Grey Book Reflection
We must use what we learn or we will lose it and probably relapse, no matter how long we have been clean.
Gray Book, p. 123 (Chapter Seven, Lines 14-15)
One of our predecessors wrote that, "Knowledge is not a substitute for Surrender. This means that we suffer from a Physical, Mental, Spiritual and Emotional disease. The drug use was just a symptom of this disease.
We needed a deeper Solution. Since addiction affects every area of our Lives, we must Live by Spiritual Principles in every area of our Lives. Our Admittance must be followed with Complete and Total Abstinence to make Recovery possible.
We had to unlearn our old ways. We had to be re-informed after being misinformed all our Lives. Our Basic Text says that, "Our program is a set of principles written so simply that we can follow them in our daily lives.
The most important thing about them is that they work. That's why we hear in meetings, "it works, if you work it," not if you know it. Just like a doctor practices medicine, and a lawyer practices law, as addicts in Recovery we have to Practice Spiritual Principles.
We suffer from a fatal, progressive disease which there's no known cure. We only arrest our disease and Practice Spiritual Principles on a Daily Basis. It's a Just For Today Program, a Daily Reprieve that depends on our Daily Maintenance.
Our Recovery Process ceases when we stop working a Living Program. The relapse process requires no work. Another member wrote, "If the Program was about simple Abstinence, N.A. would have little to offer.
The Steps bring about a New Way To Live - Happy, Joyous and Free. The Promise of the Steps is far more than simple Freedom from active addiction; it is the Promise of a Complete and Total Spiritual Awakening."
If we are to keep what we have, we have to make the Effort to keep it. We can't keep it unless we give it away.