Friday, October 14, 2011

Sympathy vs Empathy - A.A. & N.A.

I just got done reading a publication about Sympathy vs Empathy and because I don't have a huge database of references to pull from, I have to connect that information with biblical scripture as well as Anonymous Recovery terminology because basically.. that's all I've got.

The first thing that came to mind as I was finishing the article about the difference between sympathy and empathy is the relationship I see between the A.A. and N.A. "Oldtimers." (Alcoholics Anonymous & Narcotics Anonymous.)
I don' t know how true the accounting is, but I've been given a few different stories as to why there is such a rivalry between the two fellowships.

Before I turn this into a research paper, I kinda just wanna state my case and leave it at that so I can get back to doing my homework, which I've been lacking on for the past few weeks..

An alcoholic can have sympathy for somebody that's been addicted to narcotics, but would not necessarily share an empathetic perspective unless the person with a narcotic addiction had experienced an addiction to alcohol as well.
A person that solely used narcotics addictively would not share an empathetic perspective with somebody that only drank alcohol. In that case, only a scene of sympathy could be present in the addict.

Unless these emotional states are present in either of the persons, no sense of compassion will manifest and a desire to find differences will pervade. That being the case, ethnocentrism will be the result, and there will be no chance of recovery.

Why that's relevant, or even worth writing anything about, is because I wonder where the children caught in the crossfire sit. Those that have drank alcoholically as well as used narcotics addictively.

People like me don't really have a house to claim, which is why I've found my recovery in Jesus, NOT RELIGION OR CHURCH.

After reading the bible, and being around both the N.A. and A.A. communities, I've learned that they too, like church's, are subject to the folly of religious practices.
You will get you're head torn off by the statement: "We're spiritual, not religious" if you ever make mention to the similarities, but they are there if you know what you're looking for.


The article I read can be found HERE:
http://robin.hubpages.com/hub/Sympathy_vs_Empathy


Thursday, October 13, 2011

Out'a nowhere!

I wanted to write something tonight. I haven't written anything in a while, but I don't feel too bad because I've been keeping up on my V-Log so at least I'm not closing up.

Lot's of stuff has happen since I last posted here, so it would take a while to catch that aspect up. I'm not going to do that because honestly I should be working on my homework/studying, but I've been kinda fucking around for the past few hours and my lack of attention is starting to annoy even me.

I wanna talk about the fact that I feel bad because I haven't had the time to be as apart of Living Stones as I originally intended to be, but it's lame to "feel bad" about that. Honestly me feeling bad that I can't participate in the social aspect of church is insulting when it comes to the reality of why we go to church.

The whole thing is confusing to me because there seems to be a multilayered issue behind my not wanting to attend Living Stones as religiously as I feel like I should, and then there's also the "letting people down" aspect behind that (which is social, so irrelevant) but it's strange that wither any of this is important or not depends on who you ask, or which context the information is being provided in... It's an inconsistency thing which makes it all really difficult to understand...


Anyway, that aside. I read Acts 3 to 5 tonight because I'm keeping up on reading one book of the bible every week with my friend Josh, and it's strange that the book of Acts is where I've noticed things start to get confusing. I couldn't explain it at the moment, but I know God is working in my life in His normal way, and more then likely I wont understand any of this until He wants me too.. I'm good with that, He know's what He's doing even if I don't.