Without or within

How do you change the world? Or indeed AA?

Pot shots at what is wrong? Nope.

Hot-headed discussion about what is wrong? Nope.

Neither of these either reach what needs changing or succeed in changing it on those sorry occasions that the pot shots and hot-headed discussion actually come into contact with the hapless groups in question.

But I have seen AA change, and it is like this:

The Great Reality is deep down Within. The Without cannot be changed by manipulation. The Without is changed automatically by a change in the Within, as an outpicturing, an outflowering, an outflowing thereof.

The AA Without that we see is a consequence of whether or not the individuals attending are connected to the Great Reality Within.

If we want the Without to change, we have to help individuals reach their Great Reality Within.

This involves two stages: (1) being happy, joyous, and free, and thus attracting those who are blocked (Tradition 11) (2) placing ourselves at the service of God, so that we can do God's will, not have God do ours, to determine how best to help other individuals remove what blocks them from God.

What then manifests outwardly is automatic and need not be planned and designed in an isolated bubble of wilfulness, as each individual acting individually and collectively (Step 11 and Tradition 2) will channel the Great Will in ways better than what we can plan and design (page 100 of 'Alcoholics Anonymous'), by taking a thousand thousand small actions that jointly build a different outward reality.

Blockages get removed one individual at a time. Sure, groups are important, but a blocked person going to an unblocked group will become unblocked only by asking an unblocked person for help and going through the intimate process of the Steps. Without that, they remain a ball of light trapped in a cardboard box.

When change is needed, on whatever scale, at whatever level, the solution always boils down to this:

(1) Become a receiver of God's grace
(2) Become a transmitter of God's grace

... in humility, in the simplicity of one alcoholic talking to another.

And where we start is this: go to where the suffering is. Be Light itself. Watch what happens.

"All problems in AA can be solved by strong sponsorship." (Don P, Colorado)