Convergences
This will be of especial interest to eatthosediapers and katuah, I think.
Wired magazine just published an analysis of AA, how it works (or doesn't work), where it came from, and what we know about the neuroscience involved. Surprise! Once again, surrendering individualism to larger social norms seems to be healthy, work against addictive tendencies, and actually restore synaptic plasticity on a microanatomical level. This is the second time I've covered findings like this, and in both instances, the group socialization that led to improved emotional stability were linked to, but not exactly the same as, religion. As this latest article puts it:
there is evidence that a big part of AA’s effectiveness may have nothing to do with the actual steps. It may derive from something more fundamental: the power of the group. Psychologists have long known that one of the best ways to change human behavior is to gather people with similar problems into groups, rather than treat them individually. The first to note this phenomenon was Joseph Pratt, a Boston physician who started organizing weekly meetings of tubercular patients in 1905. These groups were intended to teach members better health habits, but Pratt quickly realized they were also effective at lifting emotional spirits, by giving patients the chance to share their tales of hardship.... More than 70 years later, after a review of nearly 200 articles on group therapy, a pair of Stanford University researchers pinpointed why the approach works so well: “Members find the group to be a compelling emotional experience; they develop close bonds with the other members and are deeply influenced by their acceptance and feedback.”...
The importance of this is reflected by the fact that the more deeply AA members commit to the group, rather than just the program, the better they fare. According to J. Scott Tonigan, a research professor at the University of New Mexico’s Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictions, numerous studies show that AA members who become involved in activities like sponsorship-becoming a mentor to someone just starting out-are more likely to stay sober than those who simply attend meetings.
I am still not personally a believer in any particular religion, but I trust psychology and neuroscience. There seems to be a connection between the stabilizing transcendence of ritual participation in groups, and the healing and stabilizing powers attributed to religion. That, right there, is enough for me to support group rites as a way of life- meals, dancing, collaborative music, storytelling, and mutual trust. If AA can provide that, if churches can provide that, if traditionalist ethnic and religious separatists can provide that, if subcultural land occupations can provide that... well, bonus. I can't be atheist enough to hate on that.
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Here's the part that Paula will appreciate: where AA came from. The founder, apparently, wasn't a big christian. In fact, prior to the founding of AA, he didn't believe in any god. What put the higher power in AA was a mystical experience under the influence of...tropane alkaloids and William James. Yup. I personally think Eliade is a reductionist nazi jerk, but under his categorization scheme, AA is the largest, best accepted shamanic cult in North America.
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The other interesting point Wired makes (and of course, they would make this point) is that AA is also anarchic, non-commercial, and stringently non-dogmatic. Other than twelve steps and twelve traditions, there are no rules in the program, and such rules as are covered by the traditions tend to be primarily restrictive of other rules emerging. AA, in other words, can also be seen as an early predecessor of Creative Commons and open source projects. Its easy to forget what a jump this really was, since "at that time, the conventional wisdom was that alcoholics simply lacked moral fortitude. The best science could offer was detoxification with an array of purgatives, followed by earnest pleas for the drinker to think of his loved ones."
I had a very depressing breakfast discussion with a friend this morning. We talked about the unfolding hustler's paradise in the gulf, where everyone with money is snatching up grants and shortcuts to get in on the cleanup funding, and everyone with a good idea is trying to sell you on it, and nobody answers the phone. The "volunteers" are diverted to the tourist beaches, where they rake tar balls off the sand into piles, which are bulldozed back into the water at night. There's no-one in charge, and sometimes power looks like requiring certain veterinary meds on any boat that handles a seabird, so that you and your friends who have that medication can get all the contracts. Anything can be made to look like heroism on the internet, and nothing works.
The gulf compares badly to the open-source worlds depicted in Kim Stanley Robinson and Bruce Sterling's futurist novels (an introduction would be the downloadable White Fungus) Its good to remember that one other open source anarchy has reached the point of being a magnificent social institution without compromising its ideals. Here's to AA.
