Shared Experience

“At the time, I feared we might be involved with a religious sect of some kind,” Sister Ignatia recalled. She then asked Father Vincent Haas, a newly ordained priest, to investigate the meetings for her.
    They had met only a few days earlier, when Sister asked him to talk to a drunk with a pregnant wife. He tried; but after an hour, the man asked, “Have you ever been drunk for a week?”
    “No. As a matter of fact, I don’t drink, the young priest replied.
    Then you don’t know what you’re talking about,” the man said. “Come back when you’ve been drinking a week.
 
Dr. Bob and the
Good Oldtimers,
 p. 189

~

This little incident, when AA was in its infancy, helped shape the direction of the whole movement. The perfectly good intentions of the wise are welcome but are respectfully asked to keep their opinions to themselves. Well meaning advice is trumped by experience and it is my experience that is most valuable. We heal through the mystery of shared experience and shared experience puts us on an even keel with those we intend to help. Even though adjustments to variations of the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous are most affective for a vast range of spiritual neurosis, the fact is that a meth addict’s and a heroine addict’s experience is so divergent that there is little one can say to the other regarding recovery. This is so because the symptoms, the way these drugs act in the brain, spins the alcoholic and addicts behavior and consequences in different directions. There is no pill… no treatment… no commiseration or rehabilitation that can be as affective as talking… one alcoholic (or specific addict) simply talking and listening… with one another.

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