Massively Spiritual

I've always been grateful for the diversity of opinions and recovery experiences that I find in The Fellowship.  Early on I was militant about The Program Way - "do it like we do or you're doing it wrong" was the sub-context of my attitude - but I've come to embrace the "whatever works" style of recovery; as in, stay sober, get happy, keep doing what you're doing.  Who am I to say how each individual should work a recovery program?  All I can do is tell you what works for me.  If you like what you hear, great, give it a whirl.  If you don't, great, go talk to someone else.

What I don't do is second-guess how I manage to stay sober one day at a time.  I've been at this for a while and I know what works for me so I'm going to keep doing it.  I'm not going to mess around with the system - there's no advantage to me in doing this.  And I'm surely not going to mess around with whatever system you've glommed onto even if I disagree with it hook, line, and sinker.  Those of us who manage to stay sober for more than 20 minutes come up with something that works personally.

At my morning there's this insufferable ass who has been sober for a long, long time, the result of a particularly arrogant spiritual awakening that he feels compelled to jam down everyone's throat every time he talks.  His message - delivered ponderously, virtually word for word week to week at every meeting he attends - is this: "If you need The Program to stay sober then you've have had a weak and ineffective spiritual experience." He equates regular meeting attendance as some kind of moral weakness, substituting an addiction to alcohol for an addiction to meetings.

Because he's had such a monstrous spiritual explosion he feels comfortable taking a long hiatus from The Fellowship from .  While I try to overcome my strong desire to assassinate the character of every character I run into I confess to a deep wish that this dude take another long hiatus.  I'm not sure how helpful it is to anyone to come into The Rooms, full of shaky newcomers, and criticize the whole system.  I see the intent behind his words - take good care of your spirituality - but I don't appreciate the implication that a spiritual experience is all that's required to live a full and happy life.  I didn't go to a meeting yesterday because I was afraid I was going to drink - I went because I enjoy the fellowship and the camaraderie, I hear things that are helpful as I continue to grow, and maybe . . . maybe . . . I can pass some of what I've learned on to people just getting started.  If we all had spiritual experiences so massive that we didn't feel the need to fellowship then where would the newcomer get his start?

To me The Fellowship is like going to church or joining a meditation group or staying fit in a class full of other people who are trying to stay fit - I can do this stuff alone, and I often do, but I find a lot of strength in being part of something larger.

Eh.