“God fully forgives us, but the ‘karma’ of our mistakes remains,and we must still go back and repair the bonds that we have broken.Otherwise others will not be able to forgive us, will remain stuck,

and we will both remain a wounded world. We usually need to make amends to forgive even ourselves.”

~ Richard Rohr, Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps, p. 68.

“God fully forgives us, but the ‘karma’ of our mistakes remains,and we must still go back and repair the bonds that we have broken. Otherwise others will not be able to forgive us, will remain stuck,

and we will both remain a wounded world. We usually need to make amends to forgive even ourselves.”

~ Richard Rohr, Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps, p. 68.

“We’ve looked at ourselves honestly in Steps Four and Five, but now we have to do something about what we’ve discovered. We have to be ready to change. What gives us the courage to take this Step is the sensitivity to our own pain, which develops as we work

through the Steps. At each Step and each level of honesty we see and feel more -

in our minds, in our hearts, in our emotions. As this ability to feel becomes more refined with the increasing clarity of sobriety, it becomes more painful (or we become more aware of the pain) to hold on to the self-destructive aspects of ourselves.”

~ Kevin Griffin, One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps, p. 138.

“We’ve looked at ourselves honestly in Steps Four and Five, but now we have to do something about what we’ve discovered. We have to be ready to change. What gives us the courage to take this Step is the sensitivity to our own pain, which develops as we work

through the Steps. At each Step and each level of honesty we see and feel more -

in our minds, in our hearts, in our emotions. As this ability to feel becomes more refined with the increasing clarity of sobriety, it becomes more painful (or we become more aware of the pain) to hold on to the self-destructive aspects of ourselves.”

~ Kevin Griffin, One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps, p. 138.

“Moral scrutiny is not to discover how good or bad I am and regain some moral high ground, but it is to begin some honest ‘shadow boxing’ which is at the heart of all spiritual awakening…

People only come to deeper consciousness by intentional struggles with contradictions, conflicts, inconsistencies, inner confusions, and what the biblical tradition calls ‘sin’ or moral failure.”

~ Richard Rohr, Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps.

“Moral scrutiny is not to discover how good or bad I am and regain some moral high ground, but it is to begin some honest ‘shadow boxing’ which is at the heart of all spiritual awakening…

People only come to deeper consciousness by intentional struggles with contradictions, conflicts, inconsistencies, inner confusions, and what the biblical tradition calls ‘sin’ or moral failure.”

~ Richard Rohr, Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps.

Surrender is a traditional element of every spiritual journey. Before we can begin to realize our potential, we must break out of limiting concepts of

who and what we are and what we think is possible. This may mean giving up long-held beliefs and comfortable behavior patterns. Cynicism or fantasy, fear or control, anger or grief -

many of us cling to these patterns and others. As we begin to surrender, we see that we will have to let go of

these destructive habits of mind before we can move toward freedom.

~ Kevin Griffin, One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps

Surrender is a traditional element of every spiritual journey.

Before we can begin to realize our potential, we must break out of limiting concepts of who and what we are and what we think is possible. This may mean giving up long-held beliefs and comfortable behavior patterns.

Cynicism or fantasy, fear or control, anger

or grief - many of us cling to these patterns and others. As we begin to surrender, we see that we will have to let go of these destructive habits of mind before we can move toward freedom.

~ Kevin Griffin, One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps

As Carol Bieleck says in her poem, we cannot stop the drowning waters

of our addictive culture from rising, but we must at least see our reality for what it is, seek to properly detach from it, and build a coral castle and learn to breathe underwater. The New Testament called it salvation or enlightenment the Twelve Step Program called it recovery.

~ Richard Rohr, Breathing Underwater: Spirituality and the 12 Steps, p. xv-xvi

As Carol Bieleck says in her poem, we cannot stop the drowning waters

of our addictive culture from rising, but we must at least see our reality for what it is, seek to properly detach from it, and build a coral castle and learn to breathe underwater. The New Testament called it salvation or enlightenment,

the Twelve Step Program called it recovery.

~ Richard Rohr, Breathing Underwater: Spirituality and the 12 Steps, p. xv-xvi