Humility As It Applies To Addiction Recovery

This, humility business, has got to be one of the most confusing topics there is. Especially when we, as addicts and alcoholics, run across it in the 12 steps. Barely getting passed the God deal we are confronted with an instruction that isn't fully comprehend-able. If we ask for advice or insight we'll get a wide range of responses that will do little to diminish the vagaries we face. Why is it necessary to humbly ask a power greater than ourselves to remove our difficulties? Why, humbly?

It strikes me that in writing this line there was some predisposition to "who" that power would be. Whoever wrote it, wrote it for a reason. Why humbly? Why not just ask? Wouldn't that work? Asking humbly is like paying a toll without understanding the rate of exchange. I'll give you what you ask (you can cross the bridge) if you do something a certain way. If you give me what I want I'll take care of you. At least that's how it sounds to me. For sure it suggests that the power has a personality. It might react, favorably - or not, depending on how we pose the question.

On the other hand I read that Bill Wilson's response to being asked what the difference being character defects and difficulties was - there really is no difference I just didn't want to use the same phrases so close together. I understand, I wanted to use confusing twice in the first paragraph and decided to use vagaries instead. I wonder how many people really understand words like humble? For me it feels like servitude. In fact originally that's pretty much where it came from. The humble servant. Knowing ones place. I included some resources below. From what I can gather it's not something I'd strive to be. But there I was, faced with the conditional suggestion: Humbly ask.

I mentioned earlier that I chose a definition for humility from a quote by Gandhi. It said that humility was an accurate assessment of ones assets and liabilities. My faults, my strengths - realistically. A good rule of thumb for an accurate assessment is to have others point out the good aspects in our character. As far as the steps go we need only unearth those things that threaten our sanity and therefore our ability to recover. This being said, how does it figure into our quest for an all round unburdening? For me, the bottom line in all this is not so much what exactly the word humility means. It may have been of some concern to me - why it was posed this way. But again, all books are written by human beings writing things out the way they think is best at the time. Fairly important is the question of where am I to direct my question? Who or what am I supposed to be asking, humbly or not? And why do I need to ask anything of anything?

The whole higher power idea says there is help afforded us. It says we probably won't be able to do this by ourselves. If we can get passed the "I can do it, I don't need help. place..." we have made steps in the right direction. The right direction being completely free of addictions. For me it is freedom from addictions and anything else that stands in the way of me being happy. That includes any ideas about "my happiness" that get in the way of "my happiness". If I admit I'm powerless over whatever my addictions are. This just means, to me, that I'll need some outside help. Outside help being something that's not me. Does that mean that, like is often said around the meetings, that a god of my understanding can be anything I choose, as long as it's not me? How does, not being me translate into a higher power? A power greater than myself? There are a lot of things that aren't me, that I have absolute power over. Door knobs and light bulbs are obvious examples. So anything but me is misleading. I need power that I don't possess. It might be that I possess the power I need, but I don't know how the wield it. Or, I may not believe I have it so it's of no use to me. Whatever the case - we're after whatever works.

What works? Whatever relieves us from our addictions. By the time we get to the humility question we should be setting there with a list of things in our characters we want gone. We've found stuff that is making us miserable and we want to be rid of it. So we are supposed to get help from a power greater than ourselves. The fact is, we've already been doing it. We've cooperated with life when we practiced the universal/spiritual principles necessary to get to this point. Life is, for now, a power greater than ourselves. Principles, for now, are a power greater than ourselves. We are being assisted right now. The only way, and I mean the only way, we can screw this up now - is to stop.

So what do we ask and how. We could certainly ask whatever has been helping us for more of the same. Don't have a clear picture of what's been helping? Good - Me neither. Doesn't hinder us in any way. In fact I thinks it's the best place to be. So much so that I have no intention of knowing any more than I do right now. If I find myself thinking I know more about this, I'd consider it drifting of the path. Here's how to ask what you don't know for help with what you don't understand. It goes like this, "Hey, everything that could ever possibly be available? Yeah, it's me, I want you to direct me to whatever is best". Thanks.

There, pretty easy huh? Doesn't mean anything else will be. Just means that as far as asking - something - for something - we're on the other side of it now. You can ask once in the morning. Or you you can just talk to it all day long. You can ask and then go to the bar to find sex and drugs. You can ask and then pay attention to everything that passes your way and attempt to make the most of it. The asking isn't a cure. You could ask for a cab to pick you up and help you get from here to there, but if you want a ride to someplace - you need to be where you are. The cab company knows where you are. Life, higher powers, everything that is - knows where you are. That means you are in the right place right now.

The entry from "The Oxford English Dictionary" [OED] proposes the date of circa 1375 for the word's first written entry into the English language. Of course, it could have well been used ORALLY before that. It comes from the Latin word "humilis," meaning "low," which, in turn, comes from the Latin "humus" which means "earth" or "dirt" or "soil." Ted Nesbitt, allexperts.com

Adjective:
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin humilis low, humble, from humus earth; akin to Greek chthōn earth, chamai on the ground

Date: 13th century

1: not proud or haughty : not arrogant or assertive
2: reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of deference or submission - a humble apology
3: ranking low in a hierarchy or scale : insignificant, unpretentious b: not costly or luxurious - a humble contraption

Transition Verb
1: to make humble in spirit or manner
2: to destroy the power, independence, or prestige of...

Humility: noun
Date: 14th century: the quality or state of being humble
From Etymologically Speaking

Just thought this was interesting ~
Addict: Slaves given to Roman soldiers to reward them for performance in battle were known as addicts. Eventually, a person who was a slave to anything became known as an addict.
Alcohol: This word comes from the Arabic al-kuhl, which originally meant a very fine powder of antimony used as eye makeup. It conveyed the idea of something very fine and subtle, and the Arab alchemists therefore gave the name of al-kuhl to any impalpable powder obtained by sublimation (the direct transformation of a solid into vapor, or the reverse process), and thus to all compounds obtained through the distillation process. ~ www.etymonline.com