Alcoholism – Folded, Spindled and Mutated

Part II
(Final of Two Parts)
See PART I

This dissertation has clearly separated the two maladies. Then let’s look solely at one of those maladies – the “spiritual illness.” spoken of in the Big Book, “Alcoholics Anonymous”

Remember that spiritual illness and alcoholism are not one and the same – not according to the co-authors. They write of these as TWO separate illnesses described in the Big Book – never “folding” the three into a Three Fold Disease.

We can lose that asinine, entirely inaccurate and dangerous phrase from our vocabulary entirely – and we had better. It’s got nothing to do with AA, the Twelve Steps or the Big Book. And steers newcomers off in a direction where they may NEVER be able to concede to their innermost selves that they are alcoholic.

How can they? They haven’t understood what it is they might otherwise admit, if only they had learned the AAs “description of the alcoholic” .

I can tell you that I am a deltiologist but that is meaningless to anyone – even me, since I have no idea what that is. Not a clue. Didn’t even click on the link I just pasted and even if I am one – I have no basis for telling you that I am one.

Anyone who puts there hand up in a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous – says, “I am an alcoholic” and cannot give “Our description of the Alcoholic“ is full of shit.

They might BE alcoholic but having no basis for making the claim other than they “have a problem with alcohol” then yes, they are full of it. I will tell you that most – MOST – folks don’t fit the description. I am sorry to say it.

Being spiritually sick is not limited to alcoholics. Lots of people are spiritually ill and are NOT alcoholics. While all alcoholics are spiritually sick – not all those spiritually sick are alcoholics. Now comes the Japanese problem with the words. Spirituality in Japan can mean a lot of different things. Our society is largely based upon monotheistic Judeo-Christian beliefs. We tend to personify and limit our thought of God as one single being and have no similarities with Bukkyo or Shinto thinking. Probably Shinkyo or Katorikku come closest – if my understanding of those are correct. *

The words used by the co-authors are a reflection of their understanding of theological concepts and for them that means “Christian”. The Twelve Steps are deeply rooted in the precepts and concepts of the first Century Christianity movement adopted by the Oxfords. So when the co-authors of the Big Book speak of spiritual illness they mean a human being who does not have a conscious contact with a single God. Like it or not, that’s what they meant.

It IS a God of one’s own understanding – not because they wanted to be sure to include all other monotheistic folks, but because they realized that it is impossible for any one person to have a compete or accurate mental concept of God since God is beyond all human understanding. No one is right or wring about how we individually may characterize God except that we all acknowledge omnipotence and singularity.

So what is “spiritually sick?” There can be forms of it – but whatever the ways that spiritual sickness may manifest itself in people, we are concerned with whatever form will now be healed and with that healing also take away our particular problem with alcohol – MENTAL OBSESSION/INSANITY. We are now to become sane.

So it is simple: Not having God consciousness and a relationship with that God. That’s it!

This separation from God (spiritual malady) is the result of “Resentment”. It doesn’t come from “not attending church” or “attending the wrong church“ or “disobeying parents” or “eating the wrong foods” or anything else except THAT ONE THING: RESENTMENT.

“Resentment is the “number one” offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick.” (63:3)

Understanding this and being willing to deal with resentment it is the key to the door we have ourselves placed a lock – back to God. Resentment separates us from God by it’s very nature because when we are resentful we are “playing God” - and there can only be ONE GOD.

Let me explain that. If I work for you as an employees in a shoe store and we sell shoes – then I sell a pair of shoes which I myself have made and intend to keep the entire proceeds, then I have separated myself from you, my boss, to become my own boss. I am no longer in your employ and I lose all benefits you provide.

The same for resentment. When we resent we are judging. We are condemning someone or judging something as “bad”. We are then claiming the knowledge of “good and evil” and deciding who is guilty an who is innocent in the courtroom of planet earth. That is a judges job. And in the scheme of the universe it is the prerogative of a God. By resenting therefore we are PLAYING GOD and effectively separating ourselves from Him when we do that. NOW WE ARE SPIRITUALLY ILL!

Anyone who resents in any moment has separated himself from God in that moment. What the Twelve Step help us do is discover a fix for resentments so we can remain close to Him. That is all there is to it.

Once we recover from spiritual disease we recover from the OTHER malady TOO – that being alcoholism – and we are free to live life freely, “Assuming we are spiritually fit,” or no longer spiritually ill. ” we can do all sorts of things alcoholics are not supposed to do. People have said we must not go where liquor is served; we must not have it in our homes; we must shun friends who drink; we must avoid moving pictures which show drinking scenes; we must not go into bars; our friends must hide their bottles if we go to their houses; we mustn’t think or be reminded about alcohol at all. Our experience shows that this is not necessarily so.
We meet these conditions every day. An alcoholic who cannot meet them, still has an alcoholic mind; there is something the matter with his spiritual status.” (100:4)

“When the spiritual malady is overcome,” – that’s one malady – being spiritually sickened – “we straighten out mentally and physically.” - that’s the other malady – alcoholism.

Spiritual illness is not the same as the problem we call alcoholism – but spiritual wellness IS the solution!

How do I know when I am “coming down” with a spiritual “flu”? That’s easy! Here are some of the symptoms – they suck, big time!

1. We were having trouble with personal relationships,
2. we couldn’t control our emotional natures,
3. we were a prey to misery and depression,
4. we couldn’t make a living,
5. we had a feeling of uselessness,
6. we were full of fear,
7. we were unhappy,
8. we couldn’t seem to be of real help to other people (All on page 52)

And let’s add a big “BECAUSE” to the end of each and every one of these. “Because I am selfish and self-centered” – and when I am not – then these bedevilments do not manifest in my life.

