AA Cult or Cure?

Question

Last night at the meeting we had a surprise guest! None other than "Clancy" Himself!!

He walked into the room with a his usual AA halo on his head and a crucifix was sticking out of his butt; he was chanting many excellent AA slogans. What a special ocassion! I felt sooooo blessed to be in his presence that I took a **** right on the floor next to him!

Oh Jesus, save me know from the demon booze! The brain I have has never worked well for me and I will never be able to resist the temptation of drink. Can I please have another brain, that works? Jesus Please, take me HOME! NOW!

Answer 1

There are many of us who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body with the help of AA, however it is not the cure all, there are other avenues, and I am with you, I had a very, very hard time finally getting it. I refused to believe in God, was an atheist but the bottle finally drove me to a solution, any solution to save my life, because the suicide mission I was on was taking way to long and was very painful. And I think your analogy of Clancy is hilarious, we do seem a bit angelic but any one with any lick of sobriety in them at all knows that the halo is a privilege, not an automatic, we MUST do whatever we can to help the newcomer in the program. And if that means getting rid of our halos then in the trash they go. You want to get down and dirty, then that's what we'll do, anything to save your life, our lives depend upon it. Sorry if that was preachy, or cultish, and if you were standing before me you would see the earnestness in my eyes and the gleam of humor there as well. We are not a glum lot!!!!We absolutely insist upon enjoying life. And your statement was funny, truly. Thanks for the laugh and thanks for the opportunity to spread the word. Kept me sober for 5 minutes longer making these past 7 and 1/2 years worth every agonizing minute I sat in meetings in the beginning. If no one has told you they love you today, I do, and there ain't nothing you can do about it. Peace.

Answer 2

You can put Clancy down all you want but he has helped thousands of alcoholic by being in the trenches and doing the hard stuff. He deals with many low bottoms drunks and many of they need to be told what to do and when to do it. Clancy was a low bottom drunk that lost everything and tried to take his own life. He has been freed from alcohol for a long time and know more about alcoholism than most Doctors. So if you dont like him maybe its something in yourself that you dont like. Walk a mile in his shoes and see what he does and maybe you will see him in a different light. Try to see the good in what others do and maybe you will be able to help someone besides yourself.

Answer 3

It really depend of your background, and your emotional state.

I wondered too if it was a cult. Not sure yet, but I've seen many people, addicted to the bone to alcool, that passed all the 12 steps, and are now sober since 20-30-40 years...

Always keep a critic mind. There is no magic, it's a lot of work. I saw people too keep sober without AA, but not like AA. It's way of life...But it depend of your background....

Answer 4

Man, I used to hate those big book thumpers. Every question had some kind of slogan for an answer. Nobody was responsible for their own actions, everything was because of "this disease". If I mentioned the concept of personal responsibility in the rooms, I got nothing but blank stares. It was like a DNC meeting in that respect. But it did get me to quit drinking. I haven't drank in years and don't miss it. And no, I don't smoke weed or do drugs or anti-depressants.

Answer 5

I got pretty ried of that **** too. So disgusted in fact that I gave it up completely and worked hard to modify the way I drink instead of giving up something that I truly enjoy. I discovered that it doesn't hurt me one bit to go without it for a few days and then drink a six pack one night when I don't have to work the next day and then leave it alone again for a while.

Answer 6

Use both your skepticism and an open mind at the same time, and you will survive your court-ordered AA meetings. You might even learn something -- like how to get sober and stay that way.

Obviously you have a problem, or you wouldn't have been court-ordered to AA in the first place. To continue to play the victim, this time a victim of a judge and AA, is pretty sad. You are the victim of your own way of thinking and doing.

Of course, AA's low success rate shows that just going to meetings is no indicator of whether or not you'll stay sober or alive for any length of time. If you don't want to stay sober or alive, there's nothing AA can do except grate your nerves.

Truth is, I know exactly where you're coming from. I resented all that "higher power" stuff, too. After all, the original intent of Bill W was to turn out-of-control alkies like us into upstanding repentant Christian gentlemen. Luckily his zeal was tempered by Dr. Bob and others.

I wasn't court-ordered to AA, but I felt if I drank again I would kill myself or someone else, so I latched onto AA even though I disagreed with a lot of it. It helped me, and I still go occasionally. And I still disagree with a lot of it. So what. The key for me was not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Despite protestations to the contrary, AA is indeed a religious organization. And you probably could sue for being ordered to go there. But why would you, when you could use it to stop drinking instead?

At its worst, AA is a Christian organization that allows other viewpoints and where you'll get love and support despite your contrarian views. But even the Christian-ness seems to vary a great deal from group to group and city to city. At its best, AA provides a community where you can grow into an adult at any age, join the human race, and find purpose in life.

No doubt the "personal Higher Power" of the 12-steps is the diet version of a Christian god for those who don't like to say God. Yahweh Light. I couldn't make it work for me, so I adopted reality as my higher power instead. I was tired of mythology, especially my own, where I played either god, hero, or martyr, depending on whether my huge ego or my low self-esteem had the upper hand at that particular moment. So reality was a good choice for me, and certainly different from my previous paradigms.

But reality, as you know, has its drawbacks. For instance, it becomes harder to blame others for our circumstances. It becomes harder to hide from the world. And we might find that, behind our reality project, there is nothing more real than the divine.

I've had to throw in the towel on being right about everything all the time. Five years later I'm content, sober, and hardly ever think about alcohol anymore. It's no longer part of my life. I still have problems, but they're not as big as they once were. And I can lose perspective on that, too.

Point being that my life is better as a direct result of quitting drinking, and AA played a part -- sometimes a big one -- in that. I wish for you the same kind of peace in your life, whether you get it from AA or elsewhere.

Since you're having to deal with your alcoholism anyway (if you're an alcoholic, that is), you might also do some reading about some of the nutritional approaches to dealing with your malfunctioning brain and liver, and yoga has really helped me, but I know it's not for everyone.

You might also find some people in AA or elsewhere you can talk to about your experience in Vietnam. So your war can really be over, as you say in your profile. I'm no doctor, but a lot of people drink over their PTSD, and there is a lot of support out there.

You are not alone.

May Yahweh Light bless you. ; )

Answer 7

Dude, you sound like you're man enough to take care of yourself. If the liquor is f*cking up your life, cut back a little or just start smoking pot like I did.

I think these sorts of programs work for a certain type--the type that likes to be part of a group and likes to be told what to do. That is not to say they are all sheep. Many earnest Nazi's shared these qualities.

If you get drunk and beat people up, try getting drunk and not beating people up.

If you get drunk and crash your car, stop driving.

If you get drunk and lose jobs, try finding a job where they ain't all worked up about that sort of bullshit. I worked in a bar a couple of years where my chief qualification was an ability to hold my liquor. God I miss it.

But then there is pot. Oh, pot. You can work on it. You can drive on it. It makes your letters home more interesting. Pot. For higher lows and lower highs. Pot. For a brighter tomorrow.

Answer 8

WHEN YOU ARE READY, THE PROGRAM WILL WORK FOR YOU ~~ AND NOT BEFORE! CLANCY IS NOT GOD, ONLY GOD IS GOD!!! STOP RESISTING...IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU REALLY NEED THE PROGRAM!!!
AA ONLY WORKS FOR PEOPLE WHO "WANT" IT...ALOT OF PEOPLE "NEED" IT, BUT ARE NOT READY!!.. IT IS NOT A CULT. AND THERE IS NO CURE FOR ALCOHOLISM.

Answer 9

It's not polite to make fun of someones religion, no matter how stupid it is.

Answer 10

NON...