Drive-By Spirituality

God speaks to us in many ways as we find to contact Him. His answers, abstract as they may be, are detected in mind, emotion, and in the new conscience we have developed. We are inspired in accordance with our thoughts and conduct, either with feelings of faith, accomplishment, and serenity, or with confusion, self-pity, and fear.

The Little Red Book:

Step Three,

A Hazelden Publication, p. 38 

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The mind and the brain have different associations in the East. Westerners think mostly of how the brain works when the mind is spoken of by Zen Buddhists, Yogis or Tibetan monks who consider the mind as the consciousness of the whole body and the “Mind” is the ocean of intelligence beyond the limitations of what Alan Watts calls this “bag of skin”. This distinction is important because we can be heard to say, in the rooms of AA and so on, that the mind of an alcoholic or addict is a dangerous neighborhood to go into alone. When I think of the mind in those terms I think of a gangland occupied by myriad temptations and dangers. Gangs led by ego and desire: followed by confusion, despair, the seven deadly sins hang out there waiting to ambush an unwary interloper.

    What kind of Higher Power do I need to go in and clean up this mess? Many of us have tried to do this by walling off and the isolation of safe neighborhoods, never venturing into the mind, or we entered of our own volition and found ourselves bewildered and powerless. Perhaps we tried to adhere to principles of  a religion or practicing faith in our fellowship or psychiatric therapy,, but find ourselves tempted even more by the attractions there. It is akin to cruising by riding in a squad car and just driving through arresting the drug dealers on the corners and so on with a bunch of rules and "thou shalt nots". Sure, this is a power greater than ourselves but we need something more powerful than that if we expect to make the necessary changes that will make the mind a neighborhood that is a welcoming, safe and inspirational place to venture.

   No human power can make this happen. We need the full resources of God, the Heart of Compassion, or Mind, to make peace there. To calm down and put our natural desires to practical purpose works if we go there with God because the heart of Compassion knows the neighborhood…i.e., God abides in the hearts of our friends and enemies. Opening my mind to a greater Mind that encourages, commends, enthuses and inspires creativity, is the means by which this Spirit changes me; not drive-by sermons and admonitions, no matter how well intentioned.

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