H.O.W.

I didn't know what it meant then. I'm not too sure if I really know what it means now.

Two years ago, when I was 48 and in my 32nd year of active alcoholism, my definition of Spirituality would have been something like: "a person who goes to church."

The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous attempts the following definitions of that concept:

... placing value in and practicing spiritual principles and beliefs
... the fact, quality, or state of being spiritual

When I initially came into the rooms of AA, I almost left as quick as I got there. I saw the word GOD on the walls and wanted no part of that. I had little respect for the church then and not much more now. Then I heard someone share this: "AA is a spiritual program, not religous. Religion is for people who don't want to go to Hell. Spirituality is for people who have been there." That's what I needed to hear.

I am not sure when I actually picked up on the whole concept, but I DO know how it happened. The Big Book explains it thusly:

"We find that no one need have difficulty with the spirituality of the program. Willingness, honesty and open mindedness are the essentials of recovery. But these are indispensable." ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, PAGE 568

And finally:

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance -- that principle is contempt prior to investigation." --- HERBERT SPENCER