The Formula for Change and the Action Steps – Joe C.

Let's go to page 51 for just a moment. First paragraph, it says this world of ours has made more material progress in the last century than all the millenniums which went before. Almost everyone knows the reasons. Students of ancient history tell us that the intellect of men in those days was equal to the best of today. Yet in ancient times material progress was painfully slow. The spirit of modern scientific inquiry research and invention was almost unknown. In the realm of the material men's minds were federated by superstition, tradition, and all sorts of fixed ideas. And I used to wonder why it is that we today have cellular phones and TVs and automobiles and airplanes and why those people 100 years or 200 years ago or 500 years ago didn't have or admit those things. I thought we were just smarter than they were. But come to find out, they had the same intellect as we did. Intellect means the capacity to learn. They had the same capacities to learn as we do. But the only one thing that kept them in those dark ages, so to speak, it was superstition, tradition and all sorts of fixed ideas. That's why I say I need an open mind more today than I ever needed an open mine. And I think we as a society have done that right here in the northeast corner of the United States some 225 years ago or so. People came over here for religious freedom. They wanted to practice a religion as they saw, as they understood it. And as long as you agree basically with their religion and you practice your religion somewhat like they did, you were okay. But if you had any thoughts or ideas that were different and you expressed those thoughts and ideas openly and it didn't agree with what they had and what they agreed with, they would burn you at the stake as a witch. Right here in America they did that. So if you had any ideas like that, you certainly didn't express them, you kept them to yourself. So superstition, tradition, and all sorts of fixed ideas kept people from growing. And And I think we as a country has gotten over that today. Our minds are open to many, many things. He said some of the contemporaries of Columbus thought around earth preposterous. I think Columbus is one of the greatest examples of what you can do based upon belief if you're willing to change your belief. Some 500 years ago, most of what they called the civilized world was situated around the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, the western shores of Europe. They had found a place called the East Indies. And in the East Endies you could get gold, silk, and spices, lots of goody-goodies. But it took literally years to get to the East Andes. So they were trying to find a new trade route to the West End. And somebody said, is there any possibility that we could sail a ship there? And they said, well, no, dummy. Don't you know you can only sail to the northeast end of the Mediterranean Sea? And then you have to go by land, camelback, horseback, footback, however they traveled. And that took literally years to do. And they say, well what would happen if we sailed any other direction? And they says, well idiot, don't you now if you sail out there, you're going to sail off the edge of this sucker? you see everybody in those days thought the world was flat and they assumed if you sailed out there you would sail off the edge of it now i don't know why they believed that i assume some people sailed out There didn't come back and they thought they had sailed off the Edge of it now joe said the other day wouldn't it be great if the world Was flat we could take all this environmental junk just take it out there and go and push her overboard and be done with it. Now, here comes Columbus. And we believe that Columbus had to be an alcoholic. Because if you're going to believe differently than the world and everybody in it, and you're gonna stand there and express that belief, you're gon' have to be tougher than hell to do it. Because many times, if you express a belief difference in whatever everybody else believes, they would burn you at the stake or hang you from a tree or cut your head off or something. And Columbus was tough enough and bullheaded enough to be able to stand there. And he said, I believe that the world is round. I do not believe it's flat. Then he made one of the most drunk statements the world has ever heard. He said, I believe we can get east by sailing west. Now if that isn't drunk thinking, I don't know what is. many of his mannerisms indicated he's alcoholic when he left he didn't know where he was going when he got there he didn'T know where he WAS when he GOT BACK he DIDN'T even know where he HAD BEEN but what really made him an alcoholic is a woman financed the whole trip for him she did that twice Columbus followed a little formula. You want to write down these key words in this formula? He followed a Little Formula that the world has always known, that if you want to change anything at all, there are certain things that have to take place. And the first thing you have to do in order to change anything is to be willing to do so. Circumstances are what make us willing. Trying to find the new trade route to the East Indies is what made him willing to change. The second thing you have to do to change anything is to believe you can do so. You know, he said, I believe that the world is round, it's not flat. I believe you're going to get east by sailing west. But his belief