Taken from 12 steps of AA
! We admitted that we were powerless over alcohol- that our lives had become unmanageable
2 Came to believe that a Power greater than us could restore us to sanity.
3 Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him.
7Humbly asked him to remove our short comings.
11 Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12 having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principals in all our affairs.
Serenity prayer.
God grant me the serenity to accept
the things I cannot change
courage to change the things I can
and wisdom to know the difference
I thought it might be helpful to put this on the thread as it has to do with transcending ego.
My first exposure to these steps was about 35 years ago, since then I have seen many become sober through them, unfortunately I have also know many to die because they lost humility, ego took over, they thought they could do it on their own, and when they got into trouble again, couldn't let go of ego enough to ask for help.
AA is a place of unconditional love, it doesn't matter what you have done, the help is there. All are without exception equal.
I am not a spokes man or affiliated to AA in anyway.
Because my full name is not here i remain anonymous.
Point I am making is that I know I am dependent on the Power of God for every sober breath I take. The ego doesn't like that one bit. I love it
The power that one receives, becomes available, to become sober through humility and surrender to God. That Power, I call God, has saved millions of lives, lack of humility and thinking one is more powerful than God ( Edge God Out) has led millions to death, through war, famine, drink, drugs, you name it. all down to ego.
I know that the benefits of transcending ego are beyond measure and I can only speak for myself.
It wis nae me. God did it.
My fav teacher was helpful as a psychiatrist in setting up AA in the early days, millions have benefited, DH suggests using the twelve steps as one way to transcend ego.
Chris
Chris