The Alcoholics Problem......

[slow-n-easy]

“The Alcoholic’s Problem”


“Selfishness, self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self, which later placed us in a position to be hurt. So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making”. ~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, How It Works, pg. 62~


Selfishness and self-centeredness is the root of our problems. Wow! Selfishness is a noun that simply means: Stinginess resulting from a concern for your own welfare and a disregard of others. Fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, all things that stem from imagination drive this concern. We are acting from the imaginary. The self!


But what is a self? Here’s the kicker, the self is one's consciousness of one's own being or identity; the ego. It is what you believe you are. So when you imagine something that the self should be doing, you do it without regards of what that action is going to do in effecting other's being. That’s what selfishness and self-centeredness is!


The problem is there are a bunch of selves out there. So what we have is a bunch of unconscious goobily gook happening. In some of the studies I have read, it has been called electromechanical smog. This smog is caused by people doing stuff that doesn’t jive with reality. That is why when you read in the above passage from the Big Book that our selfishness and self-centeredness is driven by self-delusion that it starts to make sense. If we are doing stuff that doesn’t jive with reality, then it is false.


What really complicates all of this is we create reality with all of this non-sense. Being that we are creating this reality with no regards with what it is doing to others, it causes turmoil. Turmoil is extreme confusion and/or agitation. We get everything all stirred up. This is what causes this smog, our imagination.


In Bill’s story he writes: “I fancied myself a leader, for had not the men of my battery given me a special token of appreciation? My talent for leadership, I imagined, could place me at the head of vast enterprises which I would manage with the utmost assurance”. This is very important to understand. It is from this fantasy (fancy) and imagination that the alcoholic problem stems.


Where is it that we feel hurt when we believe someone has wronged us? Doesn’t this come from the mind? In our fantasy we believe that what we are doing is what reality is. When in fact reality is happening all around us. We are just unconscious of it. We seem to be in our own little world, doing things that only involve what we believe will benefit our “selves”. Meanwhile we a making other people suffer. If they are acting like us, then it just adds to the chaos. Are we really hurt, or are we just getting paybacks for what we are doing to others?


So you may ask where does the drinking fit in? Well it is as a direct result of the feeling that we get from the alcohol or drugs that causes us to only think about pleasure. What is going to please the self? It is when we take these things to the extreme that the problem exists.


Take a look at all of anonymous programs today and see where it is that this premise of pleasure fits in. Sex, gambling, alcohol, drugs, overeating, and a plethora of other things that are done for pleasure and get out of hand. All because we believe our self should be in constant pleasure. We do these things to feed our fantasy, and forget that there is a whole big universe beyond our own little needs.


What is reality? To be real is to exist in truth and actuality, not imagination. I’m not making this up! That is the actual definition of reality! So what we bring forth from our imagination is not true and actual until we create it. If we create turmoil by imagining self-based thought, that is what becomes our reality. Our reality is a bunch of non-sense. It is a bunch of confused thought.


So how is it that we remedy this? Again we go to the Big Book and find: “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”. “How It Works” pg. 62

If we focus our attention on what God’s will is for us, rather on self-will, it brings us back to clarity. That is why it works really well when we help each other with problems. It seems to me that is what God’s will is for each and every one of us. Living in harmonious action with not only other human beings, but all of God’s creations.

[Chy]

Really awesome contribution s-n-e, thank you. I think until someone clearly explains the concept of selfishness and "self will run riot", especially for many in early recovery the logic of it all defies us. It's not until we understand that mental state of that "smog" you mentioned can we clearly see it's a state of dysfunctional clarity we have permitted our core beliefs to have defined by the "alcohol problem"... which is a false sense of being. It took me a long time to grasp this concept and daily as part of my own recovery ritual I can easily say "Take it all today God, your will not mine, keep teaching me"... again thank you.

[laurie6781]

Thank you S-N-E.

Great post!!!!!

