You really are no longer alone and this book can be a very useful tool.
Your therapist or counsellor tells you being abused led to your addiction, and people in meetings tell you the opposite. You may have relapsed and you are confused about why the program isn’t working for you. You’ve also probably been going to meetings and getting more and more confused as you go along. Beyond Belief can help you build this practice into your life without offending your religious/spiritual beliefs or your current rituals.įinally, if you’re a woman who has experienced trauma you’ve no doubt been told that what happened to you is intertwined with your addiction. Reflection is the key to knowing ourselves, and knowing when we’re getting closer to our drug or behaviour of choice. We’re told we should be leery of too much fear, anger and even excitement. This book opens the door for anyone and everyone to practice a ritual that has led to years of sobriety and abstinence. One is the suggestion to take a few moments of reflection before going out to tackle another abstinent day. It’s a mix of what he’s heard in meetings for more than 35 years, and that means it includes thoughts from those who have joined us on the road: Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews – even feminists.ĭespite the pitfalls of the Big Book and other literature around 12 Step rooms – the ubiquitous allegiance to Christian ideas – there are golden nuggets buried within the dogma. The true spirit of the traditions is contained in the fact that the book is not Joe C’s thoughts on sobriety. Like agnostic meetings, the theme of this book is, “We don’t care what you believe we just want to welcome you and help you stay clean, abstinent, and sober – away from whatever substance or process that’s making your life unmanageable.” It’s also a gateway into a program that can still work for those who feel they don’t belong because they stand out at their regular meeting. Those attending insisted on a group conscience and the result was a devastating, “No.”īeyond Belief: Agnostic Musings for 12 Step Life is not just a great daily meditation tool. recounts when the first two African-American men asked to attend a meeting. The book includes a historical reference to the struggle Bill W. says he thought about while putting these daily meditations together the literature we depend on was created by white men in the 1930s. There’s a simple explanation which Joe C. But when we look around our community and assess its ethnic make-up – and then measure it against the meeting rooms – it never fails: the 12-Step basements are filled with mostly Caucasians and more men than women.
Many members will say “Our fellowship is very diverse.” They have a friend from Africa, or India – or some anecdotal statistic to share from their own experience. A few stayed, but many, if not most, leave because of the dominant theme which insists the alcoholic, addict, or codependent has to one day accept help that is always described in theistic terms. We were joined by thousands of people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds in numbers the fellowship had not seen before in North America. “I realized I had been a closet Agnostic for most of my recovery.” Well a funny thing also happened to 12 Step Groups on the way to the year 2000. “A funny thing happened to me on the way to the new Millennium,” writes author Joe C. Seuss or a spiritual perspective from Albert Einstein? Beyond Belief takes a secular look at our recovery culture with help from the classic thinkers of the ages and the wisdom in and around the rooms. Where else would you find Sam Harris followed by Mother Teresa, Bill Wilson followed with Anais Nin, a doctor’s opinion by Dr. Drawing on quotes from writers, skeptics, entertainers, economists, religious leaders, philosophers, psychologists and varied recovery fellowship literature, Beyond Belief neither canonizes nor vilifies any school of recovery thought. Finally! A daily reflection book for nonbelievers, freethinkers and everyone, Beyond Belief: Agnostic Musings for 12 Step Life offers 365 quips for every alcoholic/addict.
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