Preparation

Sundays are Spirituality Day here at Taking it to the Streets

When I was a child, my parents celebrated Advent.  We may have had those Advent calendars – if so, I don’t recall. What I do recall was the sense of sacredness, of ritual and of building excitement.  We had an Advent wreath on the dinner table and we’d light the appropriate calendar each night until, finally, it was Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve, similarly had much ritual and excitement at my house.  We were children then, so of course a lot of the excitement had to do with “Stuff” – the toys and games we eagerly awaited on Christmas morn.

But my mother instilled another type of excitement – that of spiritual birth.

Regardless of our spiritual path, of whether or not we practice Christianity or any organized religion, I think there is a sense of big change at this time of year as the “wheel of the year” is about to turn into another season.

Our beliefs and the stage of life in which we find ourselves drive a lot of how that expresses.  But I think it’s worthwhile stepping outside of the DOING and asking a few question:

• For what or whom am I preparing?
• What is the meaning behind the rituals in which I engage?
• How can I deepen the meaning, devotion and joy of this season for myself and my family?

It strikes me that regardless of our personal beliefs, those of us in the Northern Hemisphere are preparing for a time of more darkness, of more interiority.  To me it seems that any ritual or activity that focuses on some of these elements is key:

• Earth.  We honor earth, as the season changes (perhaps a Christmas tree, a holiday wreath, a swag of evergreens on your mantel)
• Warmth.  In the Northern Hemisphere we are heading into a colder time – the hearth, the fire of Advent candles, the turkey roasting in the oven and warming the house – bringing in warmth is key
• Family.  Whether our family of origin, the family we created or the family we choose – it’s a time of year to celebrate the bonds of love.
• Children.  As we approach the ‘elderhood’ of the year (as foliage and green ‘die’ for the winter) it is hopeful to remember birth. Thus children are important beacons of hope.  Besides, it is fun to give them gifts and watch their delight.
• Nourishment.  We live in an abundant age, and so winter starvation doesn’t seem imminent - in fact, for many of us, the surfeit of holiday calories is totally antithetical to the notion of lack. But it has not always been so.  And our feasts remind us that, despite the outer appearances, God and the good earth have continued to provide for us.
• God.  In however you honor the Creator of All that Is, it’s a good time to reconnect with awe, wonder and gratitude for the Divine.

In my own life, I have focused more on simplicity of late.  I don’t get much into the cultural hoopla and materialism this time of year.  But I do focus on the points above in my own ways:  the wreath by my front door, my often-lit fireplace and candles, sending St. Nicholas chocolate letters to my grandnieces and grandnephews, a festive meal on Christmas Day and increased awareness of God’s goodness and my gratitude for my amazing life.

How about you?  What are you doing that really resonates with your core beliefs?  What part of the holiday season no longer has meaning for you – in fact, stresses you out?  How do YOU want to prepare this year?  As always, I really want to know!

 

 

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Deepening our holidays with meaningful traditions

Sundays are Spirituality Day here at Taking it to the Streets

Driving home from the movies last night, my friend and I were admiring the Christmas lights that have sprung up in my town like daffodils in the spring.  Festive, cheerful, sentimental (bringing back such fond memories of childhood) they are a harbinger of the coming winter holidays – for many of us, Christmas.

I’ve noticed how many religious traditions have holidays at this time of year that celebrate brining in the light.  Which, if you are in the Northern Hemisphere, makes a lot of sense as we move inexorably towards Winter Solstice, this longest night of the year.

We bring in the light.  We reassure  ourselves that really, don’t worry about it, the Sun will return! (and interestingly, Christians talk about the birth of the S-O-N, as we all re-welcome the rebirth of the S-U-N).

For me, having Christmas trees is a similar remembrance – the fecundity of the earth is not GONE, it’s just sleeping.

I so enjoy these aspects of “the holidays” and enjoy the music (well, at first – after the one hundredth time I hear “The First Noel” it DOES grate…).  The sense of festivity, of conviviality, of warmth – all those beckon me in, invitingly.

