A Little Clutter Sometimes Helps

A few decades ago, Jane Jacobs wrote a whole book on what amkes a city ticket. Not grandiose planning, she wrote, not vast, empty malls framed by express roads The life of great cities reflects al the clutter and confusion and sometimes purposeful activity of the people who live and work in them. You can get most anything you want in a great city, sometimes within easy walking distance.

I suppose it flatters Wilmington to call it a great city, or even what remains of a great city. It always felll a litle shy of that mark, even in the days (not too long ago) when more than 100,000 souls called it home, and not just during working hours. Its proximity to Philadelphia propably had something to do with that. The big hitters of business and culture, like the big ships on the Delaware, passed by on their way to Philadelphia.
Philadelphia had big-league teams like the Phillies and the Eagles; Wilmington had the Blue Rocks and the Clippers.

in reference to: Op-Ed Columnist - What Makes Cities Live - NYTimes.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Daily Recovery Readings

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From the Daily Recovery Readings:
"I no longer try to escape life through alcoholism. Drinking
built up an unreal world for me and I tried to live in it.
But in the morning light the real world was back again and
facing it was harder than ever, because I had less resources
with which to meet it. Each attempt at escape weakened my
personality by the very attempt. Everyone knows that alcohol,
by relaxing inhibitions, permits a flight from reality.
Alcohol deadens the brain cells that preside over our highest
faculties and we are off to the unreal world of drunkenness.
A.A. taught me not to run away, but to face reality. Have I
given up trying to escape life?"

In my case, the escape into an unreal world fueled grandiose thinking and behavior, especially in the business world. I told people not to worry about me: I was "bulletproof." and could take dangerous risks with impunity/ That was the unreal world. The real world was very different.

For Today

Good morning! Here is today's prayer from the BCP.

in reference to:

"Collect of the Day: Pentecost, proper 28 Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen."
- Morning Prayer (view on Google Sidewiki)

For Today

Good morning! Here is today's prayer from the BCP.

in reference to: Morning Prayer (view on Google Sidewiki)

The St. St. Franci Prayer

I love this prayer, which is said regularly at many AA meetings around the world. AA is not affiliated with any church or religion, but most members aknowledge the role of a Higher Power -- a God of their own definition -- in their lives. Since their inception, AA and tits forerunners have enjoyed the encouragement of the Episcopal Church; this copy of the prayer is taken from the Book of Common Prayer.

in reference to: Morning Prayer (view on Google Sidewiki)

Testing Our Determination

Have our recent difficulties with J & C been meant to test our strenth and increase our determination to keep going? Surely they have drawn M and and me closer. And perhaps it is true that they's drawn P and MII closer, too. And I would say that they really have increased our determination to keep going. The downside, of course, is that they have driven a wedge between J and C, on the one hand, and the rest of us on the other.

in reference to: Daily Recovery Readings (view on Google Sidewiki)

Richard Hooker, 3 November 1600

Richard Hooker, 3 November 1600: "'God is no captious sophister, eager to trip us up whenever we say amiss, but a courteous tutor, ready to amend what, in our weakness or our ignorance, we say ill, and to make the most of what we say aright.'"

Confession: Long Version

Confession
A longer version of the General Confession, taken from today's Morning Prayer service at Mission St. Claire. I'd never seen it before!

"A Single Eye to God's Purpose"

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"'If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.' The eye
of the soul is the will. if your will is to do the will of God, to serve Him
with your life, to serve Him by helping others, then truly shall your
whole body be full of light. The important thing is to strive to attune
your will to the will of God, a single eye to God's purpose, desiring
nothing less than that His purposes be fulfilled. Try to seek in all
things the advance of His kingdom, seek the spiritual values of honesty
and purity, unselfishness and love, and earnestly desire spiritual
growth. Then your life will emerge from the darkness of futility into
the light of victory."

