Confusing changes to the English language

These are recent posts on X. 

I may post more on this topic later.

 

Trust -- third concept of 12 step service -- and surrender

 Today I want to talk today about the 3rd concept of OA service:

        3. The right of decision, based on trust, makes effective leadership possible.

Trust

This is a very hard concept right now.  There are so many reasons not to trust

• Deep fake AI
• Deliberate disinformation distributed both by domestic and foreign actors
• Corruption 
• Unfounded conspiracy theories
• Scam messages (phone, e-mail, social media)

Also it is hard to trust God.  Look what is happening in the world: genocide; hunger; war; natural disasters; all manner of suffering and horrendous obstacles to life itself.

But, in fact, nothing works if we lack trust.  If we are constantly plotting, hiding, doubting, mistrusting, nothing works.  Society falls apart.  We cannot even drive a car without trusting other drivers to behave themselves.

If we trust God, we can be more serene, not trying to control things that in fact we cannot control.  People who trust God live longer, because they have less stress.  People who trust God are less likely to engage in self-destructive compulsive behavior like addiction.

If people trust each other, there is so much less work in checking, counter-checking, installing security devices and software.  

Yet, I find that people reaching out to me on social media are almost invariably scammers.  On Instagram, in my real name account, I have to block several scammers every single day. Yesterday, I went through my hidden message requests and had to block a dozen scammers.

It's very hard to operate with trust in these circumstances.

I noticed recently that FB messenger they've introduced a 6 digit PIN.  I'm resisting creating one, because it seems like too much trouble -- yet I know that they've been plagued by hackers and this is what they're doing to try to combat that.  I never want to click on links in FB messenger, because I know that's how you get hacked.

When I was growing up, it was not the case that people called us with scams.  Of course, at that time long distance phone calls cost money, while now most plans have unlimited long distance calling within the USA.  It's that very nice thing of having essentially free long distance that makes scams so easy.

Yet, trust is what keeps the peace.  Trust is what makes things work.  Trust is what allows us to surrender to God.  Trust is what makes us realize that we are not in charge, that we can't control things, that only HP can control things, so that we have to trust whether we like it or not.

Sort of a conundrum -- yet so important.

Proposed secular affirmations for non-theist program members

This is an ongoing project.  Comments are sought.  Changes are expected.

Why secular affirmations?  Because we have atheists and agnostic members.  Moreover, some addicts are suing in various places not to be referred to 12 step programs, because they perceive 12 step programs as religious.  I can see where one might think so, reading the literature -- tho I've met plenty of atheists and agnostics who find their way through. 

Personally, I have never been quite sure whether abstinence actually comes from an external higher power or from an interesting neurological phenomenon, caused by prayer and meditation, which only feels like it's an external higher power.  I have another blog on this topic https://annalisse-mayer.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-neurological-argument-about-why.html  I have been content to live with ambiguity -- praying with one part of my mind while doubting with another. 

I don't have such a rigid concept of truth as I once did.  The true/false binary that dominated my mind when I was studying math and working as a computer programmer was muddied when I went to law school.  It has been replaced by a mentality more similar to the Zen koans, which use apparent contradictions to clear the mind of chatter.  

I believe that the logical true/false binary is insufficient to encompass God.  God is beyond the limitations of human understanding.  I spoke about this in an earlier post https://annalisse-mayer.blogspot.com/2012/03/mathematical-definition-of-god.html

Serenity Prayer

The serenity prayer seems very amenable to non-theist language

Original language

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

Proposed Translation 

May we have the serenity to accept the things we cannot change;

Courage to change the things we can; and

Wisdom to know the difference. 

Third Step Prayer

The 3rd step prayer is more difficult as theist concepts are so deeply embedded in it.  

This is the original language

God, I offer myself to Thee — to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always!

Here is a proposed translation into non-theist language.  This necessarily reflects what I think the prayer means in terms much different from the original.  I suppose the prayer may mean something different to others, which is difficult to resolve.

I surrender

To living life on life's terms.

I will stop trying to will my future

And be open to becoming someone else.

May I be relieved of the bondage of self. 

I trust that by surrendering

I will be brought into a recovered space

Where I will be better suited to dealing with life

In a constructive manner.

My recovery will be a testimony

To the effectiveness of this program.

May I learn to go with the flow.

I have another blog on this site on the topic of the 3rd step prayer  https://annalisse-mayer.blogspot.com/2012/10/understanding-bondage-of-self-step-3.html

Seventh Step Prayer

Original Language 

My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen.

Suggested translation

I stand before the universe accepting and knowing myself as I am, both good and bad. I seek removal of every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness.  I seek strength to go out from here in harmony with the universe.  

