The American writer Edgar Allan Poe produced a short story titled The Purloined Letter that is considered to be one of the progenitors of the detective story as we know it today. It involves a valuable manuscript that cannot be found by the police despite a careful search. Poe’s protagonist, M. Dupin, finds the letter hidden in plain sight, disguised as a different manuscript by writing on the reverse side, and then rolling it up to conceal the “true” writings. Sometimes we complicate the search for spiritual support in much the same way, ignoring the obvious while searching high and…

The further I get into consideration of mind, body and spirit, the more I realize how completely the three aspects dovetail. It is practically impossible to be spiritually and mentally healthy while in poor physical condition, and the aches, pains and discomfort associated with such things — even with simple poor nutrition and/or lack of exercise — will interfere with our spiritual life as well. As I once heard someone say in a meeting, “When you feel like s**t, it’s hard to rise above it.” The old adage of “a sound mind in a sound body” is oh-so-true!

Low blood sugar…

Grief is often overlooked in addiction treatment, and almost universally so by the 12-step programs. It isn’t necessary that this should be the case, since the 4th, 5th, 8th and 9th steps are capable of dealing with it, when used skillfully by a good sponsor and a willing sponsee, and any reasonably competent therapist who is willing to do the research and attend a few seminars can deal with it in group.

I think the reasons are more basic than that: some of the same reasons that gave us an excuse for our abuse of chemicals. Quite simply, human beings instinctively…

I was engaged in a dialog over on Dean’s World about the disease concept of alcoholism and the need/not need for absolute abstinence among recovering people. Without opening that can of worms for the moment, in the process we began discussing the idea of “outside help” in the 12-step programs.

Most of us who have been around the rooms for very long have heard some old mustache pete pipe up and say that he (sometimes she) got sober in the rooms of AA (this seems to be more common at AA meetings) and the Program Of Recovery As Laid Out In The…

Since I have presumed to write about Mind, Body and Spirit for The Second Road, you deserve to know my own positions on related issues.  This is my take on living in general.  You need not feel obliged to agree with any of it, but I hope it makes sense and does not seem too stodgy — a vice of which I have been accused from time to time.

I am currently having an e-mail exchange with a lady I knew at school. She is now a minister, and I think what we are doing in our correspondence is feeling each…

I have recently been involved in a dialogue with some Evangelical Christian folk.  The results have been interesting.

As is often the case, the encounters began with an approach in an attempt to “save” me.  This sort of thing used to really bother me.  Eventually I came to realize that, unlike some lesser species, such as TV evangelists, most Evangelicals are simply trying to do me a favor.  They believe in their hearts that my soul is doomed, and they want to help.  Viewed that way, it is hard to remain insulted or angry.  Annoyed is a different matter.

Buddhists do not…

I’ve had an interesting life experience over the past few years that I’d like to share with you.

Back in 2001, my wife and I helped start a drug and alcohol treatment center — and that was, indeed, a spacey odyssey. (I’m sorry, that just forced its way out.)

For the first few months it was Michele, me, two other therapists, an office manager and about ten clients. Over the next couple of years, it evolved into a much larger and quite successful operation. During my time there I was a residential manager/gofer, office manager, part time manager of the women’s residence,…

Hi there, friends and fellow travellers on the gypsy road.  The staff have asked me to write occasionally about mind, body and spirit stuff.  I suppose spirit stuff would be ectoplasm, if you are into that sort of thing.  I hasten to say that I know nothing at all about it.

A few words about meself are in order, I suppose.  I read anthropology and comparative religion at university.  This proves only that I have been interested in mind, body and spirit for a long time.  The fact is, I know no more about it than anyone else, I simply have more…

Anonymity has become a big issue lately. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that, in some respects, it is no longer an issue at all. There was a time when the admonition to preserve anonymity at the level of press, radio and film was pretty-much sacrosanct. Absolutely no reputable journalist or medium would have dreamed of breaking anyone’s anonymity. Movie stars, sports figures, politicians, judges — all could attend treatment or meetings without fear of the media blowing their cover. Even if someone had recognized them, the damage would have been minimal because there would have been…

by Bill W.

June 10th is the 73rd anniversary of the meeting of a stockbroker from New York, only a few months sober and fearful of drinking, and a drunken proctologist from Akron, Ohio.

William Wilson—Bill W., to generations of alcoholics—had tried to stop drinking for many years. A successful stockbroker before the Crash of ‘29, he had made fortunes—and lost them because of his inability to stay dry. Bill had been in and out of hospitals repeatedly, and had been declared an incurable drunk by eminent physicians.

Dr. Robert Smith had tried to dry out many times. He ran a successful medical…