Up a bit late this morning and ready to start the day. A couple of chores to do before the rain (if it comes, lol). Took a ride on a mountain road yesterday and ended up 35 miles from home, lol. Got behind a Mercedes SUV that was going 5 mph with no where to pass for about 15 miles. Very frustrating but learned a little more patience in the process.
Have a great day all
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
A MASTER
Article written by Zentai, in the series "Beyond the 12 Steps"
A MASTER
Perhaps you have wondered how people come to experience themselves as "master" in their lives. The answer is simple: they consider it to be so true that no proof is required!
I am going to describe two ways of experiencing life and then tell you the most fundamental determinant relating to which way you happen to be in. The first one is that of practicing to be a master, although you probably call it by some other set of words. Nevertheless, you will recognize the description. The events of life are organized into a pattern of "struggling" for mastery without completion of the experience of your mastery. Your experience resembles the age-old riddle of trying to reach a wall by successively taking half the distance to the wall with each step. No matter how close you come to the wall, you never reach it. There are always an infinite number of steps left to reach the wall. In the experience of your life, likewise, there seem to be an infinite number of steps left until you reach the condition of master of the experience of your life. It is always just beyond: with that just right job, that just so relationship, those perfect friends whom you haven't met yet, that new car you think will complete your experience of mastery. Yet, as each new circumstance is completed, you notice that the experience of satisfaction isn't quite all there. Something is missing and you can't quite put your finger on it. No matter what you do, that's not it.
The other way of experiencing life is that of master. Exactly the same conditions and events prevail; however, it is all incorporated into the way of a master practicing life. Difficult situations still befall you; however, they become a contribution to your enrichment. At all times you feel whole and complete, and everything that happens in your life validates your wholeness and your completeness. This experience extends to your relationships as well. Your spouse or parent may express hostility and rejection toward you and you take that into your experience in such a way that it validates the worth of the other person as well as your own worth. Or, if they are not communicative, that is taken into your experience in such a way that the silence is exactly the contribution that is appropriate in the relationship. You are master of life and all that comes by for your experience validates, confirms, and contributes to your context as master. Whether things are "good or bad" by the standards of the world is quite irrelevant.
So, we have before us two ways of experiencing life; (1) practicing to be a master, and (2) a master practicing. I can't stress to you too much that external events do not determine which way you are in. Anyone in their right mind would choose number 2, wouldn't they? Evidently not, for it is the purist choice there is in life and yet, what we see in the world is people practicing to be masters and never quite making it. This brings us to the issue of the fundamental determinant of which way you happen to be in. Like all true statements it is utter simplicity: YOU SAY SO. If you feel stuck in practicing to be a master and never quite making it, ask yourself: Why don't I say so?
In the moment that you say so, it is so. I must tell you that the content of your life is not what changes when you say "I am a master practicing." What changes when you say that is that everything and everyone in your life is transformed in your "experience" and it all becomes a contribution to your practice of mastery. You don't have to wait until you are on your death bed to become a master practicing. You can become a master practicing from where you are right now. Simply say so. Then, consciously take every event in your life as a demonstration of your mastery.
When you experience yourself as the "master" in your life, you will find that you can instantly and magically transform the quality of any relationship by simple consideration.
There are certain advantages to being a master practicing. For one thing, your relationships are transformed. So, if you have been putting up with, or trying to change, someone and simply being frustrated, all that is transformed. I don't mean that your someone will become enlightened and start treating you better. NO! A master of life has no need for someone who acts the way they're "supposed to." In fact, someone's craziness (if they are nuts) becomes more grist for your mastery mill. The crazier they act, the more mastery you have. If you look at them and get a large pain in your stomach, the pain in your stomach becomes more contributing material to your mastery. Why? Because you say so. No other reason. If that is not your experience, then you didn't say so. On the other hand, if someone becomes enlightened (and they might), then their enlightenment is a validation of your mastery. Why? Because you say so. For no other reason.
