Steps to the Spirit

Send us Fan Mail From time to time, I like to talk to you about why I felt a need to start this podcast, why this podcast continues to exist, and, basically, what it is all about. I know some of you are old-time listeners, and really are kind of in sync with my line of thinking, certainly no what I am all about, including this podcast. Please feel free to skip this week and tune in on 14 January f...

Send us Fan Mail Let me start by wishing you all very happy new year. In my estimation, 2025 seem to be becoming a little better towards the end of the year. In addition, it seems to me that the year 2026 will continue to be a better one for most of humanity. Of course, I am talking from the United States, and I realize that things, and life in general, is not good in some other parts of the world...

Send us Fan Mail I don’t have much in the way of the description for this episode. It is my last episode of the year, as well as what I am calling my Christmas message. I know that some of you are not Christian, but after all is said and done I would still refer to myself as a Christian. The system of philosophy that I created is called, Mystical Interrelational Trinitarianism . The word Trinitari...

Send us Fan Mail This episode will be the end, or last, episode of the six basic assumptions. As a reminder the sixth assumption is:           6. Those who have been “changed” must “change others”. There are couple of words in this assumption that are a little surprising, and that would never be found in the 12-step program that we have today. The first word of course, is “changed”. Although we do...

Send us Fan Mail This episode brings us to the end of the Oxford group’s six basic assumptions. The sixth: basic assumption is  6. Those who have been “changed” must “change others”. Any of you who are familiar with the 12-step program will recognize basic assumption as being directly related to step number 12. Of course, the wording is a little different, as well as how they characterize those wh...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is a continuation of the six basic assumptions of the Oxford Group, specifically, assumption number five which is:  5. The ‘Age of Miracles has returned.  These lists were made at the beginning of the existence of the Oxford Group. I am not really familiar with what stage the belief in God or religion in general had gotten to at that point. This seems to have been, at...

Send us Fan Mail I don’t know how I missed episode number 48! Maybe my old age of 81 (January 16), is catching up with me. Anyway, to my regular listeners, I’m sorry I missed it. Here it is now. This episode is about the fourth of the six basic assumptions that are found in the Oxford Group. It is as follows: 4. The changed soul has direct access to God. So, rather way we notice that, at least in...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is a continuation of our look at six basic assumptions. Once again, I am including a list of these assumptions. They are: The 6 Basic Assumptions:  1. Men are sinners.  2. Men can be changed.  3. Confession is prerequisite to change.  4. The changed soul has direct access to God.  5. The ‘Age of Miracles’ has returned.  6. Those who have been “changed” must “change ot...

Send us Fan Mail We are now at the second of the six basic assumptions. That second assumption is, “Men can be changed.” As a reminder, we saw in the first assumption that men are sinners. And I think in our present day language, that that assumption means because of our humanity and our free will, not to mention our proclivity to gain pleasure and happiness for ourselves, we are always ready to s...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode will begin the last of the Oxford Groups lists that we will be looking at in this podcast. This would just called: The Six Basic Assumptions. I am including this list (as it was written), below. The 6 Basic Assumptions:  1. Men are sinners.  2. Men can be changed.  3. Confession is prerequisite to change.  4. The changed soul has direct access to God.  5. The ‘Age...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode I’ll be speaking about the fifth and last of the Oxford Group’s five procedures. As I have said many times before, the Oxford group was really the precursor to the 12- step program. Just about every one of their various lists can be matched up in some ways to the 12 step program. This current list that were working on, the five procedures, is no different, especial...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode I’ll be speaking about number four of the five procedures. The number four procedure is: restitution. Restitution, of course, at first blush, comprises two of the steps in the 12-step program. Those steps would be steps eight and nine where I make a list of everyone I have harmed in step eight, and then I proceed to go through that list, trying, as best I can, to m...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of speaking about the third Procedure. The third procedure is: Check Guidance This procedur is very simply stated and implies a very simple action. However, I believe it is so much more important than it seems. If you are a frequent flyer to this podcast you are aware that my main objective as a person who has said “yes” to God, is to listen for the direction of my...

Send us Fan Mail As a reminder, these are the five procedures: The Five Procedures  1. Give in toGod.  2. Listen to God’s direction.  3. Check guidance.  4. Restitution.  5. Sharing — for witness and confession. This is episode three, and I will be speaking about procedure number two, Listen to God’s direction . I see this procedure as being aligned with steps number three and eleven. As we take s...

Send us Fan Mail Below is the list of the five procedures: The Five Procedures  1. Give in toGod.  2. Listen to God’s direction.  3. Check guidance.  4. Restitution.  5. Sharing — for witness and confession. As we have seen before, this list not only mirrors, but preempts a list of 12-steps. The first, and simply stated, procedure is, “Give in to God.” This procedure, simple in its wording, is wha...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode I will be going over yet another group of tenets, or reminders from the Oxford group. The five items in this list are referred to as the five procedures. I’m not sure when, why, or where these lists of things or develop, but they seem to help the members of the Oxford group to stay on their spiritual course and become what seems to have been the main goal, changed...

Send us Fan Mail In this final episode about the list of the 5 C’s from the Oxford group, I will speak about the relationship to step number 12 and the last of the C’s, continuance . While the word continuance makes a definite, personal connection with steps number 10 and 11, it makes both the personal and “others” connection in the 12th step. On the one hand it speaks of our personal, spiritual e...

Send us Fan Mail The fifth item in this list of five C’s is Continuance. The placing of this word continuance makes a lot of sense, only compare the list to the 12 steps. The word continuance holds so much meaning as a pointer to the 12-step program that I have decided to use two episodes to discuss it. In this episode, I would like to use this word continuance as a pointer to the 10th, 11th step....

Send us Fan Mail The subject for this episode is the word for (or idea of) a change in our spiritual attitude. This is the fourth in the current group of episodes having to do with the five C’s, as they were called in the Oxford Group. This word is:  Conversion  As I have said before, these lists from the Oxford Group, and the order in which they are presented do not necessarily match the order of...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode I am going to share my thoughts on the third of the five C’s list from the Oxford group the third in the list of the five C’s is:  Contrition  So, in the Oxford dictionary, contrition is listed as a noun and it means to be in the state of remorseful and penitent. This definition reminds me somehow, of the old “mea culpa”, hair shirts and self flagellation! This is...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode I’ll be speaking about the second see in this list of five C’s from the Oxford Group, which is: Confession of course, because we didn’t take the 12 steps directly from the Oxford Group, the order in which we do things sometimes different. The actions, however, are always the same as well as the intent. We find the correlation to this act of confession in step numbe...

Send us Fan Mail I’m sure you realize by now that the Oxford Group had many lists with which they remembered those things that were important to their spiritual growth. Today we will be starting to look at one of their lists which they called the 5 C’s. I hope you have noticed that, as promised, I am naming these episodes according to the name of the list that I will discuss. This will make it eas...

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Send us Fan Mail This episode is about the third of four practices from the Oxford Group  the third practice is 3. Restitution to all whom we have wronged directly or indirectly Obviously, this practice is directly related to the eighth and ninth step in the 12 step program. Again, at the risk of repeating myself, it is undeniable that the 12 step program, or I should say, the 12 steps, directly o...

Send us Fan Mail So, my friends, I don’t really have a lot to say in this description of episode number 30, which is a continuation of 29, the second of the four practices of the Oxford Group. It is just that the third step in the12-step program is so important to me that I would just like to say a little bit more about both of these important things. I also believe this is a really good example o...