Make A Purchase: Special Offer!
A Higher Power of My Own Understanding
By Robert Burney
"I believe that in a hundred years historians will look back and pinpoint this milestone as the single most important event in the twentieth century. This milestone was the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous in Akron, Ohio, in June of 1935.
Besides the invaluable gift of sobriety that AA has given to millions of Alcoholics, it also started a revolution in Spiritual consciousness.
The dramatic success and expansion of AA facilitated the spread of a radically revolutionary idea which has traditionally, in Western Civilization, been considered heresy. This was not a new idea but rather a reintroduction and clarification of an old idea, coupled with a formula for practical application of the concept into day-to-day human life experience.
This revolutionary idea was that an unconditionally Loving Higher Power exists with whom the individual being can personally communicate. A Higher Power that is so powerful that it has no need to judge the humans it created because this Universal Force is powerful enough to ensure that everything unfolds perfectly from a Cosmic Perspective.
This reintroduction of the revolutionary concept of an accessible Loving God has been clarified to specifically include the concept that the individual being can define this Universal Force according to his/her own understanding, and can develop a personal, intimate relationship with this Higher Power.
In other words, no one is needed as an intermediary between you and your creator. No outside agency has the right to impose upon you its definition of God.
The spread of Alcoholics Anonymous, and the other Anonymous programs which sprang out of AA, is the widest and most effective dissemination of this radical revolutionary concept that has ever occurred in Western Civilization.
Mystics, gnostics, and certain "primitive" peoples have, throughout recorded human history, understood the Truth in this concept - but the "organized religions" of urban-based civilizations have persecuted, tortured, and crucified any messengers or groups of people who believed in a Loving, personal God or Goddess - because it threatened the power of those organized religions' control over the masses and therefore their very existence. This time the dissemination of the message has been effective because: The time was right; the revolutionary concept was camouflaged as part of a successful treatment for a fatal, incurable disease; and it was accompanied by the Twelve Step Spiritual program"
Quote from Codependence: The Dance of Wounded Souls
In March of 2003 I began a series of articles on gender, sexuality, romantic relationships, and directly related topics, that evolved into sub series on fear of intimacy - and specifically the invaluable lessons I learned in a transformational - and extremely painful - relationship experience in 2004. In opening my mind and heart to messages from my intuition about what I would start writing about here on Suite 101 in 2005, I perceived messages both externally and internally - the normal way on my Spiritual Path that I find "coincidences" coalescing to bring me guidance - to focus on a Higher Power of my own understanding.
This series will range in focus from the historical to the metaphysical, from the very personal to the international to a Cosmic view of the human experience. One of the sparks that ignited this series is the fact that I am going to be doing a 12 step speaker meeting and workshop just outside of Akron Ohio in May of this year. Akron Ohio is the birthplace of Alcoholics Anonymous - as is mentioned in the quote from my book above. I have used an unusually long quote from my book to accompany this article, because of the personal importance to me and my path of what I wrote in the above passage.
I Truly do believe that the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous could be viewed as the most important single event of the Twentieth Century. That is because the twelve step recovery program has not only proven such a literal life saver for millions of people, but it also provided a formula for countless individuals to learn how to live life based upon spiritual principles that align with the metaphysical laws that actually govern the experience of being human - instead of the twisted black and white beliefs of shame based organized religion.
In my book, I use principles of quantum physics and molecular biology to try to explain the planetary conditions that resulted in human beings - and religions - developing a black and white polarized perspective of life. Also in Codependence: The Dance of Wounded Souls,I share my belief that a new Age of Healing and Joy has dawned in human consciousness.
Here is another quote from my book:
"One of the fascinating things about the Age of Healing and Joy that has dawned in human consciousness is that the tools and knowledge that we need to raise our consciousness, to awaken to consciousness, have been unfolding in all areas of human endeavor over time, and at an accelerated rate in the last fifty to one hundred years."
Quote from Codependence: The Dance of Wounded Souls
I believe that Alcoholics Anonymous and the twelve step process were vitally important components in the evolutionary / revolutionary ascension of planetary consciousness - in the acceleration of enLightenment - that produced critical mass and transformed planetary conditions. In this quote, I make reference to how this consciousness expansion can be seen in all areas of human endeavor. Likewise, it can be viewed from a multitude of perspectives. One of those perspectives would be astrological.
From an astrological perspective, the Age of Healing and Joy that I talk about in my book, can be seen as the Age of Aquarius.
Now astrology is not something I know a lot about - nor is it something that I give a lot of power in terms of how I live my life day to day. But it is a part of the whole picture, and does carry some power and Truth in it's perspective.
One of the sparks that went into igniting the series of articles I am beginning here, was rediscovering a piece of writing that I ran across some years ago - which I am going to quote from in this article. I believe it was something I found on the internet - although I failed to note where I found it, and cannot find it on the web now in some searches I have done in the last few days. (If anyone can tell me the original source, I will be more than happy to give credit where credit is due.)
When I originally discovered this piece of writing, it validated what I had been saying for years about the Age of Healing and Joy being the Age of Aquarius. I had been saying that based upon intuitive knowledge rather than any actual understanding of the study of astrology. This is something that has happened again and again on my Spiritual Path. That is, I am led to see the Truth in something through intuition and messages from the Universe - and those nuggets of Truth that I discern are later validated by multiple external sources.
This astrological information that I recently rediscovered is something that resonated powerfully with me - and I created a word processing document to save it on January 30th 2001. Exactly four years before I am publishing this article. One of those interesting coincidences.
In this rediscovered piece of work, it is explained that it takes 2,160 years for the Spring Equinox to move through the zodiac wheel from one sign to the next - thus an age associated with a specific astrological sign lasts for 2,160 years. We have just passed from the Age of Pisces into the Age of Aquarius. (There is no consensus among astrologers on when the the passage from Pisces to Aquarius actually takes place. Some say it already has, some say it will on various dates in the coming years. I believe the age of Aquarius began in the late 1980s.)
These next two paragraphs are what I wanted to share in this article. I find them very interesting in relationship to the Transformational Healing process I see happening on the planet.
"One essential premise of the Piscean religions is that human beings are inherently flawed by an original sin, and so sinful and corrupt in nature that they cannot be improved, much less "saved" without the active intervention of God, who either sends his Son to atone for the sins of all humankind, or communicates through His Prophet the way of Submission (the literal meaning of Islam) in which His people are expected to live. At best, the more virtuous human beings may become a congregation, literally a flock of sheep to be protected and led by a pastor, or shepherd.
As the energy of Pisces is magnetic, charismatic and enchanting, the energy of Aquarius is electric, attractive and exciting, Thus the spirituality of the Aquarian paradigm will emphasize relationships of friendship and equality rather than hierarchies; individual development and empowerment over obedience, and spiritual action in very large-scale events spanning much of the globe through electronic communications."
Does the last part of this last sentence sound like the internet or what?
Anyway, in this series of articles I am going to be talking about a Higher Power of my own understanding. That is, I will be sharing my Spiritual beliefs and how those beliefs have developed and evolved over my time in recovery - which will include talking about the influence of Alcoholics Anonymous and the twelve step process in my personal journey of growth and awakening.
A Higher Power of My Own understanding 2 - The Beginning of Empowerment
