It was a nice night here in Dayton, I rode to the meeting. There were 13 of us there, and 4 members at the Intergroup meeting downtown.

Step Twelve - Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

There are 3 parts to this - the spiritual awakening, carrying the message, and practicing the principles. We discussed all three.

The spiritual awakening part was best described by the guy with a little under two years. He shared with us about how his life had changed since he started AA, how he now felt life had a purpose. His outlook on life has changed, he now sees joy and freedom, where before he struggled through. Others talked about having spiritual awakenings as they discovered more about spirituality or the AA program or how things could work out for them. I believe there is a difference between a spiritual experience and a spiritual awakening, the awakening can be a lasting thing if proper spiritual maintenance is maintained. We also talked about how this awakening in AA is universally available, it is not a religious conversion, but a new way of looking at life, a new direction.

The experienced members had some stories about 12th step calls. Answering the phone at the clubhouse led to several experiences for one member, suicides, very drunk drunks, people just wanting a ride for whatever, and drunks with telephonitis. One guy had a fellow try to jump out of his car while he was driving 60 MPH. In Dayton years ago, we had a member killed in a 12th step call. Getting into the middle of a domestic dispute is not a fun time, either. These are some of the reasons we suggest we never go alone on a 12th step call.

There are a lot of other ways to carry the AA message, and the bottom line is this helps us stay sober. We put the program out there, make the tools available, and work with new people as they are willing. But we cannot take credit for their sobriety, and we are not responsible if they get drunk. If we stay sober ourselves, it is a successful 12th step job. Keeping the meetings going, making coffee, committee work, taking meetings to prisons and treatment centers, these are all part of helping the newcomer discover the freedom we have found through AA. These things all help me stay sober.

Practicing the AA principles in all our affairs is a challenge. It is difficult to keep the focus on recovery, to remember who and what I am, and what I am supposed to be following, when I am confronted with difficult people, especially at work. We are far from perfect here. It is easy to be nice inside the rooms of AA, but carrying that throughout the day and in all our activities is the great challenge. Looking to the previous step, keeping a conscious contact with a Higher Power is the key to this.

So, some semantic opinions here. What is a spiritual awakening? I like the 12 x 12 definition, that someone can do that which he was unable to do before on his unaided will. And what is meant by "these principles"? I think that is different for different people, but it is the principles we are committed to living by in the preceding steps, the altruistic principles we developed working the program.

I will continue these little essays for two more weeks, after step 2 we will have come full circle. And this is 12th step work for me, I don't expect anyone will get sober as a direct result of these posts, but I've shown people that the program has substance and is available, and maybe planted a seed or two. But most importantly, I enjoy writing these and they help me look at how I work the AA program.

-Chuck, Vegetarian fanboy