“Once you pop, you can’t stop.” — 80s Pringles commercial
A doctor who helped the early AA guys used a fancy Latin phrase: spiritus contra spiritum. It sounds like something a wizard would say, but the idea is simple. We alcoholics are people born with an extraordinarily deep thirst for spiritual connection.
Confused, we tried to quench that thirst with spirits of King Alcohol. That obviously didn’t work. In fact it doubled down on us and eventually we became more disconnected than ever before. It became all about us, our little plans and designs revolving around the thing we worshipped. Alcoholism took everything, and there was no room to think about anybody else other than ourselves.
If we're sincere about our decision to restore our connection to God in Step Three, something strange begins to happen with no effort on our part. We become less and less interested in ourselves. That’s good news. Isn’t it proof we finally found what we were looking for all along? We’re taking a step forward to get connected spiritually, and building a solid foundation for connection to the world.
And once this spiritual thirst is quenched even a little, we naturally desire more. Step Three strengthens the connection with God, and the rest of the Steps help us live in it so it doesn’t slowly fade away.
Where have you noticed yourself being more others-centered?
