Notices

I think I have offended people at AA

Old 03-24-2014, 06:37 PM
  # 81 (permalink)  
Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 3,293
kiki

I understand your issue with the God thing. It is my opinion that most of the people that attend meetings believe in the religious concept of God. The term higher power is rarely used. There are some meetings I've gone to that talk about things like giving your will over to the care of God. I get very little out of those meetings since the people that share at those meetings are clearly talking about a Chrstian God. Occas ionally, I'll even hear an amen. lol. But most meetings I go to are not so focused on God, and I get a lot out of them. Right now, I just go to the meetings, nothing else. People talk about a lot of stuff that really helps me. It's like SR. I can't relate to everything people post, but I still get a lot out of the post that I can relate to. I don't think anybody was really lieing to you. You don't have to believe in a higher power to go to the meetings. That's true. If you did offend somebody, that's there problem. You can't be wrong when you are being honest. The people that are truly solid in what they believe and have a good program going were not offended. Maybe you gave some people something to think about. Hope you keep going.
2muchpain is offline  
Old 03-24-2014, 07:19 PM
  # 82 (permalink)  
Member
 
CodeJob's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Mmmmmm
Posts: 3,178
Kiki,

Check out Carl Jung's idea of spirituality and his connection to AA. Maybe his wider view can help you?

Carl Jung - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think Love is a wonderful answer! You don't have to have everything figured out in the first few days. I started the steps last May and took a break after the first two. I spent a lot of time thinking on 3 and finally remembered a vision I had once and knew that was my answer. This therapist poured oil on my third eye and I had a vision. Pretty wild! I was raised Catholic so did not not expect such a response to chakra stimulation. But having an open mind really never hurt me.

Another book I found very interesting is The Happiness Hypothesis. It took me awhile to read, but it covers centuries of human experience and boils it down to an equation. Really quite elegant.

I wish you peace and that you find some harmony. PS I do not kneel!
CodeJob is offline  
Old 03-24-2014, 08:04 PM
  # 83 (permalink)  
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Nebraska
Posts: 233
People say "open your mind" as if it is a decision you make like demmocrat or republican whether or not you believe in God and it really isn't. One woman in particular has repeatedly 'advised' me to get down on my knees at night and pray. It just doesn't work for me

I really have made an attempt to get my head around this. I have thought about making love my higher power. I believe in love, and I believe love gives us the capacity to do things we might have thought impossible. So maybe that would work? I have a heart shaped necklace and since I thought about this I have associated it with love as my HP and it kind of feels like a ********. I have to admit though, I'd feel kind of silly saying any of that to a sponsor.



1 John 4:8
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Not silly at all. As you see from the Bible quote above, God really IS love.
Gibbons2 is offline  
Old 03-24-2014, 08:59 PM
  # 84 (permalink)  
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Here, EH!!!
Posts: 1,337
Its just a god of your own understanding, whatever it may be. Almost everyone is offended at first by the word God when they first go to AA meetings from what I hear in the rooms of AA. They are closed minded, and prejudice. I like the poem by Herbert Spencer.

"'There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—that principle is contempt prior to investigation.'" - Herbert Spencer- Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, Appendice II, Spiritual Experience, pg. 568~







I doubt you offended anyone in the room.
matt4x4 is offline  
Old 03-24-2014, 09:17 PM
  # 85 (permalink)  
Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Dubai
Posts: 99
Originally Posted by matt4x4 View Post
Its just a god of your own understanding, whatever it may be. Almost everyone is offended at first by the word God when they first go to AA meetings from what I hear in the rooms of AA. They are closed minded, and prejudice..
This is the attitude in the rooms that pisses me off more than anything.

I don't suppose it has ever occurred to you that someone can be open minded and unprejudiced and still not believe in God?

This is not contempt prior to investigation. I was raised Catholic and this is something I have thought long and hard about.

This attitude is incredibly patronising and unhelpful compared to the other advice I have gotten here.
kiki1988 is offline  
Old 03-24-2014, 09:23 PM
  # 86 (permalink)  
Administrator
 
Dee74's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,043
Let's all keep it civil folks.

Thanks

D
Dee74 is offline  
Old 03-24-2014, 10:05 PM
  # 87 (permalink)  
Member
 
Renarde's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 2,303
Have you seen "waiting: a non-believer's higher power?" It's for atheists and examines how atheists can philosophically get into AA. Really good.
Renarde is offline  
Old 03-24-2014, 11:02 PM
  # 88 (permalink)  
Practice Sobriety
 
Mcribb's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: KC missouri
Posts: 885
There are other wonderful programs than AA. Congrats.
Mcribb is offline  
Old 03-24-2014, 11:27 PM
  # 89 (permalink)  
lillyknitting
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Loughton, Essex, England
Posts: 638
Why on earth would it offend people that you don't believe in god? There must be hundreds of thousands of people out there that don't believe in god, higher power etc, the same there are dozens of different religions. I don't get how any of this is to do with not drinking!!!!
lillyknitting is offline  
Old 03-24-2014, 11:34 PM
  # 90 (permalink)  
lillyknitting
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Loughton, Essex, England
Posts: 638
Originally Posted by diffingo911 View Post
Something is Manipulating the Universe. Scientists are calling it "Dark Matter" and
"Dark Energy"-Something that doesn't fit into their Mathematics and Equations.

