TWO "MAGNIFICENT STANDARDS"

 TWO "MAGNIFICENT STANDARDS"

 

All A.A. progress can be reckoned

in terms of just two words:

humility and responsibility.

Our whole spiritual development

can be accurately measured

by our degree of adherence

to these magnificent standards.

AS BILL SEES IT, p. 271

 

To acknowledge and respect the views,

accomplishments and prerogatives of others

and to accept being wrong

shows me the way of humility.

To practice the principles of A.A.

in all my affairs guides me to be responsible.

Honoring these precepts

gives credence to Tradition Four–

and to all other Traditions of the Fellowship.

Alcoholics Anonymous has evolved

a philosophy of life full of valid motivations,

rich in highly relevant principles

and ethical values,

a view of life which can be extended

beyond the confines of the alcoholic population.

To honor these precepts, I need only to pray,

and care for my fellow man

as if each one was my brother.

 

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Self-Respect through Sacrifice

 

At the beginning we sacrificed alcohol.

We had to, or it would have killed us.

But we couldn't get rid of alcohol

unless we made other sacrifices.

We had to toss self-justification, self-pity,

and anger right out the window.

We had to quit the crazy contest

for personal prestige and big bank balances.

We had to take personal responsibility

for our sorry state and quit blaming others for it.

Were these sacrifices? Yes, they were.

To gain enough humility and self-respect

to stay alive at all,

we had to give up what had really been

our dearest possessions –

our ambition and our illegitimate pride.

A.A. COMES OF AGE, P. 287

 

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Crying only a little bit is no use.

You must cry until your pillow is soaked.

Then you can get up and laugh . . .

—Galway Kinnell

 

Many of us were raised to deny our feelings;

 that is, we might have been allowed

 to describe them politely,

but we were not allowed

to express feelings on the spot

 by wailing, jumping for joy, or dancing.

This is often considered rude. In a proper home,

we often hear, if people have feelings,

they have them quietly.

But many of us have suffered living this way.

We need a full and thorough expression of a feeling

 in order to know it, experience it, and move beyond it.

This is the way we let go of sadness, for instance.

Feelings come and go.

If we are not afraid to let them have their moment,

we will not be afraid to express them.

 

What am I feeling right now?