Guard Against A Revived Ego [A Single Surrender Is Not Enough]
December 2008
A Dozen Steps: Looking for something to write about and, once again, I found it at Barefoot’s World;
“The Twelve Steps As Ego Deflating Devices”
By Dr. Harry M. Tiebout - sub-titled “What Does Surrender Mean?”
“For reasons still obscure, the program and the fellowship of AA could cause a surrender, which in turn would lead to a period of no drinking. It became ever more apparent that in everyone’s psyche there existed an unconquerable ego which bitterly opposed any thought of defeat. Until that ego was somehow reduced or rendered ineffective, no likelihood of surrender could be anticipated.”
Wow - bitterly opposed any thought of defeat! Oh, that’s right, now I remember - my ex-wife once reminded me, as sober me watched My Name Is Bill W.
“AA, still very much in its infancy, was celebrating a third or fourth anniversary of one of the groups. The speaker immediately preceding me told in detail of the efforts of his local group - which consisted of two men - to get him to dry up and become its third member. After several months of vain efforts on their part and repeated nose dives on his, the speaker went on to say: “Finally, I got cut down to size and have been sober ever since,” a matter of some two or three years. When my turn came to speak, I used his phrase “cut down to size” as a text around which to weave my remarks. Before long, out of the corner of my eye, I became conscious of a disconcerting stare. It was coming from the previous speaker.
It was perfectly clear: He was utterly amazed that he had said anything which made sense to a psychiatrist. The incident showed that two…