“Today's passages really spoke to me after a wonderful 16 day trip abroad with Gail.”

“Under the lash of alcoholism, we are driven to A.A., and there we discover the fatal nature of our situation. Then, and only then, do we become as open-minded to conviction and as willing to listen as the dying can be.”

“Actually we were fooling ourselves, for deep down in every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or other it is there. For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.”

“With few exceptions our members find that they have tapped an unsuspected inner resource which they presently identify with their own conception of a Power greater than themselves. Most of us think this awareness of a Power greater than ourselves is the essence of spiritual experience. Our more religious members call it “God-consciousness.”

“If we have carefully followed directions, we have begun to sense the flow of His Spirit into us. To some extent we have become God-conscious. We have begun to develop this vital sixth sense. But we must go further and that means more action. Step Eleven suggests prayer and meditation. We shouldn’t be shy on this matter of prayer. Better men than we are using it constantly. It works, if we have the proper attitude and work at it. It would be easy to be vague about this matter. Yet, we believe we can make some definite and valuable suggestions.”

“An old man would sit motionless in church for hours on end. One day a priest asked him what God talked to him about. “God doesn’t talk. He just listens” was his reply. “Well, then what do you talk to him about?” “I don’t talk either. I just listen.” The four stages of Prayer: I talk, you listen. You talk, I listen. Neither talks, both listen. Neither talks, neither listens: Silence.”

“What is the deep listening? Sama* is a greeting from the secret ones inside the heart, a letter.” *[Note: "Sama" is the Sufi mystical art of listening deeply to that which calls to you from within. At times it is simply being still and waiting. It is sometimes preceded immediately by an intense ritualistic practice of what is referred to as "dhikr." Dhikr is the practice of reciting poetry, singing, playing a musical instrument, or dancing (sometimes in what appears to be either a drug-induced or hypnotic trance -- hence the Western term "whirling Dervish"). The Sufi perform dhikr in order to heighten their sense of awareness so that when they practice sama they can better hear the still small voice within. This is the same reason the early mystics such as the Desert Fathers practiced various forms of asceticism, to include fasting and the infliction of physical pain upon themselves. It was always in order to heighten the sense of awareness so that meditation would be richer and fuller. Somehow over the ages asceticism transmogrified into a perverted method to perform penance.]