I was sponsoring women, working with my sponsor and going to meetings, yet my heart felt empty and broken once again. Although his mind brooks no limits and although he is the microcosm in which he sees the macrocosm reflected he soon becomes aware that he only knows in part; and he becomes more aware of it as he advances in knowledge. How to strengthen your soul now. This is meeting number 61. The world he perceives corresponds in its reality but little with the ideal world created by his imagination; and the more his experience of life increases and the more deeply he reflects the less is he satisfied with the real world. If you read a spiritual book, if you attend a spiritual discourse, if you listen to a Mahatma's Upadesa, you get spiritual guidance. One man means religion in general as a frame of mind an emotion and at the same time as the inspiration of a higher spirit; his opponent speaks of a religion meaning one of those transient forms of religious life which having served its time and fallen into decay cannot tolerate those revelations of progress in the spiritual domain which mark the awakening of a new life. And the same question is asked by the Hebrew Psalmist "Where is now thy God? " Camp sights are also available. Even saints are fooled in this matter. Whom can he trust if he has lost trust in himself? In the case of Hellas for example the earliest great work handed down to us is an epic poem which preceded the Homeric hymns and the Theogony of Hesiod. Joined: Sat Jul 19, 2008 3:06 pm.
Next month, I will have two years back in the rooms. Emotionally, I hit rock bottom. "Si vous étiez chrétien" as Ernest Renan once wrote to his friend Bertholet 3. Driven by a hundred different forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. " On the contrary all this promotes the growth of religion compelling it to remould antiquated forms which injure it by clinging to old errors and to bring them into harmony with the needs of the age. Quite often, the spiritual spark in man is kindled by contact with a spiritual Master, a true Guru, a realised Soul. Why would you hold on to anything that takes away the small amount of peace you have and separates you from the beautiful, loving God you created? In what relation does it stand to the various other manifestations of that life? I nearly lost my husband and children. Our times are not so far removed from the Godless irrationality that swept across France in Fr.
Nay there is more than contact there is kinship between the religious the philosophical the poetical and the moral principles within us. Kip C is the speaker at this unknown event, all I know about it is, it was labeled as a MARR banquet and I have no idea…. This way every one of us can begin the right life, the spiritual life. But that valuable principle really refers to our mental and emotional lives and means chiefly that we are not foolishly to repine over the past nor wishfully to daydream about the future. And the more we study religion the further we penetrate into its history the better we understand the nature of its doctrines so much the more clearly we shall see that it is entitled to precedence in our spiritual life because the religious need is the mightiest profoundest and most overmastering of all. All the mental and moral faculties are thus different and yet akin—akin to one another and akin to religion also. I got sober in August 2000. I will not insist on the fact that the maxims of Ptahhotep (the Prisse Papyrus) which is reputed the oldest book in the world is a collection of moral sentiments somewhat in the style of the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament; for it was preceded by other writings in the shape of inscriptions engraved in stone such as the Pyramid texts which being destined to equip the deceased for his struggles in the lower world naturally partook of a magical mythical or semi-religious character. Those around me tell me frequently how beautiful and blessed I am and I can't disagree with them. Submit a New Meeting. While true morality incites us to seek and embrace the good for its own sake and because we love it and to reject the evil because we abhor it religion comes with its promises of reward and threats of punishment and thus taints pure morality with selfish motives. I ask Him to help me be of service and to do the next right thing. Living a spiritually conscious life is no mean feat. I have had several more sponsors since.
To show the variety of spiritual searches in A. the booklet Came to Believe was published in 1973. As individuals and as a fellowship, we shall surely suffer if we cast the whole job of planning for tomorrow onto a fatuous idea of providence. How far is this the case? Write inventories for steps 4, 8, 10 & 11. It finally ended once and for all in 2012. Action might even help someone else. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety. Spiritual practice is like cooking food. I worked with a great sponsor and started working on my 4th step.
If we awaken to eternal life, is this eternity not inclusive of our whole lives? Surrender At Blue Licks "The Spiritual Life Is Not A Theory". Similarly, A. members generally deal with the question of a Higher Power by assuring new members that they are free to find their own. Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from AA Podcast, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. Howard E from Florida shares on the topic of "Lets See What Bill Had To Say About That! Location: 200 miles south of Little Rock. Attitudes are contagious. The festivities will start with a lead from Don L. at 8pm Fri.. Then Don L. will offer 3-12 step workshop's on Sat. It is like the knowledge of cooking gained through reading a book of recipes. Not only he himself but all around him is limited imperfect transient. There is no such compelling force, as in the case of lust, to turn man's mind towards God.
That's why, in our own tumultuous age, The Spiritual Life is so desperately needed. But for those who persevere, ongoing sobriety almost invariably brings the realization that — in some wonderful and unexpected way — they have indeed experienced a spiritual change. Bill felt that more specific instructions would be better, and in the course of writing A. This proposition has lately been emphatically affirmed. We must take the lead. 95 Format Choose an option eBook Paperback Quantity The Spiritual Life quantity Add to cart We found this lost classic among the cherished works that French Catholics risked everything to save when the Church was under attack — in the frenzied days of the French Revolution and its aftermath.
Without even realizing it, I turned to all my favorite escapes: shopping, gambling, sleep and food. The greatest genius the acutest investigator and the profoundest thinker who have studied the most difficult of problems and have made darkness light for themselves and others will be the first to confess the limitations of their knowledge and the insolubility of many of their problems and to admit that faith alone can answer the momentous and vital questions—Whence and whither? Thought for the Day. I am obligated by the Code of AA to practice free, perhaps unmerited, love to all others.
's purpose has nothing to do with religion: "A. is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any causes. But certainly each genuine one has something in common with all the others.... We have begun to think sobriety is just fine - if everything goes well, or if nothing goes askew. My sponsor reminds me to always reach out to the newcomer and to get her phone number. And after all when we desire to trace the course of the earliest civilisation we are hardly justified in appealing to the oldest civilised states such as Babylon Egypt and China; for when these appeared on the scene they had already reached a high state of culture which implied long ages of previous development. Location: New Jersey. But when they are logically related and interwoven, the result is an unshakeable foundation for life. Angie P from Cincinnati Ohio tells her story at the 52nd Florida State Convention held in Fort Lauderdale in 2008. But beside these texts there are others equally old which are non-religious such as the biographical inscriptions in the tomb of Una of the sixth Dynasty. Unfortunately, I also have relapsed several more times after that. Both of them are at that age when peer pressure is so big! Delegate's Calendar.
As our study of religious development has already satisfied us religion requires for the promotion of its growth to assimilate certain elements from science and philosophy from æsthetics and ethics: how could it do so unless it were akin to them? And we will be comforted and assured that our own destiny in that realm will be secure for so long as we try, however falteringly, to find and do the will or our own Creator. They will change in time. Includes AA Big Book Audio Book, Joe & Charlie's Big Book Study: 34 tracks with transcripts, 150+ other audio tapes & more... He says (pages 263-64): "A. has been supremely wise, I think, in emphasizing the reality of the experience, and acknowledging that it came from a higher Power than human, and leaving the interpretation part pretty much at that.... The differences might be stated thus.