Spreading the Word: A question about the various 12-steps groups, such as Sexaholics Anonymous
Hey guys,
As a next step once I am "well into major progress with my own recovery", (and I think I'm almost at that point already), I'd like to try to spread the idea to as many people as I can that addiction is a real problem, (one for which some people seem to have a "strong propensity", and one that can even develop in someone who does NOT have a strong propensity towards being addicted to things but who habituates himself or himself to constantly enjoy an endless variety of addictive stimuli) especially with something that stirs up strong, sexual passion, like porn, phone sex, masturbation, going to strip clubs, etc., and that there's a way to live where you can be honest with yourself and be freed from the slavery that characterizes the disease of sexual addiction. Anyway, I find it difficult to do this because I am Jewish and the circle of people I hang out with consists primarily of Orthodox Jews, and I'm not very close with most of them so I don't think it's a good idea for the vast majority of my friends to know about this stuff, because many times people who are not close to you don't want to know about highly personal information, like the idea that I'm a sex addict, and furthermore, people who do not understand these issues can easily take things like this the wrong way. And telling these people could really kill my reputation as an upstanding member of that Jewish community and the Jewish people as a whole. Anyway, I was thinking I could make a fake profile on myspace and facebook and "advertise" the 12-step program there-so I could remain anonymous. I also thought maybe I could talk to departments in the college I attend, such as the department of a subject like sociology about the struggle that I and many others have with addiction so that they could bring that more into the curriculum as a more mainstream thing that everyone in college learns about(I'd have to find a way to do this anonymously too). I was curious to find out whether these ideas are good ones, because:
1)I know that one of the traditions of the 12 steps is that public relations "are based on attraction rather than promotion" (by the way, I believe this tradition applies to ALL addiction programs, not just Sexaholics Anonymous), and
2)also because I have some social issues that make it difficult for me to answer questions like this on my own. Any thoughts from anyone on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Eric
hey eric, just read your comment. This is a new place for me. I have had a problem with porn since I was about 12. Another boy showed me some and I think just entering adholesense(I know I spelled this wrong) with all the sexual stuff going on in my body I was easily pulled in. I am also a very shy person so I spend alot of time alone; with my laptop. Oh well, back to your comment. You stated that you didn,t want to mess up your place as an upstanding member of the orthodox Jewish community. Let me ask you this, Isn't your position in your Jewish community based on the same things that God expects of us? And if you are falling short with God aren't you already falling short as a member of this community? It's just that you are hiding it, right? So you are not only committing adultry through porn but you are also lying. If your community of believers is so worried about how they appear that they are hiding their sin , then what kind of community of believers is it? You are a man and by this a sinner. Their is no one rightious among us, no not one. I believe that the purpose of a believing community is to help each other get past our sin, not to look down upon us. Everyone in your community has some sin, Yours is no greater or lesser that theirs. You must open up to your community and they too, to you. That is what makes us a community. To be their for each other. Sorry, I hope I didn't talk down to you. I meant to talk to you as a comember of Gods community. Love You, Greg