10. Fear of drinking is not a guiding principle of AA

By Tom O'Connell

Fear of drinking doesn't lead to healthy sobriety. Instead, faith in a loving Higher Power and love of sobriety lead to a healthier, happier outlook. 

The mysterious paradox is that we often attract what we fear. When we radiate negative energy we tend to attract negative responses from others. And when we radiate positive energy we tend to attract positive responses from life.

In self-defense training programs, it is emphasized that a person who walks in dangerous neighborhoods and looks afraid is more likely to get mugged than a person who walks with confidence.

"Confidence" is a wonderful word. It's based on the Latin word for "trust." And it can be interpreted as "sure of oneself." A person who is confident walks "with faith." Not with cocky arrogance. Not with blind egotism. With simple faith.

So fear is not the antidote for alcoholism any more than it is the solution to dealing with violent situations. Nor is fear of punishment the solution to the sins and excesses of the world. Love is the solution. Love of health. Love of peace. Love of harmony. Love of self, others, and God. 

Actually, every actively drinking alcoholic is riddled with fear, doubt,  insecurity, and the feeling of impending doom. And every actively drinking alcoholic is suffering from a love deficit. Instead of leading an impaired person to sobriety, fear is more likely to lead to a series of drinks designed to blot out the fear.

What about reasonable caution when it comes to alcohol? Even though caution  has a little fear mixed in with it, caution is based on intelligence. Using God-given  intelligence, a person can make a connection between the use of a substance and its consequences, and then make a healthy decision. When you combine intelligence and love you have wisdom. And that is a key goal of healthy sobriety.

The Little Red Book, published by Hazelden, clearly states, "The AA program is not founded upon fear. It is a spiritual Way of Life based on Power other than our own, on faith in a Power greater than ourselves to overcome fear and other defects of our alcoholic personalities." Fear, other than reasonable caution, is seen as a character defect.

This book notes that those who think they'll find contented sobriety based on the fear of alcohol "do not stay sober long." It explains that people who use fear as their basis for reforming their behavior seem to have "an unacknowledged desire to drink again."

You might describe the fearful abstainer as a reluctant sober person. And a better word than "sober" might be the word "dry." Dryness isn't enough to maintain healthy sobriety.

Remember the old saying that there is nothing harder to live with than a reformed drunk? What that really means is that it's very difficult to live with a "dry drunk" who hasn't adopted a spiritual basis for relating to self, others and God. A person whose life is based on fear instead of love is a burden to self and others.  

The Little Red Book, which is described as "an Orthodox Interpretation of the Twelve Steps of the Alcoholics Anonymous Program," emphasizes the wise use of intelligence when dealing with the presence of alcohol. "Alcohol can be all around us without harmful effect if our 'spiritual ground' is right and we are on a 24-hour practice of our philosophy."

Intelligence indicates that we shouldn't stroll across an interstate highway without looking. We should use caution instead. So intelligence dictates that recovering alcoholics need to use as much caution with alcohol as they would use with any other poison. "Contented sobriety will come easier when we have learned to take alcohol out of the beverage classification and place it where it rightfully belongs for us--among the poisons.

According to The Little Red Book, fear is "nothing more than a distorted faith in the negative things of life and evils that might beset us. AA philosophy does not concern itself with anxiety or fear. ...Our antidote for fear is faith...all-out faith in God as we understand Him. We have found this to be an effective measure in overcoming all fears the alcoholic is subjected to."

So overcoming fear is an important goal of sobriety. And the opposite of fear is faith. To repeat the opening lines of this essay, "Fear of drinking doesn't lead to healthy sobriety. Instead, faith in a loving Higher Power and love of sobriety lead to a healthier, happier outlook."

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