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Higher Power 
I was standing around in the meeting hall, sipping coffee, listening to conversations, eavesdropping on discussions of Higher Power and what it was/is??? Lord Love A Duck, there are as many concepts and perceptions of HP as there are of us alkies, druggies, fatties, etc., in fact as many as there are people on this earth ... each to his own ... For me, not being able to define or put any limit on this thing, I simply refer to it as "Charlie" and I know who and what it is to which I am talking ... I have found the best defin"IT"ion for me to date is that found in the AA 2nd Tradition, "A loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience," It speaks to me, and I know where "IT" is located, right where the BigBook on page 55 said it would ultimately be found ... and if it is there for me, then it is there, perforce, for everyone and everything else ... a universal thing ... I have had many percepts and precepts over the years, all have worked for me, and every now and again as I work through the steps in my daily affairs I find a new facet ... something more to further awaken MY SPIRIT, just like the 12th step promises. This I know for sure, every person on this earth has a religion, aetheists, agnostics, and men of "God" alike... It is the way they live (and some live a life of lies, as we know) ... If a person is living the good life in recovery, if the madness, the compulsion, the craving, the fear, the terror, the bewilderment, the despair, the aloneness, and the fighting of it are removed, then how can that be faulted?? ... There is something working in their life that was not working before, and whatever that is I will call Wakan Tanka ... LOL ... that is Sioux for "Great Mystery", and so it is for each of us, just that, a Great Mystery ...The ineffable, infinite IS that we can come to know and love.
So ... as I am fond of saying ... The 12 Steps of AA and the Great Mystery, which I searched for deep down within myself by working the steps, found it there and accepted it into my life, have worked for me now for days in a row since my first meeting. And just to pacify (or rankle) some folks, I will quote from the Gospel of Thomas ... by some traditions, the twin brother of that underemployed, itinerant Aramaic handyman, Eshu ben Yosep himself, and by some accounts, one of us, a tremendous 12 stepper in any case. He has helped a lot of folks out of the frying pan ... 70. Jesus said "If you bring forth what is within you, what you have will save you. If you do not bring forth that within you, what you do not bring forth will kill you."
P.S -- If it rankles anybody, you know what to do, pray for me, I need all the prayers I can get ... to remember Rule 62 ... "Don't take yourself too seriously." … LOL Index of AA History Pages on Barefoot's Domain As in so many things, especially with we alcoholics, our History is our Greatest Asset!.. We each arrived at the doors of AA with an intensive and lengthy "History of Things That Do Not Work" .. Today, In AA and In Recovery, Our History has added an intensive and lengthy "History of Things That DO Work!!" and We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it!!
ONE DAY AT A TIME!
 On the Web June 28, 2006 in the Spirit of Cooperation Three mighty important things, Pardn'r, LOVE And PEACE and SOBRIETY  |
