On the wall of the bookshelf in my office is a poem, “If” the Most Powerful Word in the English Language. The poem reads as a stream of aphorisms all beginning with ‘If.’ It is unpublished, written by a middle-aged man who successfully made it through a 2-week substance abuse early recovery program. I was his substance abuse counselor several years ago.
I don’t remember exactly why the author of “If…” gave me the poem, but I remember it was a kind and revealing act. I don’t think he needed the approval of a mid-20s empathetic idealist. It could be that he was proud of what he had written and felt that he had earned a modicum of recognition. It’s also possible that he felt that his hard-earned wisdom would be of help to me. Regardless, because my counseling experience served as my primary reason for pursuing philosophy, it seems like a worthwhile exercise to think through his words with the tools of my education. Below are four lines from the poem that I consider particularly poignant.
- “If you want to see a leader, look behind him.”
- “If you want to get on your feet, the quickest way is to miss a couple car payments.”
- “If you want to be sober, there are no elevators; take the steps.”
- “If you want to keep it, give it away.”
Regarding line 1, one may disagree by pointing out that good people can be led by the unjust through coercion or power. It also seems that one’s status as a leader can be at least partially a product of luck rather than character or deservedness. Or maybe like Plato, one could say that “a man is like his city,” such that an unjust man is unwise, and prone to sow division amongst those he leads just as he does in himself (Republic IX, 577D). However, I consider this sort of analytical pruning to be contrary to the spirit of the “If…” poem.
The value of a work like this extends beyond its semantics. Consider line two. Read plainly, it’s a joke worth a plain chuckle. However, the author’s context in an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) adjacent recovery program must be recognized for the line to be understood. Read with this in mind, a cheap pun becomes wry wisdom shared with a raspy voice over cigarettes and stale donuts. Such a tone captures the irony in this line and throughout the work. Schlegel describes irony as “playful and serious, guilelessly open and deeply hidden” (1799/1991, 113): transcending the limits of mere words through inquisitiveness and epistemic humility. What is hidden in this line is the suffering that accompanies a substance-fueled rejection of one’s civic obligations. Here, the author of “If…”’s suffering is made authentic and self-aware by the punchline.
Lines four and five are characteristically AA, based on the notion that there are two choices available to the addicted person: annihilation or sobriety. Generally, AA considers the latter to be best achieved through a grueling commitment to twelve steps that include a humble acceptance of powerlessness, shortcomings, and spirituality (Alcoholics Anonymous, 1999, 70-72). According to the AA Big Book, it is insufficient to pursue these steps for oneself, but to support the recovery of others for the sake of their own sobriety (Alcoholic Anonymous, 1999, 113-114).
In the Varieties of Religious Experience, William James describes sick-minded people as “those persons who cannot so swiftly throw off the burden of the consciousness of evil but are congenitally fated to suffer from its presence” (1902, 48). While it comes in many forms, this pessimism can be seen in line four, an assumption that the world offers no free passes. For James, the sick-minded often lack a harmony of the body and the soul, resulting in what he calls a divided self that is unable to reconcile their pessimistic viewpoint with their spiritual goals.
To ameliorate the condition of the divided self, James prescribes a process of conversion, embracing a not-necessarily religious notion of spirituality that brings harmony between reality and divine aims. It’s worth noting that there are several examples of addiction throughout the Varieties of Religious Experience, likely part of why Bill W., the primary author of the A.A. Big Book, was so inspired by it (Walle, 1992). Consider the example of Mr. S. H. Hadley, a self-proclaimed “homeless, friendless, dying drunkard” who found sobriety through a recovery group called Jerry M’Auley’s Mission (1902, 71-73). There, Hadley heard the testimony of others in recovery, which motivated a promise to God to take away his cravings in exchange for helping others (1902, 72). According to James, the mission provided the opportunity for conversion through suggestion, imitation, and the opportunity to grow through moral action (1902, 71-74). It seems to me that a similar motivation informs line 5 and gives reason as to why the author of “If…” decided to share his poem with me.
As I said, the poem “If…” is a string of aphorisms: meditations of a man searching for sobriety. What I hope is taken from my reflection of it is an example of why philosophy should be careful with terms like “folk psychology” or “common sense.” I don’t know if the author has ever read Plato, Schlegel, or James. It doesn’t really matter if he did. However, these connections, to me, show that his thoughts and the corresponding AA literature echo the sentiments of great minds. If wisdom has anything to do with recovery, revisiting this poem gives me hope that the author has kept his sobriety by giving away his hard-earned lessons regarding leadership, elevators, and missing car payments.
Bibliography
Alcoholics Anonymous. 2001. Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition. New York: A.A. World Services.
James, William. 1902. Varieties of Religious Experience, a Study in Human Nature. Kindle Edition.
Plato. 380 B.C./1991. The Republic of Plato. Translated by Allan David Bloom. 2nd ed. New York: Basic Books.
Schlegel, Friedrich von. 1799/1991. Philosophical Fragments. Translated by Peter Edgerly Firchow. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Walle, A. H. 1992. William James’ Legacy to Alcoholics Anonymous: An Analysis and a Critique. Journal of Addictive Diseases, 11(3), 91–99. https://doi-org.libproxy.temple.edu/10.1300/J069v11n03_06.
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