SonOfSamwise
11-22-2006, 07:23 PM
Secrets and Leaders Among Friends
The Fifth Step in the 12&12 discusses being “tortured by loneliness,” and a “mysterious barrier” between ourselves and our fellows.
But there comes a stage in genuine recovery when, freed from such loneliness, we see that we are not always the source of those barriers.
For example, an individual who has chosen addiction to mood-altering pharmaceutical drugs over genuine emotional and spiritual recovery has willfully placed a synthetic barrier between himself and his fellows, between himself and his emotions, and between himself and God.
Pharmaceutical drugs have become the power greater than himself that he has turned his will and his life over to.
Unadulterated emotional and spiritual recovery enables us to differentiate between the sources of such barriers while providing us with calls for prayer and meditation.
We pray for and meditate upon ways to approach such barriers, both in ourselves and in our fellows.
However, leading a high-profile charge against synthetic recovery will only cause folks to bolster their barriers as it places them on the defensive.
Bill Wilson was a leader-type who had to learn to keep a low profile.
Hence, he successfully approached such isolating barriers in himself as well as in others.
He has been the source of hope and enlightenment for countless millions around the world.
His pervasive and longstanding influence on sufferers and society is extremely rare indeed.
Another example of low-profile leadership is a military General.
In hostile settings a General will couch himself among his troops and render himself undistinguishable.
Oftentimes he will remove the gold stars and bars from his uniform to avoid becoming the target for a sniper.
Can I be a friend among friends and still lead the charge in recovery?
Can I visualize a friendly, disarming approach?
----------------------
Pain that brings humility heals itself.
:D
The Fifth Step in the 12&12 discusses being “tortured by loneliness,” and a “mysterious barrier” between ourselves and our fellows.
But there comes a stage in genuine recovery when, freed from such loneliness, we see that we are not always the source of those barriers.
For example, an individual who has chosen addiction to mood-altering pharmaceutical drugs over genuine emotional and spiritual recovery has willfully placed a synthetic barrier between himself and his fellows, between himself and his emotions, and between himself and God.
Pharmaceutical drugs have become the power greater than himself that he has turned his will and his life over to.
Unadulterated emotional and spiritual recovery enables us to differentiate between the sources of such barriers while providing us with calls for prayer and meditation.
We pray for and meditate upon ways to approach such barriers, both in ourselves and in our fellows.
However, leading a high-profile charge against synthetic recovery will only cause folks to bolster their barriers as it places them on the defensive.
Bill Wilson was a leader-type who had to learn to keep a low profile.
Hence, he successfully approached such isolating barriers in himself as well as in others.
He has been the source of hope and enlightenment for countless millions around the world.
His pervasive and longstanding influence on sufferers and society is extremely rare indeed.
Another example of low-profile leadership is a military General.
In hostile settings a General will couch himself among his troops and render himself undistinguishable.
Oftentimes he will remove the gold stars and bars from his uniform to avoid becoming the target for a sniper.
Can I be a friend among friends and still lead the charge in recovery?
Can I visualize a friendly, disarming approach?
----------------------
Pain that brings humility heals itself.
:D