You see, a master practicing lets life be the way it is. When you let life be the way it is, you will find out that it validates and supports you. Always. So, if life is not validating and supporting you, you are not letting it be the way it is. At that point, when you are willing to let it be the way it is, a certain satisfaction comes over you. Said another way, you create the context of satisfaction by doing nothing! From the context of satisfaction you can absolutely beat life into shape. As you beat it, you are satisfied. As it changes shape, you are satisfied. When you notice the shape that you beat it into, you are satisfied. Everything becomes a contribution to your state of satisfaction. So, letting life be the way it is doesn't mean not to change it. You change it totally, but not so that it will get better. You will change it as a game, nothing more. For, you see, if you beat life to change it to be better, that would be coming from dissatisfaction. A lot of people do exactly that. They are not particularly satisfied and their actual impact on the world is even smaller than it seems. Their relationships are relationships of domination and manipulation, the weakest tools of change known to the planet.
So, a master practicing starts with the fact that he is whole and complete. Because he says so, and for no other reason. He also starts from the fact that his relationships are whole, complete, and perfect. They are exactly the way they should be. Why? Because he says so, no other reason. As relationships change, that is exactly what they should be doing: changing. When they seem to stay the same, that is exactly what they should be doing: staying the same. When he changes them, that is exactly the appropriate thing to do: change them. When others change them, that is seen as the appropriate thing to happen. How can all this be so? Because our master practicing says so, and for no other reason. This is called living "at cause" in your relationships.
I want you to know that in the usual course of events people set out to master their relationships. What I mean by that is not to dominate and manipulate them, except in the highest meaning of those words. However, along the way we invalidate ourselves by causing our relationships to go a certain way without awareness that we cause it. What we say is that it was done "to" us. This invalidates you and takes your power out of your hands and places it in some other location. You end the confusion. You have to be in confusion and "not know" what happened to avoid awareness of responsibility for what happened to avoid awareness of responsibility for what happened. This is not the way of a master practicing in the area of relationship.
A master practicing creates the experience of responsibility by intention, by purpose, even when the understanding of "how" the event was caused has not arrived yet. Understanding comes inevitably. Not the kind of understanding that merely explains things "ex post facto," but understanding that actually provides mastery of relationships in the present. Understanding like this is best called "knowing." When you "know" something, confusion has no opportunity to exist. A master practicing in the area of relationships knows, and is willing to know, and everything that happens validates, confirms and contributes to that fact. Because she or he says so. No other reason.
A MASTER
Perhaps you have wondered how people come to experience themselves as "master" in their lives. The answer is simple: they consider it to be so true that no proof is required!
I am going to describe two ways of experiencing life and then tell you the most fundamental determinant relating to which way you happen to be in. The first one is that of practicing to be a master, although you probably call it by some other set of words. Nevertheless, you will recognize the description. The events of life are organized into a pattern of "struggling" for mastery without completion of the experience of your mastery. Your experience resembles the age-old riddle of trying to reach a wall by successively taking half the distance to the wall with each step. No matter how close you come to the wall, you never reach it. There are always an infinite number of steps left to reach the wall. In the experience of your life, likewise, there seem to be an infinite number of steps left until you reach the condition of master of the experience of your life. It is always just beyond: with that just right job, that just so relationship, those perfect friends whom you haven't met yet, that new car you think will complete your experience of mastery. Yet, as each new circumstance is completed, you notice that the experience of satisfaction isn't quite all there. Something is missing and you can't quite put your finger on it. No matter what you do, that's not it.
The other way of experiencing life is that of master. Exactly the same conditions and events prevail; however, it is all incorporated into the way of a master practicing life. Difficult situations still befall you; however, they become a contribution to your enrichment. At all times you feel whole and complete, and everything that happens in your life validates your wholeness and your completeness. This experience extends to your relationships as well. Your spouse or parent may express hostility and rejection toward you and you take that into your experience in such a way that it validates the worth of the other person as well as your own worth. Or, if they are not communicative, that is taken into your experience in such a way that the silence is exactly the contribution that is appropriate in the relationship. You are master of life and all that comes by for your experience validates, confirms, and contributes to your context as master. Whether things are "good or bad" by the standards of the world is quite irrelevant.
