I was rummaging around in my mind this morning, when I woke up, and the same thought kept popping up. You have the mind of a chronic alcoholic.
Back when I first read those words, I knew instantly that they applied to me. Probably everyone, who ever came to this program. But I knew instantly what my problem was, when I saw this statement, which Dr. Jung addressed to the man he had attempted to treat for alcoholism. Of course his treatment had failed, as had all treatments up to that point.
Today I was thinking, what kind of mind is that? It’s the kind of mind that will always pick up a drink. It’s the mind that can’t help but do so. It has to have a drink and always will. That’s what happened to the man in the story. He had undergone lengthy treatment from Dr. Jung, yet at the end of it, he had drank again.
Those of us, who are familiar with that story, know what happened. Jung had told him that he had never seen anyone with a mind like that recover. Then he told the man the formula, which was eventually to free millions of alcoholic minds like that from the bondage of alcohol. He encouraged him to seek a spiritual experience. He did and never drank again…But, he also carried that same message back to Ebby T. and Ebby to Bill W. and we know the rest.
Jung, later on his life, when he wrote to Bill W., told Bill why he said what he said to that man. Sandy B., from Tampa, repeats that theory of Jung’s in this way, it was because we missed the hell out of God. That, Jung said, was what he believed the alcoholic had been looking for in his drinking: God.
The genius of Bill and all the early members of AA, was that they came up with a set of steps, which would enable everyone, who came seeking sobriety, to do just that; find God, or, if you will, a Higher Power other than themselves.
Today, even though the echoes are still there, the mind of a chronic alcoholic is gone. The desire, the obsession for alcohol is gone. All due to applying the steps and the spiritual principles I was given by the program. In my mind, it is truly amazing. A miracle in fact.
I was sitting here thinking about this and being grateful for having been given the opportunity to be freed from alcohol.