First of all, I’d like to apologize for the two-week hiatus from What…Me Sober?. Moving from a big 2/2 apartment where you’ve lived for 25 years to a much smaller 1/1 is a complicated project, fraught with turmoil. But that’s a story for another day, perhaps.
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The beauty and joy of life dwell within differences.
~ Answers in the Heart, April 1
Who wants to watch the same sunset every evening? Who wants to converse only with people who parrot our own thoughts and opinions?
Why do I imagine that I need opinions to begin with, or that they bear more validity than other people’s? Is it because I am afraid? Of what? Does being “wrong” threaten who I am?
And where did I get those opinions, anyway? Are they mine, or did I inherit them from others through lazy thinking — or due to rebellion?
What makes me so sure that I’m right?
What...Me Sober? 
You might find the book “Beyond Belief – Agnostic Musings for 12-Step Life” interesting. I consider it one of the two or three best “self help” books I’ve read. Use it every day, and you don’t have to be a non-believer to get something out if it; it’s not anti-God, it simply ignores the issue in favor of down to earth information.
I have no connection to the book at all; I simply recommend it. I also like “Ethics for the New Millennium” by His Holiness the Dalai Lama for a great (believe it or not) secular look at ethics and morality.
Keep on keepin’ on,
Bill
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I love your post. I can relate to equating being wrong with being less than others. Good thing I’ve been wrong so many times I’ve managed to outgrow some of that. Thanks for your post it is thought provoking.
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You are right to question your opinions and whether they are right or not. I am a bit of a news junkie and I have opinions on all sorts of world issues because I am so interested in them. But I hope none of my opinions are so fixed that if new information came to me that proved I did not understand the full picture I would not be able to change them. I was 11 years clean and sober at the beginning of this year. I’ve done my whole recovery in 12 Step. But after I’d been exposed to some people who were very anti-12 Step last year I started questioning everything about 12 Step and even thinking I should maybe drink again. It was a real existential crisis. But after a rational consideration of my options, and getting advice from people I trusted, I realised my life is so much better without alcohol and drugs that I don’t want to drink again. I used to believe in God, now I’m not sure but I seem to be functioning fine with my new agnosticism.
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