So, we have before us two ways of experiencing life; (1) practicing to be a master, and (2) a master practicing. I can't stress to you too much that external events do not determine which way you are in. Anyone in their right mind would choose number 2, wouldn't they? Evidently not, for it is the purist choice there is in life and yet, what we see in the world is people practicing to be masters and never quite making it. This brings us to the issue of the fundamental determinant of which way you happen to be in. Like all true statements it is utter simplicity: YOU SAY SO. If you feel stuck in practicing to be a master and never quite making it, ask yourself: Why don't I say so?
In the moment that you say so, it is so. I must tell you that the content of your life is not what changes when you say "I am a master practicing." What changes when you say that is that everything and everyone in your life is transformed in your "experience" and it all becomes a contribution to your practice of mastery. You don't have to wait until you are on your death bed to become a master practicing. You can become a master practicing from where you are right now. Simply say so. Then, consciously take every event in your life as a demonstration of your mastery.
When you experience yourself as the "master" in your life, you will find that you can instantly and magically transform the quality of any relationship by simple consideration.
There are certain advantages to being a master practicing. For one thing, your relationships are transformed. So, if you have been putting up with, or trying to change, someone and simply being frustrated, all that is transformed. I don't mean that your someone will become enlightened and start treating you better. NO! A master of life has no need for someone who acts the way they're "supposed to." In fact, someone's craziness (if they are nuts) becomes more grist for your mastery mill. The crazier they act, the more mastery you have. If you look at them and get a large pain in your stomach, the pain in your stomach becomes more contributing material to your mastery. Why? Because you say so. No other reason. If that is not your experience, then you didn't say so. On the other hand, if someone becomes enlightened (and they might), then their enlightenment is a validation of your mastery. Why? Because you say so. For no other reason.
You see, a master practicing lets life be the way it is. When you let life be the way it is, you will find out that it validates and supports you. Always. So, if life is not validating and supporting you, you are not letting it be the way it is. At that point, when you are willing to let it be the way it is, a certain satisfaction comes over you. Said another way, you create the context of satisfaction by doing nothing! From the context of satisfaction you can absolutely beat life into shape. As you beat it, you are satisfied. As it changes shape, you are satisfied. When you notice the shape that you beat it into, you are satisfied. Everything becomes a contribution to your state of satisfaction. So, letting life be the way it is doesn't mean not to change it. You change it totally, but not so that it will get better. You will change it as a game, nothing more. For, you see, if you beat life to change it to be better, that would be coming from dissatisfaction. A lot of people do exactly that. They are not particularly satisfied and their actual impact on the world is even smaller than it seems. Their relationships are relationships of domination and manipulation, the weakest tools of change known to the planet.
So, a master practicing starts with the fact that he is whole and complete. Because he says so, and for no other reason. He also starts from the fact that his relationships are whole, complete, and perfect. They are exactly the way they should be. Why? Because he says so, no other reason. As relationships change, that is exactly what they should be doing: changing. When they seem to stay the same, that is exactly what they should be doing: staying the same. When he changes them, that is exactly the appropriate thing to do: change them. When others change them, that is seen as the appropriate thing to happen. How can all this be so? Because our master practicing says so, and for no other reason. This is called living "at cause" in your relationships.
I want you to know that in the usual course of events people set out to master their relationships. What I mean by that is not to dominate and manipulate them, except in the highest meaning of those words. However, along the way we invalidate ourselves by causing our relationships to go a certain way without awareness that we cause it. What we say is that it was done "to" us. This invalidates you and takes your power out of your hands and places it in some other location. You end the confusion. You have to be in confusion and "not know" what happened to avoid awareness of responsibility for what happened to avoid awareness of responsibility for what happened. This is not the way of a master practicing in the area of relationship.
A master practicing creates the experience of responsibility by intention, by purpose, even when the understanding of "how" the event was caused has not arrived yet. Understanding comes inevitably. Not the kind of understanding that merely explains things "ex post facto," but understanding that actually provides mastery of relationships in the present. Understanding like this is best called "knowing." When you "know" something, confusion has no opportunity to exist. A master practicing in the area of relationships knows, and is willing to know, and everything that happens validates, confirms and contributes to that fact. Because she or he says so. No other reason.
