and it always works
When I came into the program of AA, I was physically, morally, and spiritually bankrupt.
I didn’t know what was wrong but I knew something was seriously wrong in my life.
When I first heard what was being said in AA and saw people, who I knew from when we used to drink and fight together, actually smiling, laughing, and seemingly enjoying life, I knew that was what I wanted.
I heard early, in the second paragraph of How it Works, “If you want what we have and are willing to go to any lengths to get it” then COD, Come On Down.
I wanted what I was seeing badly and was willing to go to ANY lengths to get it.
Some of the formerly meanest dudes in Detroit told me to sit down, shut up, and listen. Then they told me and showed me how this spiritual, not religious, program could and would change my life if only I let it.
Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing, at the University of Minnesota, explains spirituality as “Spirituality is a broad concept with room for many perspectives.
In general, it includes a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves, and it typically involves a search for meaning in life. As such, it is a universal human experience — something that touches us all.”
Emmet Fox was the spiritual advisor for Bill W. and many of the earliest AAs. His book, The Sermon on the Mount, was used as the first Big Book. The following is from The Sermon on the Mount and refers to Jesus.
“He clearly indicates throughout his teaching that the time has come when man must make each and every day a spiritual Sabbath by knowing and doing all things in a spiritual light.”
― Emmet Fox, The Sermon on the Mount: The Key to Success in Life
Having an addictive persona, I jumped in with both feet, ready, able, and willing to do anything that would help me get rid of the insane thoughts that I regularly had.
These people who became my sponsors told me that, to make it easier, all I had to do was fake it until I made it.
With no prior religious or spiritual experience, I was like a thirsty, dry sponge just waiting for the moisture of hope to flood me. The hope turned into results that I no longer had to fake.
I don’t have to only believe that it works because I now know it works. I am not in the same spiritual and mental desert that I was. I am not the same person that I was.
Today I am Happy, Joyous, and Free, and am willing to go to any lengths to keep it. And to give as much away as can and/or will be taken by others. Because I can’t keep it unless I give it away.
I only hope that you can find as much and more for yourself. This is what Spirituality has done and continues to do for me. An example of what the study of spirituality can do for you can be found here.
Thank you, God!
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