At our last meeting, Jim made the statement, "as soon as I hear a man say he is struggling, I know he hasn't gotten to the point that AA calls accepting one can only survive with the help of one's higher power." That brings a light to bear on what I see as a conflict. We talk a lot about an inmate (or civilian) reaching a point where he sees that he cannot go on any longer in the self-centeredness that results in criminal behavior. Yes, he must surrender to the knowledge that he is helpless alone, but there still remains a lot of work to be done, a lot of deeply embedded mental process and attitude and behavior to un-habituate, to coin a word. And that is a struggle. So the man has to relax and surrender to that knowledge, but at the same time, he must be vigilant and ready to labor to change himself.
I don't think it wise to leave the AA statement as the statement for our group. So why did I?
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