******

[to be continued -- comments solicited]

#12Step #12_Step #TwelveStep #ProgramPrayers #NonTheism #NonTheistPrayers #NonTheistProgramAffirmations #SerenityPrayer #ThirdStepPrayer #SeventhStepPrayer

Link to other attempts https://orlandorecoveryfamily.com/2016/03/20/versions-of-the-third-step-prayer/#:~:text=An%20Atheist%2F%20Agnostic%20Third%20Step,purpose%20and%20act%20on%20it.

COLLAGE OF MY BOOK COVERS

JUST HOPING THAT, IF I PUT THIS HERE, I'LL BE ABLE TO FIND IT WHEN I NEXT NEED IT -- POSSIBLY TO RESPOND TO A #WRITERSLIFT

 

Pink tax and @Maebe_A_Girl

My daughter is trans. I don’t want to be anti-trans. However, the way some trans women — not my daughter — choose to portray women, or their image of women, disturbs me. These are some tweets that I sent to a trans congressional candidate.

 #Trans #TransWomen #MaebeAGirl #PinkTax #MakeUp #Fashion #HyperSexualization #MaleFantasiesOfWomen #SexualizationOfWomen #SexualizingFashion

Wuhan Lab Leak Theory

  I know no one cares what I think on this topic, but I don't believe COVID-19 leaked from the lab in Wuhan.

The virus was discovered in Wuhan, because there was a great lab there.  That doesn't mean the virus started there.

I have met several people who believe they had COVID-19 in the USA in the fall of 2019  -- and their doctors also think so.

There was an early severe outbreak in Iran.  The Iranians have been very secretive about their outbreak -- unlike the Chinese who have been relatively forthcoming -- and even quickly sequenced the virus and immediately published their work to benefit other scientists -- which may well have sped our development of vaccines.  There was frequent commerce between IRan an Wuhan.  The virus could easily have originated in Iran.

The COVID-19 virus was supposedly distinguished by a unique spike protein -- but scientists have now discovered a virus in a bat cave in Cambodia that has that same supposedly unique spike protein.  

In Africa, there have been a lot of COVID-19 cases, but public health officials in some countries claim that there have not been significant numbers of people getting respiratory distress.  This seems to indicate that Africans already have some immunity to the virus. 

The Wuhan lab felt that the virus came from a wild animal market.  That market very likely had animals from Africa, which might have been carrying the virus.  The virus has been recognized as being "promiscuous," in other words passing between species easily.

There is, therefore, substantial evidence that, by the time the virus was detected in the famous Wuhan lab, COVID-19 was already widespread throughout the world.  

The virus spread substantially in Wuhan, because it's a large, very crowded city.  China also has a fairly well developed infrastructure, so disease outbreaks are more noticeable.  The spread of the virus in Wuhan is not proof that the virus originated there.

Moreover, a similar viral outbreak was documented in the late 19th century, showing that this kind of viral outbreak happened naturally before there was any kind of genetic engineering.

The recurrence of the lab leak theory stems from anti-Chinese sentiment -- both racial and political.  It's not based on real evidence.

#COVID_19 #Wuhan #LabLeak #LabLeakTheory #SARS_COV2

Copied from FB about “free” speech

A friend  of mine wrote this on FB. It’s about the current political situation. I decided to copy it here, with his permission

From 31 October 2022 interview with Eugen Rochko, founder of the social media platform Mastodon:

“I specifically disagree with his“ (Elon Musk’s) “stance on free speech, because I think that it depends on your interpretation of what free speech means. If you allow the most intolerant voices to be as loud as they want to, you’re going to shut down voices of different opinions as well. So allowing free speech by just allowing all speech is not actually leading to free speech, it just leads to a cesspit of hate. 

“I think that is a very uniquely American idea of creating this marketplace of ideas where you can say anything you want completely without limits. It is very foreign to the German mindset where we, in our Constitution, our number one priority is maintaining human dignity. And so, hate speech is not part of the German concept of free speech, for example. So I think that when Elon Musk says that everything’s gonna be allowed, or whatever, I generally disagree with that.”

This differentiation is critical, I believe. 

In a democracy which aspires to the tenets expressed in the Preamble to the US Constitution, free speech cannot not mean *any* speech; it cannot mean untruthful speech, or irresponsible speech, if the democracy hopes to be sustainable.

A vote for Trump and his minions is a vote for autocracy, fascism, and absolutely un-free speech. It is a vote for hate, for discrimination, for fear. It is a vote for the realization of Huxley’s ‘Brave New World,’ for Orwell’s ‘1984,’ for Atwood’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’ 

It is a vote, not for the truth that all humans are created equal; but rather, for the fiction that some humans are more equal than others (as Orwell also explored in ‘Animal Farm.’)

Other than some photos here and there, I have posted virtually nothing since a few months into the pandemic — when I became overwhelmed and appalled at the turn of public discourse away from science, reason, logic, truth, and responsibility. This will be my only foray into the political sphere on FB this year.