“In the end, it is my experience, strength and hope that the purpose of the Twelve Steps, practiced progressively, is to restore us to wholeness for the very first time. That restoration happens in stage after stage after stage, seemingly without end. The possibilities and potential are only limited by our ability to practice the work of spiritual recovery just one more time at greater depth.

Ancient ones believed that every human must forget their wholeness early in life. Yet each of us is forgetful in our own unique way. Thus, our rememberment must necessarily be unique and personal to each of us.”

Excerpted from Progressive Recovery through the Twelve Steps: Emotionally Sober for Life

*****

Several readers of my latest book have asked about the word rememberment in the quotation above. It seems that once again my ability to make up words is a difficulty for some, and creates curiosity for others. I’m pleased on both accounts because far too often we gloss over important matters because we don’t, won’t or can’t stop to consider their meaning. Thus, we do not understand, though we think we do. That’s the source of a lot of missed opportunity for our growth and development.

All of this sets the scene for a little bit of exploration, and perhaps, some understanding to come from it.

More than a few masters have said that our fundamental problem is we forget ourselves. We arrive on planet earth primed for beingness (another made up word), only to be enculturated by the world, its people and its customs. We forget ourselves. We come to think we are our personalities, our bodies and our doings. Slowly but surely the soul of us is lost to us.

The result of forgetting who we are brings with it any number of difficulties as we are warped by the ways of the world and by life, which results in neuroses, complexes and behaviors that are distorted. The very nature of living on earth presents mischief for us.

Unless we can be remembered to and by ourselves, we cannot be rejoined to our original nature. To channel the wisdom of Jesus, we cannot become as little children again.

Rememberment is to be restored.

What I really love about the notion of rememberment is that it points us toward being reconnected to ourselves, and our communities - to wholeness in all the ways that matter. For all those who are challenged by all kinds of disconnection, isolation, and the like, this idea presents a remarkable possibility.

Seeing True™

“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

Carl Jung

Seeing True™ in Action

Where to begin? Perhaps with self-examination:

· What does the evidence of my life, my successes and my failures say about where I have been warped?

· What are the root causes, the experiences that brought it about?

· What beliefs have come about as a result?

· Looking deeply within myself, are these things true of me?

We don’t have to solve them. We just need to see them, and own them. The rest takes care of itself. That’s what Carl Jung was telling us. And that will lead to being remembered.