Twelve Steps to a Spiritual Awakening

The Twelve Step movement began in the mid 1930's with two hopeless alcoholics who found a way to escape the hell and torment their lives had become, and live a life which was happy, joyous and free. Their means of escape? A personal relationship with a Higher Power.

Today the Twelve Step movement spans the globe. People who used to try to fill the emptiness within through outer means have found a step by step method to find a God of their own understanding and walk with Him/Her in a daily relationship. Those not driven to this method by circumstances may not understand the immense gift the Twelve Step process is. But times are changing. The “world” itself seems to be revealing the need for a practical step by step method to walk in fellowship with a Higher Power, which I choose to call God.

If spiritual growth is a thing you feel is a priority in this life, if you are a lightworker here to help heal this planet at this time, if you feel your life is moving in a direction not positive, or if a closer walk with God is generally something which interests you, then I whole-heartedly suggest an investigation of this process. I searched for God full-time for two and a half decades, and the Twelve Steps were the final piece of the puzzle.

That which follows is a general outline of the Twelve Steps. In the following months, I will detail each Step individually. This is my personal experience, strength, hope and knowledge I have gained from studying and undergoing the process, and living the Steps as a way of life. My description and interpretation is not affiliated with any group or association.

Step One is admission, and acceptance of personal powerlessness. The ego is the little “s” self, a false identity given birth as the result of the illusion of separation from the Wholeness which is the Self, the connected oneness with the Creator. A life run by self-will is an empty exercise in futility. self-will is a fear based thought system, a set of neural pathways based on past events, and will keep you stuck in the past and mired in the material world.

Step Two is “come" to believe that our Higher Self can restore us to Wholeness. This Step is peculiar, in that at first what is required is a willingness to believe. Then the proof is in the pudding. If we diligently learn and practice the rest of the Steps, we view the miraculous healing journey our life becomes. We see manifested in our own direct experience the work of our Creator as we align ourselves with His/Her reality.

Step Three, we make a decision, a decision to turn our will, and our life, over to the care of our Creator. We offer ourselves to God, and then we back up the decision by the actions of the remaining steps. That's it. Make a decision, keep walking the path outlined in the Steps. At this point, life takes on new meaning.

And now the proverbial rubber hits the road. The remaining Steps are about identifying and moving beyond our fear based thought systems, and as such, will involve fear, fear of confronting our shadow self, and fear of change. The great thing about the Steps is we have a concrete and practical way of moving through and beyond the things which keep us bound. And here is where the beautiful simplicity enters. Willingness. As opposed to having to engage the mind to fight the battles, against fear and the self, we focus on willingness. Letting go. This process has much more to do with subtraction than addition. Letting go of the things that keep us blocked from existing within our natural state, which is bliss. And here again the beauty of the steps comes into play. The simple willingness to work the Steps is the crack in the self's armor which allows God/Higher Power (HP) to fill me.

Step Four, we make a searching and fearless moral inventory. Both of these aspects are important, because not only do we identify the things which cause us to diverge from God's reality, we search and trace them to their root. Apollo had it right at his temple at Delphi, “Know Thyself”. Here's your introduction, and if we are fearless about this stage, holding back nothing, the cleansing involved is miraculous. Those things which we keep buried in the subconscious mind come to the surface and are exposed to the Healing light.

Step Five, admitting to God/HP, to yourself, AND to another human being the EXACT NATURE of our wrongs. Not simply my wrongs, but the nature of them, and exposing myself to another person. The Bible admonishes us to admit our sins to one another, which is the origin of confession. But the original idea was to build a sense of community, to build unity. It makes it a bit more difficult to point our finger at someone when we ourselves have openly admitted to another our faults. In my experience, it also breeds a bond of kinship with others who have also done so. Its the “spilled guts” fellowship.

Step Six, sometimes six and seven are considered the forgotten steps, because it is one thing to know myself and be able to recognize when my shortcomings arise, and another thing altogether to be willing to let them go. But I can honestly tell you that this and the next Steps are some of the greatest blessings I have been given. You see, I tried to fix myself for years. I could see my shadow side, and wanted to rid myself of it. This, I have learned, is the opposite of what was needed. “What you resist, persists”. Simply, simply (for emphasis), be willing to let them go. Don't fight it, don't rigidly hold on to it, simply find the willingness to let them go. Remember, God/HP is our partner in this process, and we in the minority. When I find the willingness to let go of the things which keep me separated, I am opening myself up more for my Creator to fill me.

