Sweet Promises

“The Ninth Step Promises” are sweet for sure. Still, to me they pale when contrasted with the Tenth Step promises. Now THOSE are something into which I can REALLY sink teeth.

We don’t hear of them in meetings much – perhaps because they point too handily toward to
Power greater than ourselves which is God.

Neither the Ninth or Tenth Step promises is extravagant, because they are far too common amongst we who meet the ‘conditions’ of each. Many of us are doing the deal. The condition of the Ninth Step promises being “if we work for them”. That means that if I do not work for them then there is little hope of them ever materializing.

The condition of the Tenth Step promises is ‘if we keep in fit spiritual condition.

Experience also abundantly confirms to me that to let up, or ‘rest on my laurels’, results in my being sent back DOWN the down UP escalator – just by standing.

If I keep in fit spiritual condition AND work for them, I am guaranteed that I WILL receive all of the promises of both steps Nine and Ten. My experience in both cases is that they do indeed come true.

My experience also abundantly confirms to me that to let up, or ‘rest on my laurels’, results in my being sent back DOWN the down UP escalator – just by standing still.

Staying on that ride brings me straight to the basement
where that insidious insanity of the next first-drink lurks in wait.

The maintenance portion of the Program I follow does not call for getting spiritual, being spiritual, reading spiritual or feeling spiritual.

It DOES call for spiritual GROWTH. I know people who get a little “happy feeling” after a prayer one day – the next they are Jesus Christ. There is no way I am going to stay sober and helpful to others riding on a spiritual awakening or holy orgasm I had two years or one week ago. I’ve got to GROW to stay in the deal – or else I am OUT!

I think many of us get the promises of sobriety – of establishing a relationship with God – a taste of spirituality and its so darned good we go with THAT. It’s better than what we had.

But it’s only the tip of the iceberg. AA is a spiritual Kindergarten, not a spiritual paradise. There IS a lot of heaven to be found when we begin to live in the Fourth Dimension – but there is so much more. The co-authors knew that they knew only a little. MOTRs LOVE to toss out that line, out of context to PROVE that what we DO know is probably wrong. If only they knew how foolish that sounds.

Peace,

Danny S

Boys vs Men

Although I am not a member, I had the pleasure of attending an NA Group conference a few days ago.

(Yes I do go to OPEN NA meetings every now and then – it helps in being MAXIMUM since so many of the alcoholic men I twelve step and sponsor have also abused and/or become addicted to substances other than alcohol.)

What is curious is the name of the group. It is the “Boys to Men Group” of Dighton, MA.

Now, I have no idea from where they get that name. I am quite sure that it was not from NAMBLA – thank God – but I do know from where comes that very same idea – of Boys becoming Men. It is out of the first line in an essay that Bill W. wrote about Step Six.

“THIS is the Step that separates the men from the boys.” So declares a well-loved clergyman who happens to be one of A.A.’s greatest friends. He goes on to explain that any person capable of enough willingness and honesty to try repeatedly Step Six on all his faults – without any reservations whatever – has indeed come a long way spiritually, and is therefore entitled to be called a man who is sincerely trying to grow in the image and likeness of his own Creator.” (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, 63:0)

I used to read this in the 12 & 12 and of course like everyone else who had no experience with Step Six – had already formed an opinion on the step without the benefit of a real-life experience to keep it real – and I assumed that this statement meant that the guy thought that Step Six was hard to do. And only a REAL MAN could do it. (Allowing for the opposite gender, of course)

Then AFTER going through the work of the Steps and experiencing them instead of simply reading about other folk’s experiences with them – it snapped for me.

What separates the men from the boys is not the difficulty level of Step Six – but how it is approached – the motive – if you will.

If approached from the self-serving position of “What’s in it for me?” then I am yet a boy in spirituality.

But when approached from a position of desiring to be clear of defects in order to better serve God and my fellows, then I am a man in spirituality.

The boy-to-man reference then clearly is a mere analogy acknowledging that I have begun to grow-up spiritually and shed some of my self-seeking.

Peace,

Danny S

Boys vs Men

Although I am not a member, I had the pleasure of attending an NA Group conference a few days ago.

(Yes I do go to OPEN NA meetings every now and then – it helps in being MAXIMUM since so many of the alcoholic men I twelve step and sponsor have also abused and/or become addicted to substances other than alcohol.)

What is curious is the name of the group. It is the “Boys to Men Group” of Dighton, MA.

Now, I have no idea from where they get that name. I am quite sure that it was not from NAMBLA – thank God – but I do know from where comes that very same idea – of Boys becoming Men. It is out of the first line in an essay that Bill W. wrote about Step Six.

“THIS is the Step that separates the men from the boys.” So declares a well-loved clergyman who happens to be one of A.A.’s greatest friends. He goes on to explain that any person capable of enough willingness and honesty to try repeatedly Step Six on all his faults – without any reservations whatever – has indeed come a long way spiritually, and is therefore entitled to be called a man who is sincerely trying to grow in the image and likeness of his own Creator.” (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, 63:0)

I used to read this in the 12 & 12 and of course like everyone else who had no experience with Step Six – had already formed an opinion on the step without the benefit of a real-life experience to keep it real – and I assumed that this statement meant that the guy thought that Step Six was hard to do. And only a REAL MAN could do it. (Allowing for the opposite gender, of course)

Then AFTER going through the work of the Steps and experiencing them instead of simply reading about other folk’s experiences with them – it snapped for me.

What separates the men from the boys is not the difficulty level of Step Six – but how it is approached – the motive – if you will.

If approached from the self-serving position of “What’s in it for me?” then I am yet a boy in spirituality.

But when approached from a position of desiring to be clear of defects in order to better serve God and my fellows, then I am a man in spirituality.

The boy-to-man reference then clearly is a mere analogy acknowledging that I have begun to grow-up spiritually and shed some of my self-seeking.

Peace,

Danny S