Vocatus Atque non Vocatus Deus Aderit | Deo Duce, Ferro Comitante | Vox Populi, Vox Dei

The World Needs Less Junior Therapists and More Spiritual Mentors
Life is not Relative – There Are Absolute Rights, and Absolute Wrongs

Friday, July 16, 2010

The Pen is Mighter than the Sword | ペンは強し剣よりも | Calamus est Vires Quam Mucro



"HE WHO LIVES BY THE SWORD...



                    "...SHALL DIE BY THE SWORD".


"Those Who Sow in Tears Shall Reap with Shouts of Joy".
-Psalms 126:5

"A Life Unexamined is Not worth Living".
-William Shakespeare

"He Who Conquers Himself is Greater that He Who Conquers a City Entire".
-Plato

"These Are the Steps We Took, Which Are Suggested as a Program of Recovery".
-Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter Five

Trouble Rather a Lion in His Den than a Sage among his Books”.
-T.H. White

"Steps? We Don't Need no Stinkin' Steps".
-Famous Last Words

|…my beloved AA sponsor back in Brooklyn, the old Lieutenant David Joyce once told me that it is easier to hack away at life with a broad sword than to live skillfully – to start with. The first hack is the easiest, said he, and then with each succeeding hack of the sword life begins to hack back – the proverbial retaliating fellows with ‘smarting toes’. That is the real cause of all my pain – the reactions society has to me when I act like the south end of a horse headed north.

     The real root of this is that I have two choices in life; I could either do my will or God’s will. When I do my will, it starts out real easy and gets harder and harder over time. Conversely, when I chose to do God’s will, it starts out real hard and get’s easier over time.

     This is why lack of Power is my real dilemma, not drinking. I always know what the right thing to is, always and every time, without hesitation or exception. The real problem is sometimes it is too damn hard without divine providence.

     Sobriety, he told me, was a lot like driving, in that we all have two choices in life: we could be come better auto body mechanics, or we could become better drivers. Me, I alternate between trades, and that is the ebb and flow of spirituality. However, when I try to drive better (live skillfully), there seems a lot less body damage around – both to me and to my fellows.

     Driven to my knees (again) by a hundred (thousand) forms of fears, I have stepped on the toes of my fellows – and they have indeed retaliated. However, I am ashamed not – like all of us in recovery, occasionally he juggernaut of self will takes over and I am once again forced into a crisis “…I can neither postpone nor evade”. So, I have once again picked up that five hundred pound pen and am deep into yet another inventory. It is my fifth or six, I am not sure which. But with each successive inventory I feel I get closer to what my maker intends for me to be.

     There is a great story about Michelangelo and the statue of David. When asked how he got his muse to sculpt such a wonderful statue, Michelangelo simply stated: “I just looked the statue and chipped away what wasn’t David”. So it goes with me, I believe. Every few years it seems the almighty blesses me with a very closely packed series of crisis which drives me to my knees and my quill. The problem is that I resist and hack and hack and hack until I bow my head in submission to divine providence and recommit myself to this process.

     A man once said that ‘a blessing is any obstacle God put’s in your path which brings you kicking and screaming into becoming a better person than you thought you were capable of'.

     Just for today, I am amongst all men most richly blessed.  Bring it on, for my Mother above loves me very much.

     And so it goes.

COG, 1st Cl.|


2 comments:

  1. 闘争闘争闘争は、送信

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well my Good Friend Thanks for your witness to the truth of the Word. And to the One who sent Him as a sacrifice. The Word was Flesh and Dwelt among us but we did not esteem Him. He was the Father's Son but we missed the message. We did not recognize Him for he was a man of sorrow aquainted with grief. Not our idea of the Lord of Lords or King of Kings. He laid down His life as a ransom for those who believe on Him. Thanks for your witness. Brian J.

    ReplyDelete

Welcome as a witness to a fools journey out of the darkness. I welcome all tidings - you are all my teachers on this path toward a meaningful and purposeful sobriety.

COG, 1st Cl.