Al-Anon and 'reasoning it out'

The suggested Al-Anon closing contains the line, 'Talk to each other, reason things out with someone else'. That's absolutely fine and excellent advice.

Unless one is completely insane.

Step Two promises restoration to sanity, implying anyone who hasn't taken the Twelve Steps to produce a spiritual awakening is insane. Insanity might have its locus in a particular area, but its tentacles spread everywhere. Insanity is consequently complete insanity. If a seal is only partly sound, it is unsound as a seal. If a mind is only partly sound, it is unsound as a mind.

Until I took the Twelve Steps, in particular completing Step Nine, the framework within which I assessed any situation was based on a fundamental misconception of the nature of reality, and my beliefs, attitudes, and values were either entirely wrong or at best highly skewed. It is impossible to reason without a framework of premises and presuppositions.

Until then, in my experience, the best thing to do is act dumb, work the Steps briskly, and keep life focused on right action.