Comments on: About Your Higher Power

by: Kelly

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 05:21:53 +0000

I came here because I am confused about God. I have been going to meetings for 4 months…and still cant get this spiritual thing down. I read this site and was like wow, it makes so much sense I already feel that way. But then I feel like Im being tricked….just like how people say AA is a cult. I never know who to trust. I feel lost.

Kelly,

I suggest you trust your native beliefs and values and intuitions, and that
you rely upon yourself and your original family values. AVRT® is just a
depiction of free will, i.e., your moral conscience. If you don’t believe
you have free will, as AA says you don’t, then you’re pretty well sunk.
Remember, it takes no support to do the right thing. Trust yourself, first and last.

Cheers,

Jack Trimpey

by: Steve

Sun, 11 Mar 2007 07:07:40 +0000

I cant wait to see the AA folks return to this site to ‘make amends’ for the “Do it our way, or you’ll drink” again attitude shown here. We all know that kind of self-righteousness wont fit for real in anyone’s moral inventory.

And you damn well better be coming back on your knees, asking to make amends, because we all know what happens, if you don’t, dont we;). Of course, those cannot do so are just in denial, so we know THEY’LL be drinking again, any moment.

Keep up the good work, Jack!

Steve,

I won’t hold my breath waiting for apologies from 12-stepper, because that requires a moral conscience, notably absent in a program that expects daily preening to just “be good” for one, single day at a time.

Jack Trimpey

by: Denny

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 17:13:53 +0000

Jack,
It is appparent you are not intelligent enough to know the difference between addiction recovery and being a dumb ass. Do you really believe this crap that you are putting on the site? You need more help than any of the subscribers, I pray that you will get freedom from your self and stop issusing harmful information, you are showing people with addiction how stupid you really are.

by: poquita

Sat, 06 Jan 2007 05:57:40 +0000

I can’t believe people would think this “program” is a hoax. I read Jack’s book 6 years ago & haven’t taken a drink since I got half way thru the book. It was from the library - so it didn’t cost anything.

12 step programs are largly ineffective, and I have a significant spiritual conflict w/ the 12 step religion. So, just quit drinking and get over it.

by: Kirkenhoffen

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 10:36:11 +0000

The infantile tirades from those entrenched in AA doctrines – and the naive use of religious and spiritual language and convoluted jargon would seem to strengthen the case for organizations such as Rational recovery either directly in inadvertently.

Karma sneaking up on you? Reminds me of the pompous ignoramuses that hold court in the musty halls of AA. Diehard proponents of ‘the program’ are screaming fundamentalist religious zealots, by and large, however their language for the pulpit is often spiced up with titbits of hippy ecclesiastica, (Interestingly Karma could be defined as ‘moral action,’ [1] and in many respects this can be aligned with the Western understanding of ‘freedom of choice’).

This is a far cry from ‘the system of rewards and punishments meted out by god’ as practiced by the frothing AA fundamentalists (as witnessed on this blog).

Some of this language has been acquired socially, perhaps innocently, yet much of this dressing up of language is deliberate and done with guile: to hide the fundamentalism upon which AA philosophy is based. Such an admixture is not surprising really, given that the AA founder was a voracious borrower of vernacular.

Unless AA rewrites it codes and gives itself a social, linguistic and moral shake-up, it will sink further and into the morass that it has created for itself. Perhaps this could better be aligned with the Buddhist concept of Karma. I wholeheartedly support the efforts of Rational Recovery in flushing out these blundering dunces. The extent to which this movement (AA) has infiltrated society at large, the halls of academia, even government is astounding.

References

[1] Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction by Damien Keown. Oxford University Press. 1996.

by: xcondotcom

Fri, 08 Sep 2006 22:50:13 +0000

GONE…Wife, 3 children, 5 homes, city job and went to prison all due to “the beast” AA is the only way I can stay sober. If you make money on the sufferings of others, “so be it”…..Karma has a way of sneaking up on you.

by: Roland van Meerten

Sat, 02 Sep 2006 15:26:07 +0000

Having just explored this RR-page and read all the information given, I just want to say that You almost caught me with your opinions towards recovery from alcohol or drugs.
But I hope that everybody with a mind of its own realizes (like me ) just in time that this crash-course is very dangerous. Like other people who already rejected this program said, its content is nothing else than another explanation of the 12-steps, but this one pushes You in the wrong direction and than it let You CRASH…
In my opinion this program feels very natural to people who have never ever decided anything for themselves.
“it’s not hard, everyone can do it …” well, let me say this about recovery : anyone can do it, but it’s tougher than life !
roland, holland

by: Dom

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 10:59:43 +0000

Typical 12 stepper tunnel vision. “our way is the only way.” You forget that what you are looking for is in the last place you look. I was an IV herion and cocaine user and a former 12 stepper. Finally woke up to the fact that it is a creepy cult and that I couldn’t stop using despite following all the “suggestions.” I ended up at Jack’s site and took the AVRT crash course which is FREE. Then I ordered the book to solidify my AVRT abilities. I don’t use now, nor will I ever. There is no mystery about it. God didn’t do it. I did. I stopped using with a very simple technique. They don’t say shit about how to get and stay abstinent in AA/NA. They tell you how powerless and diseased you are and to shut up and listen, don’t think. “Take the cotton batten out of your ears and stick it in your mouth.” Or other anti-intellectual sentiments like “Your best thinking got you here.” What a refreshing approach Rational Recovery is. If you want to talk about making money I suggest you look at AA’s big money maker-the multi billion dollar treatment industry. Also your cult founder Bill W was a con man and embezzled thousands from AA.

by: Sarah

Wed, 05 Jul 2006 22:15:49 +0000

This website is a complete hoax. I was an alcoholic for 11 years, and the only way I obtained sobriety was through AA. I have been sober for 6 years now. Everyone is looking for a way to make a quick buck, and RR is no exception.

by: Joyce

Fri, 30 Jun 2006 03:37:13 +0000

My husband is an alcoholic. I’ve spent night after night watching him drink himself into an oblivion I have learned to hate. I’ve carried the burden of hiding his embarrasing antics any way I can in order to save myself “face” to the rest of the world - including his family and mine. I’ve seen him struggle against your “beast” and watched him turn into an “ASS”. The battle of never knowing who I am going to come home to at night has become my life’s work and it’s hard and gotten very old. I really needed some help tonight, and I googled “Alanon” and this site came up instead. I have chatted on line with Alanon members before, but not having a religious foundation, I always felt a little confused and outside of their realm. Besides, I have a problem with not calling an ass an ass, and just standing by and letting go… letting someone else deal with it. THANK YOU for the straight talk that I will read over and over again until it finally sinks into my stubborn brain. I won’t be paying for anything tonight, so you’ve helped me totally without condition. Your words ring true to me, and that was what I was looking for.