COLUMBUS p. 51 - borrowed from Joe & Charley
I think his story of Columbus is one of the greatest examples of what you can do when you are willing to change your belief. Some 500 years ago most of what they call the ‘civilized world’ was situated around the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and the western shores of Europe. They had found a place called the East Indies. In the East Indies you could get gold, silk, and spices; lots of goody goodies. But it took literally years get to the East Indies. They were trying to find a new trade route to the East Indies. Somebody asked “Is there any possibility that we can sail a ship there?” The answer was, “No dummy! Don’t you know you can only sail as far as the northeast end of the Mediterranean Sea, and then you have to go by land”; Camelback, horseback, foot-back, however they traveled... that trip took years complete. “Well what would happen if we sailed in the other direction?” And they said, “Well idiot, don’t you know if you sail that way you're going to fall off the edge of the earth!”
In those days everyone thought the world was flat and if you sailed out there too far to the west you would sail off the edge of the earth. I don’t know why they believed that, but I assume it was because some people sailed out there, didn’t come back, and they just thought they had sailed off the edge. Wouldn’t it be great if the world was flat? We could take all this environmental junk and trash out there and go push it overboard off the edge and be done with it! Now here’s Columbus, and we believe that Columbus had to be an alcoholic because if you’re going to believe differently than the entire world and everybody in it and you’re going to stand there and express that belief, you are going to have to be tougher than hell to do it! Many times if you express a belief different than what everybody else believes they would burn you at the stake or hang you from a tree, or cut your head off or something. But Columbus was tough enough and bullheaded enough to be able to stand there and say, “I believe that the world is round; I do not believe it's flat”. Then he made one of the most drunken statements the world has ever heard, he said, “I believe we can get east by sailing west.” Now if that isn’t drunk thinkig I don’t know what is! Many of his mannerisms indicated Columbus was an 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 was a woman financed the whole trip for him! Twice! Columbus followed a formula; a little formula that the world has always known and used. To change anything at all, there are certain things that have to take place. The first thing you have to do in order to change anything is to be willing to change. Circumstances are what make us willing. Trying to find the new trade route to the East Indies is what made Columbus willing to change. The second thing you have to do to change anything is to believe you can. Columbus said, “I believe that the world is round, not flat, and I believe you can get East by sailing West.” But his belief wasn’t enough because he was 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 wasn’t enough either, because he was still standing on the shore of the ocean the day he made that decision. Some days, weeks, months, years later he did the fourth thing you have to do, he started taking action. The first thing Columbus did is he went to the King of Portugal to get the money. But the King of
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”. He didn’t give up and then went to see the Queen of Spain. Columbus sweet-talked her and promised that he would bring back gold, silk, spices and the ‘goody goodies’ of life. She gave him the money. He bought three ships, hired crew members and loaded those ships with provisions for the trip. Then they set sail and began to go east by sailing west... sailing west, day, after day, after day.
Now, after sailing due 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. Columbus thought it was the East Indies, it wasn’t, it was the West Indies, but he had proven to himself that the world is not flat, it is round, and you won’t sail off the edge of it. He turned around and went back to Europe, right back to the Queen of Spain, and she asked "Columbus, where’s the gold, silk and spices you promised you would bring me?" He said, “Sweetheart I’m sorry but I didn’t find any. Tell you what I’ll do; if you will refinance me I’ll go back. Trust me honey. Please? This time I’ll find it!” She re-financed him and he got some more ships, more provisions, more crew members and began to go east by sailing west with one big difference; the second trip he didn’t hire the lookout and put him on the bow of the lead ship at night.
This time he went back on faith; he went back on knowledge. The first time he went on belief. You can’t start with faith. The only thing you can do is:
start with belief (Step 2)
make the decision (Step 3)
take the action (Steps 4-11)
get the results and then you will have faith
I would love to sit here and tell you today that the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous are brand new and that the world has never seen anything like them before, but if I did, I would be telling you a lie. Because, the 12 Steps are based on the same identical formula that Columbus and any other human being has ever used to change anything.
pg. 55 - borrowed from Joe & Charley
A God of your own understanding is sure to come to you with an open mind. It seems as though all human beings are born with some basic knowledge, deep down inside themselves, probably lying at a subconscious level. That basic knowledge seems to be able to tell us what we should do and what we shouldn’t do. It seems to be able to tell us how we should live and how we shouldn’t live. 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 it the conscious. Others might want to call it the soul. I don’t think it makes any difference what we call it, as long as we recognize the fact that it's there. If you’re anything like I am, as far back as I can remember I have always been aware of that knowledge. There used to be times that I would be getting ready to do something, and some voice somewhere from within me would say, “I don’t believe you ought to be doing this.” And I wouldn’t pay a bit of attention to it, and I’d go right ahead and do it and I’d 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 is God, then what that means to me today is:
If God dwells within me, then I’ve got my own personal God.
If he dwells within me, then he’s my own personal God and He and I can come together in very simple and understandable terms.
This is some of the greatest information I have ever learned:
I can have my own personal God
He dwells within me
My knowledge comes from Him and through Him
I will be able to find that Power!
Am I ready to make a decision? You bet! When He was the God of justice, when He was hellfire and brimstone, I wasn’t ready to make that decision. But throughout this chapter my concept of God has changed entirely. I’m beginning to believe He just might be a kind and loving God, and just maybe He will start doing some good things for me, not hellfire and brimstone. Now I am ready to make a decision. I don’t think it is by accident that the very next chapter is titled ‘How It Works’. Now Bill sits down and he writes the chapter ‘How it Works’ which contains some of the best spiritual information the world has ever seen... a little formula... a set of proposals...
Bill called them, the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.