Or, perhaps merely one human seeking to share happiness, joyousness, and
freedom. And to set an example of tolerance of the results possible
from giving the spiritual side of life a fair hearing.

Either way you hear him, safce, both he and those of us who share his
views of the world, mean you nothing but good. Certainly, no one in AA
will demand that you believe any particular creed, or demand that you
act in any particular way. Each of us is entirely free to choose how we
shall live out our own life, and some of us choose to accept good
examples and good advice from time to time.

In doing so, we lose not a bit of our own identity. To the contrary, we
just reject our own character defects one by one as we come to recognize
them, and see what harm they've brought into our lives. Many of us
become happier along the way.

HH


In article <sac9639pd0jpvppl1tbltrssm91hj2inaf@4ax.com>,
safce <safce@fgc.com> wrote:

> the bellowings of the money-makers
>
> On Mon, 04 Jun 2007 22:49:39 GMT, "Muddle" <berniesimmons@epix.net>
> wrote:
>
> >"We used to amuse ourselves by cynically dissecting spiritual beliefs and
> >practices when we might have observed that many spiritually-minded persons
> >of all races, colors, and creeds were demonstrating a degree of stability,
> >happiness and usefulness which we should have sought ourselves."
> >"Instead, we looked at the human defects of these people, and sometimes used
> >their shortcomings as a basis of wholesale condemnation. We talked of
> >intolerance, while we were intolerant ourselves. We missed the reality and
> >the beauty of the forest because we were diverted by the ugliness of some of
> >its trees. We never gave the spiritual side of life a fair hearing."
> >
> >Alcoholics Anonymous, pgs. 49-50