Sure, we could talk about the pressure of holidays and relapse prevention. Should have said something….

When I first started talking in meetings (after I was well into the 12 step work) I would usually talk about principles. The authors stated in the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous that the 12 steps are an introduction to a set of principles. As I was just getting started this is what I talked about.

I came to refer to these principles as “Universal Principles”. At some point I decided it would be a good idea to integrate the principles into my life in a way that it would develop into a whole. That I would think and react according to these new principles instead of my old set of principles. By doing this I would be able to change my “me” from the inside out.

I spoke of principles as cause. It’s easy for people to understand a cause and effect system. If we look at principles as cause then changing the principles would change the thoughts and reactions. Principles (as cause) = thoughts, reactions and feelings (as effect).

A set of principles established through fear, or disharmony, might be dishonesty, unwillingness and closed mindedness. So disharmony = disease, discord, discontent, while harmony = health, happiness and general well being.

At first we might have to start small with our experimentation. We may need to learn how these new principles might create harmony within us and with the people closest to us. Those closest could be people at meetings, at work, at home or at the park. This, starting small would seem to be a logical tack to take.

What I found was that I wasn’t going to have harmonious relationships with everyone since I wasn’t in charge of them. If people want to act like assholes there is little I can do about it. From that point, of accepting reality, I only get to be in charge of my reaction to them. This became a really good test to see how well I’d done integrating my new principles. In fact this was human relations: social relationships – 101.

So far I’ve managed not to kill anyone or take drugs.

Which brings me to my latest thoughts on integration. I was watching a video interview with R. Buckminster Fuller. (You can watch it at DgsWilson|Vimeo.com|Buckminster Fuller) There was a lot of good stuff but the thing that stood out for me was how he saw nature and his ideas of being in harmony with it.

Mr. Fuller, was always smart. What he said he lacked was the killer instinct and that made it hard for him to be a societal success. This led him to where he was broke, had a wife and newborn baby, and decided he’d never amount to anything and that if he killed himself everyone would be better off. I understand Buck…

He also decided that since committing suicide was a pretty big deal he should do some serious thinking. I’ll let him tell you his story. I’ll focus on how the conclusions he came to fall in line with my own. You see I’ve gotten to the point myself of seeing absolutely no reason to stick around. The only reasons I could come up with is that I might find out something good about the whole life system and somehow help someone else – if I could find it.

What I found, once I started looking, was that life had little to do with what I’d been taught. In fact, up to that point, I’d hardly learned anything “Real” about anything. I started learning things about the universe and the system of life and for the first time I was really interested in staying around and finding out more.

The Universe Is Regenerative

Buckminster Fuller recognized that the universe is regenerative. It has everything it needs to keep itself going. In our experience here on earth we can see this at work. Nature – has everything it needs to keep going, to go on living and living abundantly.

What does nature need? What do plants and animals need? Soil, water, air, sunlight. The universe provides all this (for free). I’d been thinking along this theme of harmony with the universe for a while. I’ve written little pieces here and there but I was missing the word “Regenerative”. That’s the perfect word. It’s a perfect descriptive.

Now maybe you’re wondering, what difference does it make if we know how the universe works – how does that help us right now. It might not, you might walk outside and get hit by a baseball and spend 40 years in a coma – then die. If not, we’ll see.

So we have what? A regenerative universe which provides for it’s own. It’s own being the natural world. The natural world being what? Everything that exists? This becomes sort of a debate so let me give my view. Nature is as nature does. We know nature by it’s nature. Not so much in a things outward appearance but as it’s innate characteristics. This is where the word regenerative is so welcome. Regenerative is the characteristic of nature. If it’s not regenerative it’s not nature.

One of the principles operating in the natural world, as I see it, is Cooperation. Cooperation is an aspect of nature’s character. It could be referred to as the spirit of cooperation. I cooperated with a 12 step program and now I’m sober and happy. I integrated principles into my “me” system and I have less anxiety, confusion, anger and so on.

Can I, asked Buckminster Fuller, integrate myself with this universe. Maybe we can. But what would be our example, our model. We’d have to look to nature. It’s probably necessary that we make a couple of fundamental adjustments in our thinking. If we think about nature’s being integrated in the regenerative universe we could say that nature is cooperating with the synergistic system of the universe.

After thinking about this for a while I saw that if I was truly integrated I would see myself as the universal system. I would see myself as a provision. Provided for and provider. Isn’t that they way the regenerative universe operates? Again, as with the integration of principles, we start close to home and work with what’s at hand. We can set about becoming functionally regenerative. All we’d need to do is adjust our thinking. As a result we’d probably end up adjusting some behaviors. Any behaviors which weren’t regenerative would be set aside.

I’m not finished with this. I’m starting and continuing to learn all the time. But I wanted to introduce the language so you could mess around with the idea. Okay have fun…as long as it’s, you know, regenerative fun.