In a free society, everyone can speak. The wrong and the right. The uninformed and the informed. The knowing and the unknowing. The faithful and the faithless. The addict in active addiction and the recovered addict. Freedom, and only freedom, is the main priority in a free society.
If a culture or a subculture has the ability to influence through money or other forms of power, it will dominate. By speaking, it gives the appearance that it's right, or that it's the best choice, or that it's the "cool" choice, the "in" choice. Conformism then rules. For example, look at the auto industry, I have to stretch my budget to buy the most expensive car. Look at the sports industry, I have to center my life around sports. Humans have the most incredible cortex, but the powers that be force me into what makes money for them. Similarly, the addict is forced into using by a using society. Conformism is a character defect, it forms new addicts of various kinds.
Learning how to be free is step work. I don't know which step, but I'm sure it's in there somewhere.
-- Edited by johnjames228 on Friday 25th of October 2013 11:41:47 AM
Our disease is so cunning that it can get us into impossible situations.
Basic Text, p. 83
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Some of us say, My disease is talking to me. Others say, My head wont turn off. Still others refer to the committee in my mind or the monkey on my back. Lets face it. We suffer from an incurable malady that continues to affect us, even in recovery. Our disease gives us warped information about whats going on in our lives. It tells us not to look at ourselves because what well see is too scary. Sometimes it tells us were not responsible for ourselves and our actions; other times, it tells us that everything wrong with the world is our fault. Our disease tricks us into trusting it.
The NA program provides us with many voices that counter our addiction, voices we can trust. We can call our sponsor for a reality check. We can listen to the voice of an addict trying to get clean. The ultimate solution is to work the steps and draw on the strength of a Higher Power. That will get us through those times when our disease is talking.
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Just for today: I will ignore the voice of my addiction. I will listen to the voice of my program and a Power greater than myself.
