I had to laugh today about a description of one of the 12 Steps. An old friend of mine gave me an analogy of the 11th Step. It was perfect. He said the it was like kids at Christmas, who get a present. They tear the wrapping off and then start playing with the box it came in. They tear the box apart and pay no attention to what was in it; the real present. He said the wrapping and the box represents all the other Steps leading to the 11th. The real present in the box is the 11th Step.
What a great description of this pathway to sobriety through the spiritual way of life. After all, it’s this spiritual way of living that keeps us sober. When we arrive at the 11th Step we enter into what we’ve been seeking all along. A conscious contact with the God of our understanding through prayer and meditation. It’s then that we run into our biggest problem; ourselves. Or so it seems to me.
In the BB Bill talks about our problems with us. Our extreme self centeredness. It’s all about me. I think too much about myself. He tells us that we have to be rid of our selfishness and self-centeredness or it will kill us. If we don’t the drink will come back. He also tells us that this is not going to happen overnight. It’s a lifetime journey, but there is a solution. It’s in the Steps. Particularly the 11th and 12th.
Those two steps, which all the others prepare us for, are not about me. They’re about my higher power and other alcoholics and other relationships I might have. I’m being led away from myself and my self concerns. Not an easy task for an alcoholic like me.
I find myself so easily distracted by irritations, resentments, problems, my character defects. But, if I want to stay sober, I know I need the help of my higher power and the other members of the program.
That’s where this present, the 11th Step, comes in. It’s there that I can find peace of mind and serenity. I can finally find the quiet, the silence, and self forgetting. It’s all about intention to make that conscious contact with the God of my understanding. It’s about doing it. The willingness Bill talks about in the 3rd Step. The humility he talks about in the 7th Step. And then stepping out into the 12th and taking the action, which is what I believe sobriety is all about.
I was thinking about this this afternoon; living this sober life.