Some of these mistakes are mitigated by the efforts of the larger fellowship, the actual experience of recovery by the founders themselves, and the structural openness AA emphasizes. But the program nevertheless routinely risks becoming quasi-religious, institutionalized, and bent upon its own survival at the expense of actually helping people recover. Viewed from a distance the foolhardiness of active addiction should be obvious.
The Twelve-Step Path? Mindfulness and Ethics in Buddhist Addiction Recovery Literature
- Through it, recovery became a meaningful possibility.
- The article also argues that Buddhist recovery manuals differ from classical Buddhism by emphasizing meditation at the beginning of the path, rather than placing it after training in giving and ethical discipline.
- Again, you are not required to be a Buddhist to apply the Eightfold Path to your treatment.
- You come in, and you’re met by a bunch of kind and generous recovering people—other addicts and alcoholics who are there to help you.
It helps achieve physical health, emotional stability and better social relations, and creates a stable normative system. Joining the AA Fellowship is very useful for almost every member. The principles and objectives of the AA Fellowship were inspired by American pragmatism. The article presents the constitutive features of this philosophical trend, the inspirations which the founders of the AA Fellowship followed, and data supporting the usefulness of the 12 Steps of AA in recovery from alcoholism. Abstractly, the work of recovery involves an initial deep and abiding commitment, based almost wholly on personal faith alone, to significant fundamental change. Usually at first we simply commit to attendance at AA meetings and promise not what foods have alcohol in them to drink or use in the interim.
People who are new to all this sometimes experience a bit of a recovery games for groups honeymoon during which they find satisfaction in being sober, attending more fully to the details of their lives, making amends, and participating in the fellowship of recovery. In its place comes increasing sensitivity and emotional pain, a myriad of discouraging thoughts, beliefs, and perceptions, and a sense of meaninglessness and lack of purpose that easily becomes overpowering. The purpose of this paper is to describe a cultural-spiritual model of alcohol abstinence, which was developed by Japanese alcoholics’ self-help groups, Danshukai. First, the results of Christensen’s (2010) study on Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in Japan are discussed. Christensen described how and why Japanese AA members endure their abstinence without a profound transformation of self. Danshukai also has a similar problem and has been on the decline in numbers of members and newcomers.
Discover more from AA Agnostica
It exists in most communities, its literature is published in all major and many minor languages world wide, and the fellowship has helped literally millions of addicts and alcoholics return to sober productive lives. The purpose of this paper is to describe a cultural-spiritual model of alcohol abstinence, which was developed by Japanese alcoholics’ self-help groups, Danshukai. First, the results of Christensen’s (2010) study on Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in Japan are discussed.
I started drinking and smoking pot when I was about 7 years old. At 12 and 13, I was doing cocaine and smoking on a daily basis. I started getting arrested in junior high school and was sent to Twelve Step meetings and drug counseling. But it wasn’t until a few years later, after being strung out on crack and heroin and drinking alcoholically, that I was incarcerated and began to seek treatment.
Join others on the road to recovery
While the journey may be long and harsh, so long as you keep going and never give up, then you’re already halfway towards your goal. Once you totally free your body and mind from addiction forever, then you will definitely have attained your nirvana. According to Buddhist lore, the Buddha often emphasized that the end of suffering begins when one admits his imperfections and takes the necessary steps to rectify them. Through Steps 1 and 2, the person can begin to fully understand the cause of his addiction and commit to healing himself. At once, we’re then invited to turn our attention inward and begin to fearlessly examine our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and history.
Regardless of the myriad of reasons people may put up to explain their unhealthy obsession, the root cause always lies in an inordinate need – an excessive desire for something they think can make does alcohol affect copd them happy or fill up an empty void in their lives. Is 32 years sober and the author of the book Three Buddhists Walked Into an AA Meeting…and got sober (CreateSpace 2016), and the blog The 12 Steps and Zen Koans. In 2017, the Buddhist Recovery Summit was held in Washington State.
And no single member, group, or larger recovering community has the capability or authority to define what anyone’s continued sobriety requires. Nonetheless, it’s hard to imagine what recovery might consist of were it not for the fellowship and program of Alcoholics Anonymous. Finally, we’re urged to internalize and continue this reflective process on a routine ongoing basis, and to turn our attention to helping others with the same problem come into and remain in recovery. My first teacher, John Tarrant Roshi, would often say that Zen does not require one to believe in anything. I remember when we were talking about what may be the most important statement in the Big Book, that one can have a Higher Power of one’s very personal understanding, and he said, “Good Zen book! ” His statement surprised me, but over the years I have found it to be true.