^ Rehab in 12 Steps

I am ruminating on addictions of all kindson the heels of yesterday’s exchange with someone I increasingly think of as animrod. (This is the same guy who never questioned who he might vote for in theupcoming American Presidential election. He is so knee-jerk in his patterns hecan’t even think enough for himself to cast his own vote. He allows his pulpitto decide that for him. What a waste of a mind.)

Sadly, even the 12 step programs don’tfully remove addictive mindsets from the addicts. AA and similar literatureencourages the addict to use a “Higher Power” to help kick their problems. Noone wants to allow humans to be masters of their own domains. Is the greaterculture convinced we are too weak to achieve anything without the threat ofgod’s wrath? Or the promise of a (conveniently afterlife) reward?

I can’t in good conscience reprint the 12Steps as promulgated by AA and similar. Line items like “Turning over your willand lives to the care of god” just make me cringe.

Here’s my interpretation of anon-myth-based 12 Steps:

1)                 Admit that your are powerlessover your addiction and that your life has become unmanageable because of this.

2)                 Believe that you are worthsaving, and that by your own strength you are capable of restoring your sanity.

3)                 Use your will to orchestratethe life you want to live.

4)                 Make a searching and fearlessinventory of your strengths and weaknesses, and realize that perfection doesnot exist for any of us.

5)                 Admit the nature of your wrongdoings and how you have been complicit in your own pain.

6)                 Addiction is not your fault.Your indulgence of addiction is. You do not have to be enslaved.

7)                 Support yourself in your desireto live better and to live free of your addiction.

8)                 Make a list of those you haveharmed. Acknowledge how you have harmed them.

9)                 Make amends, where feasible, tothose you have harmed. Allow them to assist in the process of reconnection andrestoring trust.

10)             Continue to take a personalinventory of strengths and weaknesses and to progress towards a better life. Admityour mistakes promptly.

11)             Take time to recharge yourselfin a nurturing space. Use journaling or meditation or contemplation to hear theworld around you and connect with whatever gives you healthy energy andencouragement.

12)             Try to help others come out ofthe darkness of addiction.

My opinion is that programs that offer tofill the hole left after someone begins to fight an addiction – a crutch – withyet another crutch (something “mystical and better and stronger thanourselves”) are skating on thin ice. An empowered person NEEDS no crutch. Isn’tit better to teach a person how to become empowered, than to trade one “need”for another? I am sympathetic to those for whom such programs have worked, andI am grateful that they found help when they needed it. But I am increasinglyconvinced that such programs provide, not healing, but substitution. And that’sno cure at all.