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| 1. | One Man's Opinion As He Sees the 'Spiritual Angle' (by R.E.B.) "There are no atheists in foxholes" is an expression which has been current nearly three years, though its authenticity has been challenged by skeptics. It also might be said that "there are no atheists in A.A.," though this statement, too, might be open to question. | August 1945 | |
| 2. | Spirituality (by O. B.) Oklahoma -- ATHEISTIC, arrogant, egotistical and intolerant as I was, and further, armed with a few years certain knowledge of the fact that I am an alcoholic, made my surrender, after a practical --drunken --raging --drunken --cunning --drunken --methodical --drunken --hopeless battle with alcohol, all the more totally abject. | January 1952 | |
| 3. | No Trumpets Blew (by P. S. C.) Illinois -- MANY and many a week and month had passed for me in AA and I was still troubled about that "spiritual awakening" deal. In fact I was about five or six years old on the program before I understood that I really had had a spiritual awakening a long time before I realized it and just didn't recognize it. | February 1953 | |
| 4. | A Spiritual Awakening in Prison (by Anon.) New York -- RECENTLY I was asked the question, "What do you get, or expect to get, out of the AA group or from attending its meetings?" At the time I gave the answer, "Sobriety"; but later reflection on this question proved that I had actually realized a great deal more from AA than this very vital need, especially through the group therapy at the closed meetings where experiences, effects and results were shown in the discussion. These closed sessions gave me a desire to: Admit to myself that I was powerless over alcohol and that it made my life unmanageable to the extent that I landed here in prison. I am now ready to admit that this was in all ... | May 1955 | |
| 5. | Don't You Believe in Your Automobile? (by R. L. G.) Washington -- THERE are many definitions of faith, but the one I like best is: "Faith is the believing after all reasoning has been exhausted." | June 1955 | |
| 6. | The Spiritual Angle of AA (by Rev. Samuel M. Shoemaker) Penna. -- IT was clear to Bill from the first, I take it, that Dr. Jung's simple declaration that science knew no answer, and Dr. Silk worth's incalculable help from the medical angle, and William James' great wisdom in "Varieties of Religious Experience" still left the great need for a spiritual factor which would create a synthesis and offer a dynamic motive to sobriety. The problem was how to translate the spiritual experience into universal terms without letting it evaporate into mere ideals and generalities. | October 1955 | |
| 7. | What a Spiritual Awakening Means to Me (by J. A. L.) New York -- RECENTLY I have heard more and more speakers remark, "It is easier to get sober than to stay sober." In my opinion this need not be so. For more than seven years I have worked with a number of fellow alcoholics who had trouble with the program. Almost invariably they had forgotten, or never actually grasped, the principles in our program that aid spiritual growth and promote a happy sobriety. | April 1956 | |
| 8. | In All Our Affairs (by H .W.) Connecticut -- WORDS HAVE A WAY of taking on an entirely new significance when we enter into the new world opened up to us by AA sobriety. We all know how the first apparent clichés of our simple formulas change and become a vital part of our daily life. We discover after a time, for example, that we never really had an inkling of how practically useful "think" is until we accept how very long it has been since we really understood it. "Humility" came, with a bit more sobriety, to take its place as a lovely, living word, a quality of acceptance of our limitations, most devoutly to be searched for; the most desirable member of our family of words--humility. | July 1956 | |
| 9. | Moments of Spiritual Awareness Editor's Note: Since the moment of spiritual insight, whether mild or intense, is so much a part of the life of so many AAs, the Grapevine will from time to time publish accounts of such experiences. The following accounts are drawn, with the permission of the publisher, from Raynor C. Johnson's book, "Watcher on the Hills," and from correspondence with AAs. Co-founder, Bill, reminds us not to put too great store by these special moments, since the daily living of the AA life is a spiritual experience of a high order. They do, however, shed a light to be recalled during life's more prosaic stretches. | June 1962 | |
| 10. | Moments of Spiritual Awareness (by D. E. R.) The great French scientist and essayist, Blaise Pascal had a spiritual experience on Monday, November 23, 1654, which completely transformed his life. So important was this event to the great philosopher that he strove to keep its memory in the forefront of his thoughts for the rest of his life. To this purpose he wrote a record of it which he kept sewn inside his jacket and which was discovered only after his death: "From about half past ten in the evening until about half past twelve. . .FIRE. . .God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob. . .God of Jesus Christ. . .not of the philosophers and scholars. . .Certitude, certitude, feeling, joy, peace. . .I ... | September 1962 | |
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