We Are His Agents – Big Book Page 62 Reflection By Bruce M.

Let’s consider this paragraph from the Big Book page 62:

“This is the how and the why of it . First of all , we had to quit playing God . It didn’t work . Next , we decided that hereafter in this drama of life , God was going to be our Director . He is the Principal ; we are His agents . He is the Father , and we are His children . Most Good ideas are simple , and this concept was the keystone of the new and triumphant arch through which we passed to freedom.”

What Does It Mean To Be An Agent

An agent has a fiduciary relationship to the principal. This means the agent acting on behalf of the principal must carry out the assigned tasks with the principal’s best interest as a priority.

The agent handles tasks the principal gives so long as the principal provides reasonable instruction. In addition, the agent must perform tasks in a manner that will not intentionally harm the principal. A duty of loyalty is also implied within the principal-agent relationship, which requires the agent to refrain from putting himself in a position that creates or encourages conflict between his interest and the principal’s interest. A rigorous honesty between agent and principal to avoid deception is fundamental to the essential of trust between principal and agent.

For example in a financial relationship, agents clearly often have incentives to take actions that benefit themselves at the expense of the principal, such as excessive risk-taking, short-term focus at the expense of long-term value, or misuse of resources.

What Are The Instructions For The Agent From An AA Point Of View

The forward of the Twelve & Twelve provides a way of expressing these instructions:

“A.A.’s Twelve Steps are a group of principles, spiritual in their nature, which, if practiced as a way of life, can expel the obsession to drink and enable the sufferer to become happily and usefully whole.”

And perhaps the 12th step translates these instructions into clear, pragmatic objectives:

“Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”

What Are The Principals We Practice If We Are Following The Instructions Of The Principal

It’s interesting that no A.A. literature explicitly identifies these principles. Some might say they are implied in the steps themselves. Perhaps another way of thinking about this is to see the 3rd step as giving us flexibility to define these principles uniquely as an expression of the “God of our understanding”. For me, this God of my understanding is Good and these principles are practices that reflect this Goodness. This moment by moment process of “doing the next right thing” use timeless spiritual principles to guide and enable me to become an instrument expressing Goodness in the unique context and contours of my life aided by God who is an ‘unsuspected inner resource’ empowering me. (BB p.567). This simple idea of being an agent or instrument of His Goodness using His Power becomes my daily mission … it’s why I’m here. There is never a circumstance where His Goodness cannot be expressed if I choose to cooperate and follow the harmonies prescribed in ‘practicing these principles in all our affairs’. 

I find this topic of ‘practicing these principles’ quite comprehensively explored in the post entitled “What Are The Principles We’re Supposed To Practice”. The author, Ray A, breaks principles down into two categories .. virtues and disciplines. He identifies the following as what he would describe as the key virtues we should practice :  honesty, humility, acceptance, courage, faith, forgiveness, gratitude, hope, joy, kindness, love, open-mindedness, serenity, simplicity, tolerance, willingness and wisdom. But what further stood out for me was his identification of some foundational disciplines that that allow us to empower and embody these virtues. Here is his list of these disciplines: surrender, self-examination, confession, restitution, prayer, meditation, service, witness, and fellowship.

What Does A Sheepdog Have To Teach Us About This Principal-Agent Relationship – Evelyn Underhill

Now those sheep-dogs that afternoon gave me a much better address on the way in which work among souls should be done that I shall be able to give you. They were helping the shepherd to deal with a lot of very active sheep and lambs, to persuade them into the right pastures, to keep them from rushing down the wrong paths. And how did the successful dog do it? Not by barking, fuss, ostentatious authority, any kind of busy behaviour. The best dog that I saw never barked once; and he spent an astonishing amount of his time sitting perfectly still, looking at the shepherd. The communion of spirit between them was perfect. They worked as a unit. Neither of them seemed anxious or in a hurry. Neither was committed to a rigid plan; they were always content to wait. That dog was the docile and faithful agent of another mind. He used his whole intelligence and initiative, but always in obedience to his master’s directive will; and was ever prompt at self-effacement. The little mountain sheep he had to deal with were amazingly tiresome, as expert in doubling and twisting and going the wrong way as any naughty little boy. The dog went steadily on with it; and his tail never ceased to wag.

What did that mean? It meant that his relation to the shepherd was the centre of his life; and because of that, he enjoyed doing his job with the sheep, he did not bother about the trouble, nor get discouraged with the apparent results. The dog had transcended mere dogginess. His actions were dictated by something right beyond himself. He was the agent of the shepherd, working for a scheme which was not his own and the whole of which he could not grasp; and it was just that which was the source of the delightedness, the eagerness, and also the discipline with which he worked. But he would not have kept that peculiar and intimate relation unless he had sat down and looked at the shepherd a great deal.”

Evelyn Underhill, “The Teacher’s Vocation,” Collected Papers of Evelyn Underhill, Lucy Menzies, ed. (New York: Longmans, Green and Co., Inc., 1946), pp. 182-183.]