The material presented
here is not Al-Anon Conference Approved Literature. It is a method
to exchange
information, ideas, feelings, problems and solutions on a personal
level.
Thomas Merton said that the way we have structured our lives, we spend our whole life climbing up the ladder of supposed success, and when we get to the top of the ladder we realize it is leaning against the wrong walland there is nothing at the top anyway. To get back to the place of inherent abundance, you have to let go of all of the false agendas, unreal goals, and passing self-images. It is all about letting go. The spiritual life is more about unlearning than learning, because the deepest youalready knowsand already enjoys ..... og
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Don't Worry About Growing Old, It Is A Privilege For Some Of Us.....
Good one, oldergal... ...once I had been through the programme for a few years I began to picture the steps differently. (And I hasten to add, that this is simply my own opinion!) But I pictured the steps like the numbers on the clock- with steps 12 and one side by side...
I hated Thomas Merton and never saw him in a meeting and he was always writing way above my head anyway and I forced myself to finish one of his books and think I got a permanent brain cramp!! This is rocket science stuff for me and the first slogan I liked and learned how to work was KISS...Keep it Simply Simple. My sponsor taught me that what happens when you climb up to the highest peak before you and when you get to the top the one vista you will see is all of the tall and taller peaks around you that you might feel compeled to climb and then you realize you have to either climb down safely or fall down and hope you survive it. I am amazed when ever I hear a person shout "I get it" after reading Merton and I won't try again. When I got into Al-Anon...I got off the ladder with lots of others Merton should have found the program...and then if he did I don't think he would have wrote as much how he did. Just me. ((((hugs))))
The same wisdom comes to us in different ways, from different people, in different programs. The beauty of Al-Anon is that we can always take what we like and leave the rest. Our Al-Anon readers offer quotes from people and books that are not Al-Anon members or strictly CAL. Merton was a kind and loving man who lived a simple life. I appreciate his wisdom. Thanks, OG.
-- Edited by grateful2be on Friday 1st of November 2013 10:44:37 PM
-- Edited by grateful2be on Friday 1st of November 2013 10:45:48 PM
Good one, oldergal... ...once I had been through the programme for a few years I began to picture the steps differently. (And I hasten to add, that this is simply my own opinion!) But I pictured the steps like the numbers on the clock- with steps 12 and one side by side...
good one, og.