I was wondering about obscure cases in which an alcoholic may be forced to drink.
What about being stuck somewhere without water, and there's a bottle of JD found in a closet?
What if terrorists tied your hands told you to drink, forcing the bottle to your mouth?
Are there ways an alcoholic, after having abstained and knowing the malady, can drink without having to wonder about any consequences?
I was having dinner with friends and I poured myself a glass of wine. As I ate, everyone once in a while I put the wine to my lips, and I even let a tinge go down my throat. I couldn't help but notice how I might be forced to drink so no one would get suspicious.
"Are there ways an alcoholic, after having abstained and knowing the malady, can drink without having to wonder about any consequences?"
Not that I have ever heard of. The very definition of "alcoholic" is that we can never drink like a "normal person", regardless of circumstance or time that has passed.
BTW - I tried the "pour the wine but don't drink it" thing, at the risk of being outed as an alki by my (then) very threatening boss. Despite not actually drinking the wine, I was thrown back into full blown shaking craves for 2 weeks following. If nothing had convinced me of my alcoholism prior to then, that incident, and it's consequences, certainly did. What sort of freak suffers agonizing craves after being NEAR alcohol? Apparently, I do.
"Are there ways an alcoholic, after having abstained and knowing the malady, can drink without having to wonder about any consequences?" Not that I have ever heard of. The very definition of "alcoholic" is that we can never drink like a "normal person", regardless of circumstance or time that has passed. BTW - I tried the "pour the wine but don't drink it" thing, at the risk of being outed as an alki by my (then) very threatening boss. Despite not actually drinking the wine, I was thrown back into full blown shaking craves for 2 weeks following. If nothing had convinced me of my alcoholism prior to then, that incident, and it's consequences, certainly did. What sort of freak suffers agonizing craves after being NEAR alcohol? Apparently, I do.
A normal person isn't being forced to drink under external threat or pressure.
Unrecovered alcoholics drink due to internal pressure.
It comes down to intent, I used to feel sick so I could drink nyquil.
If I were externally forced to drink against my will, I would be recovered still.
I was wondering about obscure cases in which an alcoholic may be forced to drink. What about being stuck somewhere without water, and there's a bottle of JD found in a closet? What if terrorists tied your hands told you to drink, forcing the bottle to your mouth? Are there ways an alcoholic, after having abstained and knowing the malady, can drink without having to wonder about any consequences?
I was having dinner with friends and I poured myself a glass of wine. As I ate, everyone once in a while I put the wine to my lips, and I even let a tinge go down my throat. I couldn't help but notice how I might be forced to drink so no one would get suspicious.
Some personal opinions and not authoritative by any means ...... You are not really talking about a real situation as point out but if you were forced to drink you would be affected since alcoholism is, in part, a physical disease. You would trigger the allergy. How much that would affect you would depend on how much you drank and for what period of time.
The mental obsession may not be affected if you have recovery. If weak in this area and still living with untreated alcoholism it too may be affect ...
As to putting wine up to your lips that is a dangerous game and a tell tale sign that speaks to the quality of recovery one has ...
The sciences of this world are droplets of reality; if then they lead not to reality, what fruit can come of illusion? By the one true God! If learning be not a means of access to Him, the Most Manifest, it is nothing but evident loss. (Baha'i Faith)
"this business of resentment is infinitely grave. We found that it is fatal. For when harboring such feeling we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity of alcohol returns and we drink again."
That tells me resentment is the insanity.
But a forced drink isn't preceeded by resentment sooo,
This subject came to mind when I saw a movie about the ghettos of Poland during WWII. One night some Germans wanted to party with some Jewish women, and seeing these women weren't too happy about it, they were tied to their dinner chairs and alcoholic beverages were poured down their throats.
So I got to thinking what if something like that happened to me; but the responses here are good, like the one about being in good spiritual strength (which is a tough concept to wrestle with concerning the atheist sobrietite), and also the one about being forced to drink externally and the problem of resentment. As Mike said it, if one wants to drink, they should.
But I can imagine for an alcoholic like me, feeling the alcohol burn in the stomach would ignite an entire world of memories, psychological/physical shock.
In truth, after being sober for so long, I had been prescribed pain meds and found that being loaded isn't even fun anymore. I think being loaded has an anti-depressant mode involved so after learning to cope without mind-altering substances, the feeling of being loaded isn't the same.
I agree with the wine at the dinner table responder; this area of social activity still remains something of a strange issue. Especially lately since my career has revolved me closer and closer to wine country and wine tasting communities where people expect me to participate.
As an atheist I found the steps didn't work when I removed the power from them. It was also impossible to do an honest 4th step because the self will I had clung to by altering the steps to suit myself had made step 3 into a lie and step 4 impossible. Self was too self invested in protecting its power over my life to assist in uncovering its own destructive role. That realization was a breakthrough, that I could not trust any thought in my head pertaining to the steps. So I worked it as written and recovered in spite of myself.
The scenario of wine at the dinner table is addressed in the big book at the top of page 101.
"we can do all sorts of things alcoholics are not supposed to do. People have said we must not go where liquor is served; we must not have it in our homes; we must shun friends who drink; we must avoid moving pictures which show drinking scenes; we must not go into bars; our friends must hide their bottles if we go to their houses; we mustn't think or be reminded about alcohol at all.
We meet these conditions every day. An alcoholic who cannot meet them, still has an alcoholic mind; "
It begs the question of how is the alcoholic mind manifested ? I'd say fear.
"this business of resentment is infinitely grave. We found that it is fatal. For when harboring such feeling we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity of alcohol returns and we drink again."
That tells me resentment is the insanity.
But a forced drink isn't preceeded by resentment sooo,
it might be as you say though, who knows?
You're righ not much activity for sure ...
As I see it while resentments are only part of the insanity I like the AA definition of doing the same thing over and over again looking for different results. And of course, this for me would include resentments. We never see our part in the resentment! That's where a good 4th and 5th comes in ...
As to the forced drink, if the drink brings back memories we just may start saying to ourselves, maybe now I can handle it. May this time will be dirrerent ...
But, ya ... who knows unless it is our experience ...
The sciences of this world are droplets of reality; if then they lead not to reality, what fruit can come of illusion? By the one true God! If learning be not a means of access to Him, the Most Manifest, it is nothing but evident loss. (Baha'i Faith)
