Post by Snips on Aug 3, 2019 8:44:06 GMT -6
Step One:
“We admitted we were powerless over ____- that our lives had become unmanageable”
Notice that while even though the 12 steps are focused on the alcohol or drug related conditions, the subject of the powerless is blank. The reason for this is simple: once the drugs and alcohol is no longer an issue, it’s life that becomes unmanageable. It doesn't matter if you struggle with a substance abuse or not, you are powerless over something in your life. It is this concept in which other programs were created. For example, if you are a parent, you will soon find out that you have no true control over your children. You have control over your actions, you have control over how you guide, but your children are not going to be a perfect image of yourself. This goes along with every mask we wear in our lives.
The program states that the first step in liberation is to admit defeat (Alcoholics Anonymous. Big Book, page 21). Defeat is not a positive word in society but it is something that Jedi should be able to stand behind. If you have ever found yourself in a frustrating situation that continues to take your peace of mind, ask yourself why. In most cases, if not all, you will find that the frustration comes down to the lack of control that you have over the situation in the first place. Maybe we had someone that we felt that we could trust and told them a deep dark secret about ourselves. This person then turned around and started telling others about this secret. The frustration comes from the expectation that we had over someone. In reality, we cannot tell someone to not share information and expect that they will follow.The moment that secret left our mouths and into someone’s ear, we let go of that control and put it into someone’s hands.
The purpose of step one can be summed up into one word: acceptance. The “acceptance is the answer” clarification can be found on page 417-419 of the Alcoholics Anonymous:
“"And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today.
When I am disturbed,
It is because I find some person, place, thing, situation --
Some fact of my life -- unacceptable to me,
And I can find no serenity until I accept
That person, place, thing, or situation
As being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment.
Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in God's world by mistake.
Until I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober;
Unless I accept life completely on life's terms,
I cannot be happy.
I need to concentrate not so much
On what needs to be changed in the world
As on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes."
There is an argument that the acceptance part of the Big Book should be deleted from the program. It is believed that acceptance is a sign of passiveness by stating that you need to just focus on you and not others. This is far from the truth. Acceptance is not the idea that you agree or enable a situation, it is saying that you have no control over it, except for your own actions. If you do not like a situation, do what you can to change it.
The reason that “acceptance is the answer” was brought up was because in this section is that it spoke about the need for control. It uses an example of staging of a play and us wanting to be directors of the play. We tell people what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. If it does not happen the way we expect it too, that is where our serenity decreases. It is self centered. It is the idea that we want the world to revolve around us. When we find that we have no control over these things, we tend to start feeling as if our life is surrounded by chaos.
As we know of the Jedi Code, as adopted from the Star Wars Sega, “There is no chaos, there is harmony.” Let us define these two terms: chaos is lack of order, harmony is in agreement with each other. By admitting lacking the power to influence, we are allowing life to take place at its own rhythm. A great example of this is attempting to walk against the current in a river. Walking against the current is hard. It creates waves and movement that is against its nature. However, the moment that you turn around and go with the current, it is much easier to move. The movement itself does not create additional turmoil to its environment. It is what it is, what it is intended to be. With us wanting to walk against the river, we create an environment in which is against its own nature. Likewise, what we fail to realize is that we are the cause of our own suffering. Life is going to unfold even if we don’t agree with how it turns out. Life is what it is intending to do. It is us that creates the chaos.
The first step tells us that we do not have control over something and because of that lack of control, we find ourselves in a place of unrest. This unrest gives us a solid foundation to justify our emotions that lead to action. Emotions cloud judgement and does not allow for the whole picture to be determined by the person. Reality is no longer a reality but a figment of the imagination that goes wild. Our brains will come up with every solution to avoid pain and often will create scenarios in which are not actually taking place.
In some martial arts movies, you will see a lesson in which the person is blind folded during a fight. The lesson to learn from this is to not allow your eyes be the only source of input. The concept that can be taken away from this is that emotions become the eyes of the person, only seeing what it wants to see. It becomes focused on one threat and does not allow other threats to be determined. This is why in some cases we are hit with problems that we did not see coming. We allowed our emotions to give us tunnel vision.
I often use the dirty water example to explain how our emotions cloud judgement. It is the idea that when walking around in the shallow of a lake, we kick up dirt while we move. This dirt will cloud the water around you, not allowing you to make a fair judgement on where to move. It is not until you stand still and let the dirt settle a bit are you going to be able to make a clear decision. This is why people, especially those who follow the Jedi path, should never make a decision based on emotion. Your emotions are created by thought and thought is created by the mind. The minds only purpose is to keep you safe.
This is not saying that you should ignore your emotions. Your emotions are what makes you human. They make you who you are and what you strive to be in the future. However, instead of acting on emotions, recognize them for what they are. Acknowledge them and know the root that caused them to happen and then deal with that root cause. How to deal with them will be touched on in step 4.
