Featured in "The Doctors Opinion" of the "Big Book" of Alcoholics Anonymous is
a letter from Dr. William D. Silkworth. Dr. Silkworth was the Medical
Director of Townes Hospital in New York City, a renowned
hospital in the field of alcoholism. One of the founders of Alcoholics
Anonymous and the
primary author of the "Big Book", Bill W., was under Dr. Silkworth's
care on
three separate occasions there. Within Dr. Silkworth's letter he
stated, "We doctors have
realized for a long time that some form of MORAL PSYCHOLOGY was of
urgent importance to alcoholics... unless [the alcoholic] can
experience an entire psychic change there is very little hope for his
recovery."
Dr. Silkworth and his colleagues believed that not only did
the thought processes of the mind need to be transformed but the source
of what powered those thought processes had to change. The
American Heritage Dictionary defines psychology as "the science that deals with mental processes and behavior." Furthermore, it deems moral synonymous with virtuous. Therefore
the thought processes of the mind had to become virtuous. In
order for this to occur, the mind of the alcoholic could no longer be
propelled by the human's nature or instincts, but rather by the will
of God through inspiration. As the back half of the Eleventh Step bids,
"praying only for the knowledge of God's will for us and the power
to carry that out."
The psychic change is the heart of
the
solution to our alcoholism. Through the grace of God (the source that
powers the thought processes), a transformed and virtuous thought
process is possible and real.
Dr Silkworth's comments bring to the surface one of the most powerful notions of recovery in AA - Awareness. Even and especially while drinking, I knew there was something deeply flawed within me. I just didn't know that it was the absence of a standard - a moral psychology - without which I would never know freedom, happiness, or me. That's what made it urgent. Becoming Aware of these essential truths opened my spirit enough to enable The Spirit to begin to flow within me. The certain presence of that Power Within became the instrument for a gradual conversion in my thinking to a standard of virtue. This transformation is a psychic change in a real sense. It transforms our lives to lives of Spirit over mind as opposed to mind over spirit. My belief is founded on my personal experience: that this psychic change and moral recovery is available only by becoming aware and embracing The Love found by incorporating each of The Twelve Steps into my now-sober, now-peaceful life.
ReplyDeleteMichael the psychic change that must occur if an alcoholic is to recover from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body must be complete and is essential. The demand placed upon a recovered alcoholic is that their thought process is no longer propelled by their human instinct but rather by the will of God...Thank you so much...Armand
ReplyDeleteI admit, I try to keep out the voice of the spirit attempting to guide me through my days. I try to keep out the gentle rush of goodness a transformation in my "moral psychology" brings because I have a disease - a disease which invades each nook of my infected soul and manipulates every part of my brain simply because that is its nature. I am an addict. Until I am fully recovered I remain as such. I find myself fighting my own battle many a day instead of handing it over to the problem-solving, uplifting, ever-present, omnipotent Power that is my source when my psychology is, indeed, transformed. Why I resist implementing the solution must be because my stubborn, sickened nature never knew any way to live but to resist: to resist help in this way is to stress; it is to suffer; it is to cover the truth with my own fabricated lie of what life should be and what it isn't; it is to spend this lifetime in a dying state rather than a living one- with gratitude and presence. I have experienced glimpses and prolonged moments in the light of a joy that was for so long enslaved to this disease and all by simply turning over my thought processes and my ego through my prayers and my quiet, silent moments in, of and with God. With more glimpses and moments I know one day I will remain in such a place and live the life God intended me to live.
ReplyDeleteCaitlin Dr. Tiebout delivered a letter to Alcoholics Anonymous which is in the book AA Comes Of Age. He concurs with with research conducted by Sillman that the common characteristic of alcoholics is defiant individuality and grandiosity. As long as our thought process is propelled by our nature we are defiant. The solution to our alcoholism is a vital spiritual experience. Therefore we must give life to our relationship with God and this happens as we surrender our human nature, in an absolute way while living in the will of God. This surrender occurs by implementing the Twelve Steps of AA into our life in such a way that it becomes our life...Thank you...Armand
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