The Nine Foundations:
A Positive Program of Transformation and Recovery
The Nine Foundations is a program of transformation and recovery that is based on nine fundamental approaches to life. Its purpose is to put you in touch with your own power, enhance your sense of well-being, and enable you to feel—perhaps for the first time—what it means to be truly alive.
For people looking to improve their lives, this program can give them the foundations they need to live a rich and fulfilling life. For people struggling with addictions, this program can be used as a template for “positive” recovery and for overcoming life-challenges in a true and beneficial way.
A fundamental teaching of the Nine Foundations is that each person is an individualized expression of Infinite Spirit. As such, our own nature contains every quality of Spirit including love, joy, power, aliveness, and beauty. However, most people are not in touch with this truth; and rather than living as joyful, fulfilled human beings their lives are filled with struggle, weakness, and dis-ease. This program is designed to change the direction of a person's life from the negative to the positive, from separation to unity, from mere existence to sheer aliveness. The Nine Foundations is not about perpetuating your weakness, it’s about accepting and coming into your greatness. It is not about adopting some belief system, it’s about honoring your own experience. It is not about fearfully avoiding the negative aspects of life, or surrendering to some external power, it’s about coming into your own power, both as a human and spiritual being. It’s about finding aliveness and joy, beauty and abundance, both in yourself and in communion with others.
The term ‘Spirit’ is commonly used in the Nine Foundations to denote the One, Absolute Reality. Any term, however, can be substituted for Spirit such as Life, The One, God, Higher Power, Supreme Consciousness, etc.
The four major areas of this program are:
1. Active participation in a group of caring, like-minded individuals, all of whom have the intention to improve their lives and support each other.
2. Becoming a true and integral human being by understanding yourself, putting your life in order, having a proper relationship with food and the body, establishing supportive and uplifting relationships, and aligning your actions with the laws of nature (dharma).
3. Understanding and developing your creative power.
4. Realizing your true nature through meditation, prayer, self-inquiry, and/or the practice of presence.
“Recovery” is a term that is often applied to people who have overcome or are dealing with addictions and who seek to recover the “manageability” of their former lives. Such a person might say, “I am in recovery” or “I have been in recovery for five years.” However, this notion of recovery can also have a higher meaning: in the path of “higher recovery” the aim is not so much to recover the human life we once knew—a life that was beset with difficulties and limitations even before it was derailed by addiction—but to recover the wholeness and glory of who we truly are. We want to recover our true self and our essential unity with Spirit; we want to recover the love, joy, and fullness of a well-lived life.
A Positive Program of Transformation and Recovery
The Nine Foundations is a program of transformation and recovery that is based on nine fundamental approaches to life. Its purpose is to put you in touch with your own power, enhance your sense of well-being, and enable you to feel—perhaps for the first time—what it means to be truly alive.
For people looking to improve their lives, this program can give them the foundations they need to live a rich and fulfilling life. For people struggling with addictions, this program can be used as a template for “positive” recovery and for overcoming life-challenges in a true and beneficial way.
A fundamental teaching of the Nine Foundations is that each person is an individualized expression of Infinite Spirit. As such, our own nature contains every quality of Spirit including love, joy, power, aliveness, and beauty. However, most people are not in touch with this truth; and rather than living as joyful, fulfilled human beings their lives are filled with struggle, weakness, and dis-ease. This program is designed to change the direction of a person's life from the negative to the positive, from separation to unity, from mere existence to sheer aliveness. The Nine Foundations is not about perpetuating your weakness, it’s about accepting and coming into your greatness. It is not about adopting some belief system, it’s about honoring your own experience. It is not about fearfully avoiding the negative aspects of life, or surrendering to some external power, it’s about coming into your own power, both as a human and spiritual being. It’s about finding aliveness and joy, beauty and abundance, both in yourself and in communion with others.
The term ‘Spirit’ is commonly used in the Nine Foundations to denote the One, Absolute Reality. Any term, however, can be substituted for Spirit such as Life, The One, God, Higher Power, Supreme Consciousness, etc.
The four major areas of this program are:
1. Active participation in a group of caring, like-minded individuals, all of whom have the intention to improve their lives and support each other.
2. Becoming a true and integral human being by understanding yourself, putting your life in order, having a proper relationship with food and the body, establishing supportive and uplifting relationships, and aligning your actions with the laws of nature (dharma).
3. Understanding and developing your creative power.
4. Realizing your true nature through meditation, prayer, self-inquiry, and/or the practice of presence.
“Recovery” is a term that is often applied to people who have overcome or are dealing with addictions and who seek to recover the “manageability” of their former lives. Such a person might say, “I am in recovery” or “I have been in recovery for five years.” However, this notion of recovery can also have a higher meaning: in the path of “higher recovery” the aim is not so much to recover the human life we once knew—a life that was beset with difficulties and limitations even before it was derailed by addiction—but to recover the wholeness and glory of who we truly are. We want to recover our true self and our essential unity with Spirit; we want to recover the love, joy, and fullness of a well-lived life.
The Nine Foundations
1. I am an individual expression of Infinite Spirit, possessing every quality of Spirit
such as love, power, abundance, and beauty.
2. As a creative center of Spirit I have the power to improve the conditions of my life
—and it is my sacred duty to do so.
3. I commit to living a true and noble life, one that’s aligned with Spirit and the laws
of nature.
4. I will take steps to know myself and to have that knowledge become a living truth
in my life.
In this process … I accept myself as I am, holding that there’s nothing wrong with me
and nothing that needs to be fixed.
5. I will care for my body, knowing that it is my greatest friend and support in
this life.
6. I will put my house in order, bringing peace and stability to my life.
7. I will seek to have every relationship support my highest good (and not bind me to
the past through anger, guilt, blame, or regret).
In this process … I resolve to give and receive support from others, to honor and be
honored by others.
8. I accept my role as a true co-creator with Spirit—never expecting Spirit to do for
me what it can only do through me.
9. I resolve that through meditation, prayer and/or the practice of presence I will
deepen my connection with Spirit and move toward knowing my true self.
As I continue to realize my unity with Spirit, the value of my humanity,
and the joyous sense of being alive, I will find ways to offer my service to others.
1. I am an individual expression of Infinite Spirit, possessing every quality of Spirit
such as love, power, abundance, and beauty.
2. As a creative center of Spirit I have the power to improve the conditions of my life
—and it is my sacred duty to do so.
3. I commit to living a true and noble life, one that’s aligned with Spirit and the laws
of nature.
4. I will take steps to know myself and to have that knowledge become a living truth
in my life.
In this process … I accept myself as I am, holding that there’s nothing wrong with me
and nothing that needs to be fixed.
5. I will care for my body, knowing that it is my greatest friend and support in
this life.
6. I will put my house in order, bringing peace and stability to my life.
7. I will seek to have every relationship support my highest good (and not bind me to
the past through anger, guilt, blame, or regret).
In this process … I resolve to give and receive support from others, to honor and be
honored by others.
8. I accept my role as a true co-creator with Spirit—never expecting Spirit to do for
me what it can only do through me.
9. I resolve that through meditation, prayer and/or the practice of presence I will
deepen my connection with Spirit and move toward knowing my true self.
As I continue to realize my unity with Spirit, the value of my humanity,
and the joyous sense of being alive, I will find ways to offer my service to others.
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