Nov 7,2019
Dear Hossein,
I am delighted to hear you are doing well and have reached your desired weight. I still have a ways to go with my weight goal but am making steady progress.
I like the foundational questions you have posed. These questions get to the very root of the problems and solutions which we have devoted our lives to addressing. In my early career, I focused on learned as much as I could about intoxicating drugs and the pathways into this state we call addiction. In my mid-career, I devoted most of my time to learning about the treatment of addiction. In my later years, I have been most interested in the prevalence, pathways, stages and styles of long-term recovery for individuals and families. It is the latter area that has increased my interest in the role of worldview in the recovery process. I agree with your point that worldview is far more than what is including in the usual psychological interventions. I see it as more focused on the reconstruction of character, values and life meaning and purpose. What recovery from addiction affords through such a reconstruction process is not just getting well but getting better than well. In this sense, people in recovery are able to turn what has been a curse into a blessing—achieving a quality of life and service not in spite of addiction but because of the strength forged through the recovery process. The miracle of recovery is not just the ability to no longer inflict harm on oneself, one’s family and one’s community. It is in finding new meaning and purpose through this process of rebirth. In Congress 60 I think the DST method frees the body while the new worldview frees the soul and character, with both nested in a fellowship of shared experience and hope.
I continue to work on the final changes to my website. My original vision for it is now close to completion. I have stopped my blogging for a while to give myself time for more reflection before I begin writing again and to take time off for the coming holidays. My daughter and her husband will be visiting next month which will be a source of great joy for me. This coming week, I will participate in a three-day recovery conference here in Punta Gorda, Florida. I have stopped traveling and speaking except for this one conference which I attend each year. It is my one time to see many old colleagues and friends and learn more about what is going on with addiction treatment and recovery in communities across the United States.
Please extend my warmest regards to your family and all members of Congress 60.
Friends and Brothers Forever,
Bill