Peace,

Danny S

*Portions of this article have been extrapolated out of a letter to a reader in Tokyo who wanted clarification on “spiritual illness”.

Alcoholism – Folded, Spindled and Mutated

PART I (Tomorrow – Part II)

If we stick with what is in the book, we are often surprised to learn that much of how we speak about alcoholism and the words and terminology that we commonly hear is very much a devolution or mutation of the original experiences of the co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Maybe it is good to get back to basics. No Not Wally P’s “Back to Basics” method of taking the steps – (that is good and fine) but in how we describe alcoholism and the solution to it – as well as the spiritual, mental conditions comprising it AND THEN the spiritual conditions that surround it – but are not “it”.

We can do this – if not for better understanding, then at a least to be on the same page with the co-authors. Then if we want to throw it all away and disregard it, and make up our own stuff or take some stuff from Treatment Centers – at least the we are making an informed decision to do so. We should at least know who the baby is before throwing it away with the bathwater.

The Big Book talks about conditions which it identifies as “ILLNESS” or “MALADY” even “SICKNESS“. Even though the book is about alcoholics and alcoholism the co-authors also mention another illness – the illness of being “Spiritually sick.”

They do not give it a name – but simply call it being “spiritually sick”. Frankly, if I had to give it a name I might be inclined to call it “agnostic or atheist”.

Why do they bring it? Because the solution to spiritual sickness also restores us to mental and physical health by allowing us to recover from the OTHER malady we know as “alcoholism”.

“When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically.(64:3) Here alcoholism is referred to by it’s two components – the mental component, “Obsession/insanity” and it’s physical component, “craving/allergy”

Let me accurately paraphrased this, “When we get spiritually healthy we also recover from alcoholism.”

For some reason though, people have taken to combining the “two fold” illness that is described in the Big Book and combining it with another malady, “spiritual malady” to produce and new “Three fold” illness – and then slapping the “Alcoholism” malady label on the whole repackaged product. It’s is synthetic and false. It is bogus. It is a distraction from recovery.

There are probably reasons that they have done this but the principal reason is probably from not studying the book – and heavy reliance upon hearsay from others who ALSO have not studied the book.

Well, maybe alcoholism is a three fold disease, but if it is – then the Big Book co-authors were wrong. In the book the Big Book co-authors and co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous have not characterized it as being “Three Fold”.

They DO characterize it as a condition of “Mental Obsession combined with Physical Allergy.” That is ALL they needed to understand alcoholism. The very expression of “three fold” and two fold” is not actually used either. We are just using those “fold” words for understanding purposes.

Separately the co-founders ADDITIONALLY speak of a SECOND malady they term as “spiritual sickness”. By the way, the words malady, illness, sickness are all synonymous in the English language. I am not tempted to throw the word “disease” in there because the Big Book never speaks of alcoholism as a disease. In fact. The word disease is only used once in the entire book, referring to the separate “spiritual disease” and never to alcoholism itself (obsession & physical craving/allergy).

(Go to Part II)

Peace,

Danny S

Misery and Depression

It’s one thing to be sober, but quite another to be sober AND happy about it. I use those pesky steps, the AA solution, instead of my own solution and as a result I can say that rarely if ever do I have a bad day. I just don’t have them.

I learned in AA that the inner condition that occurs if an alcoholic does not deal with the spiritual malady will give me car load of misery first, then I’ll drink.

Stopping going to meetings is the LAST thing I’ll do, not the first. First, I’ll stop enlarging my spiritual life through practicing these steps in all my affairs, then I’ll start managing my own life and become a prey to misery and depression, then I I’ll drink.

I cant’ remember the last time I had a day that “got to me”, whereas it was a frequent occurrence prior to putting this Program into daily practice. Which is good for AA, because now I’m not taking up the meetings precious time crying about my bullshit when a newcomer , dying from untreated alcoholism , is sitting there waiting to hear some hope.

Being restless, irritable and discontent are conditions we know lead a real drunk to drink. I am always on the lookout for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear.

These are always going to crop up and when they do I ask God at once to remove them. I call another drunk immediately and if necessary I make amends quickly if anyone was harmed.

Then I think about someone I help and do it. Pretty simple this AA. I haven’t had a bad day doing this for years now. I guess that’s what is meant by contented sobriety.

Being restored to sanity, living a life that is manageable, and having a new Power over alcohol are all the promises which AA has delivered to me on a silver platter.

Peace,

Danny S

Drinking or Not

Because of the selfish and self-centered way I perceived and interacted with other people, my entire life, behaviors, attitudes and emotions just made me uncomfortable (in my skin), and I sought a cure. This is a symptom of the spiritual malady the big Book talks about as opposed to the physical malady. Alcohol was my solution, not my problem.

Even though I was “In AA” and “Going to meetings” – had a sponsor, had a home group, was putting away the chairs, making the coffee, driving drunks to meetings and rehabs, and managed to gave decent sound bytes in meetings that “Sounded good” I was not growing toward the spiritual solution to my problem – and so remained spiritually blocked by self-centered fears.
One excellent reference, although there are many, is found in the Big Book (52:2) where they describe the INNER un-manageability as “having trouble with personal relationships, not being able to control their emotional natures, being a prey to misery and depression, not being able to make a living, a feeling useless, being full of fear, being unhappy, and not seeming to be of real help to other people.”

There are other descriptions of the inner condition that happens if an alcoholic does NOT deal with this spiritual malady, but this paragraph describes it well enough. I sometimes hear these referred to as the “Bedevilments“.

The spiritual malady wreaks its havoc while drinking and while “Not drinking” – or in other words, whether we are drinking OR NOT! I think we all must know a few AAs – sometimes dry for many years – spouting snappy Fellowship one-liners and yet, still mad as hatters.

Peace,

Danny S