“With this faith we
will be able to hew out
of the mountain of despair
a stone of hope. With this
faith we will be able to trans-
form the jangling discords of
our nation into a beautiful
symphony of brotherhood.
… knowing that we will
be free one day.”
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 – 1968) “I Have a Dream” speech (1963)
How have you contributed to the betterment of the human condition, lately?
A Mountain Storm
by Katharine Lee Bates
Our blue sierras shone serene, sublime,
When ghostly shapes came crowding up the air,
Shadowing the landscape with some vast despair;
And all was changed as in weird pantomime,
Transfigured into vague, fantastic form
By that tremendous carnival of storm.
Pilgrim processions of bowed trees that climb
To sacred summits, in the clashing hail
Shuddered like flagellants beneath the flail.
Most gracious hills, in that tempestuous time,
…
Went wild as angered bulls, with bellowing cry
And goring horns that strove to charge the sky.
Masses of rock, long gnawed by stealthy rime,
With sudden roar that made our bravest blanch,
Came volleying down in fatal avalanche.
All nature seemed convulsed in some fierce crime,
And then a rainbow, and behold! the sun
Went comforting the harebells one by one;
And all was still save for the vesper chime
From far, faint belfry bathed in creamy light,
And the soft footfalls of the coming night.
WERE YOU READY IN YOUR YOUTH? “We have a right to expect more from life than mere survival. [W]e are here because we are ready to heal. [W]e are ready to look at ourselves and our lives with new eyes. We are ready to become aware.” (How Al Anon Works, p. 26)
“If every day is an awakening, you will never grow old. You will just keep growing.” – Gail Sheehy (1937 – ) U.S. author and Hilary Clinton biographer
What have you done lately to keep your spiritual awakening youthful, fresh and renewed?
The Story of The Prodigal Son
There was a very rich person. He had two sons. The first son was hard working. He always obeyed his father. He was very good and nice person. But the second son was totally different from the first son. He was lazy. Did not work in his father’s field. He was disobedient to his father. He wanted to lead a gay and free life.
One day, the younger son said to his father. “Father, give me my share of the property.” The father felt very sad. He divided the property. The second son took his share of property. He left home with his share. He went to a distant land. There he made a lot of friends. He spent his property lavishly on his friends, foods and drinks. Had many bad habits too. He wasted all the money. Soon he was left with no money. His friends saw this. They all deserted him one by one.
…
AT that time, there was a famine in that land. He could not get any job. None of his friends gave him food or money. He was forced to take up a very mean job. His job was to feed the pigs. Very often he ate the food kept for the pigs. He was very sad about his present conditions. He soon began to think of his father and his brother. And said to himself, “In my father’s house, even the servants have enough food. They get good shelter too. But here, I am struggling for food and shelter. I will go back to my father. I will beg him to take me as his servant.”
So decided, the prodigal son set out for his father’s house. In the meantime, his father was always thinking of his second son. He would sit near the windows. He would look out at the road, expecting his son to return home.
One day his father saw his son coming at a distance. He ran out of his house in great joy. He met his son on the way. His son knelt down. He said, “Father, I am not fit to be your son. Take me as your servant.”
…
His father lifted his lovingly. He embraced him. Turned to his servants. He said, “Bring the best robe. Put it on my son. Put a ring on his fingers and shoes on his feet. Kill the fatted calf. Prepare a feast. Let us eat and enjoy. My son was lost. Now he is fount.”
The elder son was returning from his work. He heard the sound of the music and dancing from his house. He asked one of his servants about it. His servant told his, “Your brother has come. Your father is rejoicing at his return. A fatted calf has been killed to prepare for a delicious feast and the celebration.”
…
The first son was angry. He refused to enter his house. The father came out. He begged his elder son to come in for rejoicing. The elder son said, “I have obeyed you all these years. I have done all your works. But you never gave me even a kid to enjoy with my friends. This son wasted all your money and property. And you order a fatted calf for him!”
His father replied, “My dear son, you are always with me. All my property is yours. Your younger brother was dead. Now he is alive. He was lost. Now he is found. Therefore should we not rejoice?”
