Welcome to another zoom meeting and podcast of ‘Here’s Tom with the Weather’...where we investigate the plethora of Higher powers that populate the vast universe of Recovery  - particularly where the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous encourage us to find some kind of higher power – as long as it’s not us....for example in  3rd Step of the Alcoholics Anonymous 12 STEP program where it states

‘MADE A DECISION TO TURN OUR WILL AND OUR LIVES OVER TO THE CARE OF GOD, AS WE UNDERSTOOD HIM’

 and also to the 11th Step where it states

‘sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood him, praying only knowledge of his will for us and the power to carry that out’

We speak to people with all manner of higher powers - from those who are atheists, sufis, agnostics, Christians, Buddhists, Followers of Islam, Hermetics, Paganists, and those into NON-DUALITY...we leave no stone unturned...its our aim to promote understanding and open-mindedness so that alcoholics and addicts can find a higher power of their own - to stay sober and carry the message.

We promote tolerance and empathy for folks who have different spiritual practices than us. .its all about Live and Let Live.

Please remember that this is not an AA meeting...its just some people’s version of the truth – whatever that may be.

Sometimes we talk to seekers, to gurus and to people not necessarily in recovery ... and today its my honour to introduce you to Paul Hedderman:

He’s been described as :

“A man of no pretense, Paul Hedderman’s enlivening teachings blend his experience in recovery since 1988 with the perennial wisdom of Buddhist and Vedic philosophy peppered with gems from A Course in Miracles. Paul is the author of The Escape To Everywhere “Under A_rest and other titles.

 Here’s a quote about Paul: Paul invites us to notice how the mind’s irritability, restlessness, and discomfort arise from the false notion of what’s not happening; a notion that creates the sense of a false self. His clear pointers are a simple and profound invitation that once considered can instantly break this addiction and enable one to travel lighter through life.”

Paul cites Zen Master Huang Po as an important influence on his philosophy….so here’s a few Huang Po quotes to get us started

Huángbò's teaching centered on the concept of “mind” - He taught that mind cannot be sought by the mind. One of his most important sayings was “mind is the Buddha”.

He also said:

“All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but the One Mind, beside which nothing exists. The One Mind alone is the Buddha, and there is no distinction between the Buddha and sentient beings”.

He also said:

“To awaken suddenly to the fact that your own Mind is the Buddha, that there is nothing to be attained or a single action to be performed - this is the Supreme Way”.

“Suppose a warrior, forgetting that he was already wearing his pearl on his forehead, were to seek for it elsewhere, he could travel the whole world without finding it.”

“Learn only how to avoid seeking for and attaching yourselves to anything.”

“There is only the one reality, neither to be realized nor attained.”

“Words used to attract the dull of wit are not to be relied on.”