Step 11 of the Twelve Step Program: Sought through
prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we
understood God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power
to carry that out.
Some people have the
idea that Spiritual Laws are punitive. These Spiritual Laws are guidelines that
come from such Truths as Yama Niyama, The Ten Commandments, and The Four Noble
Truths/Five Mindful Trainings/The Twelve Steps.
They are not punitive.
They are simply that: guidelines. When these guidelines are followed in the
societies they have been born from or of, there is harmony, and peace prevails
over darkness. When they are not…well, we are experiencing what happens in the
days in which we are currently living.
The
Twelve Step program is a spiritual program that enables anyone to remove the
obstacles that are blocking him or her from having a loving relationship with
the God of their understanding, thus bringing peace into their lives and the
lives of others.
Each
step is a guideline to removing those obstacles, similar to the 5 Yamas and 5
Niyamas or The Commandments or the Four Noble Truths, etc.
The
steps are in the order they are in because each prior step prepares you for the
next step, especially Step Eleven. Step Eleven is a culmination of all the
other steps leading up to that point.
Steps
1-3 allow us to come to a place of understanding that which is blocking us from
God and causing the pain in our lives. We also come to a place where we make a
decision to get out of the way (i.e., give up our willfulness). Steps 4-10 are where
we carry out that decision (these are considered the action steps); Step 11 is
where we receive “Grace” from the God of our understanding; and Step 12 is the
guarantee…the promise…of the benefits of integrating these steps into our daily
lives and how, now that we have these guidelines in our lives, we can help set
the example for others.
Step
11 is where we receive the Grace from the hard work of looking within at
ourselves and acknowledging painful things that we most likely never
acknowledged before, then making a decision to trust God and others and follow
a spiritual path that will enable us to let go of those destructive habits and receive
God’s directions.
When
we are able to let go of those blocks, we receive God’s will for us, as well as
the power to carry out Her/His will through our daily prayer and meditation. The
time we give ourselves daily for prayer and meditation is the most important
part of our day. This time allows us to let go of everything else for a period
of time and be in a quiet place for prayer (talking to God, thanking Him/Her,
asking for directions, etc.) and meditation (listening; sometimes in silence,
sometime with guided mediations, chants, etc., and sometimes a little of both).
When I
speak of receiving God’s will, I’m not talking about hearing some voice from
the heavens. I refer to making time on a daily basis for prayer and meditation.
This aligns us to receive this Grace because those things that blocked us
before, e.g., addictions, bad habits, selfishness, lust, greed, anger, low
self-esteem, dishonesty, lack of consideration, unfounded fear, etc., are no
longer controlling our lives and leading us astray because we have now replaced
them with faith and service.
The Grace
I speak of might look and feel like peacefulness, internal quietness, or the
ability to do things you have not been able to do before, among other things. Even
though you might feel you lose it during the day, that peace is always within;
just find a quiet place and go within and acknowledge it, and you will be able
to connect to it and experience it.
The
ability to do things you were not able to do before can simply look like being
in the presence of someone you don’t like, or not engaging in bad habits, or not
engaging or being drawn into others’ “bad place,” like arguments or gossip.
I
wonder what the world would be like if everyone followed the Twelve Step
program.
Peace
& Love.
Namaste,
Michael
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