Sheezh, I go away for a days and you guys have great conversations without me...WTF?
A tomato is not very round compared to a ball, and it is not very red compared to blood. Yet a tomato is a round red fruit...errr...vegetable... Truth is experiential - defining what alcoholism is, or what a tomato is, not that useful beyond my experience of it. Was I an alcoholic before I started drinking? Well, from day one I obsessed over getting buzzed from until my body could not process ethanol. (My response is: "That's great recycle, now write it down in a little book somewhere and be in this moment.") The answer to Supercrew's question probably does not have any value beyond the confines of my left ear and my right ear, but answering it is very valuable and so is sharing it. My answer maybe entirely different in a year from now. I think the absolute truth of that answer will be of similar value, and it will be interesting to see whether I am still answering the same question.
Thanks and take care.