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From the books ... Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book) and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (12 & 12)
Click the page number or the book cover icon
to view that page in the literature.1.
We think, therefore, that
any considerable property of genuine use to A.A. should be separately incorporated and managed, thus dividing the material from
the spiritual.
2.
We think, therefore, that
any considerable property of genuine use to A.A. should be separately incorporated and managed, thus dividing the material from
the spiritual.
3.
... spiritual about
A.A. too, and Catholic participation ...
BB
Appendix V, The Religious View on A.A., p.572
There is something spiritual about A.A. too, and Catholic participation
in it almost invariably
results in poor Catholics becoming better Catholics."
4.
There is something spiritual about an art museum or a symphony, and the
Catholic Church approves of our use of them.
5.
Your husband will see at once that he must redouble his spiritual activities if he expects to survive.
6.
Though the family does not
fully agree with dad's spiritual activities, they should let
him have his head.
7.
Why, we thought, our Society of Alcoholics Anonymous might prove to be
the spearhead of a new spiritual advance!
8.
9.
We found it very desirable to take this spiritual step with an understanding person, such as our wife, best friend, or spiritual adviser.
10.
Do we lay the matter before our sponsor or spiritual adviser, earnestly asking God's help and guidance -- meanwhile resolving to do the right thing when it becomes clear, cost what it may?
11.
Then there are those occasions when alone, or in
the company of our sponsor
or spiritual adviser, we make a careful review of our progress since
the last time.
12.
Often it was while working on this Step with our sponsors or spiritual advisers that we first felt truly able to forgive others, no matter how deeply we felt they had wronged us.
13.
It is worth noting that people of very high spiritual development almost always insist on checking with friends or
spiritual advisers the guidance they feel they have received from God.
14.
15.
16.
Six -- Problems of money, property, and authority may easily divert us from our primary
spiritual aim.
17.
He feels a spiritual and ethical compulsion, because hundreds may be suffering within reach of his help.
18.
Therefore, it seems plain that few of us can quickly or easily become ready to aim at spiritual and moral perfection; we want to settle for only as much perfection as will get us by in life, according, of course, to our various and sundry ideas of what will get us by.
19.
From great numbers of such experiences, we could
predict that the doubter
who still claimed that he
hadn't got the "spiritual angle," and who still considered his well-loved A.A. group the higher power, would presently love God and call Him by name.
20.
"Then they outlined the spiritual answer and program of action which a hundred of them had followed
successfully.
21.
But this was a man who had experienced many years of frightful drinking, who had had most all the drunkard's experiences
known to man, but who had been
cured by the very means I had been trying to employ, that is to say the spiritual approach.
22.
If he thinks he can do the job
in some other way, or prefers some other spiritual approach, encourage him to follow his
own conscience.
23.
Though not a religious person, I have profound respect for the spiritual approach in such cases as yours.
24.
When people presented us
with spiritual approaches,
how frequently did we all say, "I wish I had what that man has.
25.
Though we work out our solution on the spiritual as well as an altruistic plane, we favor hospitalization
for the alcoholic who is very jittery or befogged.
26.
27.
As though lying upon a sunlit beach, let us relax and breathe deeply of the spiritual atmosphere with which the grace of this prayer surrounds us.
28.
What is spiritual awakening?
29.
Our Twelfth Step also says that as a result of practicing all
the Steps, we have each found something called a spiritual awakening.
30.
31.
The terms "spiritual experience" and "spiritual awakening" are used many times in this book which, upon careful reading, shows that the personality
change sufficient to bring about recovery from alcoholism has manifested itself among us in many different forms.
32.
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.
33.
Step Twelve -- "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."
34.
"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."
35.
36.
When a man or a woman has a
spiritual awakening, the
most important meaning
of it is that he has now become
able to do, feel, and believe that which he could not do before on his unaided strength and resources alone.
37.
38.
It is a spiritual axiom that every time we are disturbed, no matter what the cause, there is
something wrong with us.
39.
Beginning with Step Four, we commenced to search out the things in ourselves which
had brought us to physical, moral, and spiritual bankruptcy.
