I decided that admitting there's a "higher power" than me merely meant I didnt have all the answers. That's part of my philosophy of life anyway.
BW
123hop at comcast.net wrote:
I knew a few people who stopped drinking with AA. One was a shrink, one was a lawyer, and one was a truck driver.
The lawyer never drank again, the truck driver relapsed after a few years, and the shrink relapsed after about 20 years.
I think to say that addiction to AA replaces addiction to alcohol is facile. Going to a group meeting a few times a week has a vastly different effect on your health and social relations than drinking yourself into a ditch every night. As for giving yourself up to a higher power: I would guess this has mostly the (salutary) effect of helping you quell the inner conflict about drinking, which is a conflict you will always lose.
Does AA breed some "addictive" type behavior? Sure. But ritual/attachment is a large part of human life. It still matters what your ritual and attachments are. On some level, addiction to exercise is equivalent to addiction to heroin, but I think mostly people appreciate the difference sufficiently to choose exercise if choice is possible.
Living a conscious life free from attachment and ritual is so arduous, that the few who can manage it are (ironically enough) worshipped as demi gods.
Joanna
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "B."
> Not only the creepy cult aspect of AA -- "sponsors,"
> etc., constantly keeping tabs on you -- it becomes
> your new circle of friends and support network,
> sometimes even your family if your real one is
> dysfunctional, plus the constant pressure to conform,
> etc.
>
>
> Also -- folks become addicted to the cult itself. It
> can be its own form of addiction with endless round
> trips to various group meetings of an ever-increasing
> breadth. (For some, activism is like this! :) )
>
>
> And as the book I mentioned is keen to point out,
> there are serious Constitutional problems involved.
> One of the steps in a 12 step program is SUBMITTING TO
> A HGHER POWER. AA folks like to say "this [higher
> power] can be anything." Like a doorknob or some other
> ludicrous thing. But the program emphasizes a
> spiritual element as a key step. So, when a court
> orders someone to a 12 step program, that crosses a
> state/church separation line pretty egregiously, but
> since it's just "spirituality" and "your higher power
> could be this piece of paper," etc., it isn't seen as
> harmful or something. Courts can basically sentence
> you to joining a spiritual cult.
>
> Additionally, a joke from The Simpsons implies folks
> in L.A. join AA and other addicts' groups to
> professionally network with screenwriters and other
> actors for jobs, since they go to these things in
> large numbers. good way to meet industry connections.
>
>
> -B.
>
>
> Dennis Claxton wrote:
>
> "That said, the potential for cultdom in the set-up is
> hard to ignore. But I think it also depends on what
> meetings you can get to. People I'm talking about were
> in places where you can go to gay meetings, people
> with tattoos meetings (kidding, but you get the
> drift), etc."
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