didn't do him any good either because he's still standing on the shore of the ocean the day he expressed that belief. Some days, weeks, months, years later, he did the third thing. He made a decision. He said, by golly, I'm going to go find out whether this thing is round or flat. Can you really get east by sailing west? But his decision didn't do him any good either because he's still standing on the shore of the ocean the day he expressed that decision. Some days, weeks, months, years later, he did the next thing you have to do. He started taking action. And the first thing he did, he went to the king of Portugal to get the money. But the kingof Portugal, being a very astute businessman, said there's no way I'm going to let you have this money because you'll sail out there and sail right off the edge of this sucker and I'll lose it all. That's why he ended up with the Queen of Spain. Sweet talked her out of the money on the promise that he would bring back gold, silk, spices, and the goody-goodies of life. She gave him the money. He bought three ships. He put provisions in those three ships He put crew members in those Three Ships and they began to go east by sailing west sailing west day after day after day. Now we don't know for sure but we have a suspicion that on that first trip he hired a special sailor put him on the bow of the lead ship at night with a lantern whispered in his ear said I believe this thing is round but if you see the edge of this damn thing you holler so we can get turned around in time laughter laughter Now, after having sailing straight west for several days, they got results. They found land on the other side, which was the result of the action that they had taken. Now, we know that he thought it was the East Indies. It wasn't. It was the West Indies, but he had proven to himself the world is not flat. It is round. You will not sail off the edge of it. Turned right around and came right back to Europe. went right back to the queen of spain and she said columbus where's the gold silk and spices you promised you would bring me and he said sweetheart i'm sorry but i didn't find any but he said tell you what i'll do if you refinance me i'll go back trust me honey please this time i'll find it and she refinanced him and he got some more ships more provisions more crew members They begin to go east by sailing west with one big difference. The second trip, he didn't hire the special sailor. Put him on about the lead ship at night. This time, he went back on faith. He went back own knowledge. The first time, he went on belief. You can't start with faith. The only thing you can do is start with belief, make the decision, take the action, get the results, And then you'll have faith. Now, I would love to sit here and tell you today. And the decision will do us no good unless we take the action. And that's 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. As the result of the action, then we will get results too. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we now have faith, we know how to believe, we now know how knowledge, we no longer believe. You see, I don't believe today that God will restore me to sanity. I know that He will because He has done so. Now those of us who have been restored to sanity and we have the faith, then we can go back and help the next newcomer come to believe. They can make a decision and we can take them by the hand and walk with them through the action steps. Then they will get results. They'll have a spiritual awakening. And then they'll know. and then they can go help the next newcomer come to believe. Now, there's only one thing you and I can't do for the newcomer. We cannot make them willing. That's a job they have to work on themselves. Now, how does an alcoholic become willing to change? Very simple. Drinking lots of whiskey. I hear people come to AA and they say, I've been working on step one for three years in AA. And I said, no, you haven't. You don't work on step one in AA. You work on step one out there. And when you've drunk enough of that whiskey, you just can't stand it any longer. Then you become willing to change. Then we can begin to help you by helping you come to believe, decide, act, and have a spiritual awakening. Same formula that the world has always used to change the status of anything. Now if I know I need the power. And if I know the beginning of the finding of the power is just to believe, if I Know the Procedure to Follow to Find the Power, then I only need to know one more thing. Where am I going to find that power? And I think we get here just as confused about where God is as we were ever confused about anything else. As a kid growing up somewhere I got a picture in my mind. Now, I don't know whether I dreamed it or saw it, but in my mind when I was thinking about God he was a tall elderly gentleman stood on a cloud up in the sky long flowing white robes on, long white hair, golden halo around his head and sun rays shooting out of that halo and a big stick in his right hand. i don't know whether i saw that or whether i dreamed it but one of the reasons i thought god was there is because every time the minister talked about god he always pointed up there so i knew he had to be up there somewhere but then what really confused me i noticed every time the Minister wanted to talk to God he always looked down here he points up hell no wonder we get confused as kids about where God is and I looked and I look and I never