It's What YOU Believe

So sayeth Jack Kornfeld: "To make spiritual practice come alive, we must discover within ourselves our own way to become conscious, to live a life of the spirit.  Religions and philosophy have their value, but in the end all we can do is open to mystery and live a path with heart, not idealistically, not without difficulties, but in the very midst of our humanness in our life on this earth."

So sayeth The Big Book:  "As soon as we admitted the possible existence of a Creative Intelligence, a Spirit of the Universe underlying the totality of things, we began to be possessed of a new sense of power and direction."  

Alcoholics Anonymous was so aware that talk of God would be controversial that the founders came up with dozens of different ways to describe the whole Higher Power thing.  "You don't like God?  Fine.  How about Creative Intelligence?  Or Spirit of the Universe?"  I've met plenty of people who get their backs up when the word "God" is mentioned but I've never heard anyone pitch a bitch over "Spirit of the Universe."

Continuing: "Much to our relief, we discovered we did not need to consider another's conception of God.  Our own conception, however inadequate, was sufficient to make the approach and effect the  contact with God."

I'm always struck by how often different philosophies and religions (not the monotheistic religions of course - Islam, Judiasm, and Christianity have rules, baby) encourage us to take a few breaths, relax, think good, peaceful thoughts, and see what pops up.  

That's God , baby, you did it.