Spirituality vs the "God" idea.

[mrjackshuman]

40. A.A. Members In My Experience

A.A. Members In My Experience:

1-) Push A.A., NOT recovery. It’s why they say “keep coming back” instead of “keep abstaining from alcohol.”

2-) For the most part are condescending in manner, contrary to them preaching that “ego” is a bad thing. Apparently YOUR “ego” is a bad thing, not their own. Yes there are some nice people there, and they are the ones that often get preyed on by those they meet at A.A. Many of the condescending types are the typical self-righteous religious nuts you could meet at many fundamentalist Christian churches. They have the “right” concept of God. If you don’t agree with them you’re stupid or one way or another less than they are. Never mind that (in some cases) they lie, cheat and steal.

3-) Despite many of the members condescending and self-righteous manner, if you speak up to them you are challenging their holy program. If you challenge the holy program, you might cost a newcomer their life. Never mind that they routinely tell newcomers to go out and drink or use. (News flash: To a newcomer that sounds like “We don’t care about you.” “Go use”, after initially “love-bombing” them, which is no more than theatrics. Yeah, “feel the love.” What a joke!)

4-) Continue to define their “program” in A.A. terms. They parrot what they’ve been told, never mind truth or logic. People say it’s a religion or has religious roots. If it is (or does), so what? But they don’t want it to so it simply is not religion. You know because they say so—no other reason, and no other reason for the many things they tell you. They said so—period. Logic does not exist, common sense does not exist. Only the program exists, and you’re Higher Power, no matter what doorknob, rock, or other inanimate object you choose. Personally, I’m slighted that any object would be considered any living, breathing organism’s Higher Power. There is all this talk of miracles in the rooms, and yet an object is often chosen to be the Higher Power of beings who possess the gift of life. Yet this is the program that saves lives. Excuse me for not buying into it.

5-) Love to say when you disagree with them or challenge their program that you are resentful or hateful. For one thing, it’s a program for A.A. members. It’s their program, you’re program if you want it, but it’s not my program. I’m allowed resentments, and resentments do not get me drunk. (Hate to burst that A.A. bubble but yes, I am a chapter three.) Because it’s an A.A. program and not mine, I don’t have to work it. The program does piss me off. In my experience it’s a membership of self-righteous, egotistical, delusional people who don’t listen to the outside world, or even look at it through the window.

6-) Say it’s a program of spiritual growth. If that’s the case, where is it? I went to meetings for years and all I saw were people saying they had it but I never saw it. Despite A.A. saying “keep an open mind” it simply does not have one. Growth of any kind does not occur in that narrow environment.

There’s much, much more. I’ll have to come back to this.