The Philosophy of Courage - Alcoholics Anonymous. AA, Meeting ...

presence of God not only into her own life, but into her whole family’s life. A manis guided to go see another man on business at a particular time and place, and tohis surprise, ends up explaining to the other man how to surrender his life to God,which that other man does right there on the spot. An ambitious man is guided intomaking a big and very humiliating material sacrifice, but ends up being given animportant position where he can do God’s work. [chapter 2, section II]Testing guidance to make sure that it isnot self-delusion and blind fanaticismPeople are afraid to teach the idea of divine guidance because they are afraidthat it will produce fanaticism. But there are ways of testing guidance, which willhelp keep this from happening.1. By its fruits: True guidance produces love and health. Fanaticism producesterror, torture, death, and fear.2. By motive: People who are truly guided begin by confessing their own sins andtheir need to correct their own defects. Fanatics try to deal with their own fears andresentments by blaming others and attacking the sins of others instead.3. By the end: Fanatics have limited particular ends, specified rigidly, to whichthey will sacrifice everything and everyone else. Things must be fit by force intomechanical creeds and formulas and systems of legalistic rules and political andeconomic theories. Those who are truly guided, on the other hand, see that truegoodness usually expresses itself in novel and creative ways, which may break ortransform all the old rules. They do not say, “what mechanical rule or theory mustwe slavishly follow?” but leave their minds totally open and say instead, “let us pray,and see if we can discover what will be truly loving, unselfish, and caring.” [chapter2, section III]What is the “spiritual experience” we need to have?1. It is not a kind of experience which we are supposed to have only at particulartimes. Some modern writers, Leon says, try to portray it as some sort of specialfeeling which we can only have when we are engaged in a certain kind of ritualisticprayer, or when kneeling in church and looking at stained glass windows and listeningto organ music. But the true experience of God is something we can feel continuouslythrough the day, for it is the experience of the health of life. My old life wassick and diseased, and I felt the misery of that soul-sickness inside me continuously.The new life is the experience instead of health and vitality permeating everythingI sense and experience and think and feel. [chapter 2, section V]2. It is not a kind of experience which only certain kinds of specially talentedpeople can feel. There are very few people who have the ability to write fine poetryor compose great music or paint a beautiful painting. Only great geniuses can do18