In the depths of his being man always feels intuitively that there is a way out of his difficulties if only he can find it. The infant, as yet uncontaminated by the defeatism of his elders, simply refuses to tolerate inharmony on any terms, and therefore he demonstrates over it. When he is hungry he tells the world while many a sophisticated adult goes without. Does he find a pin sticking in some part of his anatomy? Not for him a sigh of resignation to the supposed "will of God" or a whine about never having any luck, or a sigh that what cannot be cured must be endured. His instincts tell him that life and harmony are inseparable.
Refuse to tolerate anything less than harmony. You can have a happy and joyous life. But to do so you must seize the rudder of your own destiny and steer boldly for the port that you intend to make. What are you doing about your future?
For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified (Romans 2:13).
When I read through this passage it was hard for me not to travel back in time to the days when my children were babies. Honestly it made me feel kind of sad for them and guilty for allowing my "defeatism" to infect their lives. As we go through this year together, you will see how much of a movie lover I am. I also love music. A favorite movie of mine is called V for Vendetta. If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it. In one of V's most powerful moments, the character V states "The truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country" I think it's like that with our lives as well. We have this inner voice, this spiritual barometer, that let's us know when we are living out of harmony with the perfect pitch of our souls. Emmet Fox highlights how easily a baby cries out against this sour note. I know for me, over time I became accustomed to a life constantly interrupted by actions that were out of tune with the key my life should be playing in. The result was a life not very easy to listen to by me or others in my band or the audience listening to my life.
So what does all of that have to do with Alcoholism, Recovery and Alcoholics Anonymous? Well for one, Alcoholics Anonymous in my opinion teaches that we should not trust that inner voice, that our thinking is "defective". On page 44-45 of the Big Book, the authors state:
"If mere morals or a better philosophy of life were sufficient to overcome alcoholism, many of us would have recovered long ago. But we found that such codes or philosophies did not save us no matter how much we tried. We could wish to be moral, we could wish to be philosophically comforted, in fact we could will these things with all of our might, but the needed power wasn't there. Our human resources as marshalled by the will were not sufficient, they failed utterly.
See the subtle defeatism here? The problem lies in the idea that somehow alcoholics are incapable of finding the needed power to, overcome alcoholism. That's a pile of you know what. It's like saying that the baby no matter how hard he tried could not find the power to express its hunger when we know that the baby just naturally cried, I am hungry. This is just like when my soul cries out, I am stressed out or, my life is off key. The problem in my life is that rather than cry out and release that inharmony so I can hear how out of tune I am, I "cry in" silently until there are many sour notes echoing around in my head that they drowned out the perfect pitch I need to call on for relief. I am beginning to believe that perfect pitch resides in us all and it is a gift from God. So I disagree with the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. It is not a lack of power that keeps a person from being moral. It is rather that the alcoholic lives in a temporary tone deaf state caused by choosing to "cry in" vs. out that keeps the alcoholic from tuning in and harmonizing with the perfect pitch that sings endlessly throughout his life.
Prayer for today...
Lord be with my family today, be with everyone in Alcoholics Anonymous that I know and love. Be with me as I try and tune in to the perfect pitch you have placed within me and help me trust that you built me to live in harmony with you and my fellows.
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