By:

Summerville C.

Lunch Bunch

 First off, when I look up the word spirituality, okay who am I fooling but myself, I mean when I Google the word spirituality, I get a few favorable definitions. The two I’ll focus on are Spirituality:  A) The quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things and Spirituality:  B) Those who speak of spirituality outside of religion often define themselves as spiritual but not religious and generally believe in the existence of different “spiritual paths,” emphasizing the importance of finding one’s own individual path to spirituality.

Being in the fellowship of NA I’ll share on example B first. Our literature actually states in Chapter Eight ‘We Do Recover’ in our Basic Text that this is a simple spiritual not religious program known as Narcotics Anonymous. What does that mean to me? Simply, as I always say I’m not religious by the strength of anyone’s imagination but I am a very spiritual individual. I’m also not here to say what religion is or isn’t to you but I assure you I do know what religion is AND isn’t. Once again the literature does say our program is spiritual not religious. Spirituality for me is an inside job of body, mind, spirit and soul. I’m careful about what goes in my mouth just as I am equally careful about what comes OUT of my mouth. Spirituality aims at making you strong by mind. It aims at the elimination of what is vexation and negative to one’s soul. Spirituality is a mind building concept that shapes the mind of the individual centered towards enlightenment and individually orientated. Being selective about the foods, people and things that I let surround me is as important as those I choose to be around. I’ve been accused of having a quiet spirit with an easy demeanor. I quietly smile knowing that I’m just not easy to anger all the while knowing I can surely anger someone else a lot faster.

That brings me back to definition A. Being in recovery is slightly different than just being in the fellowship. I like example A since I myself am more into the true essence of the human spirit and things such as energy, love, empathy, being one with nature along with the prayer and meditation the eleventh step helps explain.  I do strive for peace, serenity and tranquility preferring to gravitate towards others on a similar plane drawing closer to those like-minded or spirited people. People with a smile in their hearts as well as on their face instead of constantly having a pocket full of grumps on a daily basis. Of course not personally knowing anyone like Ghandi or Mother Theresa, I do today have a choice of the people that I do put in my spiritual circle. That doesn’t mean I don’t associate with the loud spirited and profane Sam Kinisons of the world, it just means I’m more selective of who enters my circle. Spirituality is infinite consciousness that is divine and gives me inner peace.