0n (23 Jan 06) WAYNE CHIRNSIDE wrote to CINDY HAGLUND...

-> -> Point is I guess if belief in a higher power gets an addict to come
-> -> and stay clean, all for the better. At least he doesn't push this.
-> -> Some people feel if they 'find a solution' they are  compelled to have
-> -> others do so as well or they feel they've failed and go back to their
-> -> dugs/booze etc. That's sad.

-> -> IMHO trading booze/and heroine for a deity is just swapping addictions
-> -> but well the latter at least won't kill you.

->  WC> You can address the underlaying circumstances that leads up
->  WC> to suppressing feelings with drugs or alcohol and then too there's
->  WC> the group Rational Recovery, no deities required.

->  Yep! I remember we talked about this a year or so ago. Whew got
-> somebody totally bent out of shape remember? I'm just saying if
-> something like a deity helps someone 'get clean' it's better than the
-> alternative which is certain death.

 WC> Do you hold this opinion in the case of George W. Bush?

Why would I? Let me clarify:

  One who feels helped by belief, can keep that belief to himself.

  In the $hrub Case, $hrub uses his alleged belief to advance his
  personal agenda (power) at the expense of millions of other people
  who would rather just drop the dead.

  Do you see the difference? And then there's degree. Some people who
  come clean/sober are so afraid to face life sober, they lose
  themselves in faith instead.
 
 WC> He credits Christianity for getting him sober.
 
 Yes but then he turns around and exploits that faith, using
 it as a power tool to advance himself.

 I can't remember who said this, but I'll try to find it if you like.

 You can't think your way into acting right, you have to ACT your way
 into thinking right. (IOW don't just talk about it, DO it.)

 Bush skews this philosophy by changing the definition of right, and
 justifying acting wrong.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

WC> He also hears from God telling him to attack Iraq.
WC> From his mouth to our ears.

Yeah Ordinary folks would be put on antipsychotic meds. But then some
say he's only acting; using God as a power tool to terrify the
sheeple..
...................................

 WC> Personally I think he needed more professional help.

-> From the perspective of a pernt, I'm irked by the head in sand
-> indifference of the parents. Too busy with their own lives and not
-> really wanting to admit their kids are in deep trouble.

 WC> My parents were too busy getting drunk, abusing each other and
 WC> screaming at us kids.

 Story is same for many, even the kids of the rich and powerful. :)

 At a family gathering not too long ago, Christopher Lawford relates
how his Uncle Teddy said he didn't want to be around "when you kids
are my age." When asked why, he said, "It's all going to fall apart."
(The Kennedy Family).

I don't know how strong their 'faith' was or perhaps it was misplaced.
Maybe their true faith wasn't in a god, but as it is for so many rich
people: In money.
                 
 WC> Not an ideal childhood.

 Nope but CKL learned to let go of the past as we all must do if we
wan tto be true to ourselves. You just move the hell on. He said a lot
in his book Wayne. A lot. Like so many in his family and his
generation he is loyal to the "legacy" that is his family but like all
of them too he struggled to make a life for himself; seek his own
identity separate from the family. That's quiet a challenge. A number
of those of his generation (David for ie.)

Before I finished the last five chapters I was feeling angry that his
parents did not pay enough attention to him. BUT then like he says,
you can't change the past. All you can change is yourself.

Most of us don't realize the effects of the death of RFK on his
children and their first cousins. We never notice the personal side.
We only see the public face. CK shows the human side.

(The book is "Withdrawal Symptoms")




--- PPoint 3.01