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Hi. I'm putting together alternatives to the monotheistic-oriented, Abrahamic-type language of most mainstream twelve-step programs as an experiment, and as a resource for anyone who may be interested. Please feel free to post good stuff on this thread you know of that you feel appeals more to people identifying as pagans, atheists, agnostics or as belonging to other non-Abrahamic faiths. Material geared toward any twelve-step group is welcomed. Thanks.
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12 Step Language for Pagans or Other Non-Abrahamic Folks
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Kassandra
- Posts: 3193
- Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:42 pm
- Gender: Female
- Location: Terra, Sol III, Milky Way Galaxy
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Kassandra's Take on the Serenity Prayer
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What would a Serenity Prayer look like to you, according to your beliefs? What gods, goddesses or other beings would you include? Please post your writing in this thread, if you feel so inclined!
I made a post elsewhere on the board yesterday for a member here, of a "pagan serenity prayer" I found online. I began to wonder, "Hmm, what might a serenity prayer look like, to me?" What I came up with is below. I used some of the wording of the pagan serenity prayer I posted, and added some of my own. I don't really have gods I worship, no pantheon, but I do feel I am always surrounded by a "spirit family" that I revere, that interacts with me, and I with it. I believe we are co-creators of existence, and I will likewise be an ancestor one day. So, this is reflected in my writing. I've been of the persuasion that before I start asking the universe for stuff, I should say hello to everyone as shamans do the world over before proceeding to do their workings. They often salute the sky, the earth, and everything on it, as well as the spirit realm and off-planet folk. I guess it's the polite, and right thing to do, lol. It does feel grounding though, like I am centering myself in a grand web of existence. It's kind of exhilarating, actually, and definitely humbling.
The Japanese side of my heritage, I don't really subscribe to those pantheons and beliefs. I seemed to have went a Native American-style direction in my writing, which is actually part of my heritage on my father's side. For example, I believe an etheric, intelligent substance pervades all things, like the awen of Celtic/Druid folk, the prana of some Indian spiritual paths, the qi/ki of some Chinese/Japanese belief systems, etc. I'm happy with Great Spirit to describe this phenomena, but I don't view it as god I feel compelled to worship, nor do I require a name for it ("God" isn't a name, anyway, lol). Terms like All My Relations and Star Nations I think are perfect descriptions for the vast expanse of creatures I've both experienced and I've envisioned as existing in this density and others, on and off-planet. And I just love the term Earth Walk to describe our incarnations here; it's poetic. The only non-Native concepts may be the Highest Self, the origin of which I am not sure (the Bhagavad Gita implies we possess a higher and lower self), and the Middle Path, which is from Buddhism.
Anyway, here it is...
Blessed be All Creation!
Blessed be the Great Spirit that is all in all.
Blessed be our Father Sky and the many Star Nations.
Blessed be our Mother Earth and all her children.
Blessed be our Ancestors, ever alive in spirit.
Blessed be my Highest Self, overseeing my every incarnation.
Blessed be All Our Relations, great and small!
May I have your assistance as I walk my Earth Walk today. In every step I take, may you lend your strength and wisdom to me so that I walk in Beauty and Serenity.
May the quality of Water ever flow within, so I accept with ease and grace what I cannot change.
May the quality of Fire ever burn within, so I have energy and fearlessness to change what I can change.
May the quality of the Four Winds ever blow within, so I have wisdom to know the difference.
And may the quality of Earth stabilize me, so I am grounded and walk a Middle Path of balance, insight, and gratitude.
Thank you for All for your blessings!
.
What would a Serenity Prayer look like to you, according to your beliefs? What gods, goddesses or other beings would you include? Please post your writing in this thread, if you feel so inclined!
I made a post elsewhere on the board yesterday for a member here, of a "pagan serenity prayer" I found online. I began to wonder, "Hmm, what might a serenity prayer look like, to me?" What I came up with is below. I used some of the wording of the pagan serenity prayer I posted, and added some of my own. I don't really have gods I worship, no pantheon, but I do feel I am always surrounded by a "spirit family" that I revere, that interacts with me, and I with it. I believe we are co-creators of existence, and I will likewise be an ancestor one day. So, this is reflected in my writing. I've been of the persuasion that before I start asking the universe for stuff, I should say hello to everyone as shamans do the world over before proceeding to do their workings. They often salute the sky, the earth, and everything on it, as well as the spirit realm and off-planet folk. I guess it's the polite, and right thing to do, lol. It does feel grounding though, like I am centering myself in a grand web of existence. It's kind of exhilarating, actually, and definitely humbling.
