Endigar 450 ~ Open-Mindedness
From Today’s Daily Reflections;
We 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. (Alcoholics Anonymous, page 46)
Open-mindedness to concepts of a Higher Power can open doors to the spirit. Often I find the human spirit in various dogmas and faiths. I can be spiritual in the sharing of myself. The sharing of self joins me to the human race and brings me closer to God, as I understand Him.
END OF QUOTE
—————————————————
This is one of the saving heresies of A.A. for me.
“But the gate is narrow (contracted by pressure) and the way is straitened and compressed that leads away to life, and few are those who find it.” ~ Matthew 7:14, Amplified Version of the Bible.
The above passage from the Big Book and the traditional interpretation of the above Christian scripture seem to be at odds. It was such a relief to me to drop the “us and them” and the “us against the world” and the “God is going to lovingly and eternally fry most of His objects of love.”
I have witnessed the miraculous transformation of people who violated and continue to violate Churchian dogma in the rooms of AA. It is as if God didn’t get the memo on exclusion of those who chose differing spiritual paths.
This helped me to know that there was a difference between the God who loves me and my individual expression of humanity and the Churchian deity that I believed was chiseled into existence by those highly invested in social control.
I had to develop the skill to lie to myself in order to continuing drinking when I knew it to be self-destructive. I wonder if I first practiced that skill in church in a co-dependent attempt to justify and enable a sociopath god bent on criminalizing humanity.
Just a note to those who have found their spiritual path in centralized religion, who find a beautiful portrayal of a loving God in their church, temple, or mosque; I am for you. I do not want you to turn away from that which works for you, but I do want you to desire the same thing for me. I want you to reciprocate my tolerance and compassion.
This reminds me of the story of The Blind Men and the Elephant;
===================
Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a village. One day the villagers told them, “Hey, there is an elephant in the village today.”
They had no idea what an elephant is. They decided, “Even though we would not be able to see it, let us go and feel it anyway.” All of them went where the elephant was. Everyone of them touched the elephant.
“Hey, the elephant is a pillar,” said the first man who touched his leg.
“Oh, no! it is like a rope,” said the second man who touched the tail.
“Oh, no! it is like a thick branch of a tree,” said the third man who touched the trunk of the elephant.
“It is like a big hand fan” said the fourth man who touched the ear of the elephant.
“It is like a huge wall,” said the fifth man who touched the belly of the elephant.
“It is like a solid pipe,” Said the sixth man who touched the tusk of the elephant.
They began to argue about the elephant and everyone of them insisted that he was right. It looked like they were getting agitated. A wise man was passing by and he saw this. He stopped and asked them, “What is the matter?” They said, “We cannot agree to what the elephant is like.” Each one of them told what he thought the elephant was like. The wise man calmly explained to them, “All of you are right. The reason every one of you is telling it differently because each one of you touched the different part of the elephant. So, actually the elephant has all those features what you all said.”
“Oh!” everyone said. There was no more fight. They felt happy that they were all right.
Primary Source [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant ]
Daily Reprieve 
Leave a Reply