“The roadblocks of indifference … often prove more solid and formidable.” “[T]he dilemma of the wanderer from faith is that of profound confusion.” “He cannot attain in even a small degree the assurance of the believer, the agnostic, or the atheist. He is the bewildered one.” (12 & 12, p. 28)
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How might indifference (not caring) sabotage one’s spiritual growth and/or recovery?
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Everything Counts (in large amounts) -remastered – Depeche Mode (3:59)
Reiki Meditation to Find One’s Life Path (8:49)
Today’s SFZ explores how spiritual growth demands clarity, willingness, and open-heartedness. Step Two calls us to believe in a Power greater than ourselves. Yet bewilderment, indifference, and intolerance block that belief before it can begin to form.
The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions describe the “wanderer from faith” as deeply confused (p. 28). He is neither believer, atheist, nor agnostic. He floats, disconnected, unable to plant his spiritual feet. William James, in The Varieties of Religious Experience, argued that spiritual vitality springs from experience and decision. The bewildered person makes neither. He stands paralyzed by indecision, and spiritual progress halts.
Indifference presents an even harder wall. The White Booklet of Narcotics Anonymous warns that indifference to spiritual principles is a primary cause of relapse (It Works, How & Why, p. 12). Viktor Frankl, in Man’s Search for Meaning, described spiritual death as beginning with emotional detachment. Indifference signals apathy toward life, self, and God. It undermines any hope of transformation.
Elie Wiesel captured this truth with urgency: “Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies.” Indifference erodes conscience. It numbs responsibility. It kills the will to seek or change.
Intolerance, meanwhile, breeds resistance. It shuts the door on unfamiliar ideas or paths to spiritual renewal. Philosopher Søren Kierkegaard warned in The Sickness Unto Death that prideful resistance to grace is the core of despair. Intolerance feeds that pride.
To grow spiritually, one must take a stand. Courage means confronting confusion, choosing belief over drift, and embracing spiritual principles with humility and persistence.
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