I know I’m on the beam or off the beam by whether or not I am enthusiastic. Enthusiasm came into English from the post-classical Latin _enthusiasmus_, itself from the Greek _ἐνθουσιάζειν_, which of course means to be inspired or possessed by God. Here are twelve tests for enthusiasm. I do better with these on some days than on others:
- Excited to hear & talk about God.
- Thrilled to pray & meditate & bask in spiritual material.
- Self, stuff, goals, fame, & ideology lose interest & priority.
- Sitting at the front of meetings, bursting to carry the message.
- Chuffed to go to extra meetings to meet & hear new people & carry the message to new ears.
- Drawn to people showing the active grace of God.
- Glad that the solution is to abandon self, not scan, fix, grow, or plump it.
- Doing stepwork now and well, without cue or prompt.
- Heaping and sharing wisdom, tools, & solutions.
- Keen to help any and all.
- Intolerance of own upset & defects + resolute resolution of both.
- Brisk, calm, blithe, and insouciant.
When I’m not scoring so well with the above, I pull myself up short.
“An alcoholic who cannot meet them, still has an alcoholic mind; there is something the matter with his spiritual status.” (Chapter 7, Big Book)