Endigar 192 ~ We Passed to Freedom

This is my paraphrase of the last two paragraphs of Page 62 in the Big Book

– this is what I had to do to truly recieve what it was saying –

hope Bill W. isn’t too pissed about it

So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making. They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-enthronement run riot over others personal mythologies, though he usually is practiced at hiding from this aspect of his reality. The number one priority for those of us who have used chemical empowerment is to seek relief on a permanent level from THIS selfishness. Not all self-focus is to be eliminated, but the selfishness that has been described in the previous paragraphs. This need for the elimination of selfish disregard and enthronement is our number one priority because it is directly linked to our personal survival. Doing things to insure our personal survival is a good and helpful kind of selfishness. We believe that the Higher Power is with us on this, and has made it possible to accomplish this process for permanent and lasting results. In fact, it seems that if the Higher Power were not involved, we would live a life constantly threatened by the return of self-enthronement. We have tried it on our own before. Many of us were burdened with the accumulation of moral and philosophical convictions that forced us to Live Up rather than Live Out. We were always trying to meet some standard of perfection to shield us from criticism and condemnation. Or we simply withdrew and wished, for that is what our prayers amounted to; we would try in our own power to overcome the destructiveness of self-enthronement and could not.

So lets turn to the process of recovery and see its methods, and the reasons behind them.

FIRST OF ALL: We had to quit playing God, because it doesn’t work. It doesn’t accomplish what we desire of it. Playing God is believing that my personal mythology is superior to yours, and I must assume responsibility for your life. I step between you and your Higher Power like a soul-draining eclipse. These practices must be identified and tagged for destruction.

NEXT: We decided to give our consent for the Higher Power to take over the flow of our lives. In some personal mythologies, the High Power would appear as a great Director, a Master of order and we are allowed the serenity of knowing this life is His drama. In others, the HP would be their Principal, the Chief, the great Leader, and this would allow us the courage of being Its agents. To others, the Higher Power would become our Parent who is leading us into maturity, and we are children learning Its loving wisdom.

Most good ideas are simple, because simplicity allows for a clear grasp and practical application.

This is one of those ideas; a truly simple concept, but so powerful that it has proved to be the keystone of the new and triumphant arch through which we passed to freedom.

41web

This entry was posted on March 7, 2009 at 12:09 pm and is filed under Uncategorized with tags Addiction, Alcoholism, Journal, Life, Personal, Recovery, Spirituality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Daily Reprieve