Old 08-13-2017, 03:49 AM
  # 323 (permalink)  
AlericB
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Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Chester, UK
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Thanks for your comprehensive answer Algorithm. I agree with all you say, and you really could not have explained it more clearly, but there's still one thing I'd like to discuss. I'm hope I'm not being too annoying btw! I'm hoping that if I'm not clear about something then others may be too so it's worth bringing up. And it's not because I'm seeking a perfect understanding of AVRT - I well see that that would be AV because it would suggest that I might drink again if I don't grasp every single nuance. It's just something in the RR: TNC book that either I don't get or can't agree with.

I'll quote parts of the section entitled "How to Get Out of Your Big Plan" on pages 209-210 to summarise the issue. The italics are in the original.

"I do not know how to cancel a Big Plan because such a counterplan is a plan to drink. I have worked on this puzzle using myself as an experimental subject, but each time I think about developing a plan to reverse my Big Plan, I recognize my own Addictive Voice and cannot proceed. Would it be as simple as just grabbing a drink and tossing it down? Even if I could get myself to do that, I doubt I could do it again, and the thought of drinking again is repugnant. If you have made a Big Plan, try getting out of it, and discover the meaning of the word never."

This says to me that once you have made a Big Plan you are somehow reprogrammed to never be able to drink again even if, for whatever reason, you may choose to. It goes to the heart of what I have been trying to say about freedom and the word "never". Surely AVRT is contingent on actually putting it into practice and we will always have the freedom to abandon the practice, or plan, if we so wish? This is the only reservation I have about the technique as described in the book but it's a big one to me because it seems to invalidate the whole concept of what a technique is.
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