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The Marina Dock Newsletter AUGUST 2005Dear Marina Dock Members and Patrons,
GENETIC PREDISPOSITIONA Kansas State Collegian study published in September 2003 found a strong genetic link between generations of binge drinkers, with the strongest genetic link between fathers and sons. What is even more interesting is the discovery that fathers, who abstain from drinking to avoid the alcoholism gene passed on from his father, may pass the gene on to his son from the grandfather. This may explain in some cases how people find themselves in AA meeting when neither one of their parents have a history of drinking. Bill Arck, Director of alcohol and drug education for Kansas University Counseling Services, said that although a person might have genes that are more susceptible to drinking, he or she might not become a drinker, although it is common. When Harry M&M, stated all those years ago that he was "the product of fifteen hundred years of genetic engineering," he did not get the credit he deserved for his perspicacity. Arck goes on to say, "The only sure way of avoiding the alcohol susceptibility gene is to abstain. There isn't any way that a person can become an alcoholic, even if their father, mother or both were alcoholics, if they just don't drink at all." A book by Charles Levinthal, "Drugs, Behavior and Modern Society," says that for every one alcoholic, four others are affected by his drinking; Arck said he agreed with this analysis. HUMILITYI read somewhere recently
that humility was not about "thinking less of yourself,
but thinking of your self less". Kenneth Hart, Ph.D. ,
an existential psychologist, University of Windsor, states "There
is a tremendous amount of confusion about what humility is and
is not. For example, in contrast to popular belief, it does
not connote "humiliation" or "embarrassment."
This research, despite its esoteric and technical The author appeals for greater conceptual clarity, in our quest for a better understanding of theory and research on humility. Pride, conceit, grandiosity, and superiority are all implicated in a lack of humility. The article also suggests that "much can be learned about humility and practice associated with 12-step addiction recovery groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous. "For over 60 years now, these groups have been receiving millions of people into spiritually-based humility interventions. These real-life experiments are ongoing and have been conducted in over 125 countries with great success". Hart, the author goes on to say, "Briefly AA's 12-step program is a program of self-actualization. The idea is to transform the self into the antithesis of its selfish and hedonistic value structure. The philosophy underlying the 12-step program proposes that selfishness and self-centeredness (i.e., narcissism) is the root of many people's suffering. AA's "Big Book" and "12x12" (their two major texts) further argue that humility is the antidote to suffering. But, to implement this solution, the human ego or sense of selfhood must be transcended and a more spacious sense of identity must be found." "Tiebout argues that AA's planned program of recovery does exactly this, and he clearly explains how this miraculous transformation is accomplished. Briefly, AA's steps shift a person from having a secular experience of reality to having a great sense that the sacred is imminent in everyday life. When the presence of the divine is increasingly available to awareness, Tiebout argues that humility grows in proportion. The specific mediating mechanisms by which a person is gradually shifted from being self-focused are clearly articulated by Tiebout. I have never seen this explained better anywhere else." "To summarize then, I think future scholarships on humility can capitalize on work already done by scholars of narcissism and by knowledge gained by the natural experiment embodied in 12-step groups. Existential psychotherapists should be especially keen to learn more about how these 12-step groups seek to inculcate greater levels of humility. As noted above, their intervention methodology is grounded in the search for the sacred, and this involves a radical reshuffling of an individual's value structure. While some would argue that 12-step groups such as A.A. are religious, they are not. There is no dogma or creed. The groups are truly ecumenical. Obviously, "spirituality" will need to be featured in any future discussion on humility." Research on Humility for Existential Psychologists in the 21st Century, Kenneth E. Hart, Ph.D. University of Windsor, Windsor, ON Canada AS BILL SEES ITA.A.'s co-founder, Bill Wilson, wrote extensively on the topic of "humility". Here are a couple of my favorites: HUMILITY FIRST"We found many in A.A. who once
thought, as we did, that humility was another name for weakness.
They helped us get down to our right size. By their example
they showed us that humility and intellect could be compatible,
provided we placed humility first. When we began to do that,
we received the gift of faith, a faith which works. This faith
is for you, too. As Bill Sees It, p. 36
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