IA

Hello All.

It has been quite some time since I last posted on this Blog. I would like to blame laziness but the real reason is the fact that I have been at a location where I did not have access to internet that was not provided by the official military network. The military network uses a proxy that will not grant access to blogs or various other sites. I am stuck where I am right now for a few days but I do not anticipate being able to post anything again for quite a while. I intend to blog on a much more regular basis when I get home in a month or so.

Anyway, the title of this blog, comes from a new program I considered starting. It would be called Idealists Anonymous. Having reviewed the Twelve Steps, however, that comprise a crucial part of the Anonymous programs, I have discovered the futility of this all. The following is a breakdown of the Twelve Steps as well as an explaination of why the Twelve Steps are counterproductive to a program for helping Idealists.

1. We admitted we were powerless over idealism—that our lives had become unmanageable.

This step is actually doable. Any serious Idealist must eventually come to the realization that the ideal is never actually attainable. When the Idealist reaches the perceived ideal he or she will come to the conclusion that there is actually a higher ideal. Therefore while striving for the ideal is noble and great, one must accept that the ideal will not likely ever be reached. If the Idealist desires some sort of gratification or conclusion from reaching the ideal, he or she will be disappointed. As it is in the nature of the Idealist to never really give up on the possibility of reaching the ideal, failure, rather than being a one-time event, will continue until the Idealist becomes bitter and cynical, or dies (It must be noted that a extreme Idealist will likely die tragically in pursuit of the ideal).

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

This step is one of the reasons why Idealists Anonymous could not suceed. The Idealist will likely have no problem accepting the existence of a power greater than himself or herself. However, that power would likely be so idealized that the Idealist would lose hope of ever actually communing with that idealized greater power and therefore could never realistically hope that that power would restore him or her to sanity (It should be noted that the Idealist was likely never really sane to begin with so it would be impossible for him or her to be returned to a state of sanity).

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

This step is problematic in that the Idealist would likely be more than happy to turn his or her will and life over to God. The problem comes in with the whole "as we understood Him" part. The Idealist would likely struggle to come to an idealistic understanding of a truly ideal being, which is what God must be to an Idealist.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

This step would probably be useful. Personal inventory can help anyone.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

These steps generally do not apply because Idealists generally seek to benefit others and therefore do not usually wrong them, although perhaps they do wrong those whose ideas are counter to the ideal. I also suppose there could be evil Idealists (I suppose you could call Hitler's obsession for racial purity an ideal) but evil Idealists would likely be the exception. Perhaps it should be BIA (Benevolent Idealists Anonymous)

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His Will for us and the power to carry that out.

This step sounds great. The only concern I guess I would have is that the Idealist would so idealize God as to make it difficult for him or her to understand God's will.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to Idealists, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

If, as I have heretofor maintained, the Twelve Steps would generally not benefit the Idealist, this last step would seem to be counterproductive, that is, unless you go for the whole misery loves company thing and want to see a group of totally bummed out Idealists.

The reason for all this silliness is I truly am an idealist and I am struggling in a lot of ways to determine what causes are worthy of my efforts. I truly want to make the world a better place. I want to change the world but it seems to me the world falls short of the ideal in every way possible so I need someplace to start. I joined the Army hoping to make a positive impact, and maybe I have, but in so doing I mainly serve the agenda of whoever it is that is giving me orders at any given time and the leaders of nations, though some of them might (and I emphasize some and might) be good people with clear and unselfish motives, nobody in power anywhere can claim to completely represent the greater good, which is for me the ideal. It seems in pursuing national interests we are often hurting the interests of others. Our own prosperity is often supported by the poverty and hunger of others. I have lost faith in any government to do what is right for the good of humanity. Historically governments have only benefited the governed to the extent that it benefited themselves. America is a great dream but I fear we fall fearfully short of the ideal.

Religion might be a good place to start, but again, many religions have been used by men to manipulate the masses. The cause of Zion is definitely a good cause, and there might be some sort of invisible hand where working solely for the cause and good of Zion will result in the betterment of humanity, but I fear that if we only worked on Zion we would tend to serve our own. We could build a marvelous golden city. I worry we might forget about the people in the mud outside our gates.

I guess maybe there is not a cause. Maybe you just have to do what you can in the realm in which you labour and hope you are bringing a little more light into the world.

Anyway, I need a cause. I really need a cause. I doubt anybody is even reading this anymore, but if you are, I could use some ideas.

Peace.