Virtual A.A.

"We cannot get along without prayer and meditation.  On awakening, let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead.  We consider our plans for the day.  Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking.  Our thought lives will be placed on a much higher plane when we start the day with prayer and meditation.  We conclude this period of meditation with a prayer that we will be shown through the day what the next step is to be.  The basis of all our prayers is: Thy will be done in me and through me today."

I just read a news article postulating that the pandemic has hurt A.A. attendance.  Yeah, well, no shit.  The shift to Zoom virtual meetings was never meant to permanently substitute for in-person meetings and it was clear from the outset that some people don't like sitting in front of a screen and trying to feel the connection you get when you're talking to people face-to-face.  The pandemic has fucked everything up.  I don't think we can blame the response of A.A. to the restrictions - doing the best we can with a new, ever-changing disease - as something unique to our Fellowship.  The article quotes some people who have found other means of recovery during this long lull.  Frankly, their complaints sound like the complaints that are always leveled at A.A. - too religious; too much of an emphasis on prayer and spirituality; too judgemental; and the sense that many of our members believe if you don't attend meetings regularly you're on a slippery slope.  I was also amused that the folks who hated Zoom meetings invariably found a support group more to their liking . . . online.  It's not like A.A. just decided for the hell of it to temporarily close down all the live meetings - schools, government agencies, and businesses were all in the same boat.

"Well, that's exactly what this book is about.  Its main object is to help you find a Power greater than yourself which will solve your problem.  That means we have written a book to be spiritual as well as moral.  And it means, of course, that we are going to talk about God."  Big Book, 'We Agnostics,' P. 45.

I mean we let people know almost immediately what's coming.  I always tell people that Alcoholics Anonymous supports any program, method, or institution that helps people get sober.  There are definitely a lot of members who are rigid and doctrinaire, inflexible about how they approach recovery, but I believe you're going to find people like this in any organization that believes they're dealing with life or death situations or with matters of the soul.