Intuition and Inspiration

Inspiration:  A new idea, especially one that arises suddenly and is clever or creative.

Intuition: A perceptive insight gained without the use of conscious rational processes.

Spooky sounding shit, isn't it?  But here it is: right in our text.

"Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision.  We relax and take it easy. (Ed. Note: We do what now?  And then after that we do what?)  We don't struggle.  (Ed. Note: Oh, come on now, enough is enough.) We are often surprised how the right answers come after we have tried this for a while.  What used to be the hunch or the occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind."  BB PP 86-7.

"As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action."  BB P 87.

"We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.  We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves."  BB P 84. 

Suburban Bill called the other day to talk about this frustrating and frightening situation that he's going through at his work.  He does this even though I caution him that I'm not the best source of advice about anything beyond an unquestioned ability to rank all of the Black Sabbath albums, from best to worst.  Actually, I had lived through something pretty similar ten years ago or so and I know Bill is experienced enough to seek counsel from many different sources, both verbal and written, and that he has a rich spiritual life that is a font of strength.  He shared with me a letter that he had written to the company officers.  I could immediately see that it was not a great letter.  While it was accurate and justified and understandable it was mostly just a lot of bitching and self-interested grievance.  

I had great faith that he would work through this deliberately, in his own time and in his own way, and arrive at a good decision.  I didn't think he would send the letter - at least not in that initial form - but I was careful not to tell him not to send the letter because I have no idea what he should do.  Maybe this is a case where if he sent the letter he would have gotten exactly what he wanted and maybe this is a case where sending the letter would have so enraged the officers that they would have released him immediately.  In any case, this was a decision for Bill and for Bill only.  I had complete faith that he would go through a measured analysis and do what he felt was right.

I try to never tell anyone what to do.  I will tell you what I've done and I can often point out some relevant stuff in our literature and I always encourage people to talk to as many of their AA colleagues as they can because you never know where the intuition and inspiration is going to be found.

My sponsor Kenner once responded to my request for a specific course of action with a guffaw and this gem: "Oh, no you don't - if it doesn't work out I don't want you coming back to blame me."  

He's at the Great Meeting in the Sky, chortling away.