Reality
This is one of many articles posted by Zentai about recovery. You can view details and links to more articles at: "Beyond the 12 Steps"
REALITY
Reality is what is and not what it is not. It is complete unto itself and doesn't care if you notice it or not. Reality is the collection of unchanging laws which run the universe. Gravity is a reality. This posting you are reading now on this site is reality. The relationships you have in your life right now are reality. These are all manifestations of the basic law that runs the universe: What is, is; what isn't, isn't.
Unreality is what is not. It seems to not care if you notice it or not. Unreality is the collection of mind stuff which is subject to change at any time. Wishing things were different is unreality. The relationships you do not have in your life right now are unreality.
Now, although reality doesn't care if you notice it or not, "you" had better care if you notice or not. Not noticing reality means that your life is cruising directly toward not working, that is, being in a condition of no satisfaction. How many times have you dwelled on the relationships you don't have and ignored the ones you do have? How often have you wished for that job you don't have and neglected the one you do have? How often do you worry about not being able to recover from an addiction rather than concentrating on the fact that you are working in recovery now? When was the last time you wished you had different parents and didn't give consideration to the ones you do have? And what about living in another place? That would make life much better, wouldn't it? What about someone just coming along and saving you altogether? That would be nice, wouldn't it? Well, I ran out of magic wands and I don't have any gold dust to sprinkle.
Well, here is a piece of news for you that is also immutable reality: no one will ever save you! Only when you notice reality and get into alignment with it will you experience being "saved." It is quite easy to cause success: just paddle downstream along with the river of the way it is, not upstream against the way it is. You will do this for yourself or no one will.
That is all I am going to say about reality as such. However, please notice that most of the content of this recovery site is about reality or the truth. Truth is obvious only if you notice it and give it room to be. The mind is not equipped to do this since it is a right/wrong machine interested only in rightness and survival. If reality is to be noticed, you will have to do it objectively by using the polarities of the brain since your mind can't. (I need to emphasize here, again, that the brain and the mind are not the same). If you let your mind run the show, it will create a condition of unreality in order to be right. The price you will pay for your mind being right is lack of clarity about what is real in life. Some day you will notice that the price is too high, and you won't pay anymore.
REALITY
Reality is what is and not what it is not. It is complete unto itself and doesn't care if you notice it or not. Reality is the collection of unchanging laws which run the universe. Gravity is a reality. This posting you are reading now on this site is reality. The relationships you have in your life right now are reality. These are all manifestations of the basic law that runs the universe: What is, is; what isn't, isn't.
Unreality is what is not. It seems to not care if you notice it or not. Unreality is the collection of mind stuff which is subject to change at any time. Wishing things were different is unreality. The relationships you do not have in your life right now are unreality.
Now, although reality doesn't care if you notice it or not, "you" had better care if you notice or not. Not noticing reality means that your life is cruising directly toward not working, that is, being in a condition of no satisfaction. How many times have you dwelled on the relationships you don't have and ignored the ones you do have? How often have you wished for that job you don't have and neglected the one you do have? How often do you worry about not being able to recover from an addiction rather than concentrating on the fact that you are working in recovery now? When was the last time you wished you had different parents and didn't give consideration to the ones you do have? And what about living in another place? That would make life much better, wouldn't it? What about someone just coming along and saving you altogether? That would be nice, wouldn't it? Well, I ran out of magic wands and I don't have any gold dust to sprinkle.
Well, here is a piece of news for you that is also immutable reality: no one will ever save you! Only when you notice reality and get into alignment with it will you experience being "saved." It is quite easy to cause success: just paddle downstream along with the river of the way it is, not upstream against the way it is. You will do this for yourself or no one will.
