"Start a conversation....Looking for answers? Want to make yourself available to others? Want to change the World? Use this Website...Become a member."

"Powerlessness and Addiction"

~Getting past false teachings~

You hear this all the time at twelve step clubs and from twelve step people. They say that admitting powerlessness is essential to overcoming the problems of alcoholism or addictions. Once again, while twelve step programs are great for getting people started it's pretty clear that not many of these people continue on to put together a significant amount of time. The other point is that many of those that do, are not what I'd call psychologically sound. In an effort to isolate those things that are not working, that keep people from recovering fully and being emotionally stable, I see this admission of, almost a religious obsession with, powerlessness as one of the culprits.

You see the problem is it's not true. It's not a fact. In fact the sentence in the book only suggests we admit we are powerless over alcohol, that are lives have "become" unmanageable "as a result. The only part of us that is powerless is the chemically altered brain. This is not us. It is an organ. If people are wanting to move away from the fantasies they seek to escape it makes no sense to replace one misinformation story with another. The brain, being crammed full of unreal life stories and superstition, has fled the scene for immersion and release from the torment of the unreal. While this brain has become powerless (addicted), we on the other hand are the most powerful things on the planet. Completely capable of conquering all that would hold us down. Another thing that people spout off in meetings and recovery related self help sites is that we need to understand we are not god. Few, if any, are confused about this. Scared of god yes, but only a few so completely gone over the mental edge as to claim theistic divinity. So why is it repeated so often and thought of, by the twelve step guru, as words of wisdom? One other point that is ceaselessly put forth is that people cannot remove, or deal with their character defects and only god is up to the task. If one is to humbly ask him, he will do it for us. Does any one else see the danger here? Do we see why the success rates might be so dismal?

People, like me, who have come out of the trance of addiction hear these things over and over. If I'd have heard something more factual, more sane, I wouldn't have had to wade through this bog of superstition and untruths to get to where I am today. First off - look at powerlessness. What do we know of that is more powerful than us. It can't be any machine: we built them. The only thing left is nature. We cannot, as yet, control nature. There is even some sensible debate on this point, since we are part of nature and the way the universe is structured we do effect it. I'm not talking about global warming. Or, better worded, climate trends. Even if you're one of those lucky enough to have seen extra-dimensional beings they seem to say again and again that we don't realize our potential for power. (at least that's what people say they say...?) Would any sane human limit there own potential? There is no known thing that is more powerful than us. If you say, "I know what is more powerful, I have witnessed it...", that's great, show it to me and I'll retract everything. What is true is that a brain swamped in toxins and fairy tails is a detriment to us in any endeavor. This needs to be recognized and dealt with accordingly. One thing they do have down in the twelve steps is that we, who come through the doors, are all to some degree or another insane. At the same time I seldom run across anyone anywhere who I feel is truly sane. We all have our areas of insanity. Addiction is just one of many symptoms that arise from a case of, middle of the road, everyday insanity.

Next on the issue of us being god or not. How could anyone possibly know? The whole god, religion, superstition is founded on this premise: Sam told me. That's it, Sam told me. Now if you attend another school and they tell you that you 'are' god that will be based on: Ed told me. The only difference between Sam and Ed, is that Ed's people seem to be doing better. Sam's people are going nuts. Ed's people are meditating. My own theory, the only one I've ever reached that I can't argue with, is god is a name we gave to an idea. I personally deal only with what I can see. So again and again people are told that the only way to end their particular cycle of madness is to humbly ask Sam's god for help. How many of these people telling or listening to this tale even understand what humility is? If you notice, its always thrown down by people who follow Sam that if the results aren't pretty, the fault isn't in Sam's story, but in the individual seeking solace. Handy to say the least. Its around this time you can see the newcomer starting to crack. They will usually get into a relationship. Usually with someone else who is cracking. When the torment of not understanding isn't soothed from the perceived source of soothing, what do you suppose pops in to their scrambled brains?

Sam's people may want to consider what was said in the Jesus stories about those who lead others (little ones I think) astray. Something about a rope and a rock and some deep water?