What I don’t enjoy is the way our desire to love and please one another – to connect, to see and be seen – has been perverted into a frenzy of often mindless materialism.  I am particularly put off by “Black Friday” and the attendant hysteria around getting deals.

When my friend Becky died after a 111 day bout of cancer, at the age of 46, I very viscerally got that the race between time and money is truly a no-contest race – time trumps money every time.  Because, despite gloomy economists and a sagging economy, I will tell you  that you CAN get more money.  Time?  not so much.

That’s why time is one of my two favorite gifts to both give and receive (for the other see the third bullet point below).  What do I want?  Quality time with people I love.  The chance to laugh and love and talk and sing.  Just that.  Maybe a drawing from the wee children in my life, or a poem.  In fact – you can write me a poem too – that would be delightful.

Oh, I’m not a curmudgeon (at least not on this score).  I am a believer in buying “stuff” for little kids (though I don’t do it at Christmas when they gorge themselves on stuff, preferring to send surprise gifts throughout the year).

Here’s my list of things to consider in celebrating this season:

• Create memorable holiday traditions with your family and friends and focus on the experience.  My family decorated our tree on Christmas Eve when I was a kid and we always had walnuts and tangerines while doing so – just putting those out at this time of the year brings me a flood of happy memories.
• Consider doing donations as gifts.  My wonderful friends and neighbors, Pete and Julie, do that with their adult siblings – all band together and do a group donation to a favorite charity.
• Some charities make it easy to be specific – I love Heifer, International where you can pick a specific animal. My dad grew up on a farm – we have given him a cow for Father’s Day or his birthday – honoring him, but changing the lives of other people.
• If you’re not a fan of what you consider to be “handouts” then invest in someone’s dreams on behalf of your loved one with an interest paying loan to Kiva (“Change a life for $25″) or Kickstarter (“Fund and follow creativity”).
• Consider an outing to a cultural place together – and then go out for hot chocolate afterwards to discuss your adventure.  Museums, plays – if you are in or near a big city the possibilities are endless – but I bet you have such choices wherever you live.
• Or, celebrate winter (if you live in the Northern Hemisphere) by being IN it – go ice skating, sledding, take a walk in the woods, sit outside by a firepit – be with those you love in the bracing outdoors (and then that hot chocolate or hot toddy will be especially welcomed!)
• Cook together.  Instead of stressing on the performance art of pulling off a feast – or the expense of catering one – invite your friends to make a cozy winter brunch or simple dinner – the laughter and happy talk as you  prepare the food will infuse it with even more love.
• Do something crafty together.  Similarly, decorating can feel like an Olympic competition – but it doesn’t have to.  How about having a “let’s make our holiday decor party” with your women friends (I’m just not picturing guys enjoying this – but if they do, invite ‘em!)
• For many of us, this is still a spiritual or religious holiday.  Whatever tradition you celebrate – Diwali a little while ago, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa – “remember the reason for the season” and find ways to deepen your spiritual connection to God as you understand God.
• Finally, find a way to be generous to those in need.  One of the happiest Christmas’s I have spent was one in my twenties when I baked cookies for the firemen in the firehouse down the street and then went and volunteered to help at a dinner that the local Catholic Church put on for the homeless and those in need on Christmas Day.  While I was serving turkey and mashed potatoes, a lady, probably in her 40s, with Down’s syndrome came up to me squealing “Look! I got a watch! I got a Mickey Mouse watch!” – her exultation with her gift totally made my day and all these years later still makes me smile.

My plans, still unfolding, contain many elements of what I’ve listed above.  How about you?  In what ways do you find deep meaning in this season?  Have you found a way to keep it both simple and meaningful?  As always, I’d really like to know!

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How we become who we are

Sundays are Spirituality Day here at Taking it to the Streets

Yesterday I went to the Bar Mitzvah of my friend Julia’s son, Joseph.  One of the things I like best at a Bar Mitzvah is the young man or young woman’s commentary on the Torah.

