PerfectO :You_Rock_

This topic has been so well covered with true insight by all, it is humbling to read. I feel afterlife, or not, we belong in the "now". To worry about the inevitable, diminishes our presence in the now. Worry of what was, or may be, takes a part of us away. The degree of that "part" being taken away depends upon how emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually fit we are. See "spiritually fit" any way you wish...it does not mean religion.....they are different things.
Seems too often we drift into worry (fear) and dwell there, become obsessed with it, delude ourselves into thinking worry will actually alter or influence the outcome, there is the futility, the waste, drinking (using) only amplifies/exaggerates it. If we cross the line and take life for naught, we express total self-centeredness, wrapped up in our "selves" it becomes nearly impossible to see anything positive in the world around us. How can we find any meaning in the world, or within ourselves, if we are imprisoned by negative (or positive) obsession(s)? Whether we grasp it or not, we are both positive and negative beings, when the positive and negative become out of balance our outlook on life is influenced accordingly. There is as much without as within.....too much either way, again, brings imbalance... Life is a gift, sometimes a curse, the outlook reflects our balance at the time. Transcend the opposites and accept all parts of being as they are, part of a larger whole. We may not be able to see it at the time, yet, if we try, a vision of that whole can be seen and at that moment I can be by myself, but I'm never alone.....:ghug3

I was responding to this -

My bold.

Yeah, probably a bit brusque. Sorry about that. I just wouldn't like to see someone drinking over something that can't be known. Is there an afterlife? I don't know. Will the existence of an afterlife, or its absence cause me to drink? No. Why not? Because It's very much in the category of "things I cannot change". It seems a shame that someone should be on the verge of a relapse because their mind is occupied with something that they can't really do anything with - which I suppose for me means it falls in the category of "********".

Bamboozle, sorry if I came off wrong - once again! I was tempted initially to respond to you about existentialism, since the question you express is at the heart of that particular school. But then I thought, actually that question is at the root of much philsophical enquiry - and existentialism can be pretty bleak. Funnily enough, much existentialist thought and recovery thought overlaps - the idea being that people, if they're lucky, have a moment of clarity (or awful clarity) about their precise state (breaking though denial and inauthenticity), and realise that they are solely responsible for the life they build. That responsibility is awful, immense - and reflects how we actually are in the universe, rather than a comfortable self-delusion. Reflecting the AA process of disengaging from self and with "the other" - or Higher Power.

I found this -

Group Psychotherapy with Addicted ... - Google Book Search

when looking for links between AA and existentialism - you'll have to excuse me, I use the terms "AA" and "recovery" as synonyms :lmao - I hope it provides a bit of useful insight.

it's strange that this thread is the one for this morning that got me centered and ready for the day!

Special thx to nocoincidence....just sorta poped me awake :)

Some one once told me during a particularly rough patch when i said that every morning the first thought i had was "why am i even alive today".....

She said that every person should ask that question in a very deep way every morning....

Actually when i started obsessing on these "deep philisophical question of life" (LOL).....I stopped obsessing on the boos......When i ran from these questions....i found my self obsessed with drinking or not drinking..both of which are not good places for me to be.

Wow what a wonderful pearl of wisdom. Thank you.

Bam -- how are you today? Thinking of you.