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"Some of our alcoholic readers may think they can do without spiritual help."

Alcoholics Anonymous
There is a Solution
Page 27

I must admit that when I first read these words, I didn't really get it. I believed in God, but spiritual help, a spiritual experience - how was I to get those? I was like the man in the Big Book story who was so hopeless that his doctor told him he should put himself under house arrest to guard against his drinking, or die, unless he had a "necessary vital spiritual experience." He was encouraged because he regularly attended church and thought that was his ticket. However, his thinking was shot down when his doctor informed him that simply going to church wasn't going to cut it. So what was he to do?

Because this story, which was meant to be an example of one man's experience, was interpreted by many alcohlics to mean that they too were required to have a "burning bush" spirtual experience in order to achieve sobriety, the authors of Alcoholics Anonymous later added "Appendix II - Spiritual Experience" to clarify their intended meaning.

My experience has been more like what is referred to in the appendix as an "educational variety," which has developed slowly over time. I can relate to the A.A. claim that, "With few exceptions our members find that they have tapped an unsuspected inner resource which they presently identify with their own conception of a Power greater than themselves."

For me, a growing awareness of God's presence is the essence of my spiritual experience. But it has been only in hindsight that I have been able to see this change. It really comes down to an attitude of willingness and open mindedness. I was incapable of making a dramatic transformation when I first came to A.A., but because I was open to new ideas and willing to try new ways, I can now look back and see the growth that has occurred.

"We find that no one need have difficulty with the spirituality of the program. Willingness, honesty and open mindedness are the essentials of recovery. But these are indispensable."

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance--that principle is contempt prior to investigation." --HERBERT SPENCER

Alcoholics Anonymous
Appendix II
Page 540



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