“We admitted we were powerless over ____- that our lives had become unmanageable”
Notice that while even though the 12 steps are focused on the alcohol or drug related conditions, the subject of the powerless is blank. The reason for this is simple: once the drugs and alcohol is no longer an issue, it’s life that becomes unmanageable. It doesn't matter if you struggle with a substance abuse or not, you are powerless over something in your life. It is this concept in which other programs were created. For example, if you are a parent, you will soon find out that you have no true control over your children. You have control over your actions, you have control over how you guide, but your children are not going to be a perfect image of yourself. This goes along with every mask we wear in our lives.
The program states that the first step in liberation is to admit defeat (Alcoholics Anonymous. Big Book, page 21). Defeat is not a positive word in society but it is something that Jedi should be able to stand behind. If you have ever found yourself in a frustrating situation that continues to take your peace of mind, ask yourself why. In most cases, if not all, you will find that the frustration comes down to the lack of control that you have over the situation in the first place. Maybe we had someone that we felt that we could trust and told them a deep dark secret about ourselves. This person then turned around and started telling others about this secret. The frustration comes from the expectation that we had over someone. In reality, we cannot tell someone to not share information and expect that they will follow.The moment that secret left our mouths and into someone’s ear, we let go of that control and put it into someone’s hands.
The purpose of step one can be summed up into one word: acceptance. The “acceptance is the answer” clarification can be found on page 417-419 of the Alcoholics Anonymous:
“"And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today.
When I am disturbed,
It is because I find some person, place, thing, situation --
Some fact of my life -- unacceptable to me,
And I can find no serenity until I accept
That person, place, thing, or situation
As being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment.
Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in God's world by mistake.
Until I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober;
Unless I accept life completely on life's terms,
I cannot be happy.
I need to concentrate not so much
On what needs to be changed in the world
As on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes."
There is an argument that the acceptance part of the Big Book should be deleted from the program. It is believed that acceptance is a sign of passiveness by stating that you need to just focus on you and not others. This is far from the truth. Acceptance is not the idea that you agree or enable a situation, it is saying that you have no control over it, except for your own actions. If you do not like a situation, do what you can to change it.
The reason that “acceptance is the answer” was brought up was because in this section is that it spoke about the need for control. It uses an example of staging of a play and us wanting to be directors of the play. We tell people what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. If it does not happen the way we expect it too, that is where our serenity decreases. It is self centered. It is the idea that we want the world to revolve around us. When we find that we have no control over these things, we tend to start feeling as if our life is surrounded by chaos.
As we know of the Jedi Code, as adopted from the Star Wars Sega, “There is no chaos, there is harmony.” Let us define these two terms: chaos is lack of order, harmony is in agreement with each other. By admitting lacking the power to influence, we are allowing life to take place at its own rhythm. A great example of this is attempting to walk against the current in a river. Walking against the current is hard. It creates waves and movement that is against its nature. However, the moment that you turn around and go with the current, it is much easier to move. The movement itself does not create additional turmoil to its environment. It is what it is, what it is intended to be. With us wanting to walk against the river, we create an environment in which is against its own nature. Likewise, what we fail to realize is that we are the cause of our own suffering. Life is going to unfold even if we don’t agree with how it turns out. Life is what it is intending to do. It is us that creates the chaos.
The first step tells us that we do not have control over something and because of that lack of control, we find ourselves in a place of unrest. This unrest gives us a solid foundation to justify our emotions that lead to action. Emotions cloud judgement and does not allow for the whole picture to be determined by the person. Reality is no longer a reality but a figment of the imagination that goes wild. Our brains will come up with every solution to avoid pain and often will create scenarios in which are not actually taking place.
In some martial arts movies, you will see a lesson in which the person is blind folded during a fight. The lesson to learn from this is to not allow your eyes be the only source of input. The concept that can be taken away from this is that emotions become the eyes of the person, only seeing what it wants to see. It becomes focused on one threat and does not allow other threats to be determined. This is why in some cases we are hit with problems that we did not see coming. We allowed our emotions to give us tunnel vision.
I often use the dirty water example to explain how our emotions cloud judgement. It is the idea that when walking around in the shallow of a lake, we kick up dirt while we move. This dirt will cloud the water around you, not allowing you to make a fair judgement on where to move. It is not until you stand still and let the dirt settle a bit are you going to be able to make a clear decision. This is why people, especially those who follow the Jedi path, should never make a decision based on emotion. Your emotions are created by thought and thought is created by the mind. The minds only purpose is to keep you safe.
This is not saying that you should ignore your emotions. Your emotions are what makes you human. They make you who you are and what you strive to be in the future. However, instead of acting on emotions, recognize them for what they are. Acknowledge them and know the root that caused them to happen and then deal with that root cause. How to deal with them will be touched on in step 4.