2sn step, 10th step - Sanity
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Colorado
Posts: 202
2sn step, 10th step - Sanity
In step 10 it says for by this time sanity will have returned... we will seldom be interested in alcohol"
Is this the same sanity as step 2? God can remove any sanity, whether it be mania for alcohol or just weird thinking. Anyway was just wondering what y'all thought.
Is this the same sanity as step 2? God can remove any sanity, whether it be mania for alcohol or just weird thinking. Anyway was just wondering what y'all thought.
It`s ok to stay sober
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Central NC
Posts: 20,903
good question
sanity in seeing the truth about alcohol
also in the book it mentions sanity concerning sex in chapter 5
so it goes deeper than just drinking.My insanity is not being able to control the thoughts before the first drink,at certain times,and then the insane lie comes in my head that a drink is the answer instead of the problem.
I suffer from a spiritual malady,and I believe the real insanity comes when I think I can run my life myself with out my HP,That starts all other insanity off and running
sanity in seeing the truth about alcohol
also in the book it mentions sanity concerning sex in chapter 5
so it goes deeper than just drinking.My insanity is not being able to control the thoughts before the first drink,at certain times,and then the insane lie comes in my head that a drink is the answer instead of the problem.
I suffer from a spiritual malady,and I believe the real insanity comes when I think I can run my life myself with out my HP,That starts all other insanity off and running
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Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 8,674
As I have been taught and understood the steps, they are not the same thing.
And there are actually some conflated thoughts in the OP about what the actual step says and how it is explained/elaborated on in the text.
In step 2, key words "came to believe" mean that we were willing to believe that [God/a HP] COULD restore us to sanity. Not that it was restored.
In step 10, it actually says that we continue to take moral inventory and promptly admitted it when we were wrong. For the questions in the inventory, see p84 then 86- I love this inventory and do it every morning, about the day prior. Around this page- 84-88, is where the BB talks about how we used to be uncertain or basically clueless to the right thing to do, face indecision and struggle, and early on tend towards "absurd actions and ideas."
If you look further down on p 84 you see the actual word sanity. "For by this time sanity will have returned." IMO and as taught and IME in my living recovery, the context is good thinking, decisions and inspiration- so conjunctions to sanity, sure- but there's a distinction in what happens between step 2, step 10 and in the supporting pages around the only use of the word sanity in this chapter "Into Action" (unless I missed it when I double checked just now- I know a lot of this by heart but not word for word!).
Does that make sense?
And there are actually some conflated thoughts in the OP about what the actual step says and how it is explained/elaborated on in the text.
In step 2, key words "came to believe" mean that we were willing to believe that [God/a HP] COULD restore us to sanity. Not that it was restored.
In step 10, it actually says that we continue to take moral inventory and promptly admitted it when we were wrong. For the questions in the inventory, see p84 then 86- I love this inventory and do it every morning, about the day prior. Around this page- 84-88, is where the BB talks about how we used to be uncertain or basically clueless to the right thing to do, face indecision and struggle, and early on tend towards "absurd actions and ideas."
If you look further down on p 84 you see the actual word sanity. "For by this time sanity will have returned." IMO and as taught and IME in my living recovery, the context is good thinking, decisions and inspiration- so conjunctions to sanity, sure- but there's a distinction in what happens between step 2, step 10 and in the supporting pages around the only use of the word sanity in this chapter "Into Action" (unless I missed it when I double checked just now- I know a lot of this by heart but not word for word!).
Does that make sense?
Grateful
Join Date: May 2013
Location: NC
Posts: 1,763
My interpretation of the 10th step promise "For by this time sanity will have returned" is stating that step 2 has come to fruition. In step 2 it says that a power greater than ourselves "could" restore us to sanity. The promise on page 84 of the BB discussing step 10 states that by this time we will realize that not only could our Higher Power restore us to sanity but he has done so.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 2,308
HI Judicatory,
It took me a while to realise what brainstorming as mentioned in the BB meant. I realised it was something I Indulged in continuously to my detriment and is a form of madness, living in my head with these grand ideas instead of dealing with what was in front of me. Your post reminded me of how little I do that these days.
today Inachieve much more, have more energy as its not being wasted on pointless speculation, although that still happens, I am aware when it is going on and see it for what it is.
It took me a while to realise what brainstorming as mentioned in the BB meant. I realised it was something I Indulged in continuously to my detriment and is a form of madness, living in my head with these grand ideas instead of dealing with what was in front of me. Your post reminded me of how little I do that these days.
today Inachieve much more, have more energy as its not being wasted on pointless speculation, although that still happens, I am aware when it is going on and see it for what it is.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: northern michigan. not the U.P.
Posts: 15,281
imo, the answer to the question comes after for by this time sanity will have returned... we will seldom be interested in alcohol:
We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality—safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid
We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality—safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid
12 Step Recovered Alcoholic
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 6,613
I am thinking my life when drinking was pretty insane in every respect. I seemed to have a total inability to make the right decisions and carry them through. At the root of it was the basic insanity surrounding the fatal first drink. That was a true mental blank spot, an inability to see cause and effect, or reality.
In the context of step ten, sanity has returned. I now react in a sane way to the thought of a drink. The same way any normal person would react to a previous experience that caused them harm. I have found also that my reactions to every other thing life has sent my way have also been sane and normal.
The use of the word sanity has the same meaning in both steps. It is all about our reaction to life.
In the context of step ten, sanity has returned. I now react in a sane way to the thought of a drink. The same way any normal person would react to a previous experience that caused them harm. I have found also that my reactions to every other thing life has sent my way have also been sane and normal.
The use of the word sanity has the same meaning in both steps. It is all about our reaction to life.
Trudgin
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 6,348
Bill W stated (a) definition of insanity is when a sober alcoholic picks up that first drink.; insidious insanity. We were restored to sanity - in our relationship with alcohol. We recoil , the problem is removed - that first drink. No drink, no craving and no more insanity.
Certainly my ick rears itself and my thinking can be marred . This is when I rely on you fine people to set me straight. This is the fellowship , the unity
Certainly my ick rears itself and my thinking can be marred . This is when I rely on you fine people to set me straight. This is the fellowship , the unity
Member
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 65
The purpose of steps is to get from step one to steps two and three via steps four through nine which is clearing away the wreckage of one’s past. Steps ten and eleven (future) is the continuum. Step two and three are one step from the original Oxford Group tenets (First Century Christianity) and these steps cannot be taken as the other steps due to these steps being the destination. The journey is the rest of the steps.
In the 12 X 12 that was written by the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous Bill Wilson in 1952, on page 27, the experienced AA member is addressing a newcomer’s confusion regarding step two and he said in so many words,” that step two began to infiltrate his life and he acquired sanity by practicing the rest of the AA program as enthusiastically as he could which is clearing away the wreckage of one’s past and continued self-examination (future). The text Alcoholics Anonymous Page 84, ninth and tenth steps” it’s written, “for by this time sanity will have returned (step two)”.
In the 12 X 12 that was written by the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous Bill Wilson in 1952, on page 27, the experienced AA member is addressing a newcomer’s confusion regarding step two and he said in so many words,” that step two began to infiltrate his life and he acquired sanity by practicing the rest of the AA program as enthusiastically as he could which is clearing away the wreckage of one’s past and continued self-examination (future). The text Alcoholics Anonymous Page 84, ninth and tenth steps” it’s written, “for by this time sanity will have returned (step two)”.
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