A FELLOWSHIP OF FREEDOM

 A FELLOWSHIP OF FREEDOM

 

. . . if only men were granted absolute liberty,

and were compelled to obey no one,

they would then voluntarily

 associate themselves

in the common interest.

AS BILL SEES IT, p. 50

 

When I no longer live under the dictates

 of another or of alcohol,

I live in a new freedom.

When I release the past and all the excess baggage

I have carried for so very long,

I come to know freedom.

I have been introduced into a life

and a fellowship of freedom.

The Steps are a “recommended”

 way of finding a new life,

there are no commands or dictates in A.A.

I am free to serve from desire rather than decree.

There is the understanding that I will benefit

from the growth of other members

and I take what I learn and bring it back to the group.

The “common welfare” finds room to grow

in the society of personal freedom.

 

**************************************************

TRUTH, the Liberator............

 

How truth makes us free is something

that we A.A.'s can well understand.

It cut the shackles that once bound us to alcohol.

It continues to release us from conflicts

and miseries beyond reckoning;

it banishes fear and isolation.

The unity of our Fellowship, the love

we cherish for each other,

the esteem in which the world holds us --

all of these are products of the truth which,

under God, we have been privileged to perceive.

 

Just how and when we tell the truth –

or keep silent –

can often reveal the difference

between genuine integrity and none at all.

 

Step Nine emphatically cautions us

 against misusing the truth

when it states:

"We made direct amends to such people

 wherever possible,

except when to do so

would injure them or others."

Because it points up the fact that the truth

can be used to injure as well as to heal,

this valuable principle certainly

has a wide-ranging application

to the problem of the developing integrity.

GRAPEVINE, AUGUST 1961

*

‎Traditionally, (By AA Traditions)

a self-diagnosed alcoholic is bestowed the facility

 to declare his own membership in the AA fellowship.

 No one else can make that declaration for him.

Non-alcoholics cannot become members

and do not enjoy the same privilege

reserved for the real alcoholic.

That is why it is imperative

for a candidate for AA membership to self-diagnose

his own condition.

If he does not, then other people

will tend to rise to the occasion,

 jumping the gun, making the determination for him –

 based upon THEIR diagnosis of him.

Having none of the intimate, deep,

secret details of his life story

that only an individual can hold for himself,

 others can only frequently err.

And they do.

This is one of the chief reasons

that AA has currently become top-heavy

with non-alcoholics believing themselves

 to be members when in fact they are not.

They have not even been self-diagnosed

and self-qualified.

 They haven’t even been shown how!

Instead, many have allowed other “members”

 to tell them that they are alcoholic “when they say so” –

 without having followed

the BB directions for self-diagnoses.

This is tantamount to OTHERS

 telling him whether he is an alcoholic member.

It is *egregious and ruinous

to a once wonderfully spiritual fellowship.

It has turned it into a secular, share-athon,

ineffective and rudderless self-help social club

 without its own Primary Purpose.

Robbing an alcoholic, the precious gift

of self-discovery of his own truth is a travesty.

Daniel J Schwarzhoff‎ - Recovered Alcoholics

* egregious - Conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible

"an egregious lie"

 

*************************************************

Surrender

 

Master the lessons of your present circumstances.
We do not move forward by resisting

what is undesirable in our life today.

We move forward, we grow, we change by acceptance.

Avoidance is not the key; surrender opens the door.
Listen to this truth:

We are each in our present circumstances for a reason.

There is a lesson, a valuable lesson

that must be learned before we can move forward.

Something important is being worked out in us,

and in those around us.

We may not be able to identify it today;

but we can know that it is important.

We can know it is good.

Overcome not by force, overcome by surrender.

The battle is fought, and won, inside ourselves.

We must go through it until we learn, until we accept,

until we become grateful, until we are set free.

Today, I will be open

to the lessons of my present circumstances.

I do not have to label, know,

or understand what I'm learning;

I will see clearly in time.

For today, trust and gratitude are sufficient.

 

*******

Just considering......................

 

SUNLIGHT

 

"It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment

leads only to futility and unhappiness.

To the precise extent that we permit these,

do we squander the hours that might have been worthwhile.

This business of resentment is infinitely grave.

We found that it is fatal.

For when harboring such feelings, we shut ourselves off

from the sunlight of the Spirit.

The insanity of alcohol returns and we drink again.

And with us, to drink is to die."

Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 66

 

Thought to consider..............

 

"I have been given a quiet place in bright sunshine."

Bill W.,

Box 1980: The AA Grapevine, Jan. 1958.

The Language of the Heart, p. 238

 

Topic Question:

 

What do you do to combat resentments?

© Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

*

Anger toward a parent is how the seed is sown.

It is the moment of the initial invasion and no one,

 not a single human being who has ever lived,

will live, or lives today can avoid it

(with two historical exceptions)

 or become happy until they forgive their parents.

