among us can admit we are powerless over anything, let alone our delusional dependence upon that poisonous substance we have grown to love as it over-accelerates the misguided appetites of a depraved heart, mind and spirit, unless propelled blind and broken by absolute desperation?
Before the first books were ever written chronicling their imperfect journey along that perfect plan, viz. the 12 Steps of AA, they were admittedly guided by the greatest story ever told, the Bible. But they knew that few respond to the impersonal witness of the Living Word delivered by those who never experienced a Devine reprieve from the personal journey into hell that is alcoholism and thus the fellowship was born.
Consider 2 Chronicles 7:14-16 written three thousand years ago: 14 "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.16 For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually." Even a quick study of these three verses reveals in its entirety the spiritual process of all 12 Steps of AA. Is not this "house" spoken of in these passages the collective hearts and minds of those who have followed this path and invited Him within to eternally reside? Just as a shallow practice of the Steps will soon reveal that resistance to these principals is futile so to will even the shallowest attempts at surrender bring blessings that far surpass anything that we could have hoped for or imagined.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3). Yes, the Author has now personally declared not only the solution to our problem but the blessing that follows. May you find Him now.
A Gratefully Recovering Alcoholic