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Notes
- 1.
Readers interested in the vast heterogeneity in interpretations of AA’s literature and practice might refer to AA’s publication The Grapevine (http://www.aagrapevine.org, 2007), which demonstrates a limitless variety of approaches to spirituality and the Twelve Steps.
- 2.
A similar argument has been made by Karen Armstrong (2005), who suggests that mythology satisfies universal human needs for transcendence, meaning, and coping with problematic aspects of existence, such as the fear of death. Strong forms of this argument are difficult to reconcile with the substantial cultural and historical variation in religious and spiritual behavior: If religion is evolutionarily adaptive, why are only 5% of Swedes religious, as Galanter points out? However, a good case can be made for a nature–nurture interaction; that is, individuals are influenced by their genetics but also do what works in a given cultural context. Along these lines, Armstrong frames the historical decline of mythology in much of the Western world as a consequence of changing life conditions overriding natural proclivities toward mythologizing.
- 3.
Findings for prayer, however, should be balanced by evidence that church attendance is actually one of the stronger and more consistent predictors of lower mortality and other positive mental and physical health outcomes (see Gartner, Larson, & Allen, 1991; Hummer, Ellison, Rogers, Moulton, & Romero, 2004; Powell, Shahabi, & Thoresen, 2003). Thus, it seems likely that prayer per se (rather than religious behavior generally), if anything, is linked to worse outcomes.
- 4.
Interestingly, Galanter (this section) further argues that the nature of spirituality is culture-bound. One would imagine that spirituality’s effects are similarly culture- and context-dependent.
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Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge Drs. Lee Ann Kaskutas and Keith Humphreys for their exceptionally insightful comments on this introduction.
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Zemore, S.E. (2008). An Overview of Spirituality in AA (and Recovery). In: Kaskutas, L., Galanter, M. (eds) Recent Developments in Alcoholism. Recent Developments in Alcoholism, vol 18. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-77725-2_7
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