Alcoholics Anonymous and its Spiritual Approach

Alcoholics Anonymous and its Spiritual Approach

Loran Joly

14,53 €
IVA incluido
Disponible
Editorial:
Indy Pub
Año de edición:
2024
ISBN:
9798869168436
14,53 €
IVA incluido
Disponible
Añadir a favoritos

Does one have to believe in a God to go to Alcoholics Anonymous?And what about this Higher Power concept?It may just be that we all are either our own God, or we look outside of ourselves to explain how everything happens?What if a Higher Power need not be something utterly hard to comprehend? What if a Higher Power could even be The Laws of the Universe?For consider that Einstein believed in a God, a God that 'did not play dice with the Universe': could we refer to a Higher Power as the Power of Cause and Effect, even? And that this is the most scientific, rational idea we could ever wrap our heads around?The author, 63, studied electrical engineering at West Point, and later, at age 41, began studying a series of fifteen mathematics courses at Berea College. He also has amassed over 160,000 electronic flashcards over a period of fifteen years, using the software program known as SuperMemo.The author wrestled many years with the definition of God before coming to some peace of mind. He certainly concluded he is not a Magician and thus his own God, but rather, that something else must be dictating what happens in his own life - and his very existence, indeed. For if he doesn’t make things happen, then what does? Chance? Whimsy?It seems likely that if we are not Magicians, then we certainly cannot qualify for the term God; and if we have problems, in this scientific era, with the very idea of a god or Higher Power at all, then perhaps we could look at other explanations.Indeed, there have been people of great impact, who had their own views on God or Gods; Einstein; Ralph Waldo Emerson and his views on Nature, too; and Leo Tolstoy, whose view on God resulted in being ex-communicated from the church. Even Dr. Albert Schweitzer was only allowed to be part of a missionary society in Africa because he promised not to preach - for his views on God were considered controversial to the board members, and at first, he was flat rejected when he applied to the society.The author was raised in the Plymouth Brethren church; at the age of twenty-one, he spent a week at L’Abri in Massachusetts, originally started by Francis Schaeffer; also, the author’s mother once sang in Billy Graham’s choir when she was eighteen, and his grandfather, born in Ukraine, was a Mennonite.The author later sought out other views, and spent 150 sessions in psychoanalysis with two physicians, in his late twenties, one hundred of which were in San Diego. Additionally, he spent one hundred Saturday mornings at a meditation center in a nearby city, and a year ago, he visited a monastery four times, to attend workshops and talk with two Tibetan monks.He has helped a family member successfully overcome 'over-imbibing'; he had an aunt depart this earth in her fifties due to alcohol; and he has attended AA meetings as a visitor to check things out himself....He also spent five years helping others and himself at a drop-in shelter in a local area, three times a week, and at West Point, received training as a Peer Cadet Counselor, to fulfill a posting one summer, there, in this capacity.This book also addresses the concept of Reinhold Niebuhr saying that some things are in our control and some things are not - as per the Serenity Prayer...for how can this be, one might wonder? Can free will and determinism both be true at the same time?This book is short and sweet but tries to boil down the essentials of Alcoholics Anonymous from perhaps twelve concepts to one or two key ones, perhaps helping us see what is the most essential of the views of Alcoholics Anonymous, and what it most 'active ingredients' are, in fact. He has applied his mathematics and engineering skills to try to get to the nub of things.

Artículos relacionados

Otros libros del autor

  • Is Trauma a Massively Non-Optimal Concept?
    Loran Joly
    The author sees the concept of trauma and the claim of one’s being a victim and of 'being traumatized' much differently these days, at the age of sixty-four.He proposes we often 'blame' a difficult event, calling it a 'trauma', rather than attributing the larger, more massive pain which arises from the WORDS we use to talk ABOUT the event, particularly, words that induce shame,...
    Disponible

    18,35 €

  • The Influence of Nature on Our Words
    Loran Joly
    Our words may influence us more than we can imagine. Yet, to have the best words to use is surely not an easy task. We may in fact have to invent them.This author believes that Nature may offer Mankind many benefits, including to our words.In this book is a brief coverage of a great many people who have found Nature, or aloneness, quite useful.We may remember, by the way, the w...
    Disponible

    22,62 €

  • Health Care Today
    Loran Joly
    This Expanded Edition contains additional images not found in the Kindle version...Next to a desire to live forever, we probably desire to be as happy as possible, and surely this includes by being as physically healthy as possible.This author talks of his ideas about medical approaches, what with having been a pre-med major, and later, an electrical engineering major, at West ...
    Disponible

    23,46 €

  • Are We Growing?
    Loran Joly
    We all seek to be happy. More happy than yesterday, also, surely.We seek to grow. How do we know we are growing? Are we imagining it?The author presents some ideas on growing, from his own experiences, as well as those of his mother’s side of the family, who are war refugees from eastern Europe, and were massively impacted by the Soviets when they entered his mother and grandmo...
    Disponible

    16,22 €

  • Self-Esteem
    Loran Joly
    Self-Esteem: Is good self-esteem perhaps the most important aspect in being as happy as possible?Dr. Nathaniel Branden, a late expert on self-esteem, thought so.This book is a very short summary of my ideas on self-esteem, after having read various books on the topic, and having pondered and written up notes for decades, on this topic.The author seeks to take the mystery out of...
    Disponible

    5,82 €

  • Scapegoating
    Loran Joly
    Does every family, town, and country have a scapegoat?Perhaps scapegoating is more common than we think.This phenomenon seems to serve to simplify life for some others.The author suggests that scapegoating is tied in with blaming others, and displacing our aggressions onto others, too. This seemingly being easier to do than to come to grips with what is 'bugging us' so very muc...
    Disponible

    13,19 €