Joseph read the Biblical passage about Jacob and Esau and their disputes.  His commentary was about the need to protect the vulnerable.  He talked about the rich not being unkind to the poor – that rather than stealing from them, we need to help them.  I thought that perhaps he could be an advisor to the Republican Party – they need him.

He gave several examples of people with more power taking advantage of those with less, the most endearing of which, from this tall, but still young man, was the injunction that larger people should not pick on smaller people.

His prescription for how one ensures adhering to this path of protecting the vulnerable was quite insightful for a 13-year-old:

Self-control.

Joseph’s analysis immediately made me think of Gandhi, a longstanding hero of mine:

“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
―    Mahatma Gandhi

At the Bar Mitzvah, I was surprised and happy to run into a friend from my youth.  She was clearly similarly surprised.  Not similarly happy.  Which left me puzzling throughout the service – why was Marlene so aloof?

I realized that my beliefs, thoughts, words and actions in my youth were not ones that always engendered endearment to those in my path.  And when a significant relationship ended in my 30s Marlene was the one friend who “sided” with my former partner.  She saw me as “bad.”

We become who we are along Gandhi’s trajectory.  Our actions DO reap results.  Karma is, indeed real.

The good news from my perspective is that using Joseph’s nostrum of “self-control” we can change that trajectory.

I have a long way to go, in so many ways.  My faults are glaringly obvious to me.  But Joseph’s wisdom combined with being rebuffed led me to reflect on my own life – on the ways in which I have changed for the good, and on my current efforts to change my beliefs, thoughts, actions and habits.

How about you?  Do you think Gandhi was correct – that we become who we are, starting with our beliefs, which, ultimately become our destiny?  And is Joseph correct that the way to ensure we behave in ways that are ‘good’ and just is first and foremost through self-control?  How has that played out in YOUR life?  I really want to know!

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“The hope of restoration” – Step Two

Sundays are Spirituality Day here at Taking it to the Streets

As mentioned in my post on Step 1, The Gift of Powerlessness, I recently read Recovery: The Twelve Steps as a Spiritual Practice by Rami Shapiro.  I found some of Shapiro’s ideas challenging, but all in all it was a very thought provoking book with some new insights into the twelve steps, which I’ve studied for quite some time.

I’ve always thought that Step Two was the step that showed Bill Wilson’s divinely inspired genius when he talks of “a Power greater than ourselves” and “God, as we understand God”.  To me, that’s what makes it work for millions of people.  For it’s a spiritual program, not a religious program and can work for atheists and non-believers as well as any stripe of believers.  For any who have suffered from addictions of any type and have observed others doing what they have not been able to do, can easily see that there is a Power greater than themselves.

Step Two reads:  “We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”

He talks about the difference between faith and belief:

“Faith is not the same as belief.  Belief is about content:  One believes in this or that.  Faith is an attitude toward life itself. ”  He goes on to quote Alan Watts: “Faith is a state of openness to trust.  To have faith is to trust yourself to the water.”

He was making these distinctions as he was quibbling about the word “believe” in this step – his supposition being that belief systems, while ‘hanging together’ internally don’t have to be factual in order to ‘make sense’.

His key to acceptance of this comes from the term “came to believe” and the wise words of his sponsor, Bert: “Believing is a matter of grit; coming to believe is a matter of grace. When we choose to believe one thing or another, we are acting willfully, but when we come to believe we discover that we are convinced of something because reality allows for nothing else.”

So he then says: “Step Two is not about choosing to believe or not to believe.  Step Two is about seeing what is…..This is the faith at the heart of Twelve Step recovery.  Not faith in a belief or creed, but faith in the authenticity of your own experience.  Over time, your experience will show you that life, when approached with faith – and by faith I mean the willingness to surrender to reality – won’t kill you.”

A very interesting take, especially from a rabbi, which Shapiro is.

But as I said, this freedom to approach this Power greater than oneself as “God, as YOU understand God” or simply the Power greater than yourself is the key that makes 12 Step programs truly open to all who need them.

