Step Eleven

You are not poor if you love something, someone, humanity maybe,
and have faith that you will somewhere, sometime be satisfied,
though you know not how.

You may even feel that your sorrow is but a school to teach you the virtues of sympathy and gentleness that will avail you hereafter,
though you know not where.

I am not always on the highway that leads to this hilltop,
but I have seen the lighted road stretching on and on;
sometimes I have even fancied that I saw the windows of the castle all aglow.

And I have hastened my steps to be in time for the feast,
and taken counsel of my courage lest I falter and fall on the way.

May I keep this vision of the castle ever before my eyes,
and a belief in my heart that the journey is worth while,
and the castle and the glow in the windows not all illusion.

This, and other poems by Max Ehrmann,
are available in the book
The Desiderata of Happiness :
A Collection of Philosophical Poems

posted by bpresent | 28.5.05 | 0 comments...

Knowledge of God's Will?

Firstly, to give you a perspective of where I'm coming from, I have never known what God's will is for me, and I suspect that I will never know. Not for sure anyway.

I guess it depends on your definition of the word "knowledge". For me there are a few different forms of knowledge.

As a child and as a young adult, I was taught to believe that knowledge was something I had in my head, in my brain. Today (as a 40-something year old) I still see and hear that basic assumption - that knowledge is "mental".

As someone who has been exposed to different schools of thought including, but not limited to: different 12 step programs; the people in them (who may or may not practice the principals of those programs); the "scientific method"; other spiritual practices, such as Satyananda style yoga and meditation (which I have lately let lapse through laziness), and walking around the block; I now believe in other forms of knowledge.

In fact, these days I regard anything that comes out of my brain as being highly suspicious and worth scrutinising.

Step 11 states "praying only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out". That statement implies that I can gain knowledge of God's will. If that's true, and if I'm suspicious of what comes out of my brain, what indicators do I have that have indeed gained "knowledge of God's will"?

Certainly there are times when I feel very strongly that something I am doing is the right thing to be doing. But my experience tells me that's no guarantee.

There are also times when some opportunity appears out of nowhere, and I follow that path and I realise a number of things. Firstly, that I would never have chosen this path knowingly. Secondly that it is such a fantastic path to be on there's a high likelihood that I have somehow magically been graced with an inner "knowledge of God's will for me and the power to carry that out" without actually knowing anything in my head.

Again, that's no guarantee but I suspect that's as good as I'm going to get (one day at a time so far anyway), and I might add, I'm pretty happy with it!

posted by bpresent | 20.5.05 | 1 comments...

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge for His will for us and the power to carry that out.

3rd Step Prayer 7th Step Prayer 11th Step Prayer

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi Serenity Prayer

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