New Chapter...

Hi Folks... Hurrah! Exams are finally over, and I'm just waiting for the grades!

Now that my formal coursework and tests are over it's time to turn toward the dissertation phase of my Ph.D. program. I've already got a title and have begun working on it: "The Lived Experience of a Spiritual Transformation in the Everyday Lives of Alcoholic Men in Recovery". (The hoped-for book would be titled: "Celebrating Serenity... the spiritual journeys of 8 men in recovery", but that's another story.) There are any number of hoops I still have to jump through in order for this to be accepted by my Dean and the Dissertation Committee that will work with me on this project for the next 18-24 months. But, it feels good to have the academics behind me.

All of this got me thinking about the spiritual aspects of my progress through the Ph.D. program. Indeed, much of what I have been through these past three years has been spiritually inspired and supported. I have never been quite able to pinpoint why it is that I chose to take up a Ph.D. study program at this stage in my life. Surely, I like the academic atmosphere and the learning. But, an on-line process is really different than the feel of a traditional bricks and mortar school I am most familiar with and I often wonder how I have sustained myself with the program. I think a lot of it has to do with a "power greater than myself" as the 12 Step programs say.

Certainly there is a lot of internal confusion about this, as I begin the process of the dissertation, to pinpoint my own belief system and how I stand in relation to spiritual principles. It has been an on-going process for years now that has to suddenly come to a head because of the nature of my dissertation project. I have chosen a format for the dissertation that will be autobiographical material melded with the stories of eight men who are also in recovery. So, I will be asking myself questions of a spiritual nature that are substantially the same ones I will be asking my research participants. It will be important for me to find, within, the sources of my spiritual energy and it will come from the deep places inside me that are tied directly to my recovery. The confusion arises as I start out because I have, for so many years and like so many people, taken issues of spirituality for granted in my life and not tried to come to a reconciliation of exactly where I stand with issues of God, principles, and the afterlife.

Now, like luggage in the backseat of the car that suddenly comes to a stop, all that "baggage" in my spiritual life comes rushing to the front with this project. It is a little scary and a lot of work, but there is something inside that impels me on this journey. It think it is my spiritual self and the power that I have identified as being in the universe onto which I can attach my mind and soul that moves me so.

How wonderful this all feels that my academic career would bring me to this point. I started this journey as an undergraduate Philosophy major at Stonehill College, got a master's degree in Psychology at Cambridge College, and now find myself at the end of my trek as a doctoral student with a dissertation that is a blend of both disciplines. My Higher Power works in strange and wonderful ways.

Off we go into the wild, blue yonder, "trudging toward my happy destiny" as Bill W. said in the Big Book! I look forward to keeping you informed of the progress.

All the best, Roger