Big Book Study - Post #10
Jim K
Good morning!
Turning
our books to Page 25, let’s look at paragraph 2:
"The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have
had deep and effective spiritual experiences* which have revolutionized (changed) our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God's universe. The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into
our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves."
This is the solution and this is what the solution has done
- we have changed our entire outlook. The asterisk (*) refers us to Appendix II which was added to the book after the first printing of the first edition to clarify the spiritual experience.
The text goes on - paragraph 2: "If you are as seriously alcoholic
as we were, we believe that there is no middle of the road solution."
Let's review for a minute: "no middle of the road solution"
- we aren't doing this thing "cafeteria style" or taking what we like and leaving the rest.
"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. This we did because we honestly wanted to, and were willing to make the effort."
We're
given two choices: Keep drinking or accept spiritual help. (Notice
it isn't a choice of whether we will drink today or not! We do not have the power of choice in drink but we do have the power of choice in living spiritually.) Keep in mind - we are beyond human aid.
So, will meetings everyday suffice? Therapy? Calling a sponsor
every day? Daily exercise? Yoga? Probably not.
Page 26 paragraph 1: The certain American business man was Roland Hazard. He worked with Dr. Carl Jung for an entire year. [It's interesting to note that Roland also saw others in the field and may have not been under Jung’s care that long]. Jung tells him
he is hopeless, (paragraph 3), but the doctor also knows what he needs (paragraph 3 on page 27):
"...here and there, once in a while, alcoholics have had what are called vital spiritual experiences... They appear to be in the nature of huge emotional displacements and rearrangements (change). Ideas, emotions, and attitudes which were once the guiding forces of the lives of these men were suddenly cast to one side, and a completely new set of conceptions and motives begin to dominate them."
Another
description of the spiritual awakening from Dr. Carl Jung with "change" being the overall theme.
So, this chapter was aptly named "There is a Solution"
and it has been hammered home to us that the solution is CHANGE.
That change is the spiritual awakening. Go to the top of
page 60 for a minute:
"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."
(Emphasis is mine.)
The solution is a spiritual awakening (see Chapter 2), the result of these steps is a spiritual awakening (Step 12), so the steps are the solution! It's simple, it really is.
With our next post we will begin with Chapter 3 "More About
Alcoholism" on page 30.
Have a great day!
Jim K. - The
Into Action Group of Manhattan
6:30pm Wednesdays at St. Francis
De Sales Church
135 East 96th Street (Near Lexington
Avenue)
On Manhattan's Upper East Side
Weekend retreats with Jim: http://www.spiritualawakeningsretreats.com
The Wilson House - Weekend Retreats and Workshops -http://www.wilsonhouse.org/