What Are The Spiritual Principles
 

Hi. Maybe I can find this in the BB but I am being lazy. What are the spiritual principles? I am out of town today and not at my home group, but at the meeting I went to the discussion was how to practice spiritual principles in all our affairs. I don't even know what they are. help!

Shonda

love. patient, tolerance..
honest, openmind, and willingness..

acceptence
gradtitude
balance
BE in the moment
attitude adjustment or perceptions.
know thy self
live and let live
life in not without pain but sufferning is optional
nomatter where you go there you are
foregiveness
let go and trun it over
I can't but we can.
Humble..or humility
face everything and recovered
Courage...courage is not without fears
Stop fighting
freewill
goodwill
I dun no...

Be still and know that I AM GOD
Be still and know
Be still
BE

Read between the lines....


There nothing between the lines..lol
where there's nothing there silent
where there's silent there's peace
where there's peace there's god
where there's god there's love
where there's love there's life.
in other words...stop thinking so damn much...too many marbles..lol
or use your head and follow your heart..
You can't think your way into recovery.

rocketed to the 4th and into the spirit of the sunlight

re: spiritual principles
 

I heard in the meeting yesterday that there is a spiritual principle for each step. I have seen cards printed with this information before but I can't find mine.
If anyone knows, could you please enlighten me? Thanks

I have never heard of this in a meeting but I did bump into it online.

http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/...rinciples.html

thank you
 

That was exactly what I was looking for! Thanks.

I thought it might be nice to see 'em listed here, too! :)

The 12 Steps and Principles

Honesty
Step 1. We admitted that we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.

Hope
Step 2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Faith
Step 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him.

Courage
Step 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Integrity
Step 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Willingness
Step 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Humility
Step 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

Brotherly Love
Step 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

Justice (I was taught that the principle here is "Self-Discipline")
Step 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Perseverance
Step 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

Spirituality (again, I was taught that the principle here is "Awareness")
Step 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

Service
Step 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics ("others", in Al-Anon) and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

The principles discuss in step twelve are discussed in the text Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How Many Thousands ofMen and Women have Recovered From Alcoholism.
In simplest form they are; Concede, Watch, Ask, Discuss, Turn, work with others. The principles with every step idea was a later idea and therefore could not have possibly been the collective thought of the original authors.
The middle four are found in the 10th step instructions.

There is no official AA list of the principles although the Oxford group had an initial 4 listed above, and then added about another 15 others. Some areas of the country have lists of 12 principles that somewhat coincide with 12 steps. If you Google AA Principles, you will get all sorts of answers.

This is a really old thread......but interesting nonetheless.....

A few years ago, someone who was chairing my homegroup researched this because she wanted to use "the principles" as meeting topics for the quarter she was chairing. As indicated by the posts above, she found several different lists that matched various spiritual principles with corresponding steps but no indication that any of then was in any sense "official" or AA "approved."

Below is the one we decided to use for our group. Personally, I really, really like the association of the the principle "Atonement" with the 9th Step because of the way it stresses the idea that amends/reparation/sacrifice is being made in order to effect reconciliation, not only with one's fellows, but also with HP/God.

The AA Principles and Virtues

Acceptance
Step 1. We admitted that we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.

Hope
Step 2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Faith
Step 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him.

Honesty
Step 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Openness
Step 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Willingness
Step 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Humility
Step 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

Accountability
Step 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

Atonement
Step 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Mindfulness
Step 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

Connection
Step 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of his will for us and the power to carry that out.

Service
Step 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

freya

Some more spiritual principles....
 