The elder son understood the love behind the words of his father. He forgot everything about his younger brother. Decided to take part in the celebration. And was happy. (http://www.english-for-students.com/The-Story-of-The-Prodigal-Son.html)
“The moment we catch even a glimpse of God’s will, the moment we begin to see truth, justice, and love as the real and eternal things in life, we are no longer deeply disturbed by all the seeming evidence to the contrary that surrounds us in purely human affairs.” (12 & 12, p. 105)
“If you think you can win, you can win. Faith is necessary to victory.” – William Hazlitt (1778 – 1830) English author
“It doesn’t matter that we will not attain a state of perfection or complete humility in our life- time. The ability to contem– plate this grand vision and meditate upon it are rare and priceless gifts in their
own right. We are being changed.” (It Works, How & Why, p. 53)
YOU CAN CALL IT “A PSYCHIC CHANGE” –
” … once a psychic change has occurred, the very same person who seemed doomed, who had so many problems he de-
spaired of ever solving them, suddenly finds himself eas-
ily able to control his desire for alcohol, the only effort necessary being that re- quired to follow a few simple rules.” (The
Big Book, p.
xxvii)
“Be the change that you want to see in the world.”
– Mohandas Gandhi (1869 – 1948) India Independence Movement Leader from British rule
What changes have you noticed lately in your own spiritual growth, lately?
A Dish of Ice Cream
In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10-year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him.
“How much is an ice cream sundae?”
“50 cents,” replied the waitress.
The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied a number of coins in it.
“How much is a dish of plain ice cream?” he inquired. Some people were now waiting for a table and the waitress was a bit impatient.
“35 cents,” she said brusquely.
The little boy again counted the coins. “I’ll have the plain ice cream,” he said.
The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and departed.
When the waitress came back, she began wiping down the table and then swallowed hard at what she saw.
There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were 15 cents – her tip.
WHEN I STUMBLED into AA several years ago, I think most of you would have called me a fairly typical newcomer–confused, intolerant, afraid of the future, and ashamed of the past. Although I was one of the lucky ones who manage to stay sober beginning with the first meeting, my program was slow to blossom into the wonderful way of life it has since become. Why?
It seems the alcoholic mind seldom changes quickly, and what Dr. William D. Silkworth calls “an entire psychic change” usually occurs slowly over a period of time. Dr. Carl G. Jung calls this change a “vital spiritual experience,” which he describes as “in the nature of huge emotional displacements and rearrangements.” He goes on to say, “Ideas, emotions, and attitudes which were once the guiding forces of the lives of these men are suddenly cast to one side, and a completely new set of conceptions and motives begins to dominate them.” Most of these experiences seem to be what the psychologist William James calls the “educational variety,” because they develop slowly–sometimes, as in my case, taking several years.
— T. S.
Bella Vista, Arkansas (http://www.aagrapevine.org/node/8019)
“We don’t have to be religious to accept this idea.” “We began to see evidence of some Power that could not be fully explained. Confronted with this evidence, we began to accept the existence of a Power greater than ourselves. We can use this Power long before we understand it.” (12 & 12, p. 52) “I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.” – Frank Lloyd Wright (1869 – 1959) U. S. architect
In what ways has your own H.P. or even “Nature” made its presence known in your life lately?
I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud
by William Wordsworth
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
What character building moments have you had lately where you had to make a fateful choice?
“Many of us have exclaimed, ‘You mean I even have to tell the truth about that?’ or ‘If only I could still lie, steal, or cheat, it would be so much easier to get what I want.’ ” (It Works, How & Why, p.47)
“People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.” – Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 – 1962) U.S. First Lady & ardent feminist
One day nine dogs went out to hunt. They met a lion. He said “I am hunting too. I am very, very hungry. Let us hunt together.”
So the dogs and the lion hunted together all day.
They caught ten antelopes.
Then the lion said” Now we must divide this meat.”
One of the dogs said “Why, that’s easy. We are ten, and we have ten antelopes. So, each of us will have one antelope.”
The lion became very angry. He hit the poor dog and blinded him. The other dogs did not say a word. But then one of the dogs said, “Our brother was wrong. We must give nine antelopes to King Lion. Then they will be ten together. And we dogs shall take one antelope and we shall also be ten together.”
The lion liked his answer and asked the dog “Who taught you to divide like this? You are a wise dog.”
