Phase Three: The Catalyst
Rejoice! We've made it through the tough part. Self-inquiry is not something that is standard-issue in our society and culture. We've made a huge leap towards a greater understanding. The relief that Step Five brought has convinced us we are on the right path.
We've come to the sixth Step on our pathway to a spiritual awakening. My first sponsor told me, and I tell my sponsees, that your first time through the Steps is to learn how to practice this design for living as a way of life. Then the real work begins.
The instructions in the big book for Steps Six and Seven are given in two paragraphs, one for each Step. The paragraph before Six gives instructions for finalizing Five. When we return home after admitting to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs, we are told to sit alone for an hour or so and review the work we have done so far, making certain that it was done to the best of our ability.
If we feel we have done so we ask ourselves if we are ready to let God remove all the things within us that we find objectionable. When we feel we have reached that point, we say the following prayer: “My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to You and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do Your bidding. Amen”. Congratulations! We have now completed to big book's instructions for Steps Six and Seven.
We now come to one of the many God paradoxes of this program. These two Steps, with the shortest set of instructions given in the big book, are a life-long process. But don't fret. These Steps are two of the most valuable tools in moving into a personal relationship with our Creator. And when coupled with Step Ten in what I call the Ten/Six/Seven dynamic, make the most powerful catalyst for spiritual growth I have encountered.
We will delve into Ten when the time comes, but I will give a precursor here. Ten is the observer meditation, a tool which moves us into “awareness” itself. How? By observing the things which arise in the ego mind. Having identified the fear-based thought system (the ego) with our work in Step Four, we have begun moving beyond the (little s) self into the connected Self.
Now we add the action tools. These are not necessarily physical actions, they take place mostly in the ethereal realm, but they are actions nonetheless. First, we find the willingness to let go of the mental constructs which keep us blocked from God consciousness.
In Buddhist philosophy there is attachment (latching onto fear, lust, greed, anger, judgement, etc), and aversion (pushing away these aspects). In Step Six we are introduced to the willingness to have God remove them. We don't reject, we don't cling (or if we do we pray for willingness). We observe, become aware of, the thoughtforms which surround the actions which cause us to deviate from God's Perfection.
Next, we humbly ask God to remove our shortcomings. Now here's the twist that my study and experience of being a spiritual seeker has given me. Follow for a moment. My “shortcomings” are where I come short of conscious contact with God. So to humbly ask God to remove that distance is to place myself into conscious contact, and I do that through the heart/mind connection. I center my mind into the heartspace, that space that was filled by my Higher Power through my work with the Steps.
Call it the Holy Spirit, the heart chakra, stillness, peace, nirvana, presence, kundalini or whatever, I turn my mind into my heart. This moves me into the “Now” moment, into present moment awareness, into the space where Love dwells.
My shortcoming has been removed. I have contacted God. And what was the catalyst? Human nature.
Through this dynamic we effectively take our weaknesses and turn it into a source of Strength and Power. We allow God to fill the cracks. Each time the fear based thought system reveals itself it becomes a “trigger”, a stimulus, to place ourselves closer to God.
Through operating from awareness (Ten), becoming detached by being willing to release the (little s) self, the ego (Six), and placing ourselves into conscious contact with God (Seven), we are effectively letting go of the illusion of separation and returning Home to Oneness with God. What a Trip :)