Thanks for the topic. I would like to add the following (I cut and pasted this and did not come up with it on my own, I was working on my character defect of anger): a principle is a basic action guideline:
Searching the Big Book on the word "Principle". What are the principles of the A.A. program of recovery? Five of the 36 uses of the word principle are clearly statements of principles:
22) The first principle of success is that you should never be angry. [Big Book, page 111, line 1] (Although we alcoholics are not saints, it seem the authors of the Big Book thought that our spouses should be. It is obvious that this principle is avoid anger.)
28) Another principle we observe carefully is that we do not relate intimate experiences of another person unless we are sure he would approve. [Big Book, page 125, line 18] (This principle is that we respect the privacy of others, especially fellow members of AA.)
29) Giving, rather than getting, will become the guiding principle. [Big Book, page 128, line 2] (We practice service of others rather than self-service.)
35) & 36) "There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—that principle is contempt prior to investigation." —HERBERT SPENCER [Big Book, Appendix II, page 570, lines 16 & 19] (The principle for us is open mindedness.) I hope someone gets something out of this!!

These I saw printed on an NA product available at an NA convention.

The principle(s) for each step:

1. Acceptance
2. Faith
3. Surrender & Trust
4. Honesty
5. Courage
6. Willingness
7. Humility
8. Forgiveness
9. Freedom
10. Perseverance
11. Patience
12. Charity & Love

Amends
8,59,69,76,84
Charity
98
Confession, Confessed, Confessing
25,74,77
Consciousness
98,115,130
Courage
Frwd to 2nd Edition
Faith
Fwrd to 1st Edition , 10,14,15,16,28,46,47,49,51,52,53,54,55,68,70,76,88 ,93,94,117
Forgiveness, Forgive, Forgiving
86
Honesty Honest, Honestly
11, 26, 44, 47, 55, 57, 63, 64, 67, 83
Hope, Hopeful
5, 7, 18, 27, 29, 43, 44, 45, 48, 66, 71, 94, 103, 108, 132, 144, 148, 153, 162, 163
Humility, Humble, Humbled, Humbly
12,13,57, 59, 63, 68,73,83,88
Inventory, Moral/Personal Inventory
59,64,67,70,71,72,73,75,76,84
Love, Loved, Loving
1,10,16,21,54,56,63,83,84,105,106,107,108,118,119, 122,124,125,127,128,153
Meditation,Quiet-Time
59, 69, 83, 85, 87,89,134,164
Open-mindedness
48
Patience
67, 70, 82, 83, 108, 111, 118, 138, 163
Peace
8, 14, 16, 50, 63, 75, 84
Prayer,Pray,Prayed,Praying,We Ask/Asked
Frwd to 1st Edition,36,59,67,68,69,76,84,85,86,87,105,158
Resolve, Resolved
5
Sanity
7, 57, 59, 70, 84, 154
Serenity
14, 68, 84
Service, Serve, Served
3, 34,77,85,92,98,100,102,121,125
Sobriety, Sober, Sobered
4,9,32,33,34,36,40,82,99,100,101,116,118,119,127,1 28,129,
131,139,146,152,154,156,159
Spiritual Growth
47,129
Tolerance, Tolerant
19, 67, 70, 83, 84, 118, 122, 125,127, 138
Trust, Trusting, Trusted
68,80,98146
Truth,Truthful
23, 26, 33, 64, 71, 73, 93, 98, 106,144
Unselfishness, Unselfish
93, 105, 127
Willingness, Willing
2,13,26,27,28,46,47,57,58,59,60,67,69,70,76,77,79, 81,92,93,97,112,118,
124,141,146,152,153,158,159,162,163
Wisdom, Wise
13, 77, 90, 123, 124

the principles
 

Hi great question,
I found the answer reading about steps six and seven which is why it is so hard to find in the literature. The book is titled "Drop the Rock" The principles are the exact opposite assets that our character defects are. This really reasonated with me but also looking back at my sober path it seems that at the doorway for all of us was HONESTY. Then after sitting in many meetings PATIENCE and TOLERANCE had to make a appearance to continue.

