Old 01-06-2012, 01:19 PM
  # 172 (permalink)  
Terminally Unique
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location:   « USA »                       Recovered with AVRT  (Rational Recovery)  ___________
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Originally Posted by Thrifty View Post
I am further along in the book and am hung up on the"never-now" approach of Rational Recovery on pages 140-141. I don't get what Trimpey means by that. Specifically on pg 140, he says "With the big plan, we meet the beast on it's own turf, eternity. We reduce our understanding of time to reality as the beast understands it. Because it is always now, we may firmly make a plan for the rest of our lives based on the clear understanding, "I will never now drink". Huh? I don' get what he's trying to say.
The only time you can abstain is now, and the only time you can drink/use is now. Sure, you can drink tomorrow, but by the time tomorrow actually comes, it will also be "now." Additionally, by following that line of thought, "now" is the only time that you can quit. Therefore, it will never be any easier or any more difficult to quit than right now. Put off quitting longer than necessary at your peril.

Originally Posted by Thrifty View Post
I don't get "by collapsing the Big Plan for endless abstinence into the never ending now, the task is made quite feasible". Anybody have any thoughts? I appreciate it.
The Beast has no real concept of time as humans understand it. It can't think ahead to your retirement or your pending funeral if you keep drinking. For the Beast, which is a survival drive, it is always now, and now is always a good time to drink/use. This is why plans to "cut back" for a week, or 90 days often fail. "If you are going to drink in ninety days, why not now?" the AV will argue, and more than a few agree with that Beast logic.

You don't need to get hung up on this, though. Take your pick - "I will never drink again," or "I will never now drink" — whichever works for you. This "time" factor confusion may very well be the Addictive Voice trying to convince you that there is something missing, something you aren't getting, and that if you don't figure out the metaphysics of time, you will be doomed. When the time comes, just make a plan for permanent, unconditional abstinence, however that makes sense to you, and let the Beast worry about the mechanics of time.
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