Fellowship friend Tom C... turned me back on (years ago I studied & last year got it on my Kindle) to The Sermon On the Mount: The Key to Success in Life, by Emmett Fox.
Fox's "New Thought" ways of looking at things are an anathema to some— mostly those with "rigid" interpretations of the Bible and what it means to be Christian. I find Uncle Emmett (I mean, Emmett is such an avuncular name <smile>) refreshing, insightful and always giving me a fresh, new, and more accessible take on Jesus Christ, the Bible and spirituality.
Here's Dr. Fox's take on a key part of the first of The Beatitudes from Christ's "Sermon":
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
NOTE: Fox's secretary was the mother of one of the men who worked with co-founder of our Fellowship Bill W., and partly as a result of this connection early groups often went to hear Fox. His writing, especially "The Sermon on the Mount," became very popular in the Fellowship.
To be poor in spirit does not in the least mean the thing we call “poor spirited” nowadays. To be poor in spirit means to have emptied yourself of all desire to exercise personal self-will, and, what is just as important, to have renounced all preconceived opinions in the wholehearted search for God. It means to be willing to set aside your present habits of thought, your present views and prejudices, your present way of life if necessary; to jettison, in fact, anything and everything that can stand in the way of your finding God.
So... another goal to seek on my journey: Becoming "poor in spirit."
Step 1. "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol— that our lives had become unmanageable," is a great start <smile>
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