That is all I am going to say about reality as such. However, please notice that most of the content of this recovery site is about reality or the truth. Truth is obvious only if you notice it and give it room to be. The mind is not equipped to do this since it is a right/wrong machine interested only in rightness and survival. If reality is to be noticed, you will have to do it objectively by using the polarities of the brain since your mind can't. (I need to emphasize here, again, that the brain and the mind are not the same). If you let your mind run the show, it will create a condition of unreality in order to be right. The price you will pay for your mind being right is lack of clarity about what is real in life. Some day you will notice that the price is too high, and you won't pay anymore.
"Beyond the 12 Steps"
List of Articles
The pages in this section of the site were created by a man known as Zentai to the online recovery community. He spent many years in Japan studying Zen, and even in recent years prior to his death in 2005, returned there periodically. He was a clinical psychologist who dealt primarily with addictions in his business life, incorporating a great deal of what he had learned "over there" into his efforts -----over here. You will see from his writings just how applicable a great deal of that actually is. And indeed that perhaps was his great passion, trying to "translate" both the Zen teaching and raison d'être into palatable, and transformative form for an alcoholic/addict. The pages that will be posted here are his works and his views on the subjects as he saw it, and backed up in most cases by public material throughout the world of recovery.
Zentai administered a closed recovery group on MSN containing these works until his passing in 2005 and the group site was kept open and run by a few of his assistants and friends in recovery. The group migrated to Multiply after the closing of MSN, but the support did not follow them to the new network and the managers have decided to close down that site. This material has been kept in closed groups and not made public until now. The people having the copyrights to this material have given me permission to publish this content on this site to give folks in recovery a deeper look into recovery .............. "Beyond the 12 Steps".
When I first got into recovery I became a member of that group and had brief email contact with Zentai. At the time I was new to recovery, new to the 12 step programs, and the subject matter was "over my head" and I wasn't able to comprehend the extent to which it entails. I feel that I am now at a point in my recovery to move forward at this time. I haven't read enough of the vast content to know to where it might lead, but having read and edited for publishing the first three topics and knowing the topics to come, I'm looking forward to continuing with this project and personal learning experience. I'm hoping that a lot of you will join me.
The first article is ETOH Addictions - ETOH = Alcohol and explains the addiction to alcohol in depth. Hope you get something from it as I did.
The following is what really got my attention and is from the second article "Recovery 7" that is also now available. I'm hoping that a few of you reading this will be of the same frame of mind as I, open-minded, willing to learn more, and willing to discuss and participate in discussions in recovery:
Limited Recovery: One of the primary beliefs held by members of AA (and some in the addictions treatment community) is that a person is never recovered. This belief is reinforced by the testimony of persons who have drifted away from meetings, relapsed, and returned to the fellowship to tell their tales of attempting to reestablish sobriety. This testimony is used to "prove" that alcoholic persons must remain vigilant and attend meetings "forever" to safeguard recovery. There is no room, within the AA consciousness, for a process of growth that moves a person up and out of the fellowship into a life of continuing sobriety without AA. Many AA members who have achieved "mature sobriety" have chosen to remain connected for the purpose of serving as sponsors - to giving back. These people, in my opinion, are serving a truly higher purpose. I think some say, "Give it away to keep it." (or something like that). Newly recovering people need to read and practice the "bold" print. Those in mature recovery read the "fine" print.
Many persons in recovery feel the need for "something more" after several years of stable AA-based sobriety. They know intuitively that there must be a "next step" yet are not able to find it within AA. Bound by the belief system supporting their recovery, they are uncomfortable with the feeling that recovery is not enough. When they discuss this feeling with others in the fellowship, they are told to get back to the basics and reestablish their serenity. What they find is not the "more" they are looking for, but more of the same old thing. Unfortunately, some therapists are also bound by the AA belief system. Unable to envision wellness beyond AA recovery, they collide in the process of inhibiting growth by prescribing the problem as the solution; i.e., continuing involvement with AA.
