“The members of AA freely admit theirs is a selfish program. So, too, is ours.” (ODAT, 29 April)
“There are those who have little and give it all. These are the believers in life and the bounty of life and their coffers are never empty.” (ODAT, 29 April)
I’m normally disinclined to criticise a reading, but when it briefs against the programme itself, I’m afraid something must be said.
The programme is about goodness, not evil. Selfishness—the irresponsible prioritisation of self over others—is an undoubted radical evil. If selfishness is good, so are violence, theft, greed, hatred, slander, deceit, and other, derived evils, which have selfishness at their root.
The programme is one of good not evil. It is about abandonment of self and joining the group. It is about the dethronement of self and the recognition that God is God. It is true that one might engage in the programme because it is in one’s own best interests, but that is not selfish, as one’s own best interests are never to the true detriment of others or the whole.
AA members freely state that theirs is a selfish programme, but only those who are merely attending AA meetings and are unaware of the AA programme, which says the opposite: that the programme involves the destruction of self.
Let’s stand up for goodness, love, connection, and doing together what cannot be done alone, which is what saves the totality and the individual, with no loss at any level.
Thank God the reading ends with that wonderful Gibran quotation: give all, believe in life, believe in bounty: and God will provide for His children.