My other favorite quote from this chapter is:  “The key to living authentically, rather than habitually, is engaging the present.  We cannot do that while we are locked in the past.  As long as we ‘paste the past over the present and live today as if it were yesterday, we have no hope.  We can’t change the past, and living in it means we can’t change at all.  My experience of my Higher Power tells me that change isn’t just possible but inevitable, but only if I live in the present. God is only in the present.’”

I love that.  The power of life – the ‘hope of restoration’ – IS in the present moment.  And if I have the faith to “trust the process”, just show up and be with what is, I am capable of doing step three (turning my will and my life over to the care of God) which I’ll explore in a future post. And that, to me, is the step that changes everything.

But to get there, one has to first come to believe.  I have heard that step two has 3 components.

1. Came (i.e., we showed up in 12 step programs, we show up for meetings)
2. Came to (because we entered recovery we gradually awaken to life again out of the fog of addiction)
3. Came to believe (and then and only then can we have a meaningful belief)

How about you?  Do you feel, ever, that your life is a bit – well, insane?  A bit out of control?  If so, do you have a sense of some “Power greater than yourself” that can restore you to sanity, to wholeness, to peace?  As always, I really want to know!

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“The gift of powerlessness”

Sundays are Spirituality Day here at Taking it to the Streets

I think of my spiritual life as a river, flowing to the sea.  The sea (and thus all that is part of it) is God.  The river is the main tributary, but it has many creeks and even other rivers feeding it.

For me, that central river to the sea is The Twelve Steps.  Oh, there are other rivers (Buddhism, a lifelong connection to Mother Mary, etc.), but the 12 Steps are the core.  It’s my opinion that Bill Wilson was divinely inspired. Each time I read his writings (and I do so very often) I am amazed at the wisdom he coagulated into one place.  He truly did provide a guide for living.

Right now I’m reading a book on the 12 Steps:  Recovery:  The Twelve Steps as Spiritual Practice by Rami Shapiro.  Rami is a rabbi and a professor of religious studies. This book incorporates teachings from world religions into commentary on the twelve steps, as well as Rabbi Shapiro’s own thoughts.

I just finished reading Step One “The Gift of Powerlessness” and found it insightful, and challenging and a good springboard for my own thoughts on Step One.

Step one is the door in.  It’s the beginning.  It’s the “I surrender” that gets us to 12 step programs.  For though many truly feel it’s the gift of the lifetime, I don’t think anyone feels that way on day one.  Because what gets most of us into 12 steps programs is this:

“We admitted we were powerless over {alcohol, food, people, gambling, etc —- LIFE} and that our lives had become unmanageable.”

Yikes!  especially in America – who on earth wants to say “Hey, my life is spinning out of control and I’m clueless on how to stop that.”

Pretty much no one.

“The wording of Step One masks the deeper discovery we make when we actually take the Step.  Step One says we are powerless over our addiction.  It doesn’t say we are powerless over life.  Yet as we begin to face the fact of our powerlessness, we discover that, in fact, we are powerless over life.  We cannot control what happens to us. All we can do is work with what happens moment to moment.” – p. 2

Wow.  So that gets even scarier.  I still want to think that I do indeed have some control – me, with my lists, my goals, my plans, my Hard Work.  I mean really, doesn’t Hard Work count for SOMETHING?

“The fundamental and paradoxical premise of Twelve Step recovery as I experience it is this: The more clearly you realize your lack of control, the more powerless you discover yourself to be.  The more powerless you discovery yourself to be, the more natural it is for you to be surrendered to God.  The more surrendered to God you become, the less you struggle against the natural flow of life.  The less you struggle against the flow of life, the freer your become. Radical powerlessness is radical freedom, liberating you from the need to control the ocean of life and freeing you to learn how best to navigate it.”

Now THAT is the gift of powerlessness.  Freedom and liberation – with that Rabbi Shapiro is talking my language.

When I discovered this spiritual path, I was sharing my non-joy about it with my brother (as I said, this is not a path one enters joyfully, and often not willingly).  Wise George said “oh, good – now you can stop being The Doer of All Things.”