Whatever it is, I "Certainly" didn't make the Sun Rise today...It was a POWER Greater than Myself that did...I was Atheist for Many Years. But just like the Scientists have, I HAD to realize that I did not make all of this...the Universe, Gravity, all the Animals...NOPE Not Me-Something Greater than Myself did. We can call it Evolution/Fate/Dark Energy - Whatever "IT" is, it's Beyond "ME" and that seems to be the whole Point, really - Getting out of One's "Self" and the Act of Reaching Out...

I Hope this Helps...
I still don't see what any of this has to do with not drinking. The same as what's it got to do with not eating cake!?
lillyknitting is offline  
Old 03-24-2014, 11:42 PM
  # 91 (permalink)  
Administrator
 
Dee74's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,043
We're circling the drain here, folks...

Please Read! The Newcomers Forum is a safe and welcoming place for newcomers. Respect is essential. Debates over Recovery Methods are not allowed on the Newcomer's Forum. Posts that violate this rule will be removed without notice. (Support and experience only please.)
D
Dee74 is offline  
Old 03-25-2014, 03:57 AM
  # 92 (permalink)  
Member
 
wpainterw's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 3,550
Originally Posted by Dee74 View Post
We're circling the drain here, folks...



D
Dee: I really like that one! "Circling the drain"! Do let us know when it's time to flush it!
Could it be that one "circles the drain" before "hitting bottom"?

W.
wpainterw is offline  
Old 03-25-2014, 04:22 AM
  # 93 (permalink)  
Administrator
 
Dee74's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 211,043
I wasn't trying to be funny.

let's focus, guys.
D
Dee74 is offline  
Old 03-25-2014, 05:05 AM
  # 94 (permalink)  
Member
 
Joe Nerv's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Bklyn. NY
Posts: 1,859
Originally Posted by Dee74 View Post
I wasn't trying to be funny.

let's focus, guys.
D
Not to derail this thread, but I laughed when I read that too, responded that I thought that was funny... Then decided not to press go . Gonna steal that one and pass it along to the folks at TB, Dee. Thanks.
Joe Nerv is offline  
Old 03-25-2014, 05:23 AM
  # 95 (permalink)  
Keeping it simple!
 
LadyinBC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Surrey, BC
Posts: 3,282
Originally Posted by PaperDolls View Post
I love that you're checking to see which meetings are best for you. That's all you can do.
That's what willingness is sistah.
This is a very good point. Just the fact you are going out of your comfort zone says a lot. And that is a positive things, means you are at least being open to it and trying it.

Recovery is not easy and there are lots of different programs out there. Everyone has to find what works for them. What works for one person, might not work for another.

I myself incorporate 3 different programs (WFS, SMART, AA) because I don't get 100% what I need from just one. So I take the things I need and are positive for ME from each of them and leave the rest behind. This is what I have found that works for me.
LadyinBC is offline  
Old 03-25-2014, 05:40 AM
  # 96 (permalink)  
Member
 
adee's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: US
Posts: 556
Kiki - a book that I've found so helpful: A Woman's Way Through the 12 Steps by Stephanie Covington. Helpful for me because it showed me a different path through some of the highly charged (for me) language of the Big Book. Main focus is on a woman's perspective, but through her interpretation of the 12 steps, she also tackles navigating the program from a variety of perspectives including agnostic/atheist. This book as much as anything gave me a sense of possibility that I could find my own path through AA without sacrificing the integrity of my values.
adee is offline  
Old 03-25-2014, 06:35 AM
  # 97 (permalink)  
Member
 
Amajorityofone's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 544
Originally Posted by kiki1988 View Post

I like going to AA meetings because I meet people like me, but I feel like everyone's just going to hate me because I keep shitting on their path to recovery (I don't mean to do this but I think I have by accident because this stuff really upsets me and then I run my mouth)
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Winner winner, chicken dinner.

If we all said what we thought, every time we thought it, to everyone in the room, including this one, the result would always be the same.

You create an atmosphere of animosity.

Thus, the problem, as I see it, is simply Pride. You're seeking a peace and comfort apart from "God." Which, of course, is not there. There is no such thing.
Amajorityofone is offline  
Old 03-25-2014, 06:57 AM
  # 98 (permalink)  
Member
 
ChefWolverine's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Michigan
Posts: 34
I just pass or say I'm here to listen when the subject is on God. AA definitely helps me stay sober so I'm gonna keep going. Staying sober is #1 in my book and that's all that really matters.
ChefWolverine is offline  
Old 03-25-2014, 08:13 AM
  # 99 (permalink)  
Member
 
wpainterw's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 3,550
Originally Posted by Dee74 View Post
I wasn't trying to be funny.

let's focus, guys.
D
I'm focused now. Your admonition is well taken! I have always wondered why debates about whether God exists should have something to do with achieving sobriety.

W.
wpainterw is offline  
Old 03-25-2014, 08:38 AM
  # 100 (permalink)  
Member
 
Johnston's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Central Massachusetts
Posts: 2,051
Originally Posted by wpainterw View Post
I'm focused now. Your admonition is well taken! I have always wondered why debates about whether God exists should have something to do with achieving sobriety. W.
This +1
Johnston is offline  

Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are Off




All times are GMT -7. The time now is 01:17 PM.