First Dad, then Mom - in that order

Each time the thought of what they did,

how they did it and what happened, as a result,

arises it should elicit an opportunity to love and not judge.

When memories – even those going back decades

provoke the temptation to become upset

are not met with neutrality,

 then bitterness rises and gets stuffed.

You can never get well while

suppressing anger that way –

and parents don’t even have to be present or alive

 for those memories to harm a person.

The memories of dead parents destroy children

 who hate them from the grave.

But if we forgive (not hate) them on the spot –

as many times as the temptation to become bitter arises,

1000 times day for a lifetime if necessary,

we can expect to have a long, and healthy life.

That is because once we have learned to live

 without embracing anger;

we cease feeding a despicable Self,

and Its insatiable appetite

 for judgment and playing God.

That temptation to hate parents,

even though we may hold fond memories for them –

 never ceases – and we are always to be on guard –

in other words, awake and conscious –

or else we are doomed.

If you cannot forgive your parents,

you will never be able to stop hating others

as you go through life.

And that is a life

 unnecessarily overwrought with sorrows and pain.

Daniel J Schwarzhoff

 

**********************************************

In A.A. no one is ever required to do,

or not do anything.

 

STEPS TEN AND ELEVEN INVENTORIES

 

I ask that my Higher Power guide me through this meditative and constructive review of the day, being careful not to drift into worry, remorse (which means regret) or morbid (which means unhealthy and unproductive) reflection:

 

1. Did I start the day in prayer and meditation?

 

2. When facing indecision today,

did I ask God for inspiration,

an intuitive thought or a decision?

If I did seek God's help,

did I then relax and take it easy,

constantly reminding myself

I am no longer running the show?

Theirs is a big difference between

 "making it happen" and "letting it happen".

 

3. Was I resentful, selfish, dishonest, or afraid today?

Was I prideful, angry, jealous, or anxious?

 When these things came up,

did I at once ask God to remove them?

After seeking God's help, did I then resolutely

turn my thoughts to someone I could help?

 

4. Was I thinking of myself most of the time

or was I thinking of what I could do for others,

of what beauty, truth and love

I could pack into the stream of life?

Were there any cases where my ancient enemy,

 rationalization, has stepped in and has justified conduct

which was really wrong.

Was I tempted to imagine that I had good motives

and reasons when I really didn't.

(I should carefully examine my motives

in each thought or act that appears to be wrong.

In most cases my motives

won't be hard to see and understand.)

 

5. Did I "constructively criticized" someone who needed it,

when my real motive was to win a useless argument.

Or, the person concerned not being present,

did I think I was helping others to understand them,

when in actuality my true motive was

 to feel superior by pulling them down.

 

6. Was I depressed and complained I felt bad,

when in fact I was mainly asking

for sympathy and attention?

(This odd trait of mind and emotion,

this perverse wish to hide a bad motive

underneath a good one,

permeates human affairs from top to bottom.

This subtle and elusive kind of self-righteousness

can underlie the smallest act or thought.)

 

7. Did I avoid falling into worry,

 remorse or morbid reflection today?

 (These things diminish my usefulness to others.)

 

8. Did I hurt someone I love because they needed

to be "taught a lesson,"

when I really wanted to punish?

 

9. Am I keeping something to myself

which should be discussed with another person at once?

(This includes secrets,

 inappropriate thoughts and behavior, etc.)

 

10. Did I set right all new mistakes as I went along?

Do I still owe an apology?

 

11. Was I kind and loving towards all today?

In other words, who did I not love today?

(Including myself.)

Did I constantly carry the vision of God's will

 into all of my activities?

Did I say to myself many times today,

 "How can I best serve Thee, Thy will

(not mine) be done."?

 

12. Did I remember that real tolerance

of other people's shortcomings and viewpoints

and a respect for their opinions are attitudes

which make us more useful to others?

 

13. Can everyone rely absolutely on anything I say?

Did I continue grasping and developing

a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty?

 

14. Did I pause, when agitated or doubtful,

and ask for the right thought or action?

 

15. In what ways did I forget

that love and tolerance of others is our code?

 

16. Did my actions today indicate

that I have ceased fighting anything or anyone?

 

17. Is there something I could have done better during my day?

Learning daily to spot, admit, and correct these flaws is the essence of character-building and good living. An honest regret for harms done, a genuine gratitude for blessings received, and a willingness to try for better things tomorrow will be the permanent assets I shall seek. Here I need only recognize that I did act or think badly, trying to visualize how we might have done better, and resolve with God's help to carry these lessons over into tomorrow. After making my review, I now seek self-forgiveness, God's forgiveness, and now ask for God's help about what corrective measures should be taken and to give me the power to carry it out. Having so considered our day and having searched our hearts with neither fear nor favor,

we can truly thank God for the blessings

we have received

and sleep in good conscience.

Barefoot Bill

A.S.A.P.
Always Say A Prayer