The Steps How I Do Them (Part 1 - Intro)

Steps to the Spirit

I have not posted much about the 12 steps in quite some time. It seems like it might be time to take another look at the steps. I’m not going to just rehash what I’ve said before. I’m going to try to take a personal look at the steps from my vantage point. I am going to try, (with as much honesty as I can), to share how I have worked and am working this 12-step program. As those of you who have been following this podcast, or reading my books, know, I believe this program to be a God-given one. I believe, with all of my being, that this is a spiritually based roadmap with which to learn to live my life under the direction and guidance of God.

If I were to read what I have just written (above) years ago, it would have been quite intimidating. Believe me, my friends, traveling on this spiritual road is not difficult. As a matter of fact, once I have accepted the strength and guidance of God and my Spirit, the road is as smooth as silk. However, I still have my humanity to deal with, which becomes, at times, quite the rocky road.

My blindness doesn’t allow me to speak to groups any longer. When I did speak to them, especially after finding my beautiful place in the Spirit, I was not well received. You see, twelve-step groups are, ultimately, a cross-section of the same society that exists everywhere else. The only difference is that they are fighting a particular addiction, or life problem, that is common to that group. Generally speaking, they are happier and more comfortable listening to a speaker relate humorous, exciting personal, and dramatic stories. Most folks are more comfortable with narrations that seem to zero in on their human emotions rather than their spiritual selves.

I truly, (and sadly), believe as I write this podcast description, that a very small percentage of humanity will ultimately choose Spirit over their physical selves. The Spirit knocks at our human shell continuously. It asks to be recognized. It asks to be allowed to help us. We need only to answer in the affirmative. We need only to say “yes” to our Spirit and to God. If you are familiar with the steps or are involved in the 12-step program, you are probably aware that this beautiful decision can be found in the first three steps.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of absorbing the message of the first three steps into our beings. These steps, and their absorption into our lives, signify the new beginning that most of us are looking for.

It can be, through these three steps, that I can say the eternal, loving, “yes” to God. It is through these three steps that I can surrender. It is through these three steps that I can be victorious.

It is through these three steps that I can have the greatest power ever imagined at my beck and call. It is through these three steps that I can begin to reclaim my sanity. It is through these three steps that the yoke of human suffering can be shed from my shoulders. They represent a new power, a new beginning, a new freedom, and a new love that is eternally ours.

It is through these first three steps that we receive the power and the fearless ability to delve into the following nine steps. Once those first three steps are taken completely and sincerely, nothing can ever hurt us again! This is why we are urged to take these first three steps. As it says in the literature, “ What an order I can’t go through with it… but there is one who is all power, that one is God, may you find Him now”.

These are some of the things I will be describing, from my point of view, in the next episodes about the 12 steps. In my early experiences with the 12 step program, I tried to get through these steps as quickly as possible, and to do them on my own. It took me many, many tries before I realized my rationalization had to be prevented, and I had to abandon myself to God in order to get anywhere. I finally realized