Three very common spiritual pursuits are A Course In Miracles, yoga, and mindfulness meditation. These are, of course, wonderful. I'm to some extent familiar with all three.
But the terrible danger for alcoholics is placing one's weight on these as an alternative to the AA programme. It is common to view the AA programme as the entry-level material and to feel that one has 'graduated' onto something more sophisticated and suitable to one's station as an alcoholic sober many years, viewing the AA programme as a 'spiritual kindergarten' (Bill's own words).
Now, one might indeed need to investigate various spiritual paths and indeed engage in religion, but it is vital to keep the AA programme the main thing.
When I revisit the Steps on a regular basis, taking care to actually live and get on with life in between runs through the Steps, all of my problems are solved. I re-experience the freshness of the first Step Five and first (full) Step Nine, when I felt that everything was fine and nothing could ever defeat me. I re-experience this on a regular basis.
Why? The AA programme involves ego deflation. Steps One, Four, Five, Eight, Nine, and Twelve all play their part in this. They cut the ego off at the knees.
Now, all spiritual paths are theoretically capable of this. But how many men of religion have to come to AA to deal with their alcoholism?
What happens if the spiritual path becomes 'the main thing', and the Steps are not retaken? In many people I have spoken to who have done this (and yet continued to be active in AA, just not with the first nine Steps): a sense of separation from and sometimes superiority towards AA, alienation, being trapped inside self and sometimes even within their own homes, resentment, terror, and extensive relational dysfunction, all the while maintaining the 'spiritual practice'.
This is not an isolated phenomenon but a common trap, particularly where the path does not involve surrender to God as the Commander-in-Chief. There is something about the surrender to a personified God that seems to act as a check on the ego. That can bring with it its own problems, but these are extensively and articulately covered by such writers as Charles H. Spurgeon, Emmet Fox, Andrew Murray, Oswald Chambers (to name but some of the Christian writers who are expert on this subject).
What is the solution? This is mine:
- Rework the first nine Steps, at least once a year, preferably twice a year or once a quarter
- Keep sponsorship and carrying the message the main 'spiritual activity'
- See the spiritual path as the adjunct to and informer of this rather than the goal in itself
- Work daily with wet or damp drunks
- Remain humble and small: stay in the spiritual kindergarten.