Originally Posted by
pentuate 
I have some nevers, though I don't think of them as nevers. They are more just self evident things. I never steal from a store (perhaps I would if there were no other options - so perhaps that is not a never) and I have not ever stolen from a store up to this point. I don't cheat. But i don't think or affirm I never cheat and i never will.
You don't have a problem with cheating or stealing, though.That is why they are 'self evident'. Your abstinence, apparently, by your own admission, is not.
Originally Posted by
pentuate The other thing is, unlike these "nevers" that I have, where I have actually not done these things, drinking, I have done, big time. A more accurate statement or assessment would be, historically, I drink/drank often and in large amounts. Certainly not never.
See the difference? You have done 'drinking', big time. You have not done 'stealing' big time. As for historically being a drunk, there is a word in the Big Plan that addresses this very thing:
"I will never drink
again."
What do you think 'again' means, pentuate? It means that you have done it before. Unlike someone who hasn't done it before, you can therefore judge that it would be very bad for you to do it again, and very good to never do it again.
Originally Posted by
pentuate Based on my own experience with addictive things like pot and cigarettes, it seems the most important thing is to reject or not respond to the urge and keep doing it and the urges will weaken and eventually no longer exist/happen given enough time.
For the benefit of other readers, the bolded part above is Addictive Voice. In AVRT, it is neither good nor bad to have 'urges' or desires, and we treat it as a permanent possibility. If the day comes where pentuate declares "I have no desire to drink, no urges," that will also be Addictive Voice, because it suggests that if he did have a desire to drink, he would. With AVRT, we abstain
in spite of desire, and the phrase "I have no desire to drink" naturally begs the question: "What if you did? What then?"
See this post and the few that follow it:
I have no desire to drink -
Originally Posted by
pentuate I've made many "never" kind of vows in the past with drinking and other things and I think most if not all of them failed. I don't seem to have much success with "never".
Your AV is already pulling up your 'rap sheet', building a case of incompetence against you based on your past. This is to be expected, BTW, and there is a page in the book that addresses this. Past 'failures' have nothing to do with future success, however.
Originally Posted by
pentuate I think i will just kind of use the idea of a beast wanting to drink and to just ignore it and not get too hung up on what I will or will not never/ever do.
That is certainly your prerogative, pentuate, and I'm not going to waste any time trying to convince you otherwise. Since you don't want to use AVRT as designed, I'm not sure what else I can offer you at this point, however.