Uh, yeah – I guess my younger siblings may have had my number.  Because from age 3 on, I truly believed that if I tried harder, worked harder, was tougher – then I could keep chaos at bay.

I could not.

The first sentence of this book is:

“Here is the heart of Twelve Step recovery – quit playing God!”  He goes on to say that what that means is to quit pretending that life is controllable.

In fact, Shapiro states that it’s THIS addiction – ‘the obsessive quest for control’ – rather than the substances, activities or persons to which we THINK we are addicted – that is the real problem.  Most people in recovery get that it is their thinking that is the real problem – but this specificity  – that it is our thinking we can control things – was a new thought to me.

“…if you think you can control life you will act to control life, and doing so will invite consequences that will be excruciatingly painful to you and to those who about you.”

I’ve thought about step one, about powerlessness, about the crazy thinking that underlies addiction and chaos.  Thought about it and read about it for a very long time.   And I’ve always known step three (we’ll get to that later) is about giving up control – thus the scariest step for me.  But thinking about step one in a new way has been thought-provoking.  I find that The Doer of All Things feels a bit panicky about it initially. And then, yes, if I can actually believe that life is uncontrollable BY ME, but that there IS a unifying force-field, a sea to which this river runs, and that it is good – well, I can settle back into the raft, no matter how wild the ride and trust that the Sea is calling to me. Calling me home.  Where I already am.

What if Bob Marley was right?

“Don’t worry
about a thing
Cuz every little thing
is gonna be alright.”

Powerlessness as a gift.  It just may be.  What do YOU think?

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Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience by Sharon Salzberg

Buddhism – in its American incarnation – has long informed my spiritual path.  So Sharon Salzberg is someone I’d heard of for years.  I’ve picked up her book Lovingkindness more than once, but just hadn’t yet felt drawn to read any of her works.

When I came across her book on faith, however, I was intrigued.  Faith to me has seemed associated with theism in general, the Abrahamic religions in particular.  How would a Buddhist talk about faith?

The subtitle gives the first clue:  trusting your own deepest experience, rather than “following God’s word” or the precepts of a given religion.

The first four pages set up a conundrum with that subtitle, though.  Salzberg’s childhood was a crazy quilt of extreme tragedy.  Reading her simple account of family life gone terribly wrong, I felt it was inevitable that she either become a deeply spiritual person or a crazy person herself. 

I compared her in another post to Viktor Frankl or Anne Frank.  Her circumstances, extreme as they were, did not rival being in Aushchwitz (Frankl) or murdered by Nazis (Frank).  But like them, she turned ‘unfair’ suffering into gold by her response to it.

She quotes Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the democracy movement in Myanmar/Burma:

“There is darkness in the world, but it is merely an absence of light.  All the darkness in the world cannot dispel even the smallest candle flame.  We need only to accustom ourselves to the dim vision, and then the blessing of light will grow.”

The books is most decidedly based on her Buddhist beliefs, and she applies the Four Noble Truths and the insights she has gained from years of meditation to the question of how we maneuver life amidst the suffering, chaos and delight – all of it.

Meditation – for Salzberg, and indeed for me – reminds us that everything passes. Everything.  “There is a far bigger picture to life than what we are facing in any particular moment” (p 127).  It helps us gain perspective.  To be at peace.  To just BE.

Sprinkled throughout the book are personal vignettes.   Salzberg, along with Joseph Goldstein and Ram Dass, was part of the early vanguard of American Buddhism.  With Goldstein she co-founded the Insight Meditation Society and the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. 

But she doesn’t ‘name drop’ or self-aggrandize. On the contrary, she shares her human-ness with us and just simply illustrates how Buddhist teachings on meditation, kindness, compassion, the ephemeral nature of life have helped her to deepen, and to live a fully authentic life despite the inevitability of suffering.

I loved this:

“But if that inevitable sorrow is joined with faith in interconnectedness, rather than bitterness at the nature of things, we can more likely get up the next morning and once again do the best we can, knowing that in this inter-connected reality, even the smallest action done with good intention is consequential.”

