"We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us"
About this Quote
There is something almost audacious in how final this sounds: no vow, no struggle narrative, no daily wrestling match - just an erasure. Wilson’s line performs a psychological sleight of hand that’s central to early Alcoholics Anonymous rhetoric. Instead of framing sobriety as a constant act of willpower ("sworn off"), he offers a different fantasy: freedom so complete it feels like the very category of the temptation has been deleted.
That’s the intent, and it’s strategic. A pledge can be broken; a removed problem can’t. By refusing the language of abstinence-as-sacrifice, Wilson lowers the glamour of the forbidden. He’s not promising saintliness. He’s selling relief, and relief is what exhaustion craves. The subtext is equally pointed: if you still feel you’re giving something up, you’re not at the destination yet. That’s both comforting and quietly disciplinary - it sets a standard for what “real” recovery should feel like.
Context matters: Wilson is speaking from the AA worldview where the solution is spiritual and communal rather than merely behavioral. "It does not exist for us" isn’t denial; it’s belonging. The “us” is the engine. You’re not just quitting a substance; you’re joining a story where alcohol loses its centrality because another identity has replaced it. The line works because it reframes sobriety not as a grim subtraction, but as a kind of cultural reclassification: the old problem becomes irrelevant, and that irrelevance is the miracle.
That’s the intent, and it’s strategic. A pledge can be broken; a removed problem can’t. By refusing the language of abstinence-as-sacrifice, Wilson lowers the glamour of the forbidden. He’s not promising saintliness. He’s selling relief, and relief is what exhaustion craves. The subtext is equally pointed: if you still feel you’re giving something up, you’re not at the destination yet. That’s both comforting and quietly disciplinary - it sets a standard for what “real” recovery should feel like.
Context matters: Wilson is speaking from the AA worldview where the solution is spiritual and communal rather than merely behavioral. "It does not exist for us" isn’t denial; it’s belonging. The “us” is the engine. You’re not just quitting a substance; you’re joining a story where alcohol loses its centrality because another identity has replaced it. The line works because it reframes sobriety not as a grim subtraction, but as a kind of cultural reclassification: the old problem becomes irrelevant, and that irrelevance is the miracle.
Quote Details
| Topic | Letting Go |
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