The dog answered “Oh, King Lion, you hit our brother and blinded him. That blind brother taught me, King Lion!” (http://www.english-for-students.com/The-Wise-Dog.html)
“The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have discovered a common solution. We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree, and upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious action.” (The Big Book, p. 17)
“The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution.”- Bertrand Russell (1872 – 1970) British philosopher/mathematician
What were a problem you’ve had lately and the solutions you used to solve it?
Once, a king wanted to find a wise man to be his Prime Minister. So according to a plan, he made a riddle. “A man has a boat to cross the river. Only two can go in the boat at one time. The man has to take a lion, a goat and a bundle of grass to the other bank so that in a way no one will eat the other. What will he do?”
No one in the kingdom could give the answer. Then a young man went to the king and said, “Your Majesty, the man will take the goat to the other bank. Then he will go to get the lion. He will bring the lion to the other bank and take back the goat with him. Then he will take the grass to the lion because lion won’t eat the grass. He will row back to get the goat to the other bank.”
The king was amazed by his cleverness because he had never let the grass and the goat or the lion and the goat to be together.
So the king was sure of his intelligence and appointed him as the Prime Minister. (http://www.english-for-students.com/The-Correct-Solution.html)
What is an example of a price you felt you had to pay to make you feel wiser today, lately?
“… it may seem easier to manipulate outcomes or avoid consequences, [cuz] we know that we cannot afford the price we would have to pay. The resulting shame, regret, and loss of spiritual contentment would far outweigh anything we might possibly gain by compromising our principles.” (It Works, How & Why, p. 47)
“Many of us had lived our lives up to this point with a secret feeling of shame .” “Often this shame stemmed from unresolved guilt over mistakes we’d never fully dealt with.” (Overeaters Anon., p. 29)
“A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong,
which is but saying … that he is wiser today than yesterday.” Jonathan Swift (1667 – 1745) Irish satirist/writer
“One evening, Simple Simon met a pie man. The pie man was on his way to a food fair in the village.
“Dear pie man, let me taste one of your pies,” said Simple Simon.
“Alright, but first you have to give me a penny. Then I will give you a pie,” said the pie man.
“I’m sorry but I don’t have any money,” said Simple Simon. The pie man smiled and left Simple Simon standing by the roadside. Simon did not have a pie from the pie-man who did not give a pie to the Simon because Simon did not give a penny to the pie-man.”
Everything has a price.
We have to pay the price to attain what we want. Otherwise, our life will not make a progress. (http://www.english-for-students.com/simple-simon.html)
“His are the gifts that we inherited before time was, and that will still be ours when time has passed into eternity. His are the gifts that are within us now, for they are timeless. And we need not wait to have them. They belong to us today.” ACIM* (Lesson 104) on achieving inner peace. “When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.” Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) German-American scientist
What “great gifts” of your own have you used lately, to achieve inner peace?
How far is it to peace, the piper sighed,
The solitary, sweating as he paused.
Asphalt the noon; the ravens, terrified,
Fled carrion thunder that percussion caused.
The envelope of earth was powder loud;
The taut wings shivered, driven at the sun.
The piper put his pipe away and bowed.
Not here, he said. I hunt the love-cool one,
The dancer with the clipped hair. Where is she?
We shook our heads, parting for him to pass.
Our lady was of no such trim degree,
And none of us had seen her face, alas.
She was the very ridges that we must scale,
Securing the rough top. And how she smiled
Was how our strength would issue. Not to fail
Was having her, gigantic, undefiled,
For homely goddess, big as the world that burned,
Grandmother and taskmistress, frild and town.
We let the stranger go; but when we turned
Our lady lived, fierce in each other’s frown.
How have you been able to stand up for your beliefs, lately?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR3dM-GlZK8
The Cows and The Lion.
There was a village near a jungle. The village cows used to go up to the jungle in search of food.
In the forest there lived a wicked lion. He used to kill a cow now and then and eat her. This was happening for quite sometime. The cows were frightened.
One day, all the cows held a meeting. An old cow said, “Listen everybody, the lion eats one of us only because we go into the jungle separately. From now on we will all be together”.
From then on all the cows went into the jungle in a herd. When they heard or saw the lion all of them unitedly moo and chased him away. (http://www.english-for-students.com/The-Cows-and-The-Lion.html)