40.
As we look over the list of business acquaintances and friends we have hurt, we may feel diffident about going to some of them on a spiritual basis.
41.
Understanding our work,
he can do this with an eye to selecting those who are willing and able to recover on a spiritual basis.
42.
To be doomed to an alcoholic death or to live on a spiritual basis are not always easy alternatives to face.
43.
If your husband is trying
to live on a spiritual basis, he will also be doing everything in his power to
avoid disagreement or
contention.
44.
45.
Whether the family goes on a spiritual basis or not, the alcoholic
member has to if he would recover.
46.
We used to amuse ourselves by cynically dissecting spiritual beliefs and practices when
we might have observed that many spiritually-minded persons of all races, colors, and creeds were demonstrating a degree
of stability, happiness and usefulness
which we should have sought ourselves.
47.
48.
That is the spiritual climate
in which A.A. was born, and by God's grace has nevertheless flourished.
49.
Most emphatically we wish to say that any alcoholic capable of honestly facing his problems in the light of our experience can
recover, provided he does
not close his mind to all spiritual concepts.
50.
51.
52.
It did not matter too much
what our material condition was, but it did matter what our spiritual condition was.
53.
One more suggestion: Whether the family has spiritual convictions or not, they may do well to examine the principles by which the alcoholic member is trying to live.
54.
To define the word "harm" in a practical way, we might call it the result of instincts in collision, which cause physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual damage to people.
55.
56.
57.
Though some of his manifestations are alarming and disagreeable, we think dad will be on a firmer foundation than the
man who is placing business or professional success ahead of spiritual development.
58.
This, of course, is the process by which instinct
and logic always seek to bolster egotism, and so frustrate
spiritual development.
59.
60.
It is worth noting that people of very high spiritual development almost always insist on checking with friends or
spiritual advisers the guidance they feel they have received from God.
61.
He is going to be more interested in a demonstration of good will than in our talk of spiritual discoveries.
62.
From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been
not only mentally and physically ill, we have been
spiritually sick.
63.
64.
5. Each Alcoholics Anonymous group ought to be a spiritual entity having but one primary purpose -- that of carrying its message to the alcoholic
who still suffers.
65.
Five -- Each Alcoholics Anonymous group ought to be a spiritual entity having but one primary purpose -- that of carrying
its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
66.
This hope, however, was destroyed by the doctor's telling him that while his religious convictions
were very good, in his case they did not spell the necessary vital spiritual experience.
67.
68.
One night, when confined in a hospital, he
was approached by an alcoholic who had known a
spiritual experience.
69.
70.
71.
Your husband will be the first to say it was your devotion and care which brought him to the point where
he could have a spiritual experience.
72.
73.
74.
Most of us think this awareness of a Power greater than ourselves is
the essence of spiritual experience.
75.
We have found nothing incompatible between a
powerful spiritual experience and a life of sane and happy usefulness.
76.
... "spiritual experience"
and "spiritual awakening" are used ...
BB
Appendix II, Spiritual Experience, p.567
The terms "spiritual experience" and "spiritual awakening" are used many times in this book which, upon careful reading, shows that the personality
change sufficient to bring about recovery from alcoholism has manifested itself among us in many different forms.
77.
The two friends spoke of their spiritual experience and told him about
the course of action they carried out.
78.
Six months earlier, the broker had been
relieved of his drink obsession by a sudden spiritual experience, following a meeting with an
alcoholic friend who had
been in contact with the Oxford Groups of that day.
79.
A spiritual experience, he
conceded, was absolutely necessary,
but the price seemed high upon the basis suggested.
80.
The second printing of the
first edition added the appendix "Spiritual Experience"; in the second edition, the appendices on A.A. Tradition, the "medical view" and "religious view" of A.A., the Lasker Award and information on how to contact A.A. were added, and the appendix on the
Alcoholic Foundation
was discontinued.
81.
We hope that the collective spiritual experience of the A.A. pioneers captured in these
pages continues to help alcoholics and friends of A.A. understand the principles of our program.
