Endigar 700 ~ We Can’t Think Our Way Sober
From the Daily Reflections of February 13;
To the intellectually self-sufficient man or woman, many A.A.’s can say, “Yes, we were like you — far too smart for our own good. . . . Secretly, we felt we could float above the rest of the folks on our brain power alone.” (As Bill Sees It, page 60).
Even the most brilliant mind is no defense against the disease of alcoholism. I can’t think my way sober. I try to remember that intelligence is a Godgiven attribute that I may use, a joy — like having a talent for dancing or drawing or carpentry. It does not make me better than anyone else, and it is not a particularly reliable tool for recovery, for it is a power greater than myself who will restore me to sanity — not a high IQ or a college degree.
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This reflection should be entitled “I Can’t Think My Way Sober.” It is the power of my intellect to separate me from others in recovery that is deadly. It is not intelligence, but lazy skepticism, perpetual argumentation, and terminal uniqueness that empowers my disease to divide and conquer. Intelligence without humility fuels the starving, mangy loan wolf within me. The 12 Steps are never successfully an I process.
I have heard some in the rooms say they had to dumb themselves down to make this program work. I have personally lamented that stupid people seemed to be the happy ones, but I do not believe that AA was designed to make us giggling idiots. In my case, I had to learn to seek the simplicity that comes with serenity. Complexity in my communication was not intelligence as much as it was a distrustful attempt to control my social environment. It seems to me the truly smart people learn to listen, investigate, and connect. I have heard it said in AA that “we stay sober, I get drunk.”
Daily Reprieve 
July 23, 2015 at 8:25 am
Reblogged this on fightorflights.