Lack of humility

SteveP · MIP Old Timer

Lack of humility

AGO · MIP Old Timer

I like all of them but 7, which frankly I view as the opposite of humility, I am worthy of God's grace today and my head is high because of it

I do like the list though, some slipped right through my guard lol

I just went to step 7 to find my favorite definition of Humility and found the whole thing amazingly pertinant, YET AGAIN lol

Step 7

In all these strivings, so many of them well-intentioned, our crippling handicap had been our lack of humility. We had lacked the perspective to see that character-building and spiritual values had to come first, and that material satisfactions were not the purpose of living. Quite characteristically, we had gone all out in confusing the ends with the means. Instead of regarding the satisfaction of our material desires as the means by which we could live and function as human beings, we had taken these satisfactions to be the final end and aim of life. True, most of us thought good character was desirable, but obviously good character was something one needed to get on with the business of being self-satisfied. With a proper display of honesty and morality, we'd stand a better chance of getting what we really wanted. But whenever we had to choose between character and comfort, the character-building was lost in the dust of our chase after what we thought was happiness. Seldom did we look at character-building as something desirable in itself, something we would like to strive for whether our instinctual needs were met or not. We never thought of making honesty, tolerance, and true love of man and God the daily basis of living.

Rainspa · Senior Member

Dear God, WHERE did you find this on the internet?

Are there whips and flails available in their gift shop?

There is humility, and then there is a sick bastard pride that "I can debase myself better than you can".

Really, In this document I can find no part of a LOVING God. Abusive.

SteveP · MIP Old Timer

Rainspa wrote:

Dear God, WHERE did you find this on the internet?

Are there whips and flails available in their gift shop?

There is humility, and then there is a sick bastard pride that "I can debase myself better than you can".

Really, In this document I can find no part of a LOVING God. Abusive.

lol -- true about the whips and flails. In fact, true about a lot of what your points.

I suspect that I may have been a bit too eager in putting this up and that, upon reflection, it is a bit too hard-core, for which I apogize. I need to learn to temper my enthusiasm a bit somtimes!

I'm going to do and edit of something these things...

Steve

Rainspa · Senior Member

lol -- true about the whips and flails. In fact, true about a lot of what your points.

I suspect that I may have been a bit too eager in putting this up and that, upon reflection, it is a bit too hard-core, for which I apogize. I need to learn to temper my enthusiasm a bit somtimes!

I'm going to do and edit of something these things...

Steve

No need for you to apologize, I'm a wee bit worried about the author though.

Is this Opus Dei? Cotton Mather? Written a couple of centuries ago? Jeez.

Halfwolf · Veteran Member

I heard somewhere the definition of a Warrior's humility and kind of adopted it as my own because after all we are all warriors, fighting for our lives.
" I will bow down to no man, but neither will I expect anyone to bow down to me"

barisax · Senior Member

SteveP wrote:
8. To use yourself as an example in conversations

That one is interesting. In AA, we share *our* experience, strength and hope. I'm not qualified to talk about anyone else's. On the surface this may seem egotistical, but you get used to it.

I had a friend (not in AA) who would grouse about his problems to me at times. I'd respond with something anecdotal from my own experience. Not so much "You should do this" but, "When something like that happened to me, I did this...". He finally said hey, how come you always change the subject and talk about yourself? I said because it's the only thing I can tell you that isn't bullshit. My experience is the only truth I know, I can't speak directly to his issue.

AA is not an authoritarian program. Doesn't stop many people from practicing it that way, either acting as authority or submitting to it. If it works for them, fine - but it's not a requirement. It's funny, I know people with long term sobriety who were considered gurus. They had lots of sponsees and their sponsees put them on a pedestal. Thing is, there was nothing special about any of them - if I wasn't one of their followers, I could just talk to them like a normal person. Many of these "gurus" refuse to act like gurus even while they seem to attract a legion of followers. Sometimes the followers eventually get it. There are some who DO act like gurus and leaders. Like I say, if that's what keeps them sober... whatever. I found that sooner or later *every* human power will fail me. Not just my own. It's not if, but when. God works through everyone, not just one person perceived as authority.

Trying to convince someone I'm humble by filling out a questionaire is sort of like trying to explain that I'm not fat to the person next to me in the buffet line.

Barisax