Wisdom Traditions

Overview

Most of the Wisdom Traditions evolved during the Axial Age, between 900 and 200 BCE. Karen Armstrong, renowned modern theologian, asks; "Why should we go back to these ancient faiths? Because in this period of history people worked as hard to find a cure for their spiritual ills as we do today trying to find a cure for cancer...none of them were interested in doctrines or metaphysical beliefs...(at that time) a religion was about behaving in a 'way' that changed you."

References to the 'way' are made in all the wisdom traditions. The 'way' is not a single path, but all the varied paths which lead to the same destination. As trekkers on the path we discover that the 'way' is the path through life. It is our own personal journey of finding meaning, truth and purpose. And, in time, we also learn there is no final destination in this life - the meaning is the journey.

The fact that the spiritual principles found at the core of the Twelve Steps of AA are so easily traceable throughout all the Wisdom Traditions, suggests these principles are universal - crossing the boundaries of culture, language, religion, time, political ideologies and belief systems.

When looking across the spectrum of the Wisdom Traditions we find seven common spiritual themes:

Spirit exists (no matter what it is called)
Spirit is found within
Most of us live in a "fallen" or "'illusory" state which creates our sense of separation
There is a "way" or "path" out of this state which results in freedom or liberation
If we follow the "path" we will be "awakened" or "enlightened" and experience the Spirit within
This change will end our spiritual longing
As a result, we will grow in compassion and hear the call to be in service for the good of all sentient beings and for the Earth

As we filter the 12 Steps of AA through the lenses of the various Wisdom Traditions we discover that each Tradition provides a path; a guide to follow encased in a language, culture and history which is indigenous to our understanding. This can only mean that throughout the past 4,000 years, humans have longed for the same existential answers.

The historical framework of each of these traditions helps us understand that we belong to a much larger whole; this wholeness informs us that things are far more integrated than they seem. The narrowing gap today between quantum physics and spiritual mysticism confirms this ancient belief. Houston Smith, in the Illustrated World's Religions, describes this experience as being in the mystery, "...knowledge and ignorance advance lockstep. As known unknowns become known, unknown unknowns proliferate; the larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder. It's like the quantum world. The more we understand its formalism, the stranger that world becomes. Things are more integrated than they seem, they are better than they seem, and they are more mysterious than they seem; this is the vision that the wisdom traditions bequeath us."