I know for me, the first six months, until this and other concepts of the program started to make some sense, I did a lot of 'white knuckling'. I believe many of us get here with brains that have turned to mush, I know I sure did, lol

Really great post!!!! Again Thank You.

Love and hugs,

[scaredykat]

Great post S-N-E. What's going through my head right now is that this disease is "cunning, baffling, and powerful".

[susan123]

hi dude,.
really nice discussion thanks,..

[slow-n-easy]

Hi Y'all,

Well, I figured that I would try to spur on some discussion about this subject. I don't think a lot of us understand how important this concept was in the development of this program.

In "There Is A Solution" the name of C.G. Jung is brought up. Jung was a psychiatrist in whom believed that people relied on science and logic too much and would benefit from living their lives with a bit more spirituality.

Some believe that delving into this concept is taking the idea of recovery a little bit too deep, but I contend that it is probably the most important thing to understand if one is to come to understand how to live a life according to the spiritual principles taught in the Big Book. This was something that was brought to my attention very early in recovery and became the cornerstone in coming to understand why the Big Book meant when it said "We must completely be rid of self". An idea that eludes most of us!

See Jung believed that self was divided into quadrants including the conscious, the unconscious, and the ego. The ego being the center of the conscious and the self being the whole. This makes up an individuals personality. The word personality being derived from the word persona, or better known as the mask.

Jung says the the persona is the mask one wears to greet the world. It is developed as the protector of the ego, and is designed on one hand to impress others, and on the other to conceal the true nature of who we are. This all arranged in our minds by the idea that we are some how inferior to others by not being like them, or not liked by them.

In our conscious view we believe that we are what we make up in our minds. That which is material is what we know. This is not our true being. Yet we use the idea that we have to use the material or conscious self to get by in what we do, by impressing others into trying to believe that we possess superior knowledge, and superior physical attributes to be part of the crowd.

We use this false sense of who we believe we are so much that it becomes real to us. The more real it becomes in our minds, the less we can differentiate what is true and what is false in what we believe. We may know some where in our minds that we aren't really the persona that we have presented to others, but can no longer function without putting on the mask. Once this happens our routine becomes addiction.

Jung understood how all of this applied to alcoholism and prescribed once Oxford Group member Rowland H. to place himself in a religious or spiritual atmosphere and "Hope for the best". Bill W. wrote a letter to Jung thanking him for his "Humility and deep perception" in understanding that spirituality was the key to coming to know who we really are, and that would in effect bring us around to being able to differentiate the truth about many other things in defeating our addictions.

Another more subtle, but none the less important paragraph that was written in that letter was: "Very many thoughtful AAs are students of your writings. Because of your conviction that man is something more than intellect, emotion, and two dollars worth of chemicals, you have especially endeared yourself to us". Something that cannot be taken for granted for those who really want to become sober by the means of a spiritual program such as AA.

If you would like to read the full letter go to: Bill Wilson's Letter To Dr. Carl Jung , Jan 23, 1961

There are many people who have told me that something such as this is way too much for the newcomer. I have to wholeheartedly disagree! When I first came into this program, it was prescribed reading by my sponsor. There are only 164 pages describing the program in the Big Book itself, but those pages cannot describe the idea that was put into it so briefly. One must be willing and able to search a bit further into the nature of how this all came about.

This is really how the first few did it, and how come their success rate was so much higher than it is today. They were willing to work at trying to understand how all of this applies to being restored to a relatively normal state of sanity.

With Love and Respect, Ed C.

[scaredykat]

Bump this up for those that haven't seen it yet.

Thanks for more insight to this S-N-E. I remember wearing my mask when i was in my addiction.

It is sad how today the success rate isn't as good. In my area I've notice how everyone does the steps in different ways. I know some that do one step per year. I'm so glad i didn't. I was so confused when first started working my steps. I wanted to do them like everyone else. I use the BB and work my steps like is shown in the BB. Now I guide my sponsee's the same way. That's what worked for Bill W.