I really loved this book and will soon be reading more from Salzberg.  I “liked” her page on FaceBook and am enjoying the updates there as well.

And I liked that, for me, she reclaimed the idea of ‘faith’ – which had become for me a sort of ‘bullying’ word used by zealots to beat on “non-believers”.  In my worldview (not hers perhaps) it is having faith in an immanent God and essential goodness – and then putting THAT faith into action that is a faith I can live with.

How about you?  Have you read any of Sharon Salzberg’s books?  What does faith look like to you?  As always, I really want to know!

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No instruction manual – more wisdom from Anne Lamott

Sundays are Spirituality Day here at Taking it to the Streets

“But there was not such a day in school.  No one got the instructions.  That is the secret of life.  Everyone is flailing around, winging it most of the time, trying to find the way out, or through, or up, without a map.  This lack of instruction manual is how most people develop compassion, and how they figure out to show up, care, help and serve, as the only way of filling up and being free.  Otherwise, you grow up to be someone who needs to dominate and shame others, so no one will know that you weren’t there the day the instructions were passed out.” – Anne Lamott from Some Assembly Required

How often have you heard people say that they felt they weren’t there the day the instructions were given out? For me the most recent instance was yesterday.  And I have sure felt it.  From the most practical of skills (oh! if the door is sagging and won’t close you just tighten the hinges? Got it…) to the deeper wisdom of the advanced courses in the School of Life (that would be relationships).

I’ve surely thought that myself – “I wasn’t there the day the instruction manual was passed out” and I’ve even noticed that I am NOT unique in this regard.  What I had NOT done was to tie that feeling to being a birthplace of compassion.

See?  This is why I love Anne Lamott!

I should put this on my refrigerator and in my phone – maybe as an appointment with a reminder that goes off once a day:

“This lack of instruction manual is how most people develop compassion, and how they figure out to show up, care, help and serve, as the only way of filling up and being free.”

From October 2010 through February 2011 I found myself on a very unexpected trajectory.  My beloved friend Becky was abruptly diagnosed with liver cancer and 111 days after the diagnosis, she died. Maybe  you got the instruction manual on walking a 46-year-old friend Home, but I did not.  Neither did her partner, her mom and sister, her best friends, or the kids in her daycare, Huggy House.  We made it up as we went along.  I can’t speak for the others, but I know for me that amidst the shock and grief, I found a deep wellspring of purpose, love, compassion, and, oddly, joy.  No, I was not joyous about losing an amazing woman.  Or watching those even closer to her than I suffer so intensely.  Of course not.  But the joy in service, the joy in compassion and love, the joy in being fully present to each moment – even the truly awful ones – that joy was very real and abiding.

It is when we give that we truly receive.  It is when I can step outside of my insane, selfish I-want-what-I-want-when-I-want-it Ego and really get that we are all one and that the Universe is held together with love – and I can be part of the whole teeming, wild stir fry of life that I feel most alive (well, that is tied with riding my motorcycle – I’m committed to telling you the truth).

How about you?  Do you feel like you were missing school the day they gave out the Life Instruction Book?  And what do you make of this idea of showing up, caring, helping and serving being the only true, predictable way to lasting happiness?  I really want to know!

And — buy Some Assembly Required.  You’re gonna love it!

 

From the site http://3wordsfor365.com/2012/04/08/compassion-compassionate/

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Our spiritual/earthly dual citizenship (thanks, Anne Lamott!)

Sundays are Spirituality Day here at Taking it to the Streets

“I think about the idea of his having dual citizenship – a child of God and heaven, with a human life here – and how confusing that has always been for me.  And what he is in for, because our spiritual and human identities coexist, the way light is both a particle and a wave.” – Anne Lamott from Some Assembly Required (p.74)

I LOVE this explanation and love that she ties it to quantum physics (which I am attempting to dip my toes into studying).

I’m with Annie on this one – it IS confusing.  I’ve had those moments where (my world view) my Soul kind of stands back and says “well, kid, it’s the only way you’re gonna learn this one” as my Ego just rails against God.

