Holding Space
In Financial UA, much like many other 12 Step Programs, we come together as members to Create and Hold Space for Healing and Recovery...and Prosperity! Holding Space is a type of service that we can offer each other. Holding Space is part of the Primary Purpose of each Meeting or Workshop. Holding Space is part of the Primary Purpose of the Financial UA Program. By Holding Space, we create a safe, spiritual container. We then invite a Higher Power to occupy this container. We invite Higher Power to be present within the space we create and hold. While we Hold Space together, we invite the Higher Power to express itself as Earning Power.
The process of Holding Space is intimately connected to FUA Tradition Two,
"For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority - a loving God as it may express itself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern."
When we apply the actions of Tradition Two, we develop a group conscience through the process of coming together to Create and Hold Space. Within this space, a loving spiritual entity arrives and then begins to express itself through the group conscience of the members. Once the members set their intention for the Higher Power to express itself in the form of Earning Power, the spiritual entity begins to take the form of the intention being held within the group.
When a member of Financial UA works with a Qualified FUA Sponsor, the Sponsor frequently Holds Space for the Sponsee and teaches the Sponsee how to do this through first-hand demonstration. Within this safe, spiritual space the Sponsee can face the truth of his / her spiritual disease of Financial Underearning. Within this space the Sponsor can share his / her experience, strength and hope with the Sponsee. This practice of Holding Space is extremely important to the process of working the FUA 12 Steps. One of the best examples of this is doing a FUA Fifth Step. When the Sponsee is ready to turn over his / her Fourth Step in FUA, he / she will arrange to meet in person with a Qualified FUA Sponsor. When the Sponsor and Sponsee meet together they will work cooperatively to Create and Hold Space in a safe and spiritual way. They will also typically say the Prosperity Prayer together as a way of inviting Higher Power to show up within the space. Within this space they also set an intention that the Higher Power express itself in the form of Earning Power and that it begins communicating through the group conscience.
Even if Higher Power / Earning Power chooses not to communicate directly with the members present, it still can be trusted to gently listen and actively help Hold Space while the Sponsee turns over his / her Fourth Step Inventory to the Sponsor. The active, engaged presence of this spiritual entity is what makes the Fifth Step rite of passage such a sobering, sacred, healing, liberating and transformative experience. This is also what makes the 12 Step Process fundamentally different from the experience of working with a Psychologist, Psychiatrist or other type of Professional Therapist. Within the 12 Step environment, the members rely on a Higher Power in the form of a spiritual entity, to arrive, be present and express itself through the group conscience. All recovery members present hold a mutual understanding that this spiritual entity will guide, direct and safeguard the integrity of the meeting. The Higher Power itself acts as a self-correction mechanism, helping to guide, direct and safeguard the flow of the meeting, protecting the meeting from the members and protecting the fellowship from the meetings.