There is a fashion in the parts of AA where the Big Book is used
extensively as the basis for the programme of recovery to deride so-called
'middle of the road AA'. This creates division and a sense of superiority
amongst a self-appointed elite. This is not healthy.
One of the ways this is done is the straw-man argument: to
attack a straw man is to present your opponent's position in a caricatured way,
refute the caricatured position, and believe you have refuted your opponent's
position.
A good example can be found in the lists that are drawn up
of standard 'AA sayings', followed by quotations from the book 'Alcoholics
Anonymous' (the 'Big Book') that purport to contradict said saying.
Here are some examples:
(1)
The saying: 'I don't have an alcohol problem, I have a
living problem.'
The retort: 'Page xxiv, paragraph 2: 'In our belief, any
picture of the alcoholic which leaves out this physical factor is incomplete.''
What the retort implies about the saying: that this is a
denial that alcoholism has a physical element.
How the saying is really used and what it really means: this
saying is used to convey the idea that, if you are an alcoholic, your problem
is not alcohol per se but how you are living your life, the selfishness and
self-centredness that are described as the root of the problem, on page 62 of
the Big Book. After all, you cannot take a drink and trigger the physical
craving unless you 'decide' to, stone cold sober. The problem therefore resides
in the sober mind (page 23 of the Big Book). The message of the Big Book is
clear: if we do not throw ourselves into this programme to create our lives ('Doctor's
Opinion') with the power and guidance of God ('We Agnostics'), we will drink
again. We cannot tackle the alcohol problem head on; we must tackle the living
problem, and that in turn will tackle the alcohol problem.
The saying in fact seems perfectly consistent with the
totality of the message of the Big Book.
(2)
The saying: 'I'm powerless over people, places and things.'
Page 132, paragraph 3: 'We have recovered, and have been
given the power to help others.'
Page 122, paragraph 3: 'Years of living with an alcoholic is
almost sure to make any wife or child neurotic.'
What the retort implies about the saying: that this denies our
harm of others or our ability to help them.
How the saying is really used and what it really means: the saying
is really suggesting that we cannot consistently and successfully induce others
or the world to change or act as we see fit through sheer force of will. The
failure of this approach is described on page 122: 'Each is interested in
having his or her wishes respected. We find the more one member of the family
demands that the others concede to him, the more resentful they become. This
makes for discord and unhappiness' (page 122). The approach is further
described on page 66: 'The usual outcome was that people continued to wrong us
and we stayed sore. … But the more we fought and tried to have our own way, the
worse matters got. As in war, the victor only seemed to win.'
This saying seeks to provide a solution: rather than trying
to change the world by force, we accept reality head-on and our inability to
change it by a headlong assault of the will. Only then can we seek to contribute
to positive change in a harmonious and constructive way.
(3)
Saying: 'alcohol was my drug of choice.'
Page 24, paragraph 2: 'The fact is that most alcoholics, for
reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink.'
What the retort implies about the saying: that this is a denial
of powerlessness.
How the saying is really used and what it really means: when
people are talking about drug of choice, they are not indicating that they are
not powerless but that, when they were using and several different drugs were available,
there was one they would typically 'go to'. I identify with this. I had available
to me all sorts of drugs, but I drank alcohol. The use of the term 'choice' is
perhaps unfortunate as it could cause confusion, but the intent is clear,
namely to indicate where one's substance problem chiefly lies.
* * * * *
Now, there are certainly AA sayings that I do disagree with
and which I do not believe help. For instance, people are sometimes encouraged
to work a step a year or not to worry about the steps at all. But the honest
effort to present a solution and counter certain unhelpful ideas can sometimes
go too far, tipping over into actively scouring AA sayings for possible contradictions
with the Big Book based on a deliberate misreading of the slogan or saying.
I have been guilty of this in the past, but I can now see
the foolishness of it.
Firstly, this approach creates division and is unnecessarily
antagonistic and vexatious.
Secondly, it blocks me from a lot of the wisdom inherent in
these sayings.
To wit (and this may annoy some!):
Acceptance is the answer to all my problems—unless I can
accept I have a problem, I will never change; unless I accept you as you are, I
will illegitimately try to change you.