Step Seven, humbly asking God/HP to remove the things which keep me blocked. Not demanding, not picking the ones I want gone. In humility, offering all of myself to my creator. Like so many of the Steps the underling purpose and benefits are many fold. Not only does this work toward me being able to make friends with my shadow, it also strengthens and reinforces the decision I had in Step Three to place my will and my life into God/HP's care. And as such, I must now accept myself as I Am, because I am now under the Banner of the Creator and His/Her infinite wisdom. Who am I to say I know better than God? I am that I am, the way He/She creates me.

Step Eight, making a list, not a mental list, a written list, of all persons we have harmed, and become willing to make amends to them all. That “willing”ness word again, and again, many subtleties. The forgiveness this step brings deepens as we move into Nine, forgiveness of ourselves and others. First, we have to make it through the mental defenses of justification, especially if the person we harmed, harmed us first. That's the surrender this Step brings, surrender of blame, and as the practice develops, seeing the “harm” in both directions as if it never occurred. I find forgiveness for myself and the world.

Step Nine, actually making direct (straightforward) amends wherever possible, except when doing so would injure the person or others. Bite the bullet, and find the humility to approach the people we have done dirty in our past, intentionally or indirectly, and make an effort to restore, to make reparation. To repair the damage. This is the Step where we transition from the past to the present. We begin to work with new clarity. This is not a groveling apology, we are not “sorry”. We take responsibility for the way we conduct ourselves. We become responsible. The healing becomes real in our life, and the burden of our past begins to lift as we progress through the amends process.

Step Ten, continuing to take personal inventory, and when we are wrong, promptly admitting it. Buddhists may recognize the observer meditation in this Step. We observe ourselves, we begin to move beyond ourselves. We watch and we become aware. As we practice this Step, and incorporate Steps six and seven, a beautiful dynamic occurs. We observe, we release, and we turn to God/HP. We begin to move beyond ourselves and into God/HP. And what is the tool we are using? Our”s”elves and our shortcomings. Our “sins”, “defects”, “shortcomings” et all become the blessings which move us closer to God. How perfect is that? Wait though, there's a second part to this Step. The most important part of admitting our wrongs is admitting them to ourselves. That tendency towards justification, IE: the ego, is kept in check, and just to insure humility, admitting to others when we are wrong. The subtly in this? Perfection in imperfection. Accepting, not running from or denying, our shadow selves.

Step Eleven, seeking through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying ONLY for the knowledge of His/Her will for us, and the power to carry out that will. We are not seeking conscious contact, but to improve the conscious contact we have already made in taking the previous Steps. In the book Alcoholics Anonymous, aka the big book, in the description of this Step, it says we have already begun to become “God conscious” by this point. Most of you reading this are probably adept at prayer and/or meditation, but lets take those two together since it says prayer AND meditation. Connecting and listening. Then add the rest of this Step, praying only for the knowledge of God's will for us. Not telling my Creator what my plans are. Connecting and listening for the guidance in aligning our lives according to the Divine Plan, and the power to carry that will out - the ability to do God's will. And as I clear my “s”elf out of the way through ten, six, and seven, this becomes increasingly possible.

Step Twelve, having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we try to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all of our affairs. This Step guarantees a spiritual awakening from this process. If we have earnestly worked the Steps, we have had a spiritual awakening. In some cases, this awakening comes in the form of a burning bush (figuratively). In others its more of a gradual awakening as from a nap and coming to our senses. This depends on the spiritual work we have done previously in our lives. For me it was as if the pieces of a puzzle suddenly fit together. The knowledge I had acquired in 25 years of searching went from my head to my heart. And then what? We give it away. Its definitely one of those God paradoxes. Give it away to keep it. We become the channel through which flows God's blessings into the world. We have become God's instruments, Her/His agents. And then we make it a Way of life. We practice the Steps in all of our affairs, we have had a psychic change, and have a design for living in oneness with our Creator.

For those interested in walking the Twelve Steps to a spiritual awakening, I have two recommended readings. The book titled Alcoholics Anonymous, aka the big book, beginning (for non-alcoholics) on page 44 through page 88, and the last two paragraphs on page 164. Book two is “Breathing Underwater” by Richard Rohr, a catholic priest who is not an alcoholic but teaches the steps as a spiritual practice (its incredibly insightful).

I'll end with the one thing my first sponsor had me memorize, the third paragraph of the forward to the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (an in-depth discussion of the Steps by a co-founder). “A.A's Twelve Steps are a group of principles, spiritual in their nature, which, if practiced as a way of life, can expel the obsession to drink, and enable the sufferer to become happily and usefully whole.” Happily, and usefully... Whole.