I was talking to someone in recovery the other day and they were telling me that it was a miracle that they were doing so well. I told them it wasn't a miracle. That from the first day they walked into the rooms of A.A. they started doing things differently and they continued building on that foundation of applied principles until they woke up this morning in the place they are now. The place they made through their own individual choices and actions. That they weren't delivered or saved and that I could prove it. All they had to do was be willing to stop doing what they had been doing and start doing what they were doing before. Wisely, they refused the experiment. Most of the people I have "sponsored" in twelve step programs can't get Sam's ideas out of their heads. They are ingrained, embedded in the subconscious. For most the negative affects are unbearable. People don't deal well with doesn't exist. The only way the brain can deal with it is to stop functioning properly. Everyone on this planet who believes stories that are unreal walk around everyday with a brain that has stopped operating at it's peak. This is sobering when you consider that a lot of them hold positions of some power. They are teachers, policemen, congressman, presidents and priests. We are constantly bombarded with their messages and ideas. Only if we exercise the full potential of our power will we be able to escape the insanity that drove us to our troubles in the first place. In spite of the brains present deteriorated condition we are still powerful beings. Powerful enough to fix ourselves. Powerful enough to turn off the insane chatter. Powerful enough to lead others to the light. Powerful enough to save our selves from extinction. This all starts with a realistic appraisal of an all powerful Life and our own worth as part of that whole.

"Feelings of powerlessness are a highly correlated with both stress and depression. Sadly, more and more people feel this way about their lives. Is this an inevitable result of technology or globalization, or capitalism? What can people do who are afflicted by such feelings?"

"The power of determined people armed with a moral cause is, I believe, 'the ultimate power'."

Howard Zinn, 2003

Pyramids have a broad base, which narrows upwards to a sharp point at the top. Power structures in a hierarchical society follow the same model; a select few at the top command a large number of underlings. It is no accident that traditional family and locality sized organizations are being replaced by pyramid structured organizations. The information age has brought new economies of scale that favor such large organizations, and control and monitoring technology increases their potential size. Wherever such hierarchies are used to organize activity, the vast majority will be taking orders given them by a tiny elite.

The promise of electoral power held out by the word "democracy" is belied by the reality of the electoral process in most nations of the "developed" world. In US, for example, before the 2000 election, about 75% of US population felt that the election had "nothing to do with them at all". US election fraud may be atypical, but such disaffection with the political process is not, particularly in highly corporatist nations. It reflects what the public relations industry refers to as a "Philosophy of Futility" - a carefully nurtured worldview in which people no longer see themselves as active agents, merely as passive consumers, subservient vassals dependent upon on the socially constructed power hierarchy.

"Free markets and democracies" claim to empower people by offering them choice as consumers and voters. However, the populations of the countries most actively proposing them are suffering a growing sense of powerlessness.

In centuries gone by, young people in the US were steeped in a spirit of independence and resourcefulness necessary to manage an independent livelihood. Nowadays, however, the corporate economy makes different demands. A range of pressures such as targeted advertising and mass compulsion schooling produce dependent, incomplete people. Often they are so depressed that their ambitions go no higher than getting a 'good job', a euphemism which often refers to salary only, not loftier ideals such as community service or family loyalty.

The more we automate decisions, the less input any humans have on them. Especially impoverishing is the habit of applying a market framework, since this inevitably gives priority to the wishes of the wealthiest in society. Within this framework, people's widespread feelings of powerless are appropriate. The young especially, however, are breaking out of this trap. Rejecting short-sighted and individualistic notions of competition, they and coming up with alternative ways of organizing their actives, currently off the radar of mainstream media.

Some events, such as global warming and ecological collapse mankind may in fact be powerless to stop. Socially defined power, however, is nothing but a shared illusion, a suspended disbelief that is subject to rapid change without warning.


"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Margaret Mead

Understanding feelings of powerlessness is a large step towards overcoming them. Sharing them with others is another big step. History is full of examples of ordinary people who started by connecting with like minded friends and neighbors to share their concerns, and went on to change the world. They realized that powerlessness was only a state of mind.

Disillusionment is setting in worldwide about the true intentions of most of our political and economic leaders, and about the prospects of a globalized high tech economy which serves the many as well as the few. We believe that conditions have never been brighter for a radical alternative to the money-centered, competitive society that is causing so much suffering.

The increasingly desperate efforts being made to promote fear in them are helping awaken a currently silent majority. If the majority of people would rather structure their affairs using truth and love, we do not believe that lies, fear and ever more exaggerated claims of power will stop them. A silent majority is only as powerless as it is silent."

(William H. Koettke, The Final Empire)

Read More at www.altruists.org

For me the bottom line on the powerlessness issue is this: If we accept powerless an any aspect other than a temporary powerless over the ability to consume alcohol or drugs and get away with it - we're setting ourselves up for difficulties down the road. Just waiting for something to fix us isn't going to work. We will want to exercise every bit of power we have. We all stand the chance of succeeding or failing at any given task at any given time. Everyday we get a new opportunity to succeed and recover. The thing we must never do is give up.