As I venture through each passing day, I try to watch for those ever-

reoccurring defects of character such as repeating angry thoughts, self-

centeredness, unreasonable fear, and all the rest of it.  Of course, Step

Ten (p 84) tells me to ask God at once to remove these dangerous

obstacles when they crop up, but without conscious contact with my

Higher Power I am lost – those  little devils jump in the driver’s seat

long before I realize they have taken control, rendering me minus a fit

spiritual condition.  Lest I soon reconnect with the aforementioned

Power I will be treading on dangerous emotional territory.

But where is this mysterious power?  The Big Book provides a

surprising answer: “We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In

the last analysis it is only there that He may be found.  It was so with

us.” (p 55)   Please note the words, Great Reality, are capitalized

denoting God!  Bill is not theorizing here; he is describing spiritual results

In other words, I already possess the power to face and be rid of

reoccurring sobriety-threatening emotional states, as they crop up, so

long as I make use of the Intuitive cognizance offered by this

mysterious, yet ever-present, God Given Reality. Reality implies Truth.

An alcoholic cannot drink on the Truth!  An alcoholic can only drink on

a lie.  Page 87 tells us: “. . . we find that our thinking will, as time

passes, be more and more on the plane of Inspiration.  We come to

rely on it.”  Living out of this inspirational Truth, albeit only

spasmodically, has allowed me to remain emotionally fixed and stable

regardless of outside influences – at least enough that I haven’t had to

drink since my very first AA meeting.

Simply living in the spirit of the Twelve Steps, in some mysterious

way, brings forth this inherent Self, my true Self, as a most

welcome intuitive guide. That is to say, clean house all day long

(Step 10); pray throughout the day (Step 11); so I may be of

maximum service to God and my fellows all day long (Step 12).  In

short: “Out of self. Into God. Into others.”

(Rev. Sam Shoemaker) . . . and to parrot the famous 1940s

Cleveland Indians catcher, Rollie Hemslie: “AA opened the door, but I

had to walk in!”  I have to ‘walk in’ each and every new day to

revive and continue my conscious contact with the ‘Great Reality

deep down within,’ if I want to remain happy, joyous and free from

“Anyone who becomes seriously involved in the

pursuit of science becomes convinced that there

is a spirit manifest in the laws of the universe,

a spirit vastly superior to that of man.”

Albert Einstein, 1879 – 1955.