"We have entered the world of the Spirit. Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter. It should continue for our lifetime." ~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Into Action, pg. 84~

This is it! The world of the Spirit. The place where alcoholics have to be to become effectively sober. By effectively sober I mean not only putting down the drink, but making an over all change in one’s behavior. If an alcoholic is serious about becoming sober they must be able to cross over from material thinking to spiritual thinking.

This happens on a personal level, so really and truly there is no one person who can tell you how to do it other than by coming to believe in a Power greater than ourselves. By turning our wills and our lives to a God as we understand Him. What this does is create the necessary psychic change in the alcoholic, to provide them with the tools to change their behavioral pattern. Just putting the drink down does not do it!

It doesn’t really stop there either. Staying effectively sober is like exercising. In fact it is maintained by exercise, by spiritual exercise! Once we have crossed over into this realm of the spirit, we must be ready to grow in understanding and effectiveness. But how do we do this?

We cannot sit in meetings and talk about how life is treating us and so on. We must be willing to pick up the tools we have been handed and be willing to use them. This program was founded on the premise of one alcoholic working with another alcoholic. It is by helping one another come to an understanding of what is going on around us that we get out of self.

But as the Big Book says “God will constantly disclose more to you and to us. Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick. The answers will come, if your own house is in order. But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven't got”. ~ “A Vision For You” pg. 164  Alcoholics Anonymous Edition Four ~ This is so true. We can make grand claims of understanding a God, but when it comes to transmitting God’s message to someone else there is no answer. This is why it is necessary to constantly seek what God’s will is for each and every one of us. We cannot speak about the Spirit if we do not know what the Spirit is! 

Just as we did in practicing our addiction, we have to practice in growing towards God. We do this through prayer and meditation. Each time we practice this ritual we progress towards a closer relationship to the God we understand. We come to understand Him better with each day we practice. Once we come to this understanding we then can share our experience with one another. We keep on doing this day in and day out for the rest of our lives. This is how we come to understand Spirit!!!

In this realm of the Spirit things drastically change. Whereas once we constantly were in a battle with our emotions, we now can see that with God as our driver we no longer have to worry about things. Working and getting along with one another some how changes the way we think about things. We lose interest in doing things that harm ourselves and others and soon gain interest in finding ways to better life. Life not in the material sense, but in the immaterial.

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