82.
Being possessed of a spiritual experience, the alcoholic will find he has much in common with these people, though he may differ with them
on many matters.
83.
84.
But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of
a spiritual experience,
this business of resentment is infinitely grave.
85.
Reminding ourselves
that we have decided to go to
any lengths to find a spiritual experience, we ask that we be
given strength and direction to do the right thing, no matter what the personal consequences may be.
86.
If that be the case, you may be suffering from an illness
which only a spiritual experience will conquer.
87.
88.
The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences(*) which have revolutionized our whole
attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God's universe.
89.
90.
91.
To some people we need not,
and probably should not emphasize the spiritual feature on our first approach.
92.
93.
Twelve -- Anonymity is
the spiritual foundation
of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.
94.
Tradition Twelve -- "Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities."
95.
"Anonymity is the spiritual
foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities."
96.
97.
98.
But be sure you are on solid
spiritual ground before you start and that your
motive in going is thoroughly good.
99.
100.
101.
But when we are willing to place spiritual growth first -- then and only
then do we have a real chance.
102.
He will perceive that his
spiritual growth is lopsided, that for an average man like himself, a spiritual life which does not include his family obligations may not be so perfect after all.
103.
At the start, this was all we needed to commence spiritual growth, to effect our first conscious relation with God as we understood Him.
104.
... spiritual health
and self-respect to hundreds of ...
BB
Appendix V, The Religious View on A.A., p.572
This self-insurance has resulted in the restoration of physical,
mental and spiritual health and self-respect to hundreds of men and women who would be hopelessly down and out without its unique but effective therapy."
105.
We were in a position where life was becoming impossible, and if we had passed into the region from
which there is no return through human aid, we had but two alternatives: One was to go on to the bitter end, blotting out the consciousness of
our intolerable situation as best we could;
and the other, to accept
spiritual help.
106.
107.
... spiritual heritage
as futile disputes over property, ...
BB
Appendix I, The A.A. Tradition, p.564
Experience has often warned us that nothing can so
surely destroy our spiritual heritage as futile disputes over property, money, and authority.
108.
Experience has often warned us that nothing can so
surely destroy our spiritual heritage as futile disputes over property, money, and authority.
109.
Never talk down to an alcoholic from any moral or spiritual hilltop; simply lay out the kit of spiritual tools for his inspection.
110.
In it alcoholism was described from the alcoholic's point of view, the spiritual ideas of the Society were codified for the first time in the Twelve Steps, and the application
of these Steps to the alcoholic's dilemma was made clear.
111.
A.A.'s Twelve Steps are a group of principles, spiritual in
their nature, which, if practiced as a way of life, can expel the obsession to drink and enable the sufferer to become happily and usefully whole.
112.
In the midst of an understanding and sympathetic family, these
vagaries of dad's spiritual infancy will quickly disappear.
113.
114.
Instead of treating the
family as he should, he may retreat further into himself and feel he has spiritual justification for
so doing.
115.
Yet we had been seeing another kind of flight, a spiritual liberation from this world,
people who rose above their problems.
116.
117.
118.
For if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge his spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he
could not survive the certain trials and low spots ahead.
119.
He will perceive that his
spiritual growth is lopsided, that for an average man like himself, a spiritual life which does not include his family obligations may not be so perfect after all.
120.
121.
Those of us who have spent much time in the world of spiritual make-believe have eventually seen the childishness of it.
122.
123.
124.
Faced with alcoholic destruction, we soon became as open minded on spiritual matters as we had tried to be
on other questions.
125.
But his face falls when we speak of spiritual matters, especially when
we mention God, for we have re-opened a subject which our man thought he had neatly evaded or entirely ignored.
126.
127.
128.
This physician had repeatedly tried spiritual means to resolve his alcoholic dilemma but had failed.
129.
The prospective partners need to be solid A.A.'s and long enough acquainted to know that their
compatibility at spiritual, mental, and emotional levels is a fact and not wishful thinking.
130.
