What can “spiritual malady” possibly mean to someone who doesn’t believe in God? Is the whole idea of someone being spiritually ill acceptable? These are questions that I have had to struggle with as an agnostic in AA. It is emotionally healthy to live in the day … in the here and now. AA encourages members to share their experience, strength and hope with other members.

The most important thing is that you keep an open mind and heart as you continue on your sobriety journey. Even if you don’t believe in God right now, it’s important to keep an open mind. Things may change over time, and you never know when or how your beliefs might evolve. The important thing is that you stay committed to your sobriety and continue working the program – eventually, everything else will fall into place.

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In AA, one of the main goals is to become sober and stay sober. To do this, members must rely on their support system which includes other Why Do I Sneeze When I Drink Alcohol? members, sponsors, and meetings. When people become too self-reliant, they often start to think that they don’t need AA anymore.

• “If people realise what the real me is like, they will reject me!
• That is why we have to constantly share how we are feeling with others so that we can find out what we are feeling.
• AA’s 12 steps are a spiritual program of recovery but at the heart of that spirituality is the role of sponsoring.
• But in our quest to fill this void with any and everything we can think of, we completely miss that the only thing that can actually fulfill us a spiritual connectedness to something greater than ourselves.
• This is why I have to forgive the other guy as I have been forgiven but also to forgive myself (or ask God to forgive me my shortcomings) for my reactions.

In steps 4 and 5 we listed wrongdoings to others and although initially petrified to share them with another, found that it wasn’t as  difficult as we thought it would be, once you wrote down the worst top ten. Everyone in recovery has secrets they would rather not disclose,  but there are not many “original” sins as one suspects and that haven’t been shared in 12 step recovery. Essentially as one academic put it, The «power»
referred to in several of the twelve steps is therefore unrelated to religion; it refers to the potentially healing power inherent in interpersonal relationships based on reciprocity and equality.

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That is not to say that normal people cannot be full of sin –  a cursory look around the work and it’s events will soon confirm this is the case. What I am saying is that they do not have the emotion dysregulation or fear based responding that I seem to have which often prompts “sin”. Bill Wilson had got this idea of abnormal, or allergic reaction to alcohol, from a physician, Dr Silkworth,  who had treated him at Towns Hospital. If someone hurts me, according to my step 4, my angry resentment of what they have said or done makes me ashamed. Unless, we let Go and Let God and ask God to remove these negative emotions/sins/defects of character we end up in a futile increasingly distressed spiral of negative emotions. So we have two main ailments, distressed based wanting which results in the same negative emotions as being in a shame- based fear of rejection.

My inventory showed me also that I did not seem to have the facility previously to emotionally respond to the world in a mature way. It shows the areas of behaviour and attitudes that can be treated by working the steps. It shows us how our approach to life can possibly be transformed for the better. I am not advocating changing https://en.forexdata.info/the-missing-piece-the-spiritual-malady/ anything, I hope AA recovery remains as it is for 80 more years and much more years. I have for several years wondered if the spiritual malady described in the Big Book adequate or accurate enough in describing what I suffer from. For example, false pride, intolerance, impatience, arrogance, shame, lust, gluttony, greed.

Clint H. from Woodland Hills, CA at Oregon Attorney’s Spiritual Retreat – Menucha Center, OR

This is due to the fact that addiction is really a spiritual disorder. Although the disease has biological, behavioral, and psychological roots, treating those aspects, without including the spiritual component,  is like sticking a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. This resistance to anything spiritual is the biggest obstacle some addicts confront. To beat their addiction, people must face the reality that there is indeed a power larger than themselves. Therefore, they must make an effort to establish a rapport with this higher power.

• We must live our lives selflessly and show our gratitude to a higher power for the lives that we live and the opportunity to have a second chance at life.
• It doesn’t have to be religious – it can be anything that gives you strength and hope.
• My commitment to continuous learning and collaboration makes me an asset to the healthcare community.

Desiring stuff seems at the root of my fear based stuff – the exquisite torture of desire which soon loses it’s so-called relish and just becomes torturous. When I have a fear of not getting stuff and this is linked to insecurity, as mentioned in the Big Book, it is usually in relation to my pocket book, financial insecurity, personal relationships, self esteem etc. It is a strange feeling of not wanting to be found out of being less than, not good enough. “If people realise what the real me is like, they will reject me!

The spiritual malady and addiction

Only once we open the spiritual channels and begin to accept a Higher Power into our lives can we hope to find a solution to our alcoholic condition. Many people are initially turned off to the idea of the program because they believe it preaches religion and God, and many addicts and alcoholics have no desire to pursue a religious answer. But the beauty of the 12-steps is that they are spiritually based as opposed to religious. What that means is that all that is required is the belief in a power greater than yourself.

Rather than describing these conditions in terms of the manifest symptoms, i.e chronic substance abuse or, at times, vague “spiritual maladies”. What we used once to regulate negative emotions and a sense of self has eventually come to regulate our emotions to such an extent that any distress leads to the compulsive response of drinking. Alcoholics had become a compulsive disorder to relief distress not to induce pleasure. This sin disease had very real psychological, emotional and physical and physiological effect on the mind and body.

FAQs on Issues of Spiritual Malady

By using this approach, a recovering addict can experience a notable change in their outlook. Following this program will cause them to feel less alone or closed off from the messages of life, thus relieving them from the burden of isolation. If you are seeking drug and alcohol related addiction rehab for yourself or a loved one, the YourFirstStep.org hotline is a confidential and convenient solution.