I did 90 in 90 (86 in 90 ok?) The way I feel about it is that it’s a good idea to do 90 in 90. I am sure I’ve never heard even the most ardent of Thumpers suggest that good meeting habits are ever a bad thing. Just like making coffee is a good thing. Getting phone numbers and using them is a good thing. Having a home group is one of the best things I did and do now. Getting a sponsor is probably as close to “mandatory” for recovery as anything.
It is just when these things are repacked as a primary “tool kit” of recovery in place of finding God, that the message gets watered down – changed, really – the emphasis in a place that is contrary to the principles of the 12 steps. Back when we had a 75% recovery rate (Because only alcoholics were members) the steps were mandatory and the meetings were optional. Seems that now, “if” you get any message, that message is “the steps are optional” “the meetings are mandatory.”
This is a reversal of the process and unfortunately, it does not work for real alcoholics.
It DOES seem to work for heavy drinkers. But AA membership was not created for heavy drinkers. It was created for folks who fit “Our description of the alcoholic”. If YOUR description of an alcoholic is anything other than “ours,” then you need another method not so drastic. But if your solution is to recreate AA’s COMMON SOLUTION to fit YOUR solution, you do AA a disservice — you kill those of us to come.
The result is that we have a Fellowship of people who drank a lot, and now they don’t drink, who have stopped going to open speaker meetings where people with alcohol problems can come to find out whether or not they are truly alcoholic and have populated and popularized discussion meetings where the idea is to “share” your way out of your troubles. “If I could just get to a meeting and dump my load, I won’t drink today,” is the common stream of thought.
It is to the point where most people treat AA meetings as an inexpensive — buck an hour — group therapy session. And there are many people for whom that will work. That is what many Treatment Centers DO well – offer counseling and a safe dry haven for a spell so a person can re-organize their lives, re-institute a mental defense against overdrinking or drinking at all, and return to society with a new way of living.
But for the real McCoy, there IS NO MENTAL DEFENSE. Behavior modification is a waste of time. Our only solution is a supernatural miracle – we’ve gone THAT FAR.
For us alcoholism is NOT a behavior problem and our anti-social behaviors cannot be modified through counseling by other humans. We cannot LEARN or SHARE enough about our psyches and behaviors in order to change. We are different entities altogether. (The Doctors Opinion)
Sharing our troubles does not do a dad gummed thing for our illness. If I could get some counseling for my drinking, and keep myself distracted enough from life itself – by going to two or three meetings a day, and spending my time making phone calls and reading the Big Book, I could probably “hang-on” till midnight and start the whole dang thing over again tomorrow. But is that freedom from a malady that is spiritual at its core?
Alcohol did not cause my alcoholism. Lack of God did. If the solution for me does not focus on getting back to Him FIRST, that leaves me only meetings and Fellowshipping as a distraction (What the Treatment Center counselors are trained to do is called “redirection”) and a whole lot of other instructions (suggestions) that enslave me to those activities instead of providing me with a life that is free from all forms of enslavement – especially alcohol.
Peace,
Danny S
Grace Recovery Services 