In AA they always read the "Promises". It says we will not have the fear of financial insecurity. I keep hoping that they apply to me, too. Both personal work and group support will be the answer.
WEEK 1
1. Read http://ncbs.lefora.com/2008/09/02/step-ten
2. Then read from the 4 link selections below and post comments below that on any of the selections, if you like.
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/what-recovery/53195-todays-thought-personal-inventory.html
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/na-step-10/138757-step-10-a.html
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/alcoholism-12-step-support/144725-step-4-fears-inventory.html
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/step-10/139184-thoughts-step-10-a.html
3. Read the following and post comments, if you like.
RESPONSIBILITY
What are our responsibilities?
We're responsible for doing for ourselves what we can and for taking care of ourselves.
We're responsible for doing for others what we can, that they need but cannot do.
We're responsible for not harming ourselves or others, as far as possible.
We're responsible for helping ourselves and others to become more responsible.
We're responsible for taking on proper responsibilities as we become more competent.
We're responsible for being sensitive to our own feelings and those of others, so we can better care for each other.
We start our lives with no responsibility at all.
As we become more competent we want and usually get more responsibilities.
We also enjoy becoming more responsible until society starts to make responsibility seem painful or miserable. This begins to occur usually in grade school.
Natural Development
For kids it's responsible to have few responsibilities, but for adults it's responsible to have many, in accordance with competence.
Because most of us adults did not have proper training in responsibility, we remain somewhat irresponsible.
Active listening and moral inventory are among the best methods I know of to develop responsibilities properly.
Such responsibilities are fun, the way they were in our early childhoods, when we liked becoming more capable.
When we're not having much fun, we should take inventory, because not having fun is often a sign that something is wrong with us.
It may be that we're taking on more responsibilities than we are competent to handle.
Also, many of the things we think are proper responsibilities are not true responsibilities at all.
Perfectionism, false guilt and senseless traditions often give us false beliefs about responsibility.
In our inventories we need occasionally to review our responsibilities and discard those that are false.
False responsibilities include actions that harm ourselves or others.
Listening to responsible others helps us learn what are false responsibilities that harm anyone.
Responsibility to be Leaders [M. Scott Peck: People of the Lie]
The most responsible people are leaders and not blind followers.
Many leaders are immature, but they have the confidence, courage and discipline to think for themselves and to lead.
The most responsible leaders effectively encourage followers to become leaders.
They encourage followers to develop confidence, courage and discipline for independent thinking and leading.
This is proper leading, which promotes sharing leadership among all members of the group.
Responsible leadership promotes equality, cooperation, mutual respect, consensus decision making and group inventory.
Responsible Discipline
Discipline is ordered routine that produces effective and efficient action.
Active listening and moral inventory are among the best disciplines for developing responsible people.
Other important disciplines include nutrition, exercise, tidiness, planning and reading for knowledge.
Discipline is supposed to be fun, as is anything that is responsible.
To be fun means to feel rewarding and doing things in groups is often more rewarding than doing them alone.
So it's likely to be helpful to brainstorm with others to find ways to do some disciplines together in fun ways.
Responsibility to Share
It is Irresponsible to remain ignorant of basic matters on any important subject.
Except in emergencies, it is Irresponsible to be insensitive to anyone who may be in need.
In becoming more responsible, we must seek the best media for truth and knowledge.
We must also seek to advance truth and knowledge through our associations.
Important truth includes facts about people's needs or suffering anywhere on earth.
It also includes considerate discussion of how best to remedy such needs most effectively.
Conferences
Every group should attempt to advance such truth and other knowledge effectively.
This means group members should share truth and knowledge with each other.
It means groups also share truth and knowledge with other groups.
Knowledge includes science, history, economics, law, language, arts, personal experience etc.
The best knowledge to share is that which has the greatest potential to help the common good.
When groups meet, all members should be given about 5 minutes to share truth or knowledge.
If time is too limited, just one or a few members may be chosen to share at each conference.
Different members should be chosen to share for each conference, so all get a chance to share.
An alternative is for members to print out or email what they want to share for others.
Everyone should be free to decide themselves what seems to be truth and knowledge.
Everyone should also be encouraged to comment sensitively pro or con on what is shared by others.
Irresponsible Media
Few media exist that disseminate important truth and knowledge.
Most media report some such matters, but most also slant much of their reporting for the sake of special interests.
The most important subjects may be Politics, History, Science, Health and Education.
Most media on all these subjects are slanted and considerably dishonest, due to pride and insensitivity of media or the special interests who support them.
Science, education, health science and history are very distorted due to special interests.
Nations as Addicts
Our nation [and probably all nations] is like an addict, i.e. like a person addicted to power and substances.
That describes much of the dominant class of any society.
The lower classes of a society are like the addict's family members.
The addict is insensitive and denies doing anything wrong.
The family members are co-dependent and try to cover up for the addict in order to appear normal to outsiders.
Some co-dependent family members rebel, which upsets the other co-dependents and the addict.
Most rebels tend to become addicts or power abusers themselves.
Can you see how various groups in society behave like addicts, co-dependents, or rebels?
Since truth and knowledge are so distorted, much work needs to be done to make it right.
Duty of responsible people is to:
Ccooperate with all other responsible people, because cooperation helps prevent irresponsible people from taking power & abusing the people.
Find responsible groups, those that support peace, justice and human rights for all & that desire to cooperate with all major responsible groups.
Join responsible groups & tell them & propose that they do their duty to cooperate with all major responsible groups by sharing concerns & important info, starting intergroup committees & cooperatively deciding on & doing best intergroup actions.
Share concerns & important info with the public, especially about people's needs & how to fulfill needs.
Avoid group pride & treat all people with respect.
Help members overcome conflicts such as via moral self-survey.
Ask responsible groups about & listen to their concerns & important info.
Tell irresponsible people & groups reasons to be responsible.
Find what false beliefs make people & groups irresponsible & prove to them relevant truths [some such false beliefs include survival of the fittest, that hard conditions make people stronger, that people are overpopulated and that the unfit need to die].
Find major threats to the common people, raise awareness & find solutions to such threats.
Threats to the common people include:
Irresponsible people, leaders & groups - nations & businesses that oppose peace, justice & or human rights;
Physical and emotional health problems; and
Organizational and technological inefficiency are common major threats.
Solutions to such threats include:
Explaining reasons to be responsible and promote responsibility;
Compiling & promoting an encyclopedia of health solutions; and
Compiling & promoting an encyclopedia for organizational & technological efficiency.
Further Guidelines for Responsible People
1. Determine what are the most important facts, such as these:
a. most communities and nations suffer abuse by irresponsible leaders;
b. responsible people must cooperate diligently, or irresponsible people take power and abuse the people;
c. the most responsible and caring people seem to be members of nonprofits;
d. the best way for nonprofits to cooperate may be via monthly conferences;
e. responsible people must share important information and concerns and listen to the same from others;
f. they must do research to establish policies of effective cooperation;
2. Communicate with responsible people and propose effective cooperation.
3. Plan monthly conferences for nonprofits and the public.
4. Establish responsible media, such as: conferences; websites; online forums; online videos; online archives of important information; coops.
5. Develop and support responsible coops, leaders and laws.