NA spiritual principles
 

my homegroup is a 12 step and tradition meeting, and during one meeting of the month, we go over the spiritual principles as outlined in the step-working guide and then we give dictionary definitions. that said, here are the spiritual principles in that context.
step one - honesty, open-mindedness, willingness, humility, and acceptance
step two - open-mindedness, willingness, faith, trust, and
humility
step three - surrender, willingness, hope, faith, trust, and commitment
step four - willingness, honesty, courage, faith, and trust
step five - trust, courage, self-honesty, and commitment
step six - commitment and perseverance, willingness, faith and
trust, and self-acceptance
step seven - surrender, trust and faith, patience, and humility
step eight - honesty, courage, willingness, and compassion.
step nine - humility, love, and forgiveness
step ten - self-discipline, honesty and integrity
step eleven - commitment, humility, courage, and faith
step twelve - love, selflessness, and
steadfastness

I know this is responding to an old thread...maybe can be useful:

Source: ezinearticles.com "The Principles Behind The 12 Steps Of Addiction Recovery"

1. Honesty - The operative principle behind step 1 is honesty. If you cannot get honest about the scope of your problem, and honest about a sincere effort to resolve it you will not succeed. How about a definition of honesty as the absence of the intention to deceive? Who do we try to fool? Ourselves

2. Hope - In order to engage in a course of addiction recovery, we must have hope of success. If there is no hope, why try? Perhaps we have failed on our own, how about enlisting some help? A way to instill hope is to realize recovery is not a question of ability; after all there are millions in recovery, but rather persistence and application.

3. Faith - This stage of action is to begin to employ the recovery skills being learned. You can seek out help, but it is also necessary to utilize it. Our job is to become willing to do the right thing. A simple way to view the 'next right thing' is don't engage in addiction. Have faith it will work.

4. Courage - This step is really about courage to honestly (see step 1) look at ourselves. Take a look at how our behavior has become warped to justify our continued addiction. We are here to take an honest assessment of ourselves.

5. Integrity - If we have truly done a thorough job of introspection and evaluation of our assets and shortcomings do we have the integrity to own up to it? It can be very difficult to be open and honest about our past behaviors. We accept the need for a dose of humility.

6. Willingness - Now that we have accomplished an inventory of the good and no so good aspects of our character and behavior, are we willing to change them? All of them? The important part in this 12 step principle is the willingness to let go of old behaviors.

7. Humility - Here we move further into action, in step 6 we became willing to as let go of our old behaviors, now we ask for help in actually letting go. Can we learn to forgive ourselves?

8. Discipline and Action - We are continuing to remove the barriers that can block forward sober growth. We are getting ready to sweep our side of the street clean. Make a list of all those people we have harmed both through actions and not being present to live up to obligations.

9. Forgiveness - Asking for the forgiveness of those we have intentionally or unintentionally injured is the order of the day. A key point here is to try to correct those injuries through action, not just words. It is highly recommended that guidance and help is utilized here.

10. Acceptance - To be human is to make mistakes. Hopefully our journey has led us to the point where we can readily admit mistakes and accept ourselves for being imperfect. We must also learn not to judge others but accept them for who they are, not our vision of who they should be.

11. Knowledge and Awareness - Here we search and become aware of following our path being aware of our purpose in life and actively pursuing it. I view this principle as just being aware, not being got up in the rush of life, making conscious effort to do the right thing and to be at peace.

12. Service and Gratitude - Having brought about a personality change sufficient to remain in recovery; we are empowered to demonstrate the new principles by which we live, in our daily life through example. We seek out and are available to help others in need.

AA PRINCIPLSE
1 acceptance
2 hope
3 faith
4 courage
5 honesty
6 willingness
7 humility
8 thoroughness
9 forgiveness
10 diligence
11 holiness
12 service

As told to me be an AA Old Timer

Not sure I agree...

When I went to a rehab farm, they told me they were going to teach me 5 principles;

1. Humility
2. Humility
3. Humility
4. Humility
5. Humility

There are not "set" spiritual principle for each step. What do you think the principle or principles for a "step" are to yourself? Example: Step 4 to me takes honesty, absence of fear, willingness, openmindedness, courage.

Here is how I heard it from those who have been at this longer than I have

The three necessary principles are Honesty, Openmindedness and Willingness.

They repeat over four times

Step one, honesty
step two, openmindedness
step three willingness
step four, honesty
step five, open mindedness
step six, willingness

etc etc

it's very simplified, but right now I need very simple, and I find this useful