Big Book study, steps 10 and 11

[stone]

Whilst I still don't like the 'God' word and the Christian bias I feel is implicit behind it, I can easily fit the following with my concept of spirituality. I hope others will enjoy it too.

Good Morning!

Page 85, Paragraph 1 - While we have recovered from alcoholism:

"We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.
Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all our activities. 'How can I best serve Thee--Thy will (not mine) be done.' These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will."

Although we have made a decision to turn our will over to the care of God as we understand Him (in Step 3) we are told here how to use our will to fulfill that same decision. Our will isn't taken from us; instead, we are taught the proper use of our will. The proper use of our will is to try to align our self-will with God's will.

Step 10 is our principal means of growth after we have completed the process of the first 9 steps. It is not a step that can be incorporated into our lives by itself, however. To be vital it must be paired up with Step 11. In the "12 Steps and 12 Traditions", in the discussion of Step 11, Bill refers to the "unshakeable foundation for life." That foundation is the logical interweaving of the process of self-examination (Step 10) and conscious contact with a Power greater than ourselves (Step 11). If the channel between us and God is filled with unattended 10th Step stuff --fear, resentment, anger, guilt and the like -- we will not have the open channel we need to God and His Grace. The sunlight of the Spirit can't come into our lives. Conversely, when our conscious contact with God isn't there our ability to "identify the worst items in stock" can disappear as well.

Step 11 begins at the bottom of Page 85. Let's read through to page 86 - paragraph 1:

"When we retire at night, we constructively review our day. Were we resentful, selfish, dishonest, or afraid? (Step 4? Sounds like it.)
Do we owe an apology? (similar to Step 9 perhaps?) Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once? (Step 5) Were we kind and loving toward all? What could we have done better? Were we thinking of ourselves most of the time? (More inventory) ...After making our review we ask God's forgiveness and inquire what corrective measures should be taken."

So, at the end of the day we review and, through meditation and prayer, we "inquire what corrective measures should be taken."
Sounds like Steps 10 and 11 go hand-in-hand. We are asking God for direction in prayer. Some of the folks I got sober with used to say that prayer was talking to God and meditation was listening.

As we go through Step 11 here in the book we will see that Bill's knowledge of meditation and prayer was somewhat limited and he was forced to keep it simple. (This is what he is referring to when he
says "we only know a little" on Page 164, by the way). Because prayer and meditation takes innumerable forms it was probably for the best.

With our next post we will continue with our discussion of Step 11 on page 86 at paragraph 2.

Have a wonderful day!

Jim K

[CarolD]

Good to know you are making progress Stone

Thanks for sharing

[Tazman53]

Stone if one substituted Buddah, Vishna, Allah, or name ones Diety it would still align. For the most part, no matter the religion, faith, or healthy life style, love, tolerance, faith, & forgiveness are the keys I feel to a healthy life style. I find good things in all of them, I also find life to be much better when I look for the good that I concur with in all things rather then seeking and focusing on the bad.

I do the same with people, some folks are rather hard to find something to like about, but I am convinced there is good in all folks if one looks hard enough.

When I first came into the rooms my temporary sponsor told me to try to live steps 10-12 as best I could from day 1, I pass this on to my sponsees because it helped me a lot.

[stone]

Originally Posted by Tazman53

When I first came into the rooms my temporary sponsor told me to try to live steps 10-12 as best I could from day 1, I pass this on to my sponsees because it helped me a lot.

I think that is a good idea.

BTW, Buddha isn't a god. As you know my beliefs are similar to buddhism, there is no god in buddhism.

So I would not ask forgiveness from god, as is mentioned in the 10th step, but I do know when I have done wrong and I apologise if necessary and try not to do it again.

[Tazman53]

Stone it was mainly the philosophies I was talking about.

I looked up Buddhism at Wikopedia and have a question, it says:

Among the methods Buddhist schools apply towards that goal are ethical conduct, altruistic behaviour, renunciation of wordly matters, the training of one's mind through learning and meditation, devotional practices and the invocation of holy beings to seek their help in achieving Enlightenment.

How does the "holy beings" mentioned compare to A God in other religions? Just a question for my own curiosity.

[stone]

Not sure about that, I don't invoke anything, lol.

I did say my beliefs were similar, I am not a Buddhist.

[stone]

I think the holy beings thing comes from some Hindu gods that got transferred into some schools of Buddhism?

Not sure because the Buddhist stuff I read has never mentioned them.

I take stuff I like from various religions/spiritual teachings and try to avoid what I see as the mumbo-jumbo parts.

Jesus said a lot of good stuff too.


Anyway, I posted two sentences at the start of the thread about me, the important part of the post is the BB study!

[stone]

Here is the concluding part on Step 11.

Welcome back everyone-

We're at Page 86, paragraph 2 - "On awakening let's think about the twenty-four hours ahead". "...we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives". (One of the Step 11 prayers). If we are indecisive: "Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision. (Another prayer). We relax and take it easy". We aren't obsessing on this, we think of something else knowing that the answers will come. Although we come to rely upon intuition we always check with others on those thoughts before putting them into action.

Yet another prayer: the Big Book 11th Step Prayer, page 87, paragraph 1 - "We usually conclude the period of meditation with a prayer that we be shown all through the day what our next step is to be, that we be given whatever we need to take care of such problems. We ask especially for freedom from self-will, and are careful to make no requests for ourselves only". Here we are praying for the knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry it out.

What is the outcome? At the top of page 88: "We are in much less danger of (suffering from) excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-pity, or foolish decisions". Oh and how those foolish decisions got me!

Now, you'll notice that Bill was getting at what meditation meant for him: From the point of "On awakening..." to immediately before "We usually conclude the period of meditation..." we are engaging in meditation. We are thinking about what our actions will be, what we will face, how we will conduct ourselves. I began my meditation life by quieting the endless conversation that I used to have with myself inside of my head, quite simply I was driving myself nuts! Then I started to direct my thinking to what I would face over the course of the day. Of course that meant that I had to change the way that I lived. I couldn't continue to live my life as if I was shot out of a cannon each morning. I received valuable suggestions: instead of waking up at the last possible second, perhaps if I got up a little earlier that may allow time for meditation, instead of waiting until the fuel gauge read "E" maybe I should fill up at 1/4 of a tank. Leaving a little earlier for work would help my state of mind in the morning, arriving less frazzled and on time. These and many other suggestions helped immensely. The result was it was easier to meditate in the morning and prepare for the day.

Today I get to work early (which allows me time to post this study) and meditate. I (usually) swim laps at my club, go to work, have coffee at my desk and prepare for the day ahead. I read my daily reading, these days it's from "Through the Year with Emmett Fox". I spend time digesting the reading and seeing how it applies to my
life. My boss and the others filter in and my day begins. Although I have a lot of responsibility in my position I have no fear because I always have a partner who has all power. I put in the footwork and the results are up to Him. My life is no longer the "Chinese Fire Drill" that it once was. The 12 Steps have been the key.

Exercise: Go back and re-read the text and count how many times "think", "thought", "brains", "intuition", or their synonyms appear in the text. You may be surprised to learn how much "thought" goes into meditation!

Jim K

[bballdad]

it works!

[Dee74]

Jesus said a lot of good stuff too.

I must look him up
D

[stone]

Originally Posted by Dee74

I must look him up
D

He has my seal of approval!