could find God because I never did know where he was. And it took the big book, Alcoholics Anonymous, to tell me just exactly where I'm going to find him, page 55. You know, many years ago I was working for, not working, but I was involved in a halfway house in Tulsa, and I was heavily involved, and there was this young man there who had asked me to be his sponsor, and he said, well, what do you think I ought to do? I said, Well, it would probably be a good idea if you had a job, you know, to start somewhere here. And he said, well, easy for you to say. I don't have any car and I can't get back and forth with no money. Can't even ride the bus. And I said, Well, I'll take you around and help you find a job. And if you find an job, I will take you back and fourth until you can get a couple of paychecks and then you can buy a car or do whatever you need to do. He said, Fine. So I'm taking him back and fort to work. And one morning he told me a story that really helped me a lot. And he says, and this is the way the story goes. He said there was three wise men of the East, he said. And they took from man the crown of life, the thing that would make us the happiest, and took it away from him. And they said, well, now we took it way from him, what are we going to do with it? He said, Well, one of the guys said, I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll take it to the highest, highest crevice in the face of the earth and the highest mountain, and we'll hide it up there, and he'll never be able to find it. The other two said, Yeah, but you know how they are. They'll hunt, and they'll search, and eventually they'll find it." The third one said, I'll take you to the deepest, deepest crevices of the deepest ocean and hide it there, and they'll never think about looking for it there. He said, yeah, but you know how they are. They'll hunt and they will search and they eventually find it. The third one said, I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll hide it within himself and he'll never thing about looking forward to it. Page 55, first paragraph. He said actually we were fooling ourselves for deep down in every man, woman and child is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by worship or other things but in some form or other it is there. for faith in a power greater than ourselves and miraculous demonstrations of the power in human lives are facts as old as man himself we finally saw that faith in some kind of a god was a part of our makeup just as much as the feeling we have for a friend sometimes we had to search fearlessly but he was there he was as much a fact as we were we found the great reality deep down within us and the last analysis is only there that he may be found it was so with us so we can only clear the ground a bit if our testimony helps sweep away prejudice enables you to think honestly encourages you to search diligently within yourself then if you wish you can join us on the broad highway now with this attitude you cannot fail the consciousness of your belief is sure to come to you yeah a god of your own understanding is sure to come to you with an open mind. You know, it seems as though all human beings are born with some basic knowledge deep down inside themselves, probably lying at a subconscious level. And that basic knowledge seems to be able to tell us what we should do and what we shouldn't do. It seems to being able to do that, it seems to tell how we should live and how we shouldn' t live. And I'm sure a lot of people would like to refer to that as just plain old common sense. I think others might want to call it innate intelligence. Some might want to call the conscience, and others might want to called it the soul. And I don't think it really makes any difference what we call it as long as we recognize the fact that it's there. And if you're anything like I am, as far back as I can remember, I've always been aware of that knowledge. There used to be times I would be getting ready to do something and some voice somewhere from inside me would say, Charlie, I don't believe you ought to be doing this. And I wouldn't pay a bit of attention to it. I'd go right ahead and do it and I'd just get in one hell of a mess. And that same little voice would say see, I told you not to do it in the first place. Now if that's true and if that means that's God then what that means to me today If God dwells within me, then I've got my own personal God. I don't worry anymore about whether He's the God of the Baptist church or not. I don'T worry whether He'S the God OF the Catholic church, the Hebrew religion, or anybody else's God. If He dwells WITHIN ME, then He'S my own PERSONAL God, and He and I can come together in very simple, very understandable terms. This is one of the greatest pieces of information that I have ever learned, is that I can have my own God and He dwells within me and my knowledge comes from Him and through Him I'll be able to find that power. Now then, am I ready to make a decision? You betcha. When He was the God of justice, when He was hellfire and brimstone, I wasn't ready to take that decision. But throughout this chapter, My concept of God has changed entirely, and I'm beginning to believe He just might be a kind and a loving God. And just maybe He'll start doing some good things for me, not hell, fire, and brimstone. And now I'm ready to make a decision. And I don't think it's by accident that the very next chapter is entitled How It Works.