I went to a twelve step CA(cocaine anonymous) meeting last night and had a revelation this morning that I must share with you. First, I must say, I don't normally attend twelve-step meetings. For me, they're not appealing. In the past, I've attended many meetings, CA, AA, NA, SA, CMA. Speaker meetings, panel meetings, one on ones, you name it, and after attending one last night something dawned on me about why I'm not particularly fond of these meetings. They're stale! There's my revelation in a nutshell. All of those meetings I previously attended all resembled each other, from the people, to the conversations, to the shared stories, to the format in which they were presented in. That's the problem.
Addictions are diseases, and like all diseases, the treatments for them become ineffective after awhile. Nature shows us that diseases become resistant to the treatments that are applied to them and therefore treatments have to change as do the diseases. This same logic can be applied to addictions and the treatments for them, including the twelve-step program. AA was formed in the thirties, and as far as I can tell, there hasn't been much change in the formula since it originated. However, the dynamics of our society have changed drastically since then and it's easy to conclude that addictions today are progressed compared to 1934.
So, as I was sitting in the meeting last night, I was consciously trying to find good points, but my flesh was resisting and constantly pointing out to me things that were wack, ridiculous, and offensive. I prayed and asked The Father to allow my spirit to see the value and good things of the meeting. I tuned into other people and what they were saying and how they were responding. It wasn't until this morning that I received the revelation about my feelings toward twelve-steps and the solution that would benefit everyone involved with twelve-step programs.
The Solution: SHAKE UP THE PROGRAM! Each and every member must tap into their creativity and bring something new to the twelve-step program. Stop imitating old doctrines and sayings and start creating fresh and new ideas. Here's an example. The saying, "hitting my knees" in reference to praying, is played out. Not only that, but when you use that terminology, you don't sound genuine. You sound like you heard countless other people say the same exact phrase and you can't think of anything original. As a matter of fact, I've never heard that phrase used outside of twelve-step meetings. That's wack! I'm not knocking any ones religious practices but when you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ or whoever your higher power is, you should express your love with originality, not some over used expression.
I believe some deep revisions need to be made to the twelve-step program in order to bring it up to date in the twenty first century. Change is a good thing. As diseases mutate and adapt to the treatments applied to them, the treatments must mutate and adapt to the diseases to conquer them!
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