True self

The meeting topic tonight was on theft. There are various forms to stealing intentional acts or unintended acts. How do we work our steps around these issues. One fourth step for me using the Blue Print for Progress gave me insight into my character. When I hurt myself by stealing

the world around me also suffers. Keeping my victim self alive requires food. This means I don't have enough nor am I enough. The program gives me back my life, it allows my true self to emerge.

A beautiful story was told regarding giving to the thief...similar to La Misreable.

Generous action breaks the thief. Working with sponsees gives me insight into the building of character defects. I hear them mention how worthless they are, liars, thieves the list is endless. In all this I hear myself and the horrible self talk I practice which keeps my alanonic self alive. Generous giving to my sponsees by sitting and listening to them share thier program is rewarding. This action teaches me to also be loving toward myself one day at a time.

Suzuki Roshi said, "When we think we do not posses something, then we want to steal. But actually everything in the world belongs to us so there is no need to steal." He took his glasses as an example. "They do not belong to me or to you, or they belong to all of us. But you know about my tired old eyes so you let me use them." This attitude of just using whatever we have without identifying it as mine, or belonging to me, is helpful in loosening up the solidity or fixedness of what we think of as the self. When we treat our possessions and even our body as something we have been given temporarily to take care of and use, then we won’t have such a strong tendency to define who we are by what we have.