More AA stuff.

[masque12]

Here is the original AA 12 steps. Below is my redaction of them, from a Left Hand Path perspective. Take them as you will.

1. Admit you have a problem, but realize that you have the power to overcome it.

2. Know that you have to do the work yourself, no force outside yourself can do it for you.

3. Make a decision to take control of your life, become the master of your own destiny.

4. Make an accurate assessment of yourself, recognizing your weaknesses AND strengths, and decide what you want to change about yourself.

5. Acknowledge what mistakes you have made in the past, and move past them, realize that dwelling on the past won't get you anywhere.

6. Ready yourself to change your life for the better, to repair whatever defects of character you think you have.

7. Work towards correcting your shortcomings, have the confidence to know you can change yourself if you desire.

8. Take responsibility for your actions, and make amends for those in the past where necessary.

9. Make direct amends to people you have wronged, and hold those responsible who have wronged you.

10. Maintain an accurate assessment of your progress. When you make mistakes, make amends, and when you do something right, reward yourself.

11. Seek through meditation and reflection to gain an understanding of your will, and to KNOW that your life is under your control. You have the power to change yourself, and no one and nothing can take that away from you.

12. Decide for yourself if you want to help other people to learn how to regain control of their lives as you have.

Comments

[xi-o-teaz.livejournal.com]

Since we're on the topic, I thought I'd mention a couple things (all going off of what I can recall from my studies):

First off, although I've not seen the literature my selves, I have it from many good authorities that there is a lot of research out there that suggests that "Addiction" is both biological and hereditary. Personally, I'm not convinced at all. Of course certain individuals are perhaps more prone to it, but the way many psychologists see it you are automatically an Addict(TM) if you have this particular genome. Even if this were "True(TM)", I find this beLIEf to be highly inEffective in dealing with one's Addiction.

On a similar note, Addiction is, by psychological definition, the inAbility to cease using a substance on one's own--thus the inherent "powerlessness" (otherwise, you're not technically an Addict(TM)). Magickally speaking, Addiction is but one subDivision of Obsession or (Demonic) Possession. It can thus be dealt with accordingly.

I should mention that, as you stated, merely taking that first step of admitting one's (seeming, or history of acting out one's)PowerLessNess is, in itself, a very emPowering Act. And as you and I know quite well, merely drastically changing one's orientation/perspective/relationship with something can make all the difference in the world. Not to say that kicking Addiction is ever easy, but it's certainly DoAble by a resourceful, dedicated, and Willing individual.

AA, as it seems to be set up and run, is more oriented to a "Devotional" Path--think Bhakti Yoga--"baaaaaa". But as is known to many of my friends (and others), the Path of Devotion is not with certain universal appeal.

IIRC, marik has talked about AA at length, as I believe he was in The Program(TM) for a time. He has some interesting insights on this, if you can contact him.

[masque12.livejournal.com]

As I understand it, physical addiction is definitely biological in nature, it's a chemical dependency. If the person doesn't get the substance, they go through withdrawal symptoms of varying intensity, depending on the substance. Once the person has gone through the withdrawal, the dependency is gone, although it is highly likely that it will redevelop with further exposure to the substance. This is general, different substances act weirdly, but that's not the issue. In any case, depending on the substance, there may be medication available that can help one deal with physical addiction. As I said, I haven't personally seen any data that shows a genetic predisposition to addiction, but if it exists, great, it doesn't change my main points in this discusssion. Assuming for a moment that one can have a genetic predisposition towards being an addict, I think it's fair to say that this is a predisposition for physical addiction, since genetics is mostly chemistry. What this would boil down to, I suppose, is that the person's body is hardwired into developing a physical dependency on the substance quicker than someone without the predisposition.

There is also psychological addiction, which is a pattern of behavior that one develops. It can be hereditary to a certain extent, such as if one has a number of addicts in their family, and they're constantly being exposed to that type of behavior, they might pick up the behavior pattern from them. There's lots of ways it can happen. We can call this environmental heredity.

Because the (supposed) genetic predisposition and the environmental heredity will naturally dovetail, some may draw the conclusion that there is a genetic predisposition towards psychological addiction, but if I am correct, this would be a misunderstanding of the factors involved.

All of the above is speculation on my part, but it seems well-reasoned to me, so I'm going to use it as a working model. As I find more data to confirm or contradict it, I will alter the model.

This will be continued in the next post, as I'm sure I'm going too long.

[xi-o-teaz.livejournal.com]

On my way to bed, I saw your response...good to know I'm not the only night owl here ;-)



The most common meme in psychological circles, to elaborate on what I posted above, is that

the biology of an Addict affects the brain chemistry, so as to force the poor Addict into psychological dependence. So it's kind of like what you were saying (exactly like you said? it's late, and been a long day...), but the brain is almost "poised from birth" to pounce upon an Addictive substance. Once an Addict has found hir first Addiction (mary jane, alky hall, whatever), the brain is somehow permanently re-hardwired into (psychologically) requiring the substance.

Just like physical Addiction causes physical pain, disEase, imBalance, and ill physical Health; psychological Addiction causes psychological pain, disEase, imBalance, and ill psychological Health.

I'm almost more of the opinion that people more prone to Addiction are prolly the same neurotic types that are more prone to OCD. Neuroses can be a pain in the ass, but the most powerful Mages I've met have always been neurotic as fuck, so whatchya gonna do??? But that's another thread...

[masque12.livejournal.com]

On my way to bed, I saw your response...good to know I'm not the only night owl here ;-)

I work nights, I get off in a little less than an hour.

As for the rest of the info, it's good to know, if you come across some of the research, send it my way, I'd like to peruse it. I think I'm with you on the neurotic thing, though.

[masque12.livejournal.com]

I should mention that, as you stated, merely taking that first step of admitting one's (seeming, or history of acting out one's)PowerLessNess is, in itself, a very emPowering Act. And as you and I know quite well, merely drastically changing one's orientation/perspective/relationship with something can make all the difference in the world. Not to say that kicking Addiction is ever easy, but it's certainly DoAble by a resourceful, dedicated, and Willing individual.

That's pretty much the root of my whole argument.

(SNIP)
AA as a "devotional" path is rather kinder than I would describe it, but it is not entirely inaccurate.

IIRC, marik has talked about AA at length, as I believe he was in The Program(TM) for a time. He has some interesting insights on this, if you can contact him.

He was indeed, and I first heard about that AADeprogramming.com site in a thread on the Z(Cluster), he may have even been the one to provide the link. Keeping in mind that this thread was a while ago, I seem to recall that he eventually left the program for many of the reasons that I am criticizing it, and that now he's at the point where he can have an occasional drink without a full relapse, which to me is an indicator that his addiction, at least, is fully cured.
He sparked my interest in the subject in a vague way at the time of that thread, my more recent concern with it has to do with some of my friends being in the program right now, and the fact that the show, Penn & Teller: BULLSHIT just did an episode on the topic. If you're not familiar with the show, I highly recommend it, it's basically a debunking show, they've done episodes on PETA, Creationism, Profanity, weight loss programs, all kinds of stuff. Somewhat biased, as all things are, but entertaining and full of good info.