We Agnostics (Continue)
C: Now, if I know what I need is the Power, and if I know that the finding of the Power can start simply with belief, then there's only about one other thing that I really need to know in order to get that Power. That is to find out where that Power is. Let's go over to page fifty-five for just a moment.
You know, I looked for this Power all my life. I've always looked for God. I always envisioned God as a tall elderly gentleman standing upon a cloud. He had on a long flowing white robes, long white hair, golden halo around his head, and sun ray. shooting out of it. And I looked, and I looked, and I looked, and I looked, and I never did see him.
I looked for Him in the birds, and I looked for Him in the bees. I could never find Him. I think the reason I never found God is because I really didn't know where to look. I didn't know where God is, or where he dwelled. On page fifty five, it's going to tell me exactly where to find God. (p. 55, par. 2-4) 'Yet we had been seeing another kind of flight, a spiritual liberation from this world, people who rose above their problems. They said God made these things possible, and we only smiled. We had seen spiritual release. But liked to tell ourselves it wasn't true.'
'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 men himself.'
'We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was a part of our make-up, just as much as the feeling we have for a friend. Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but He we. there. He was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis it is only there that He may be found. It was so with us.'
You see, my book is telling me that God dwells within me. If God dwells within me, then that gives me a completely different concept, or idea about God. Now, I really don't think God is lost. People say, you got to find Him, you got to find Him. I don't think he's lost. If you've been here since the beginning of time, it's rather difficult to get lost.
I think God dwells within every human being. It seems as though deep down in every man, woman, and child is the fundamental idea of God.
I don't know what we call that idea. Some people might call it innate knowledge. Some people might went to refer to it as common sense. Some may want to call it the conscience. Others may want to call it the soul. I don't really think it makes any difference what we call it. But it seem though, for each of us deep down inside, we have certain basic fundamental ideas on how to live.
We just could never live up to those ideas. Because in our chase for money, power, prestige, sex, et cetera, we obscured and covered those ideas up, and did our thing. I think all we really have to do, is peel away the garbage and get rid of that junk. I think this basic knowledge that we all seem to have, can come to the surface, and we find that we already know how to live.
We already know how to do what we want to do. You know, you really don't have to get anything in the Steps. In the Steps, you have to get
rid of some things. These action Steps that we're going to be called upon to take, the purpose of them is to peel this garbage sway and get rid of it. And let this innate knowledge that we've all got at a subconscious level come to the surface, and we'll be able to use that Power.
I didn't know that. And if this be true, and I think it is. Then that means I've got my own personal God. If he dwells within me then I don't have to worry about whether He's the God of the Baptist church. I don't have to worry whether He'. the God of the Catholic religion, the Jewish religion, or anything else. He's my own personal God. If I can get that knowledge to the surface, then I'm going to be able to live peaceful, happy, and fret for the first time in my life.
Always before I never could find Him, because I kept looking for Him in the wrong places. Now, if He dwells within me? then most certainly He dwells within you too. If we can believe that, then that's the starting point. From there we can begin to recover from the disease of alcoholism. You know, I've found in the process of working this program; I didn't have to go find out anything spiritually. I didn't have to read any more books. I already knew what needed to be done. I just could never bring it to the surface.
We've experienced that knowledge before. How many tines have I set out to do something, and that knowledge inside said, Charlie, I really don't think you ought to be doing this. I wouldn't pay any attention to it. I'd go ahead and do it. I'd get in one hell of a shape, and that knowledge would say, I told you better not do that. (laughter) It seems to have always been there. If I could have lived by it in the beginning, then I wouldn't have had the problems that I had.
You see, this is a very simple concept, of this God as I understand Him, a basic beginning point. And if we can just believe that God is there, if we can believe that He dwells within us, then we've got the starting point to go by. Remember spiritual experience? We will become aware of the fact, when we know that we have tapped an unsuspected
inner resource of strength that we presently identify as God as we understand Him.
