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| "... any alcoholic . . . can recover, provided he does not close his mind to all spiritual concepts." |
Chapter: "We Agnostics"
Subject: Belief, Willingness, Faith, Worship, Prejudice, Open-mindedness
Happy New Year everyone.
Being open minded meant getting rid of some of what we thought we already knew about spirituality.
Being open minded meant getting rid of some of what we thought we already knew about spirituality.
- Faced with what?
Faced with alcoholic destruction,
Comment: Does this sound like Step One?
- We became what?
we soon became as open minded on spiritual matters as we had tried to be on other questions.
Comment: Does this sound like Step Two?
- What persuaded us?
In this respect alcohol was a great persuader.
- It did what?
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| "It meant I would have to throw several lifelong conceptions out of the window." |
It finally beat us into a state of reasonableness.
- Did this happen easily?
Sometimes this was a tedious process;
Tedious - 1. wearisome, which wearies either mind or body or both to the point of lassitude and exhaustion. ~ The Winston Simplified Dictionary – 1938
No "Easy Does It" here.
- What is one of our hopes?
we hope no one else will be prejudiced for as long as some of us were.
Prejudice - 1. Hasty, premature judgment 2. a bias, favorable or unfavorable ~ The Winston Simplified Dictionary – 1938
Once more we can be reminded of Fred the Accountant who upon consideration of the drastic spiritual program of action being proposed - observed, "It meant I would have to throw several lifelong conceptions out of the window." (42:2)
The spiritual principles in this book are general enough so as not to conflict with Judeo- Christian beliefs common to most denomination but can conflict with other kinds of spiritual principles; open-mindedness to "the principles we have set down" will be necessary. The sooner the better.
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| "The principles we have set down . . . ." |
Question: Does open-minded mean that we ought to take the position that ALL spiritual principles are valid? Or does it mean we are to become open minded so as to accept certain ones in this book - throwing out others? (See Fred for the answer.)
Leading a spiritual double-life in recovery can be very confusing and deleterious to growth.
We can encourage protégées to not cross the line of open-mindedness into gullibility. There is a difference. People who accept anything - and who do not make sure that it adheres to "the principles we have been discussing" in the Big Book end up with conflicting positions and spiritual practices that cancel themselves out and this "program".
We can encourage protégées to not cross the line of open-mindedness into gullibility. There is a difference. People who accept anything - and who do not make sure that it adheres to "the principles we have been discussing" in the Big Book end up with conflicting positions and spiritual practices that cancel themselves out and this "program".
“It’s good to be open minded, just don’t let your brains fall out.”
TOMORROW:
- What may the reader still ask?
- What kind of reasons are there?
- What are we going to do?
- Who likes facts and results?
- At this point in history, what are we willing to accept?
- They must be based on what?
Peace and Love,
Danny S – RLRA
Real Live Recovered Alcoholic
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