Dimensions of Alcoholics Anonymous 13th Step
The regular advent of oneself as an alcoholic at meetings is another critical component of the AA program.
necessary limitation and finitude are core concepts of existential philosophy. Finitude concerns constraints such as what one cannot do or be. The AA member who states he's alcoholic embraces the existential discernment of essential limitation.
The approval of limitation is key to the healing dynamic of AA. The approval of limited control is well summed up by the Serenity Prayer ; the'can' and'cannot' of the prayer eloquently integrate the existential concepts of limited control and limited reliance.
The acknowledgment of limitation is most sheer when an individual faces an existential problem or limiting situation. Alcoholics face this call when pushed to their private limit situation referred to in AA as'hitting bottom'. If the alcoholic is able to do that and integrate this experience, a more pointed, authentic life ensues.
The feelings of disunion and isolation of active obsession arise not from the sense of limitation, but from the refusal to accept essential limitation when faced with a personal'bottom'. Rather than trying to control the limitation, the alcoholic is advised to gain perspective, which involves facing fear and discomfort. sober minded definition, sober recovery,
as well as the AA core elements of telling one's story, admitting powerlessness, and acknowledgment of hitting bottom, sharing and the pursuit of contentment foster private expansion. During Frankl's terrifying wartime experiences in a fascist concentration camp, he noticed that the survivors were those prisoners who put their suffering inside some pointed context through religion, belief or hope. In a similar fashion, AA members, as prisoners to alcohol, share what Kurtz described as their'kinship of common suffering'. The sharing of common suffering within AA teaches the alcoholic that to be fully human is to want others. Dimensions of Alcoholics Anonymous 13th Step The alcoholic learns to be more self-aware and more truthful with self and others. Once these existential issues are faced, the alcoholic in recovery can experience a sense of purpose or meaning in life, and shift the focus of their attention to the action stage of change involving behavior alterations. So begins a new life of recovery, rich with purpose within the fellowship of AA.
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