Alternatives: I have my own thoughts on "something more" which are based on autonomy. Autonomous thinking, loving, and living comprise a part of "completion recovery." There is a restlessness that may occur after sobriety that can be firmly established and suggests a spiritual "journey beyond the 12 steps" to the "unlimited." This journey is grounded in claiming one's divinity, reclaiming one's power, and exercising "mastery" - this promotes the exercise of a healthy will and self-authorship. Some professionals have approached the need for something more by stepping entirely away from the AA belief system into more exotic approaches. Some have promoted the induction of non drug-based altered states of consciousness, both as an adjunct to treatment and as a means of fostering authentic spiritual experience in recovery. So do I, but know that I am referring to those that have achieved mature recovery - not those in initial recovery.
I think we need a vision of growth beyond the limits experienced by many in AA. This has been provided on a high level here at Dynamics Of Recovery. Much thought went into the focus and intention of our site. I see "ongoing recovery" as a stage of expanding environmental interaction and widening interpretation of self and others that occurs after identification of oneself as an addict has taken root to serve as the cognitive-behavioral ground of Being. Our site includes "basic living problem" guidelines (primarily for the newly recovering person), moves to conscious determination, then subconscious and the super conscious levels of life.
Before this site was founded, visits were made to a wide array of sites. Following that, much thought was given to providing a recovery/support site that departs from the norm - one that enables a recovering person to move through recovery to the realms beyond; based in autonomy - to become holistically well. Much thought was given on what is needed once mature recovery is established. Such approaches clearly articulate the need for a vision of growth beyond the limits experienced by many in AA.
I believe that recovering people need to grow their ideas in the ground of AA recovery (or analogous group) but I rely on the mental and spiritual aspects of the person to continue the process of further growth. The sub- and super-conscious material and the Being model may not be easily embraced by the typical recovering person because they require the adoption of beliefs and engagement in practices quite different from those that have supported recovery as they know it and many may simply not be ready for it. It requires stretching beyond - moving away from the norm and becoming willing to engage in ways of thinking that can move someone to an awesome space.
So there you have it as I do. I have recently made some changes in my own life, to hopefully find some much needed balance, and I'm hoping those changes and the content that will be available here, along with discussions from those that wish to participate, will make a difference on how I live the rest of my life. I will supply links for each article that I publish, for those that wish to add to, comment on, or discuss subjects that the articles may bring to their minds in their own lives. You will need to be registered at the site to read and/or participate in the discussions from this section of the site.
With that being said, I will leave you with a partial list of the topics that will be published here. This will take some time, but I'm hoping it will be worth it.
List of Articles
The pages in this section of the site were created by a man known as Zentai to the online recovery community. He spent many years in Japan studying Zen, and even in recent years prior to his death in 2005, returned there periodically. He was a clinical psychologist who dealt primarily with addictions in his business life, incorporating a great deal of what he had learned "over there" into his efforts -----over here. You will see from his writings just how applicable a great deal of that actually is. And indeed that perhaps was his great passion, trying to "translate" both the Zen teaching and raison d'être into palatable, and transformative form for an alcoholic/addict. The pages that will be posted here are his works and his views on the subjects as he saw it, and backed up in most cases by public material throughout the world of recovery.
Zentai administered a closed recovery group on MSN containing these works until his passing in 2005 and the group site was kept open and run by a few of his assistants and friends in recovery. The group migrated to Multiply after the closing of MSN, but the support did not follow them to the new network and the managers have decided to close down that site. This material has been kept in closed groups and not made public until now. The people having the copyrights to this material have given me permission to publish this content on this site to give folks in recovery a deeper look into recovery .............. "Beyond the 12 Steps".
When I first got into recovery I became a member of that group and had brief email contact with Zentai. At the time I was new to recovery, new to the 12 step programs, and the subject matter was "over my head" and I wasn't able to comprehend the extent to which it entails. I feel that I am now at a point in my recovery to move forward at this time. I haven't read enough of the vast content to know to where it might lead, but having read and edited for publishing the first three topics and knowing the topics to come, I'm looking forward to continuing with this project and personal learning experience. I'm hoping that a lot of you will join me.
The first article is ETOH Addictions - ETOH = Alcohol and explains the addiction to alcohol in depth. Hope you get something from it as I did.
