The Thursday Principle: Spirituality
The Spiritual Principle Spirituality
The Spiritual Principle Spirituality is behind Step 11: “Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.”
Spirituality doesn’t have anything to do with religion; not as we know it anyway. (Though of course it may.) As the old adage says: “Religion is for people who are afraid of going to hell. Spirituality is for people who’ve been there.”
Actually, we need not even believe in a heaven or a hell. We need only believe that prayer and meditation will help us tap into a power greater than ourselves. Step 11 is about committing ourselves to spiritual practice. Spirituality is what we’ll find as a result.
The Realm of the Spirit
We [AA’s] have found that God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him. To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive, never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men.*
True Independence of the Spirit
The more we become willing to depend upon a Higher Power, the more independent we actually are. Therefore, dependence as A.A. practices it is really a means of gaining true independence of the spirit.**
Unlimited Choice
Any number of alcoholics are bedeviled by the dire conviction that if ever they go near A.A. they will be pressured to conform to some particular brand of faith or theology. They just don’t realize that faith is never an imperative for A.A. memberships; that sobriety can be achieved with an easily acceptable minimum of it, and that our concepts of a Higher Power and God — as we understand Him — afford everyone a nearly unlimited choice of spiritual belief and action.***
We at Recovery Boot Camp and Healing Properties are firmly committed to the Spiritual Principle Spirituality because we’ve seen the wonders it can bring. Again, it doesn’t have to be about God. (Though it may.) The main thing is that our awareness of a Power greater than ourselves allows us to tap into its strengths.
*As Bill Sees It #7
**As Bill Sees It #26
*** As Bill Sees It #201