A
Wired magazine just published an analysis of AA, how it works (or doesn't work), where it came from, and what we know about the neuroscience involved. Surprise! Once again, surrendering individualism to larger social norms seems to be healthy, work against addictive tendencies, and actually restore synaptic plasticity on a microanatomical level. This is the second time I've covered findings like this, and in both instances, the group socialization that led to improved emotional stability were linked to, but not exactly the same as, religion. As this latest article puts it:
there is evidence that a big part of AA’s effectiveness may have nothing to do with the actual steps. It may derive from something more fundamental: the power of the group. Psychologists have long known that one of the best ways to change human behavior is to gather people with similar problems into groups, rather than treat them individually. The first to note this phenomenon was Joseph Pratt, a Boston physician who started organizing weekly meetings of tubercular patients in 1905. These groups were intended to teach members better health habits, but Pratt quickly realized they were also effective at lifting emotional spirits, by giving patients the chance to share their tales of hardship.... More than 70 years later, after a review of nearly 200 articles on group therapy, a pair of Stanford University researchers pinpointed why the approach works so well: “Members find the group to be a compelling emotional experience; they develop close bonds with the other members and are deeply influenced by their acceptance and feedback.”...
The importance of this is reflected by the fact that the more deeply AA members commit to the group, rather than just the program, the better they fare. According to J. Scott Tonigan, a research professor at the University of New Mexico’s Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictions, numerous studies show that AA members who become involved in activities like sponsorship-becoming a mentor to someone just starting out-are more likely to stay sober than those who simply attend meetings.
I am still not personally a believer in any particular religion, but I trust psychology and neuroscience. There seems to be a connection between the stabilizing transcendence of ritual participation in groups, and the healing and stabilizing powers attributed to religion. That, right there, is enough for me to support group rites as a way of life- meals, dancing, collaborative music, storytelling, and mutual trust. If AA can provide that, if churches can provide that, if traditionalist ethnic and religious separatists can provide that, if subcultural land occupations can provide that... well, bonus. I can't be atheist enough to hate on that.
---
Here's the part that Paula will appreciate: where AA came from. The founder, apparently, wasn't a big christian. In fact, prior to the founding of AA, he didn't believe in any god. What put the higher power in AA was a mystical experience under the influence of...tropane alkaloids and William James. Yup. I personally think Eliade is a reductionist nazi jerk, but under his categorization scheme, AA is the largest, best accepted shamanic cult in North America.
---
The other interesting point Wired makes (and of course, they would make this point) is that AA is also anarchic, non-commercial, and stringently non-dogmatic. Other than twelve steps and twelve traditions, there are no rules in the program, and such rules as are covered by the traditions tend to be primarily restrictive of other rules emerging. AA, in other words, can also be seen as an early predecessor of Creative Commons and open source projects. Its easy to forget what a jump this really was, since "at that time, the conventional wisdom was that alcoholics simply lacked moral fortitude. The best science could offer was detoxification with an array of purgatives, followed by earnest pleas for the drinker to think of his loved ones."
I had a very depressing breakfast discussion with a friend this morning. We talked about the unfolding hustler's paradise in the gulf, where everyone with money is snatching up grants and shortcuts to get in on the cleanup funding, and everyone with a good idea is trying to sell you on it, and nobody answers the phone. The "volunteers" are diverted to the tourist beaches, where they rake tar balls off the sand into piles, which are bulldozed back into the water at night. There's no-one in charge, and sometimes power looks like requiring certain veterinary meds on any boat that handles a seabird, so that you and your friends who have that medication can get all the contracts. Anything can be made to look like heroism on the internet, and nothing works.
The gulf compares badly to the open-source worlds depicted in Kim Stanley Robinson and Bruce Sterling's futurist novels (an introduction would be the downloadable White Fungus) Its good to remember that one other open source anarchy has reached the point of being a magnificent social institution without compromising its ideals. Here's to AA.
A