When Thinking Becomes Resistance
By Bradley A. Stop filtering advice and start listening When I first encountered Step Three – “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over…” – I assumed it didn’t apply to...
AA Agnostica Blog
They Built Me
By Mary M. I’m coming up on 40 years of sobriety in a few months. Every day of which I can never take for granted. I was broken in every conceivable way when I...
Learning to Live Again
Recovery after survival By Bradley A. When I stopped drinking, I assumed the hardest part was over. It wasn’t. Sobriety did not automatically produce a meaningful life. In fact, it removed the anesthetic that...
John Mahaffy
The picture above is of John Mahaffy with his wife Dianne Piaskoski. A long time friend of mine, John Mahaffy, born on March 12th 1953, died at the age of 72 on January 22nd...
Surrender Without God
Steps Three Through Five in a Secular Life By Bradley A. When I first entered recovery, I thought that I understood Step 3 just fine. The traditional wording asks us to turn our will...
Is Alcoholism a Mental Disease?
By Andy F “Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering” Carl Gustav Jung What is a mental illness? Before we tackle the question of whether or not alcoholism qualifies as a mental illness,...
The Path That Breathes
A secular reflection on higher power, spirit, and recovery By Bradley A. For most of my life, I believed I could solve any problem. I was a planner, an explainer, a rationalizer. If something...
The Transformation of My Alcoholic Craving
My Sick and Twisted Alcoholic Mind By Josh P. “I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends” The Beatles, With A Little Help From My Friends I entered recovery over two years...
AA, the courts, and religion
By Andy F. An eye-opening encounter Anyone who is familiar with my blogs will know that they are all about my experiences as an agnostic alcoholic in AA. Whenever I publish an article on...
Recovery as Intentional Change
By Darcy B. A practical framework for change Over time, I’ve simplified my understanding of recovery to two essentials: abstinence and change. Abstinence is easy to define. It simply means not using. Change is less...
Freethinkers Article
By Jabu K. Though at the time I was drinking myself to death every day, I can still remember vividly that the month was September. As usual, I had woken up in the morning...
Crossing the Threshold: Recovery as a Modern Rite of Passage
By Patrick L. Pellett In the language of anthropology, recovery is not an invention. It is a remembering. Long before there were Twelve Steps or meeting halls, human communities practiced a pattern that repeats...
Belief in Recovery…
By Darcy B. Alcoholics Anonymous and its 12-Step approach place significant emphasis on belief in a power greater than oneself locating the source of recovery outside the individual. I take a different view. I...
Now I Understand AA (Thoughts of an Agnostic at Year 35)
By Bruce Q. I have been active in Alcoholics Anonymous – and sober – for thirty-five years. I have also been a card-carrying agnostic the entire time. These two facts have never been in...
Honesty and Recovery…
By Darcy B. I attended a meeting yesterday and the topic was “honesty”. I was given the opportunity to share, and I thought it would be good to put my thoughts on the topic...
