‘They flatly declare that since they have come to believe in a Power greater than themselves, to take a certain attitude toward that Power, and to do certain simple things, there has been a revolutionary change in their way of living and thinking.’
What is that attitude?
What is that attitude?
I am the servant of that power. I am not in charge of the world. I do not therefore need to keep tabs on everything going on in the world or in the lives of the people around me, gathering data, assessing, criticising, condemning, and instructing.
As a servant of that power, there is work to do, however, and most of that work involves discharging my immediate obligations, within AA, in my family and social life, and at work.
There is a question of looking more broadly into the community and society, but not in the position of the ‘judge, jury, and executioner’ of all I survey but, in line with the attitude outlined above, as a servant, so my job is to ask God in relation to the community and society: (1) Is there a role, and if so, what is it? (2) What do I need to do to discharge my duties within that role?
Since what goes on in the community and in society more broadly can be catnip to an alcoholic with delusions of grandeur and a touch of megalomania, if I engage in broader affairs in the world around me I have to stay detached from the subject matter and close to God and to a revealed and tailored purpose, rather than flailing round in a sea of information which, on a bad day, I can react to like a chunk of sodium thrown into water.
Since what goes on in the community and in society more broadly can be catnip to an alcoholic with delusions of grandeur and a touch of megalomania, if I engage in broader affairs in the world around me I have to stay detached from the subject matter and close to God and to a revealed and tailored purpose, rather than flailing round in a sea of information which, on a bad day, I can react to like a chunk of sodium thrown into water.