Corking the Bottle

And now a word from Brad Pitt: "With starring roles in two of 2019's biggest movies, 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' and 'Ad Astra,' Brad Pitt spoke  to the New York Times  about a particularly cathartic experience that contributed to his health and success this year, when he quit drinking and began going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. “'I had taken things as far as I could take it, so I removed my drinking privileges,' he said, before praising his AA group, which was comprised solely of men. 'You had all these men sitting around being open and honest in a way I have never heard. It was this safe space where there was little judgment, and therefore little judgment of yourself.' "Despite his status as one of Hollywood's most recognizable movie stars, Pitt shared that nobody in his group sold his stories – told to the other members in confidence – to the tabloids. "'It was actually really freeing just to expose the ug...

Thank God for the power to stop drinking. No, really, literally: Thank God! I pulled together some passages today from two books that mean a lot to me: The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck ( http://www.mscottpeck.com/ ), and the Big Book by the pioneers of Alcoholics Anonymous ( https://www.aa.org/pages/en_US/alcoholics-anonymous ). These quotes refer to the utmost ingredient essential to our growth and maturity, whether we are alcoholics or not. I refer to the deity many of us call God. I want to start with Dr. Peck: "In debating the wisdom of a proposed course of action [like quitting drinking], human beings routinely fail to obtain  God's side of the issue. They fail to consult or listen to the God within them, the knowledge of rightness which inherently resides within the minds of all mankind.... If we seriously listen to this 'God within us' -- we usually find ourselves being urged to take the more difficult path, the path of more effort rather than less...

"Just as a sculptor will use different tools to achieve desired effects in creating a work of art, in Alcoholics Anonymous the Twelve Steps are used to bring about results in my own life.... My life is now in the Hands of my Higher Power, a master craftsman who is shaping each part of my life into a unique work of art." That's an excerpt from A.A.'s Daily Reflections for July 1. After it was read at an A.A. meeting I attended that day, Jim added to the sculpting metafore. He said sculpting is done either by adding or taking away. By starting with nothing, an artist can take clay and form it to take the shape he wants. Or a sculptor can start with a rock or a slab of metal or even ice and take away from it until he creates the form he wants it to have. Jim's point was that God does sculpt us. He can do so by adding joy to our lives and helping us find our true form. God also sculpts us by taking away our drinking and our flaws. "He makes me a new person....

I am glad my disease led me to the 12 Steps. They are the A.A.  formula for sobriety. But they are much more than that. They are a formula for living. Everyone, not just alcoholics, should embrace the 12 Steps as a tried-and-true way to live a fulfilling and spiritual life. The first step is the only one that even mentions "alcohol;" the next 11 1/2 tell us how to live. They are for everybody. THE TWELVE STEPS OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS  1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shor...