Therefore our
practical question is this: “Just what do we mean by ‘humility for today’ and
how do we know when we have found it?”
We scarcely need to be reminded that
excessive guilt or rebellion leads to spiritual poverty. But it was a very long
time before we knew we could go even more broke on spiritual pride. When we
early AAs got our first glimmer of how spiritually prideful we could be, we
coined this expression: “Don’t try to get too damned good by Thursday?” That
old-time admonition may look like another of those alibis that can excuse us
from trying our best. Yet a closer view reveals just the contrary. This is our
AA way of warning against pride-blindness, and the imaginary perfections that
we do not possess.
The Best of Bill (pp. 38-39)
*****
I
don’t know why the early AAs chose Thursday as the day one ought not try to be “too
damned good for” but I suspect any day would be a good one. It could be by
Sunday for most Christians, Saturday for a Jew, or Friday for a Muslim.
Chogyam
Trungpa calls "spiritual pride", instead, spiritual materialism. People who love us, and are
not alcoholics or addicts, usually tell us we ought to be proud to be sober as
long as we have been. This is a fine sentiment and I am grateful for the spirit
in which it is expressed. However, it is not healthy for me to take excessive
pride for the time I have been sober. The spiritual practice that keeps me
sober is a thirst for spiritual progress tempered by humility that allows me to
grow with or without acknowledgement, for good or bad, from others. I am so
very grateful I have family and friends who are supportive of my sobriety but
many others have no such thing. In the end it is my contact with the Heart of
Compassion that keeps me sober and not the recognition or accolades of others.
geo, 4,789
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