Well we're
quite used to being told in mainstream AA (ie. the REAL thing) how
deficient our own recovery is eg. AA 'lite', 'cafeteria' style recovery, “Beano readers” blah di blah di blah. But now we've come up with our
very own designation for the quick fix, instant gratification, do it
by the numbers brigade: 'Mickey Mouse' recovery. After all we can
play this game as well!
Question:
So how can you recognise Mickey Mouse recovery (Mickey Mouse - a
slang expression meaning small-time, amateurish or trivial. In the UK
and Ireland, it also means poor quality or counterfeit)?
(interestingly - or not depending on your point of view - Mickey
Mouse's (the cartoon character) body was originally designed out of
circles in order to make the character simple to animate. There's got
to be a message for the cult here somewhere!)
Answer:
Mickey Mouse (or MM) recovery is usually nearly instantaneous! This
miracle of transformation is achieved simply by: ringing up your
sponsor every day, and doing EXACTLY what he or she says (of course);
reading a passage from the Big Book (but only according to the
aforementioned guru's current interpretation); ringing two newcomers
(whether they want to be contacted or not) whose phone numbers you've
contrived to extract, all the while mindlessly chanting the cult
mantra – happy, joyous and free – as well as maintaining the
fiction (as loudly as possible, and at every opportunity) of never
having a bad day together with variations on this theme …. This
type of recovery doesn't require any kind of belief in a Higher Power
other than your sponsor nor is more than a superficial grasp of the
Steps indicated. In line with the cult injunction viz. your best
thinking got you drunk, reflection or insight are relegated to mere
self-indulgence and the aforementioned mindlessness (open-mindedness
is not quite the same thing) of the cult approach is very much de
rigeur.
So imagine
if you will a newcomer but recently arrived in the fellowship having
just escaped from their personal alcoholic hell. This individual
(whose concept of deferred gratification will necessarily be pretty
weak especially when it comes to alcohol) has spent a large part of
their life mostly sedated whilst seeking some kind of 'easy access'
nirvana. On encountering the cult he or she will be “guaranteed”
(yes folks – a cast iron guarantee!) a “life beyond their wildest
dreams”, that they will almost inevitably be “rocketed into a
fourth dimension” of bliss, and that never again will they EVER
EVER have a bad day etc etc, and all this merely by following
(mechanically) a few simple SUGGESTIONS (cult speak for orders!).
Some of these suggestions might bear a passing resemblance to the
recovery programme but hardly any will be in accordance with the
principles of either the programme or the fellowship (Steps,
Traditions, Concepts). The cult version is mostly counterfeit.
Having been fast-forwarded to yet another set of 12 (remember the
magical number!) 'Promises' via the largely 'assembly line' style of
sponsorship so favoured by the cult they will then be mystically
translated into this new reality. Let's face it! Any alcoholic (or
addict for that matter) when confronted with this scenario is hardly
likely to turn down the possibility. On the other hand if they're
actually told the truth, that there are no guarantees of anything
other than the fact that if you don't pick up the first drink you
can't get drunk, that the steps are the work of a life time and
require something more than superficial observance, that it is
extremely unlikely you'll be entering any dimensions other than the
rather humdrum one we currently occupy, and that bad and good days are
the normal lot of humanity, well that's entirely another matter isn't
it? So the cult starts and ends with a lie. There's really no other
way of putting it! Mickey Mouse recovery needless to say rarely
yields any lasting satisfaction - frothy emotional appeal rarely
does! And for those of us who have been through the process, and
then discovered the lie? Either abandon the cult (and AA) and look
for other alternatives (an increasing number are available), begin
attending REAL AA meetings where members share their experience of
life in all its awful (and glorious) majesty, or stay with the cult
and yell their ersatz message louder and louder in the forlorn hope
that this will serve to drown out those oh so nagging doubts. Life's
full of tough choices. But then it's that way for everyone. So take
heart! Strive on – mindfully!
Cheers
The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous ….. and THE REAL THING!)
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