“There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance — that principle is contempt prior to investigation.” — Herbert Spencer, quoted in the Big Book, p. 568
A lot of us stumbled across that line in the Big Book and thought, Huh? Everlasting ignorance doesn’t sound like much fun. Up to this point, hadn’t our pride kept us ignorant about the happiness recovery could offer us? We weren’t short on information. We weren’t short on arguments. We simply dismissed anything that didn’t fit the story we had been telling ourselves.
When we heard the phrase in a meeting — contempt prior to investigation — we couldn’t ignore it anymore. Being foolishly self-reliant, we naturally had an attitude about our spiritual condition: “Nah, that ain’t gonna work. Give me something else.” As if we were royalty in our own lives — and didn’t that attitude treat the people trying to help as if they were servants beneath us?
What were we ignorant of in the first place? That question bothered us. By now, we understood our own willpower fails us — completely — and we needed something greater. So what was holding us back? Didn't old ideas make this more complicated than it needed to be?
Some helped us with Herbert Spencer’s more well known quote — "survival of the fittest" and it was the gut check we needed. Recovery offered its true meaning: either we try to become spiritually fit, or we don’t survive. That realization knocked us off the royal pedestal and led us toward believing in something greater than ourselves.
Where has pride kept you from trying something that might actually help your recovery?