From the Daily Recovery Readings, this meditation has come down from the writings of the Oxford Group, with which the roots of Alcoholics Anonymous are deeply entangled. The four absolutes of the Oxford Group were "Absolute Honesty, Absolute Purity, Absolute Unsefishness, Absolute Love," I understand that they are engraved on the tombstone of Dr. Bob Smith, one of AA's founders, in Akron, Ohio.

The Nature of a Spiritual Experience

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"'The central characteristic of the spiritual experience is that it gives the recipient a new and better motivation out of all proportion to any process of discipline, belief, or faith.

'These experiences cannot make us whole at once; they are a rebirth to a fresh and certain opportunity.'"

Bill Wilson, Letter

"Self-Will Run Riot"

Image by Chris Gin via Flickr

Am I an Alcoholi

Found this online this duing this morning's quiet time. It's a slightly updated (a reference to the 21st ccentury) and revised (put in first person rather than third) quote from "Alcoholics Anonymous," AA's Big Book or Bible. Needless to say, I like it a lot.

Expect Better Things

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"Be expectant. Constantly expect better things. Believe that what God has in store for you is better than anything you ever had before.
The way to grow old happily is to expect better things
right up to the end of your life and even beyond that.
A good life is a growing expanding life, with ever-widening horizons, an ever-greater circle of friends and acquaintances, and an ever-greater opportunity for usefulness"
Daily Recovery Readings

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An Either-Or Proposition

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"Either the A.A. way of life becomes one of joy or I return to the darkness and despair of alcoholism. Joy comes to me when my attitude concerning God and humility turns to one of desire rather than of burden. The darkness in my life changes to radiant light when I arrive at the realization that being truthful and honest in dealing with my inventory results in my life being filled with serenity, freedom, and joy. Trust in my Higher Power deepens, and the flush of gratitude spreads through my being. I am convinced that being
humble is being truthful and honest in dealing with myself and God.
It is then that humility is something I 'really want,' rather being
'something I must have."

Daily Recovery Readings

Second Chance at Life

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Daily Recovery Readings: 'We in A.A. have the privilege of living two lives in one
lifetime. One life of drunkenness, failure, and defeat. Then,
through A.A., another life of sobriety, peace of mind, and
usefulness. We who have recovered our sobriety are modern
miracles. And we're living on borrowed time. Some of us might
have been dead long ago. But we have been given another chance
to live. Do I owe a debt of gratitude to A.A. that I can never
repay as long as I live?'

Literally true. though the details differ from one individual to another. In my case, alcoholism ruined a career and took away a lot of other things I have never regained. But without the loss of all that stuff -- and that is all it is or was -- I might never have accepted my alcoholism and entered a new life in A.A.

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All We Can Do Is Try

Can He now take them all -- every one?
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p. 76

In doing Step Six it helped me a lot to remember that I am striving for
'spiritual progress.' Some of my character defects may be with me for
the rest of my life, but most have been toned down or eliminated. All
that Step Six asks of me is to become willing to name my defects, claim
them as my own, and be willing to discard the ones I can, just for today.
As I grow in the program, many of my defects become more
objectionable to me than previously and, therefore, I need to repeat Step
Six so that I can become happier with myself and maintain my serenity."

Saturn deal is called a new business model | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press

Control passes from the manufacturer to the distributor. Could this be a model for other industries, too? What about the information industry, what we used to call "the press" and, more recently, "the media?"

Surfaces

"A man that looks on glass,
On it may stay his eye;
Or if he pleaseth, through it pass,
And then the heaven espy."

George Herbert

AG's office won't say if prosecutor has job | delawareonline | The News Journal

AG's office won't say if prosecutor has job | delawareonline | The News Journal

Sounds to me like this guy has a prolem with alcohol. I hope the AG's silence about his employment status indicates that he is getting the help he needs and deserves. Lord knows he wouldn't be the first DAG to get in this kind of trouble.

Does the newspaper really want his scalp? Sounds like it does, and that's unfortunate. Alcoholism is a disease, not a moral problem. Even newspaper editors have been kknown to come down with it -- and get well.