The following is what really got my attention and is from the second article "Recovery 7" that is also now available. I'm hoping that a few of you reading this will be of the same frame of mind as I, open-minded, willing to learn more, and willing to discuss and participate in discussions in recovery:
Limited Recovery: One of the primary beliefs held by members of AA (and some in the addictions treatment community) is that a person is never recovered. This belief is reinforced by the testimony of persons who have drifted away from meetings, relapsed, and returned to the fellowship to tell their tales of attempting to reestablish sobriety. This testimony is used to "prove" that alcoholic persons must remain vigilant and attend meetings "forever" to safeguard recovery. There is no room, within the AA consciousness, for a process of growth that moves a person up and out of the fellowship into a life of continuing sobriety without AA. Many AA members who have achieved "mature sobriety" have chosen to remain connected for the purpose of serving as sponsors - to giving back. These people, in my opinion, are serving a truly higher purpose. I think some say, "Give it away to keep it." (or something like that). Newly recovering people need to read and practice the "bold" print. Those in mature recovery read the "fine" print.
Many persons in recovery feel the need for "something more" after several years of stable AA-based sobriety. They know intuitively that there must be a "next step" yet are not able to find it within AA. Bound by the belief system supporting their recovery, they are uncomfortable with the feeling that recovery is not enough. When they discuss this feeling with others in the fellowship, they are told to get back to the basics and reestablish their serenity. What they find is not the "more" they are looking for, but more of the same old thing. Unfortunately, some therapists are also bound by the AA belief system. Unable to envision wellness beyond AA recovery, they collide in the process of inhibiting growth by prescribing the problem as the solution; i.e., continuing involvement with AA.
Alternatives: I have my own thoughts on "something more" which are based on autonomy. Autonomous thinking, loving, and living comprise a part of "completion recovery." There is a restlessness that may occur after sobriety that can be firmly established and suggests a spiritual "journey beyond the 12 steps" to the "unlimited." This journey is grounded in claiming one's divinity, reclaiming one's power, and exercising "mastery" - this promotes the exercise of a healthy will and self-authorship. Some professionals have approached the need for something more by stepping entirely away from the AA belief system into more exotic approaches. Some have promoted the induction of non drug-based altered states of consciousness, both as an adjunct to treatment and as a means of fostering authentic spiritual experience in recovery. So do I, but know that I am referring to those that have achieved mature recovery - not those in initial recovery.
I think we need a vision of growth beyond the limits experienced by many in AA. This has been provided on a high level here at Dynamics Of Recovery. Much thought went into the focus and intention of our site. I see "ongoing recovery" as a stage of expanding environmental interaction and widening interpretation of self and others that occurs after identification of oneself as an addict has taken root to serve as the cognitive-behavioral ground of Being. Our site includes "basic living problem" guidelines (primarily for the newly recovering person), moves to conscious determination, then subconscious and the super conscious levels of life.
Before this site was founded, visits were made to a wide array of sites. Following that, much thought was given to providing a recovery/support site that departs from the norm - one that enables a recovering person to move through recovery to the realms beyond; based in autonomy - to become holistically well. Much thought was given on what is needed once mature recovery is established. Such approaches clearly articulate the need for a vision of growth beyond the limits experienced by many in AA.
I believe that recovering people need to grow their ideas in the ground of AA recovery (or analogous group) but I rely on the mental and spiritual aspects of the person to continue the process of further growth. The sub- and super-conscious material and the Being model may not be easily embraced by the typical recovering person because they require the adoption of beliefs and engagement in practices quite different from those that have supported recovery as they know it and many may simply not be ready for it. It requires stretching beyond - moving away from the norm and becoming willing to engage in ways of thinking that can move someone to an awesome space.
So there you have it as I do. I have recently made some changes in my own life, to hopefully find some much needed balance, and I'm hoping those changes and the content that will be available here, along with discussions from those that wish to participate, will make a difference on how I live the rest of my life. I will supply links for each article that I publish, for those that wish to add to, comment on, or discuss subjects that the articles may bring to their minds in their own lives. You will need to be registered at the site to read and/or participate in the discussions from this section of the site.
With that being said, I will leave you with a partial list of the topics that will be published here. This will take some time, but I'm hoping it will be worth it.
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