But often they do seem to team together.  I know my worldly self seems mostly unaware of its Soul-sister counterpart, unless something happens to call it to mind.  I wonder if that’s true of the Soul – does She stay in tune with my earthly travails?  Do they matter to her beyond the obvious (I think of life as a school and I suspect Soul wants EarthGirl to get her homework done well).

What’s your take on this marvelous quote?  And have  you read Anne Lamott?  If not, you simply must!  She’s deep, spiritually profound, in love with the 12-steps and over the top funny.  This kind of funny: Reading her book about her son’s first year of life (Operating Instructions) I laughed out loud so robustly on the library-like morning commuter train that about 10 people turned to glare at me.  she’s THAT funny.  This book is about her grandson’s first year of life.  Get it!

 

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Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps by Richard Rohr

It’s been awhile since I’ve written about books.  A few days ago I finished reading Breathing Under Water:  Spirituality and the Twelve Steps by Richard Rohr.  It’s a slim volume, a mere 128 pages of text, but it took me awhile to read as his commentary on each of the twelve steps is so thought provoking and rich – I had to let it marinate in me before moving on to the next step.

The 12 Steps are the central river of my own spirituality (which has many tributaries running towards it – Unity, Buddhism, etc.).  I believe they provide not only a stunning spiritual framework, but a true “design for living” that, if followed, can lead to happy, productive lives.  Time Magazine named Bill Wilson (AA’s founder) as one of the 100 most influential people of the last century.  I think he was an inspired genius – each time I read his writing I am struck anew with the depth and breadth of his insights.

So I’m always eager for more commentary on my beloved 12 Steps.  I had recently read Falling Upward by Richard Rohr, and after I wrote about it in the blog, my friend Cathy suggested this book.  She studied with Richard Rohr at his Center for Action and Contemplation in New Mexico.

Richard Rohr is a Franciscan priest and so I had expected, first in Falling Upward, but most certainly in this book, that he would be superimposing Catholic theology onto the topic at hand.  This book is certainly informed by Christian principles and he uses quotes from both the book “Alcoholics Anonymous” (sometimes called “The Big Book”) and the Bible at the introduction to each step.

The title he gives for each step’s chapter is elucidating:

1. Powerlessness
2. Desperate Desiring
3. Sweet Surrender
4. A Good Lamp
5. Accountability IS sustainability
6. The Chicken or the Egg:  Which Comes First?
7. Why Do We Need to Ask?
8. Payback Time
9. Skillful Means
10. Is This Overkill?
11. An Alternative Mind
12. What Goes Around Must Come Around

then there’s the final chapter:

An Unexpected Postscript: Only a Suffering God Can Save

He has a very original take on addiction:

• We are all addicts
• “Stinking thinking” is the universal addiction
• All societies are addicted to themselves and create deep codependency on them
• Some form of alternative consciousness is the only freedom from this self and from cultural lies

And he has a very unique take on Christianity – so much so that I’m a bit surprised that he is still a Catholic priest (surprised that he stays; surprised that the Church doesn’t give him the boot).

Here’s just one small example of Richard Rohr’s unique insights.  Of all the 12 steps, the one I continually find most difficult is the 3rd step:  “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.”  I have one or two wee control issues and letting a presumed authority figure (God) run my life  — eesh! scary!  And yet, from much practice and reiteration and the testimony of many wiser than I, I do get that this is the very heart of my spiritual path.  So here’s a snippet from page 24 of Breathing Underwater:

“The Genius of the Twelve Steps

The absolute genius of the Twelve STeps is that it refuses to bless and reward what looks like any moral worthiness game or mere heroic wilolpower. It spotted the counterfeit and ‘drags it publicly behind in a triumphal parade’ (Colossians 2:15).  With Gospel brilliance and insight, AA says that the starting point and, in fact, the continuing point, is not any kind of worthiness at all but in fact unworthiness! (‘I am an alcoholic!’)  Suddenly religion loses all capacity for elitism and is democratic to the bone.  This is what Jesus affirmed in prostitutes, drunkards, and tax collectors, and what Paul praised when he said, ‘It is when I am weak that I am strong’ (2 Corinthians 12:10).  When the churches forget their own Gospel message, the Holy Spirit sneaks it in through the ducts and air vents.  AA meetings have been very good ductwork, allowing fresh air both in and out of many musty and mildewed churches.”

