In an unjustly neglected film from several decades ago, a talented British actress more famous for her role as an Avenger plays instead an upper-middle class executive who is drawn to the cloistered life of a nun. She is successful, outgoing, in a relationship with a pleasant and dependable man -- not the lonely, perhaps neurotic person we so often associate with this kind of call. She serves her novitiate and decides to continue, withdrawing from the world into a community of like-minded women ... like-minded, that is, to some extent. For our heroine discovers that there is nothing necessarily ennobling about the group she has joined. They can be mean, petty and back-biting, just as they can often be loving and supportive.

We experienced much the same thing when we first joined Program. Initially we seemed to relate so well to so many of the people we met; then we began to see the differences between us, and perhaps felt some resentment that these new friends were "not doing it right" -- that is, were not doing Program the way we did it.

As we commence to work Steps 10, 11 and 12 on a daily basis, we find ourselves members of a new little community, people who are committed as we are to the new spritual journey. For a little while we feel very close to them ... and then the same thing starts to happen. Their practice is different from ours; we disagree on certain fundamental issues. Once more we start to learn the lesson that living in community is about learning to live with and embrace the differences between ourselves and others, instead of trying to make other people "do it our way."