A Quest for Decency Through Spirituality – Gene D.

About This Speaker Tape

Menucha Retreat - 1991

Gene D. maps out a life lived in the tension between the high-society wine country of Napa Valley and the grit of addiction. He describes the absurdity of sitting at a lunch table with wine industry titans while remaining the only sober man in the room often lying to guests about why he doesn't drink. He dismantles the idea of spirituality as something found in robes and incense redefining it through a dictionary search as a simple 'quest for decency.' He traces his path from the 'slime' of active use to finding a 'code of decency' in the 12 Steps eventually arguing that the fellowship is not just a refuge for the broken but a potential blueprint for global peace and a solution to the an epidemic of addiction that has moved from high schoolers to ten-year-olds.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:45 Gene discusses the demand for speakers and the concept of sober vacations at Club Med.
• 3:15 Laughter: Gene describes his lunch routine in Napa Valley with wine industry executives.
• 6:20 Gene admits to using 'the AA line of bullshit' and white lies to avoid explaining his sobriety to strangers.
• 10:15 Gene describes a Schlitz beer commercial and the meaning of 'gusto' as a catalyst for wanting to live fully.
• 15:40 Gene's personal study of the dictionary to expand his vocabulary and redefine 'Christian' and 'spiritual'.
• 18:50 Gene identifies the 12 Steps as a 'code of decency' and discusses the transition from death (Step 1) to living (Steps 2-12).
• 22:10 Gene discusses the 'miracle' of helping other alcoholics and the gift of recovery.
• 25:30 Gene shares a humanizing story about Bill W.'s flaws and his vocabulary like a 'drunken sailor'.
• 28:15 Gene discusses the expansion of AA into Russia and the potential for the program to solve global conflict.
• 31:00 Gene warns about the epidemic of addiction among children and calls for a global renaissance of recovery.