While any student of the 12 Steps (whether or not they are a participant in any of the various 12-step fellowships) or any Christian would obviously benefit from this book, I believe that any human who wishes to live a deeper, more informed, spiritual life would also greatly benefit from it.  I’m quite certain it is a text to which I shall return multiple times.

As ever, I am interested in your take on these ideas.  Have you read this book?  Do you know the 12 Steps?  What’s your take on where the steps and Christianity inform one another?  I’d really like to know!

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Unity principles: I put my faith into action by demonstration

Sundays are Spirituality Day here at Taking it to the Streets

I’ve been writing about the five core principles of Unity.

1. There is only presence and one power in the Universe and in my life

2. The Christ spirit lives within me

3. Thoughts held in mind produce after their kind

4. I experience God’s presence and power through prayer and meditation

5. I put my faith into action by demonstration

This final principle is ‘officially’ presented by Unity as “Knowledge of these spiritual principles is not enough. We must live them.”

To me, this final of the five Unity principles is closely aligned with the 12th step of Alcoholics Anonymous (and other 12 step programs):  “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps,  we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”

There is a reason why this is the last of the Unity principles (and why Step 12 is the last step).  One has to have a firm foundation oneself before carrying the message or being an example to others.

However, one can begin immediately to ‘live it.’  This principle thus subsumes the other four.  As I go about my day and my life in what ways do I act as though there is only one presence and one power in the Universe and in my life – and it’s God (not lack, fear, ‘evil’, ‘them’, ‘the economy’, etc.)?

Do I treat my body and my self as though the Christ spirit lives within me?  Do I act with Christ consciousness (substitute God/Buddha/Loving-Kindness or whatever way you use to talk about the Divine)?  Do my actions make other people think “yep, the Christ spirit sure lives within Diane” – or, not so much.

Do I practice Right Speech as the Buddhists would say?  If I truly DO believe that “Thoughts held in mind produce after their kind” what type of reality am I creating.   When I say (or think) “I’m so fat” or “I’ll NEVER get a job” or “I’m an idiot” or “You’re a jerk” – what reality am I creating?  And when I catch myself in that space do I remember this principle and reframe my thinking and speaking?

As for “I experience God’s presence and power through prayer and meditation” – this is perhaps the most concrete.  Either I pray or I don’t.  Either I meditate or I don’t.  And then there’s the part ‘experience God’s presence and power…” – am I fully present, sincere, and OPEN?  If I’m not then my prayers may be like my sister’s learning to read experience.  I taught her phonics using our Dad’s Wall Street Journal.  Could the ever so precocious Pier say “capitalism”?  Probably. Did she (at age 5) know what it meant?  Not so much.  So too, if we prattle off prayers – my hunch is that God/Our Self/the Universe says “ah! background noise” and tunes out the prattling.  Not so a sincere heart.

So this is the action step. This is where you get to the Big Kids table.  Having a philosophy, a theology, a set of principles is important to a religion, for sure.  But to the individual it has no meaning unless we live it.

For me with these principles (and with the 12 steps, which I’ll explore next), it’s a start/stop/start again process.  But like all habits, the more I “do the next right thing” the more habitual it becomes. It gets easier through repetition – and this principle evokes that as well.

Whether or not the religious movement of Unity is your path, I hope these principles have been spoken to you and informed the path that nourishes and nurtures you.  I truly believe “Truth is one. Paths are many.” (I believe this was said by Gandhi, but Confucius said something similar and, true to the quote, this is likely a truism from many paths).

How do you live YOUR path?  How do you remember to practice your principles when you’ve lapsed into negative thinking, ‘bad’ behavior or other side roads?

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