It Has To Be Simple!

[one of]

It would not be fair if growing along spiritual lines required a High IQ. It would not be fair either if one's High IQ prevented one from being able to believe what is required for growing along spiritual lines. It has to be both reasonable and sensible. It is.

The powers of love, truth, wisdom, and understanding are powers which every living human being (apart, possibly from the predicament of the very seriously retarded - but who can know?) has to deal with. They must deal with the lack of them if they are highly egoistic, or they can glow with the presence of them within themselves if they are well along the continuum from egoism towards humility. Nevertheless, where-ever one might enter at birth along that continuum, (and thank the Universal Designer for making that coninuum immeasurable for human beings), the fact that they are born at all, IMO, indicates that they have not reached to state of pure humility. If they had, they would not need to walk through another lifetime as a physical entity.

Now then, with a nearly pure egoism of the soul, there would be no capacity to love one's fellow human beings at all. we find that situation in those who can use children as sex objects and then kill them in order not to be caught. We find among the quite high degrees of egoism the willingness to take from others whatever they might need for their survival and pleasures. As the degree of egoism drops closer to the middle of the bell curve we find those who are willing to work to 'earn' their own survival and pleasure needs; and with a further drop to the far side of the bell curve we find those whose lives are predominently taken up with wanting to help others feel better about being alive.

The first hundred or so members of AA, probably through being exposed to the Christians of the Oxford Group, realized that they could see themselves to be on the 'reasonably high' degree of egoism side of the bell curve. We can know this as a result of the early writings:

"Selfishness--self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate." (BigBook-pg. 62)


Then came the promises. "We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows." How will that come about? Through the painstaking working of the first 9 steps. We put our will and lives into the hands of a Higher Power or Higher Powers which are reasonable for us (individually) to trust in the existence of (and often call "God" during our sharings for simplicity's sake, even if our God would make an atheist of someone else and their God would make an atheist of us), we 'clean house,' and we then find within us the desire to want to help others along the same freedom road which we have traveled.

By the time (14 years later) the 12&12 was written. The members could put a solid name to what had been happening to themselves. The working of the 12 steps had moved them, and was continuing to move them, along the continuum from egoism towards humility.

On the first page of step 7 (12&12) is written:

". . . the attainment of greater humility is the foundation principle of each of A.A.'s Twelve Steps. For without some degree of humility, no alcoholic can stay sober at all. Nearly all A.A.'s have found, too, that unless they develop much more of this precious quality than may be required just for sobriety, they still haven't much chance of becoming truly happy. Without it, they cannot live to much useful purpose, or, in adversity, be able to summon the faith that can meet any emergency."

The first sentence of step 5 (12&12) states:

"All of A.A.'s Twelve Steps ask us to go contrary to our natural desires . . . they all deflate our egos."

So there it is. The steps give you the path. If you are willing to follow the path, you are moved from egoism towards humility. With egoism there is nil capacity to love, with humility there is infinite capacity to love. Thus, have we not discovered that we humans have the capability to grow in our capacity to love? And I would put to you the question, how would it be possible to grow in any way, were there not a dimension of existence in which to grow?

Once I have made my decision in step 3 for the rest of this lifetime, right or wrong, I have a new base for my reasoning. Every time I am upset inside for any reason, I need to become willing to take the cause of that upset to step 3 and ask, "how do I look at this upset within me if I truly and willingly want to implement the decision I made here for the rest of this lifetime?" Obviously, if i am willing to let "God" have the running of my life, and "God" is Perfect Love and Understanding (for my soul, obviously), and knows how to grow my soul; and I don't know how to grow my own soul, then it is necessary for me to trust that "God" knows what "God" is doing, and I need to resurrender to that already 'agreed to' step 3 decision. By so doing, I lose my right to be miserable. If I have no right to be miserable, there is no reward for my ego in maintaining that misery within me, and I may then laugh at myself for being a baby and return to a state of peace of mind, serenity of spirit, and a sense of being at home in the universe, with one more iota of humility within my soul as a result of going through that process.

How simple is growing along spiritual lines? I hurt inside, I use the steps to end the pain, and I have grown a bit. Since every human knows whether or not they are hurting inside, and can't possibly lie to themselves about that fact, then every human being becomes their own boss as to whether they would rather hold onto their old ego-pleasing ideas in contradiction to a new truth based on step 3, or whether they are 'willing to grow along spiritual lines' and let those old ideas fall away in order to learn how to feel good sober.

It's a simple program. It's a very simple program. And since egoism is a horrible state of competition, comparison, judgement and loneliness, and humility is a lovely state of communal living complete with a capacity to love, it is a wise program which leads one away from hell and into heaven.

Love and Blessings - one of

[Ann]

Thanks One of.