My mind is wonderful tool. The computer I'm using began with a thought in someone's mind as did the chair I'm sitting in and everything else I see around me. But I cannot find my Higher Power in my mind. The mind can't fathom that there could be some intelligence greater than itself, that there is a wisdom beyond what it thinks, beyond its accumulated knowledge and ideas.
That's why knowledge alone cannot keep me sober. Knowledge of my last drunk, self knowledge, even knowledge of spiritual principles will not keep me sober because knowledge is not truth, only ideas in my mind. The only real 100% guarantee against the first drink is to get beyond my mind to the place Bill called the Great Reality deep within. It has many other names. I choose to call it God.
Step two means more than being restored to mental sanity. It means becoming spiritually sane--realizing that perfect peace, harmony and wholeness is what we really are. I've touched this Sanity in moments when my mind stops its incessant whrring. Beautiful sunsets, peeks at my young wife as she sleeps, seeing the light come on in a newcomer's eyes. These glimpses of truth only last for a second or two, but I'm assured there is something beautiful beyond my thinking.
I'm coming to believe that open minded does not only mean I ought to resign from the debating society. True open mindedness means that I am willing to confront every single one of my beliefs, ideas and concepts --even my ideas about God. And seeing that these are nothing more than thoughts in my mind, be willing to let them go absolutely. This is not an overnight matter. Like the old timers say "I came for my drinking and stayed for my thinking."