Our spiritual malady never just goes away and stays away on its own, it requires a constant spiritual connectivity and effort on our parts in our programs to keep it and the subsequent alcohol and drug abuse at bay. So long as we make an active effort to address our spiritual malady every day, we will find relief from it, one day at a time. You are merely instructed to be open to the idea that you are not the end all be all, that there exists out in the universe something that is greater or more powerful than yourself.
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Old timers and recovering people with more experience can explain in layman’s terms just what the author Bill W. Page 62 says, “Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness (“the ego”). We must, or it kills us! God makes that possible. And there often seems no way of entirely getting rid of self (ego) without God’s aid.” Finally, someone explained to me that those things are not the insanity that the Big Book talks about; nor are those things why the alcoholic’s life becomes unmanageable. If you are suffering from symptoms of the spiritual malady, use these clarifying questions to ascertain where the problem lies. Taking a commercial inventory is a fact-finding and a fact-facing process. One object is to disclose damaged or unsalable goods, to get rid of them promptly and without regret.
- Our spiritual malady never just goes away and stays away on its own, it requires a constant spiritual connectivity and effort on our parts in our programs to keep it and the subsequent alcohol and drug abuse at bay.
- Through closely examining our Big Book, along with much experience and practice with our Twelve Steps, as well as vigorous work with other alcoholics, the “missing piece” of Step 1 appears to be what is referred to on page 64 as the “spiritual malady.”
- One object is to disclose damaged or unsalable goods, to get rid of them promptly and without regret.
- If you are suffering from symptoms of the spiritual malady, use these clarifying questions to ascertain where the problem lies.
- But in our quest to fill this void with any and everything we can think of, we completely miss that the only thing that can actually fulfill us a spiritual connectedness to something greater than ourselves.
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As overwhelming as I’m sure this all may seem for someone who’s either never had a spiritual connection, or been disconnected for years, I’d like to assure you it’s not as formidable as it may seem. But first, it’s crucial that you understand the difference between a spiritual experience and a religious one. While I could go on forever on the differences between these two ideas, I’ll keep it as spiritual malady definition simple as possible.
Be Still And Know That I AM God…
But the beauty of the 12-steps is that they are spiritually based as opposed to religious. What that means is that all that is required is the belief in a power greater than yourself. There is no church you must attend or strict practices you must adhere to in organized worship of https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/5-signs-that-your-wine-habit-is-becoming-a-real-addiction/ said higher power, it is a completely individual and personal experience. Whether you’re a member of alcoholics anonymous, cocaine anonymous, drug addicts anonymous, narcotics anonymous or any other anonymous 12 Step based fellowship…We’re here to share our experience, strength and hope with each other that we may solve our common problem and help others to recover from any and all addictions. Many men and women in AA describe certain feelings they had before picking up a drink or drug. Of course those things can be classified as “unmanageability” – but they are external unmanageability.
Though Alcohol Use Disorder our decision was a vital and crucial step, it could have little permanent effect unless at once followed by a strenuous effort to face, and to be rid of, the things in ourselves which had been blocking us.
What Does AA Mean By “Spiritual Malady”?
To conclude, it’s not my body — my allergic reaction to alcohol — that’s going to take me back to drinking. It’s really not my mind — the mental obsession — that is the underlying root of what will take me back to drinking. It’s the “spiritual malady”, as manifested by my EGO (selfishness-self-centeredness), that can eventually lead me back to drinking or sometimes even suicide. The disease of alcohol and drug addiction is not just mental and physical but also spiritual.
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- What that means is that all that is required is the belief in a power greater than yourself.
- When you ask them to describe what they mean by that statement, they seem to have a firm grasp on the fact that we alcoholics suffer from “an allergy of the body and an obsession of the mind” — that once I put any alcohol in my system whatsoever it sets off a craving for more alcohol.
- It is the emptiness we feel on such a deep level that we turn to self-medication in order to alleviate the sadness and despair that go hand in hand with.
- Similarly, those who struggle with alcohol addiction are more susceptible to developing a mental health issue.
- We have found that these problems no longer exist for us when we begin living by spiritual principles and improving our conscious contact with our higher power.
Through closely examining our Big Book, along with much experience and practice with our Twelve Steps, as well as vigorous work with other alcoholics, the “missing piece” of Step 1 appears to be what is referred to on page 64 as the “spiritual malady.” Frequently, individuals who struggle with alcohol addiction are also experiencing a mental health issue like an anxiety disorder or a depressive disorder. Abusing alcohol is a form of self-medicating that, at first and superficially, seems to help. However, it quickly becomes apparent that doing so is only masking the underlying issues.