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“Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood him, praying only for knowledge of his will for us, and the power to carry that out.” – Step 11
You are now past the basic 101 courses in addiction recovery. Figuring out a template for ongoing living is what Step 11 is all about. French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is credited with having said “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but are spiritual beings having a human experience.” Spirituality is developmentally evolutionary in characteristic. Wherever you are today you will be someplace different tomorrow. Many addicts struggle with this reality. Folk icon Bob Dylan said it pretty well “Times are a’Changin”. Improving conscious contact with God requires that you understand that recovery is evolutionary.
Improving conscious contact with God requires constant recovery growth. There’s no time to sit back and become an old timer to the program wallowing in the slogans of 12-step recovery.
M. Scott Peck in his book, The Road Less Traveled, likened the recovery spiritual journey to traveling through the desert. He said some people journey to the first oasis, set up camp, and live there for the rest of their lives. They never realize the adventure or experience the journey through the entire desert to the lush greenery on the other side.
You only improve your conscious contact with your understanding of God by embracing the journey, not by setting up camp at any one oasis life experience. Most addicts in recovery prefer the oasis experience. You can stay sober here, but you don’t improve your conscious contact with your God of understanding.
The emphasis on prayer is about a focus on cultivating intensity for personal growth that moves one beyond plateauing in life. You will need to incorporate other recovering addicts who recognize that sobriety is the foundation for a “ground zero” and that the infrastructure for the rest of life is still to be built. Hang with those who insist on challenging personal, relational growth. Meditation is a practice of being present in the here and now. This grounding experience sets the tone for balance in life. It will help establish growth in integrity and clarify values in life. Both are tools that fuel recovery growth into the future of your life.
“God’s will” is a metaphor that challenges you to commit to a deep commitment of mining sacred brilliance that resides deep within your soul. This is the space where all of your healing wisdom is located. Step 11 is an invitation to incorporate all of the steps into your daily life. You do that best through accessing your sovereign eminence through Higher Power, the God of your understanding, No God, Universal Energy, etc that exists within and all around you. Step 11 is not a static achievement but an ongoing dynamic designed to propel you through the rest of your life.
