Just beautiful to read, seeing people in the addition cycle is harder to watch as my time in recovery continues, sharing your story may just be the hope that someone else grabs onto and follows.
Congrats on 4 years 
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Congratulations on 4 years and thank you for such an amazing share. Iām grateful for you and all that you bring to the sober journey 
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Congratulations and thank you for sharing in your post 
Iām super proud of you, and agree we here are a family, this is also home, your not alone, Iām not alone we all have eachother. Sending all that love back to you 
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Goed gedaan jochie! 
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Congratulations friend!!!
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Hey Menno - I came across your testimony from another post today and Iām sure glad I did! It helped broaden my view of recovery to hear how TS and therapy, not a group program, can be the foundation of a successful recovery.
Do you find that the connection youāve written about includes identifying an energy of the Divine? The human connection is absolutely essential for certain. And so is connection to the natural world, as your bicycle tours have demonstrated. There is that connection to the Unlimited as well. Maybe thatās the feeling you get when you experience great art? I know that for myself, I had to come into a relation with humankind to experience a relation with the Universal.
When I was drinking, I felt and lived alone for so long, even in the company of a spouse and children. I was disconnected and alone. I had been a seeker earlier in my life, going on religious retreats, I was a seminary student for a year, then a member of a fundamentalist church, a dabbler in yoga and Sikh readings. I craved that larger connection, and for a short while I found it in drink. Getting sober and growing in sobriety had been a gradual process of realizing and embodying, as best I can, the energy field that binds all time and all matter.
You are a blessing, friend, upon the TS community and upon the sick and suffering addicts of the Low Countries. Thank you. 
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Thank you so much for sharing your writing. It is beautiful and inspiring. I appreciate you and the work you are doing.
Iām grateful for you.
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Hi Dan,
If anything, I consider myself a humanist. To answer your question let me quote fellow humanist Steven Schafersmanās definition as it comes close to how I see things.
- āHumanism is a philosophy, world view, or lifestance based on naturalism-the conviction that the universe or nature is all that exists or is real. Humanism serves, for many humanists, some of the psychological and social functions of a religion, but without belief in deities, transcendental entities, miracles, life after death, and the supernatural. Humanists seek to understand the universe by using science and its methods of critical inquiry -logical reasoning, empirical evidence, and skeptical evaluation of conjectures and conclusions- to obtain reliable knowledge.
Humanists affirm that humans have the freedom to give meaning, value, and purpose to their lives by their own independent thought, free inquiry, and responsible, creative activity. Humanists stand for the building of a more humane, just, compassionate, and democratic society using a pragmatic ethics based on human reason, experience, and reliable knowledge -an ethics that judges the consequences of human actions by the well-being of all life on Earth.ā
Using this definition I feel thereās no need for (believing in) the Divine.
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CONGRATULATIONS & Thank you!!!
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Thanks for that very illuminating definition, Menno! I am accustomed to flailing about on my own for descriptions and definitions of my philosophy, and seeing something like this, that very closely matches my stance. I do qualify it with a belief in the ābox of space and timeā. It is described by Richmond Walker, an author and AA member, as āI am in a box of space and time and cannot see spacelessness or eternityā, among other similar references. I have a belief that humans do not know and cannot know the totality of āthe universe or natureā, leading me to the conclusion that this is āall that exists or is realā is a faulty sentiment.
We do act as if nature or the universe represents all reality - it is impossible not to do so. I do not find it necessary to extrapolate beyond that into supernatural thinking, but I do allow room for unexplained phenomena to be real. I do believe the law that matter and energy are preserved in a closed system. That has deep ramifications for something like the explosion of the human population - where does all that matter come from, and where does the life force energy go upon death? Is it truly a closed system? How does our terrestrial system fit into the galaxy and universe in terms of an energy/matter exchange? Deep thoughts like that move me from time to time.
Iāll be pondering this more in coming times. You have given me plenty to consider, and I thank you for it!
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Such respect and gratitude for your presence here and in the world. Congratulations !!
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Um, this makes me sad. 
Even at places that are supposed to care for us, we are still hated. Congratulations on your 4 years. Thanks for making a difference.
Thatās not it Iām sure Alex. My colleagues feel helpless and hopeless. They feel impotent and are frustrated at not being able to help her better to help herself.
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Sorry, I guess I misunderstood.
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No worries. Maybe I should have expanded a bit.
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