The Japanese side of my heritage, I don't really subscribe to those pantheons and beliefs. I seemed to have went a Native American-style direction in my writing, which is actually part of my heritage on my father's side. For example, I believe an etheric, intelligent substance pervades all things, like the awen of Celtic/Druid folk, the prana of some Indian spiritual paths, the qi/ki of some Chinese/Japanese belief systems, etc. I'm happy with Great Spirit to describe this phenomena, but I don't view it as god I feel compelled to worship, nor do I require a name for it ("God" isn't a name, anyway, lol). Terms like All My Relations and Star Nations I think are perfect descriptions for the vast expanse of creatures I've both experienced and I've envisioned as existing in this density and others, on and off-planet. And I just love the term Earth Walk to describe our incarnations here; it's poetic. The only non-Native concepts may be the Highest Self, the origin of which I am not sure (the Bhagavad Gita implies we possess a higher and lower self), and the Middle Path, which is from Buddhism.
Anyway, here it is...
Blessed be All Creation!
Blessed be the Great Spirit that is all in all.
Blessed be our Father Sky and the many Star Nations.
Blessed be our Mother Earth and all her children.
Blessed be our Ancestors, ever alive in spirit.
Blessed be my Highest Self, overseeing my every incarnation.
Blessed be All Our Relations, great and small!
May I have your assistance as I walk my Earth Walk today. In every step I take, may you lend your strength and wisdom to me so that I walk in Beauty and Serenity.
May the quality of Water ever flow within, so I accept with ease and grace what I cannot change.
May the quality of Fire ever burn within, so I have energy and fearlessness to change what I can change.
May the quality of the Four Winds ever blow within, so I have wisdom to know the difference.
And may the quality of Earth stabilize me, so I am grounded and walk a Middle Path of balance, insight, and gratitude.
Thank you for All for your blessings!
.
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Kassandra
- Posts: 3193
- Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:42 pm
- Gender: Female
- Location: Terra, Sol III, Milky Way Galaxy
- Contact:
Non-deistic 12 Steps?
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I know of pagans, Buddhists and others who can't relate with monotheistic/Abrahamic wording of the mainstream 12 Steps, with its emphasis on "God" or "Higher Power as we understand Him," and other such language (see Steps 3, and 7, for example). What do you think of a 12 Step program that altogether leaves out deity? Some believe it's not possible to have a 12 Step program that isn't deity-centered, that humans aren't capable of ceasing an addiction without divine intervention, that that defeats the purpose of the program,.
But should the focus of such a program be on worshiping deity, or should it be on learning skills that assist one to develop and maintain one's sobriety? In fact, I have seen some describe a deity-centered 12 Step program as being, in reality, "a religion in denial."
What do you think?
Here's one example of how a non-deistic 12 Steps could sound:
Agnostic AA 12 Steps
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe and to accept that we needed awareness and skills beyond our awareness and resources to restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to entrust our will and our lives to the care of the collective wisdom and resources of those who have searched before us.
4. Made a searching and fearless inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to ourselves without reservation, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were ready to accept help in letting go of all our defects of character.
7. With humility and openness sought to correct our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through meditation to improve our spiritual awareness and our understanding of the AA way of life and to discover the power to carry out that way of life.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Source: http://www.aaagnostics.org/agnostic12steps.html
Is this enough to develop a program of sobriety, or is it missing divine assistance of some sort?
Thanks.
.
I know of pagans, Buddhists and others who can't relate with monotheistic/Abrahamic wording of the mainstream 12 Steps, with its emphasis on "God" or "Higher Power as we understand Him," and other such language (see Steps 3, and 7, for example). What do you think of a 12 Step program that altogether leaves out deity? Some believe it's not possible to have a 12 Step program that isn't deity-centered, that humans aren't capable of ceasing an addiction without divine intervention, that that defeats the purpose of the program,.
But should the focus of such a program be on worshiping deity, or should it be on learning skills that assist one to develop and maintain one's sobriety? In fact, I have seen some describe a deity-centered 12 Step program as being, in reality, "a religion in denial."
What do you think?
Here's one example of how a non-deistic 12 Steps could sound:
Agnostic AA 12 Steps
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe and to accept that we needed awareness and skills beyond our awareness and resources to restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to entrust our will and our lives to the care of the collective wisdom and resources of those who have searched before us.
4. Made a searching and fearless inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to ourselves without reservation, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were ready to accept help in letting go of all our defects of character.
7. With humility and openness sought to correct our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through meditation to improve our spiritual awareness and our understanding of the AA way of life and to discover the power to carry out that way of life.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Source: http://www.aaagnostics.org/agnostic12steps.html
Is this enough to develop a program of sobriety, or is it missing divine assistance of some sort?
Thanks.
.