Arrangements that refuse to stay put

"If his arrangements would only stay put, if only people would do as he wished, the show would be great. Everybody, including himself, would be pleased. Life would be wonderful." (Page 60, 'Alcoholics Anonymous'.)

A particular writer I read asserts that material reality is 1% of all reality.

Trouble is, that 1% can be all we see, and I get totally caught up in the 1%.

Everything boils down to plans and designs for that 1%: the delusion that, if that 1% were the way I stipulate, everyone would be happier (not least me, but certainly others, too).

It may well be the case that the world would be an odd sort of Utopia were my scripts to be followed to the tee. Leaving aside the rightness and wrongness of that assertion, what is always evident from my inventory is that my hanging on to the alternative design for the universe (which, when I compare it to my perception of reality, is the source of all resentment) is what is really causing the trouble.

The 'situation' may not be entirely my fault, but my 'trouble' (the disturbance) always is (cf. pages 67 and 63).

So, let us say that the 1% can be nudged in the direction of improvement (so we get to envision possible improvement and work towards that in accordance with the page 89 principles of cooperation, lack of criticism, and helpfulness). We are still left, however, with the problem that the 1% will always fall woefully short of what we think we require to be OK.

In the words of Chuck C., 'I'd give up if I were you'.

I need to keep my spirit firmly in the 99% of reality that is not material and visit the material world to contribute what I can.

Residing primarily in the world of the spirit is the only answer I have found, and, because that means, on a good day, I am largely unaffected by the material 1%, I can actually engage more effectively and 'presently' in that 1% than I can when I find it so objectionable I build walls of judgement to keep it away from me.

"We have come to believe He would like us to keep our heads in the clouds with Him, but that our feet ought to be firmly planted on earth. That is where our fellow travellers are, and that is where our work must be done. These are the realities for us. We have found nothing incompatible between a powerful spiritual experience and a life of sane and happy usefulness." (Page 130:1)