Dec. 5, 2012 - Just for Today

Just for Today
Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012

Just for today, I resolve to reconcile myself to religious vs. spiritual experience, the latter being one of the promises of the AA Program. "We are taught religion, but we are born of the spirit," according to the quote. In recovery, considering the required "spiritual awakening" in the 12th Step, am I supposed to gear my Program toward finding a religion if I have had none? Not at all. A religious conversion, which the Program does not discourage or even disdain, means only that I have embraced a set of beliefs and canons that have been defined by the founders or administrators of that set of beliefs. This does not necessarily mean I live by that standard, however. A spiritual awakening or experience, on the other hand, can be something as simple as seeing a truth about myself that I never saw before. I may not even realize I have had a spiritual experience until I see, one day, that I have given up the character flaws of selfishness, self-satisfaction, resentment, anger and fear in favor of the Program's goals of selflessness, release of resentments and freedom from anger and fears. Today, I can understand that religion and spiritual maturity are parallel train tracks that never intersect, that one can have both religion and spirituality, or religion without spirituality, and spirituality without religion. My spiritual development comes from within me, not outside. And our common journey continues. Just for today. - Chris M., 2012