[bluidkiti]

Big Book Study - Post #14

Good morning everyone!

***Here's a good exercise for Chapter 4. Read through and count how many
times the word "prejudice" in it's various forms appears. Also count
synonyms such as "preconceived ideas" etc. You'll be surprised to see how
often we are asked to lay aside prejudice against spiritual concepts in this
chapter.***

We are at *page 46.* The first full paragraph here speaks of
open-mindedness: "Yes, we of agnostic temperament have had these thoughts
and experiences. Let us make haste to reassure you. We found that as soon as
we were able to lay aside prejudice and express even a *willingness* to
believe in a Power greater than ourselves, we commenced to get results, even
though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that
Power, which is God."

Reading through to the top of *page 47,* we see the important idea expressed
again:

"When, therefore, we speak to you of God, we mean *your own* conception of
God. This applies, too, to other spiritual expressions which you find in
this book. Do not let any prejudice you may have against spiritual terms
deter you from honestly asking yourself what they mean to you. At the start,
*this was all we needed* to commence spiritual growth, to effect our first
conscious relation with God as we understood Him. Afterward, we found
ourselves accepting many things which then seemed entirely out of reach.
That was growth, but if we wished to grow *we had to begin somewhere*. So we
used our own conception, however limited it was."

In paragraph 2, we find another reference to the spiritual structure we are
building:

"It has been repeatedly proven among us that upon *this simple
cornerstone*a wonderfully effective spiritual structure can be built."

The "*cornerstone" is* *belief*, and on page 12 we found that *"complete
willingness"* *is our foundation*. All that is important will rest on the
foundation and the entire structure is squared up from this cornerstone.
More elements of this spiritual structure will be revealed throughout the
text.

In the following paragraph we see that belief comes before faith: "That was
great news to us, for we had assumed we could not make use of spiritual
principles unless we accepted many things on faith (indicating knowledge) which
seemed difficult to believe."

So we begin with a belief, and it is through the knowledge that supports
this belief that we begin to have faith.

With love,
Karen H.