SIGNS OF CHARACTER

Wilhelm von Humboldt

     My meditation for this morning is the following quotation by German philosopher Wilhelm von Humboldt:

     "How a person masters his fate is more important than what his fate is."

     This covers so many areas helped by Twelve Step programs, I hate to make a list for fear of excluding what is most important to you or me. The main program way of expressing the above principle is: "Instead of living in the problem, I live in the solution."

     An example of living in the problem: "I'm an addict! Look at what happened to me! Why me?"

     An example of living in the solution: "I'm an addict. So, what can I do about that?"

     When I am working with new writers explaining the parts of a story, I tell them the requirements for a collection of words to be a story.

     You have a character and the character has a goal. There is an obstacle between the character and the character's goal of such a nature that it attacks the character in the character's most vulnerable place. The character contests with the obstacle, trying one thing then another, at last changing and overcoming its own vulnerability, achieving its goal (happy ending) or not achieving its goal (futility tale).

     One of my many vulnerabilities is that I am an addict. When using, I am a slave, miserable, hurting others, and killing myself. I cannot safely use mood altering drugs and I wanted to be free of them. I could not overcome that vulnerability on my own, so I got help (Rehab, 12 Step Meetings, Sponsor, Service, Becoming a sponsor) put in a lot of work, and am now free. Happy ending (one day at a time).

     What's your goal? What obstacle is standing between you and your goal? What changes do you need to make to achieve your goal?