There are certain characteristics that our friends who are working Steps 10, 11 and 12 seem to have in common. For example, almost uniformly they report that the have ceased listening to the stereo while driving. They've come to see that it's simply a means of distracting themselves from what's happening right now. They're more interested in the here and now than they are in music or current events.

Similarly, many of us seem to be losing interest in politics. It starts to become harder and harder to believe that any political party has the answers to the country's or the world's problems. A friend put it this way: I no longer have a foreign policy.

In fact, there is something altogether peculiar about trying to follow a spiritual path and simultaneously having a political point of view. It's having it both ways: I've decided to hand my will and my life over to the care of God as I understand God, but just in case God fails to come through I'll look to the conservatives or the liberals, the right or the left, to make up the deficiency.

Politics is based on the idea that a concerted effort can change the world for the better. Spirituality is based on the idea that a concerted effort can change me for the better. It is perhaps wiser that the latter process should precede the former.