The B-Man Takes on The Buddha

Desire: A wish or craving; stresses intensity or ardor.


"All suffering is caused by human desire, particularly the desire that impermanent things be permanent." The Buddha.

Quite a crafty guy, that Buddha. I bet he got beat up a lot in high school, saying stuff like that. I bet I could have beat up the Buddha, and I couldn't beat up anybody. Don't you hate people that give good spiritual advice when you're all wrapped around the axle about something? I want my problem solved RIGHT NOW! I don't want to develop spiritual tools that will last the rest of my life and solve countless problems down the road.



It's ironic that the Third Step teaches me to turn my life and will over to the care of god, as I understand god. It even gets funnier considering the definition of will:

Will: The act or process of volition; specifically wish; desire; longing.


So my understanding of the Third Step is that I need to turn my desires and wishes over to the care of a higher power. I have to lose my desires. I have to quit wanting things.


Wait minute! Is it possible that Bill W is actually The Buddha and that he lived in the fourth century BC? That would have made him extremely old when he died. Maybe he plagiarized The Buddha. Or perhaps the heirs of The Buddha gave him specific written consent to use the thoughts.

I always thought A.A. didn't blaze any new trails when it came to spiritual thinking. Honestly, the spirituality in A.A. has been around forever and can be easily found in all of the world's religions. All Bill did was explain it so that it made sense to alcoholics.

I still want to beat up The Buddha.