jonijoni1 wrote:

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"Down to the Bottom"... LOVE IT!!!! lolol

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IMO there are pertinant and important lyrics there;

Down and there isn't any hope for me
Unless this dream which seems so real
Is just a fantasy

What is one of the main purposes of the steps?

It uses Socratic questioning to remove denial, or in other words, remove the delusions or "fantasy" from ourselves

so the singer says "there isn't any hope for me"

-Unless-

This dream which seems so real is just a fantasy

What do they tell newcomers?

Your mind is a like a bad neighborhood, dangerous to go in alone

why?

because until the steps are worked, 1-9 we live in a state of self delusion, or the insanity referred to in step 2

so how does the author of the lyrics get hope?

he realizes that this "dream" he's living is just a fantasy

read this a few times, I know I should have put this in your step one thread Joni, but seriously, read this very very carefully

The first casualty of addiction, like that of war, is the truth. At first the addict merely denies the truth to himself. But as the addiction, like a malignant tumor, slowly and progressively expands and invades more and more of the healthy tissue of his life and mind and world, the addict begins to deny the truth to others as well as to himself. He becomes a practiced and profligate liar in all matters related to the defense and preservation of his addiction, even though prior to the onset of his addictive illness, and often still in areas as yet untouched by the addiction, he may be scrupulously honest.

First the addict lies to himself about his addiction, then he begins to lie to others. Lying, evasion, deception, manipulation, spinning and other techniques for avoiding or distorting the truth are necessary parts of the addictive process. They precede the main body of the addiction like military sappers and shock troops, mapping and clearing the way for its advance and protecting it from hostile counterattacks.

Because addiction by definition is an irrational, unbalanced and unhealthy behavior pattern resulting from an abnormal obsession, it simply cannot continue to exist under normal circumstances without the progressive attack upon and distortion of reality resulting from the operation of its propaganda and psychological warfare brigades. The fundamentally insane and unsupportable thinking and behavior of the addict must be justified and rationalized so that the addiction can continue and progress.

One of the chief ways the addiction protects and strengthens itself is by a psychology of personal exceptionalism which permits the addict to maintain a simultaneous double-entry bookkeeping of addictive and non-addictive realities and to reconcile the two when required by reference to the unique, special considerations that àat least in his own mind- happen to apply to his particular case.

The form of the logic for this personal exceptionalism is:

• • Under ordinary circumstances and for most people X is undesirable/irrational;

• • My circumstances are not ordinary and I am different from most people;

• • Therefore X is not undesirable/irrational in my case - or not as undesirable/irrational as it would be in other cases.

Armed with this powerful tool of personal exceptionalism that is a virtual "Open Sesame" for every difficult ethical conundrum he is apt to face, the addict is free to take whatever measures are required for the preservation and progress of his addiction, while simultaneously maintaining his allegiance to the principles that would certainly apply if only his case were not a special one.

In treatment and rehabilitation centers this personal exceptionalism is commonly called "terminal uniqueness." The individual in the grip of this delusion is able to convince himself though not always others that his circumstances are such that ordinary rules and norms of behavior, rules and norms that he himself concurs with when it comes to other people, do not fairly or fully fit himself at the present time and hence must be bent or stretched just sufficiently to make room for his special needs. In most cases this plea for accommodation is acknowledged to be a temporary one and accompanied by a pledge or plan to return to the conventional "rules of engagement" as soon as circumstances permit.





In order to relapse, or to be an active alcoholic, drinking or even not drinking, an artificial reality has to exist in our minds alongside the -real- reality, they call this delusion

so how does the dreamer recover?

they realize their dream is but a fantasy, they do that by working steps 4-9, therefore tapping an unsuspected inner resource that is unable to be swayed by delusion or fantasy, sometimes this "inner resource" manifests by merely feeling uncomfortable, sometimes it's like it's shouting from the rooftops, and sometimes, just sometimes, it gives a nod of approval when it feels like the entire universe nods along with it, and things fall into place effortlessly, many call that "conscious contact", "the fourth dimension", or "God consciousness"

Sorry, back to our regularly scheduled music broadcast