Even the atheist believes in something, The collective power of the group?

The Re-socialization View

This view of recovery is

highly social and involves the use of informal community resources that provide a sobriety-based framework in which one can stop drinking and maintain sobriety.

In the Re-socialization View of recovery, the biggest problem of the addict is not a need for spiritual experience, nor is it underlying psychological stressors. Instead, the Re-socialization View believes that the addicts biggest problem is using. When the using stops, the addicts biggest problem becomes how to stay stopped. Solutions to these problems are fairly straightforward. Dont use, go to meetings, ask for help. Keep coming back. Meeting makers make it. 90 meetings in 90 days. These and other similar slogans outline the program of the Re-socialization viewjust keep going to meetings.

At times, meetings are emphasized so heavily that many people who hold this View do not work the steps. However, those who do work the Steps, tend to see them as a way to increase involvement in the fellowship. Higher Power and God are often interpreted as meaning the fellowship, the meetings, and sometimes the Steps and Traditions. Turning ones will and life over to the care of God, really means coming to meetings and becoming willing to share and listen to others. Moral inventory and Amends are designed to help the fellowship stay intact even when personality clashes occur.

For Re-Socializationists, sobriety is understood as a difficult process, especially because the sober addict is forced to deal with feelings that were once suppressed by using. When things get rough, an addict goes to a meeting and shares their pain. Other addicts at the meeting sympathize and support those suffering. Sometimes, if there is an addict present who has suffered through a similar hardship, there is a sharing of experience, strength and hope. This makes meetings a kind of mutual-aid group. Other activities that are important in the Re-socialization View are meetings-after-the-meetings, sober dances, camp-outs, and other non-meeting social gatherings for addicts.

Expectations for recovering people in the Re-Socialization View are moderate compared to the expectations for people recovering in the Conversion Experience View. It is anticipated that recovery will be a painful process that lasts a lifetime. One is not expected to find relief from mental obsession, nor a vital spiritual life. Instead, the Re-Socialization View expects that people who stick with going to meetings will eventually be able to manage the business of daily life. Recovering people can get jobs and relationships, and keep them for longer than they used to. Recovering people dont have to sell their TVs to buy drugs, or do any of the other behaviors associated with addiction. Often, recovering people have more money and possessions than they did when they were using. All of this is expected to provide some value and relief in the addicts life.

The stories of recovering people who hold this View focus on the physical aspects of addiction and the despair and hopelessness of addicted life. These stories are meant to be a reminder to the speaker, and to his or her audience of why not to use again. Some times, though less frequently, stories focus on the things that the speaker has gained by being sober. Generally, Re-Socialization stories end with gratitude for the program, the meeting, and for one more day of sobriety.

Gnon you eating the catnip again or just having another episode lol
Billy

Billy.

You gave me that link Remember...

I do !!! Its Alive!!!Ha!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOPTriLG5cU

I am an atheist and yet the resocialisation view of recovery does not apply to me. A spiritual awakening as the result of the 12 steps is how I stay sober. I have found freedom from the mental obsession and have a vital spiritual life. Not believing in god does not equal no spirituality and it is pretty narrow minded to believe that it does.

"Here Here".......;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD4RKwGyOV0

There`s an ole boy at the group he claims to have a Frankenstein god he built it himself using the parts in which he prefers.His god is one of preference, living by feelings . If it dosen`t feel good reject it. Life will mean something at last... "It`s alive" LOL

That ole boy can`t find his way out of a paper bag.. I feel sorry for him, he bristles with antagonism every time I share..I`m doing him a service by not showing up, his psych just can`t handle it. But he`s staying sober. It`s working for him....Ain`t it grand the wind stopped blowing...

Kinda like baking a cake, if one uses a recipe with a list of ingredients and follows the directions the cake will turn out good. However, if one changes and or skips on the ingredients dosen`t bake it at the proper temperature etc. He may get something that looks like a cake, it might even smell like a cake, but ya know, it just dosen`t taste like a cake. In fact it`s not a cake at all...

I totally agree Gnon, if you dont follow the instructions then you dont get the desired outcome. However you are mistaken if you think that the desired outcome and following the instructions in relation to this can only come about by belief in "your" god. You can in no way judge people's recovery or spirituality based solely on what they believe in. It is perfectly possible to have a spiritual awakening without believing in god. it is perfectly possible to live life according to spiritual principles, be relieved of the bondage of self and the mental obsession. The promises in the big book have come true for me. One of the important principles that I live by is open mindedness.

Hello nickyj180,

That is indeed an interesting article not just for atheists but for anyone who wishes to gain an understanding of Step 3.

One thing that was missed (or maybe I just read it too quickly) is that nothing is handed over in Step 3 it is just a decision to hand over. This was a source of confusion to me for a long time because I said the words and tried to hand over most days but could see no difference. The reason I could see no difference was because there was no difference I had made a decision but had not followed it with action.

My first question was, what exactly does it mean to make a decision to hand over my will and my life to the care of a God of my understanding, and very few seemed to have the answer. It was only after watching a Joe McQuany DVD that I got an explanation. My will means all of my thoughts and my life means all of the actions that I take every day. I was still pretty confused and didnt know how I would hand over my thoughts and my actions. Then I began to realize that the handing over is not in Step 3 at all but comes from what we do in each of those following Steps. That is why we should never have a fear of doing any Step.

Whether a person is an atheist or otherwise matters not, because it all comes down to the last two words in the Grapevine article taking REASONABLE ACTION.

Yes!! is quite funny How perception is 9/10 of the law even if one wants a strudel It ends up tasting Like a cake . Then next day a strudel aagain ...

Fresh ingredients not always the secret But..:) Sure makes for alot more entertainment and or colorful Tv lol
Billy

Thanks PJ54 - I had similar problems with step 3 and a misunderstanding of what was actually required. Think you are right about the article - when I was reading it I was thinking that the biggest thing that really came from my step3 was a firm decision, backed by action, to do the rest of the steps. Before I got to that point I was totally caught up in having what I believed in, spiritual connection, spiritual action etc all sewn up and of course that doesnt happen before I can do this step. It happens as the result of doing this step and all the subsequent ones.

My sponsor is very adamant also that the step refers to turning over not handing over. That is much easier for me as an atheist as handing over implies that there is something that I give things to whereas turning over implies that I keep something but allow it to be seen.

Joseph Campbell said it best for me: "The privilege of a lifetime, the goal of the hero journey is knowing who you are... Do you remember what you did as a child that created timelessness, that made you forget time? There lies the myth to live by."

The essence of Spirituality is the connection made between ones self and another entity. It doesn't have to be an unseen entity. It could just as well be another Human Being (as long as they are being and not just existing).

glad you found something in that article Nickie...I have yet to read that...but was reading how excited it has made you about your recovery and that is cool....hugs bill

Thanks Bill. That has been the great thing about my spiritual journey - something new and exciting is always happening. I have tickets to go and hear a talk by the Dalai Lama in a couple of months, that is so exciting for me - something I have always wanted to do and never thought would be possible. I am always reading or hearing or experiencing something new and it keeps my journey alive and changing. Think that is what they mean by the fourth dimension - a whole new world to explore!