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Sitting still


 
A friend in Program says:

There is a French philosopher who was famous for suggesting that belief in God should be treated from the perspective of a gambler who is looking for a "win-win" situation. From this point of view, he said, belief in God makes perfect sense. If you believe in God, and it turns out that God exists, then you win. If you believe in God, and it turns out that God doesn't exist, you've lost nothing. Ergo, believe in God.

Our philosophic friend is famous for another saying, which is this:

Most of the evils of life arise from man's being unable to sit still in a room.

Very fortunately, although we can avoid many of the evils of life by sitting still in a room, this doesn't mean that we sit still and do nothing. Our Step 10 and Step 11 meditation practices will give us plenty to do. However, having a purpose for what we do is another matter. Our meditation practice will be a lot less effective if, for example, we are doing it because we think that -- like the gambler mentioned earlier -- it places us in a win-win situation. For we do not meditate in order to get something. We meditate because the wisdom of the last three Steps shows us sooner or later that we have no alternative.

"The spiritual life is never one of achievement:
it is always one of letting go."

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