Nearly every sound human being experiences, at some
time in life, a compelling desire to find a mate of the opposite sex with whom the fullest possible union can be made -- spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical.
131.
132.
I learned that it was something of a spiritual nature, which did not appeal to
me very much, but I thought it could do no harm.
133.
Well, meditation is like that, too; it helps to envision our spiritual objective before we try to move toward it.
134.
135.
136.
137.
138.
Let us become willing to partake and be strengthened and lifted
up by the sheer spiritual power, beauty, and love of which these
magnificent words are
the carriers.
139.
140.
The main thing is that he be willing to believe in a Power greater than himself and that he live by
spiritual principles.
141.
When dealing with such a person, you had better use everyday language to describe spiritual principles.
142.
143.
His drunkenness and dissolution are not penalties inflicted by people in authority; they result from his personal disobedience to spiritual
principles.
144.
So we of A.A. do obey spiritual principles, first because we must, and ultimately because we love the kind of life such obedience brings.
145.
146.
As our husbands began to apply spiritual principles in their lives,
we began to see the desirability of doing so
too.
147.
Tradition One -- "Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity." Without unity, A.A. dies. Individual liberty, yet great unity. Key to paradox: each A.A.'s life depends on obedience to
spiritual principles. The
group must survive or the individual
will not. Common welfare comes first. How best to live and work together as groups.
148.
Should they accept and practice spiritual principles, there is a much
better chance that the head of the family will recover.
149.
150.
That was great news to us, for
we had assumed we could not make use of spiritual principles unless we accepted many things on faith which seemed difficult to believe.
151.
Unless one's family expresses a desire to live upon spiritual principles we think we ought not to urge them.
152.
153.
154.
Nothing will help the man who is off on a spiritual tangent so much as the wife who adopts a sane spiritual program, making a better practical use of it.
155.
156.
157.
Someone who knew what he was
talking about once remarked that pain was the touchstone of all spiritual
progress.
158.
159.
160.
161.
162.
163.
164.
But when the broker gave him
Dr. Silkworth's description of alcoholism and its hopelessness, the physician began to pursue the spiritual remedy for his malady with a willingness he had never before been able to muster.
165.
166.
167.
168.
12. And finally, we of Alcoholics Anonymous believe that the principle
of anonymity has an immense spiritual significance.
169.
Twelve -- And finally, we
of Alcoholics Anonymous believe that the
principle of anonymity
has an immense spiritual significance.
170.
An alcoholic who cannot meet them, still has an alcoholic mind; there is something the matter with
his spiritual status.
171.
We found it very desirable to take this spiritual step with an understanding person, such as our wife, best friend, or spiritual adviser.
172.
It has been repeatedly proven among us that upon this simple cornerstone a wonderfully effective
spiritual structure can be
built.(*)
173.
174.
175.
176.
Nothing will help the man who is off on a spiritual tangent so much as the wife who adopts a sane spiritual program, making a better practical use of it.
177.
Do not let any prejudice you may have against spiritual terms deter you from honestly asking yourself what they mean to you.
178.
Many of us have been so touchy
that even casual reference to spiritual things made us bristle with antagonism.
179.
Their common suffering as
drinkers, their common interest in A.A. and spiritual things, often enhance such unions.
180.
Never talk down to an alcoholic from any moral or spiritual hilltop; simply lay out the kit of spiritual tools for his inspection.
181.
When, therefore, we were approached by those in whom
the problem had been solved, there was nothing left for us but to pick up the simple kit of spiritual tools laid at our feet.
182.
If they sense these things,
they will not take so seriously his periods of crankiness, depression,
or apathy, which will disappear when there is tolerance, love, and spiritual understanding.
183.
We had lacked the perspective to see that character-building and
spiritual values had to come first, and that material satisfactions
were not the purpose of living.
184.
In addition to these casual get-togethers, it became customary to set apart one night a week for a meeting to be attended by anyone or everyone interested in a spiritual way of life.
185.
186.
They experienced a few distressing failures,
but in those cases they made an effort to bring the man's family into a spiritual way of living, thus relieving much worry and suffering.
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