In one of my meetings this week, there was a reading from AA literature about paradoxes, such as 'surrender to win', plus other apparently mysterious phenomena.
I'm not sure how helpful it is to mystify ordinary ideas by presenting them as paradoxes. Newcomers are confused enough as it is.
When my tea cup is empty, I fill it. I do not bang on about the paradox of how 'emptiness comes before fullness'.
When my car is broken, I take it to be repaired. I do not share about 'grieving for the brokenness of my car, so I can surrender it for healing'.
The ideas contained in the programme are not mystical, mysterious, or sentimental.
They're perfectly ordinary.
You've got a problem? Fix it.
How? Find someone who's fixed it.
Then what? Do what they did.
No paradoxes. No mysteries. No miracles. 2 + 2 = 4.