Beyond the Light: Ongoing Spiritual Awakening
Spiritual growth is not effortless.
Bill Wilson, a co-founder of AA, had a self-described “White Light” experience at Townes Hospital in New York. He described an out-of-body experience where he saw a blindingly bright light and felt a clear wind. He was touched by God.
I would think that nothing more was needed. With a dramatic vision of standing on a mountaintop with a clear wind blowing, what more would be needed? With a turning point like that, his drinking problem would be solved, and he would spend the rest of his life contemplating God.
But that was not the end of his spiritual journey; it was the beginning. Over the years, he continued to work to grow and change. The possibly hallucinatory experience was not sufficient. More effort was required. He read and studied. He continued to seek advice from doctors, theologians, psychologists and others. He argued and shared with thousands of spiritual seekers. He persisted in his quest for spiritual growth.
This continuous work led to the framing of our AA experience as a journey, not an event. We trudge a road of happy destiny, we don’t arrive at a place of happy destiny. We are not fixed; we must work and maintain our spiritual life.
And in Bill Wilson was not alone in needing to work after a divine vision, that is the path of all great spiritual leaders. Constant work and effort is needed.
Bill Wilson quotes William James as describing most spiritual awakenings as “educational.” [1] Spiritual awakenings are educational, they take time, work and effort.
With this in mind, I ask myself, “Am I making a spiritual effort, spending time and studying spiritual growth? When was the last time I read something or heard something that challenged me? When was the last time I seriously reflected on spiritual growth and what I was doing?”
I have found these to be good questions to ask once in a while. It reinforces the need for continuous work and effort.
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[1] Bill Wilson misquoted William James who described longer term developmental spiritual awakenings as “volitional.” They were gradual and progressive, and intentional. But we can forgive Bill’s mistake, it is a very common error, and the error does not affect the accuracy of the phenomenon.
