OASV Blog Editor
August 4, 2023
Achieving Fit Spiritual Condition
OA’s 12 step program of recovery from compulsive eating promises members “a life beyond our wildest dreams.” While that promise appears in various forms in our literature, the expression “fit spiritual condition,” comes at the end of the 10th step promises on pages 84 and 85 of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous:
“And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone—even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality—safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.”
However, being in fit spiritual condition isn’t about how we feel; it’s about what we do. We don’t need to feel great to be spiritually great; we develop spiritual fitness through our actions. Similar to working on physical and intellectual fitness, we find effective methods to develop spiritual fitness. The 12 Steps, 12 Traditions, and the tools of the program provide exercises to improve the spiritual agility, strength, and stamina we need for all aspects of our recovery. ~ Salle H
These comments are based on the member’s personal experience, strength, and hope gained through working Overeaters Anonymous 12 Steps and Traditions and using the tools of the program.
Call for articles: Please send your blog submissions to blog@oasv.org. We look forward to hearing from you and to sharing your story of experience, strength, and hope with others on this amazing journey of OA recovery from compulsive eating through the Twelve Steps.