Measuring Character - Spirituality/Religion is in part to Build Character (principle, exist)
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What do you mean by problematic drinking habits? None of my drinking habits had been problematic. For example I always have a beer when I cook. It's a habit I picked up from a chef. He ran this Italian restaurant, a pretty chic place, with his Chinese girlfriend in Kuala Lumpur. I would watch him come to the bar, get himself a beer from the tap, and head back to his open kitchen visible from the bar, and do his stuff in there. I have been habitually opening a beer every evening when I am in the kitchen. Peroni or German beer. Used to drink American but my mother stopped me. "Stop drinking that slop. It has chemicals!" Sometime I wonder if L8 is right: no free will, no character.
Interesting. I used to always pour myself a glass of Cab before I started cooking. And turn on the music. But then i developed acid reflux and had to stop with the red. It became an occasional glass of white and then stopped completely except when we go out to dinner.
Indians can be notorious alcoholics. Johnie Walker Red (or is it black the better?) is the holy grail. Fighter pilots are ALL alcoholics, mostly because they had free access to liquor in the armed forces. Most of India was dry for a long time. Not anymore. The sight of an alcoholic up close is not pretty, Indian or American.
I mean that my father has taken to drinking a whole bottle of wine, by himself, every night. That’s not healthy. I never said your (or anyone else’s) drinking habits were problematic.
Every night? I have half a bottle every night. It's not much. First pour, with the cheeses and appetizers, is a little less than a quarter bottle. By the time, I get to the main course, I would have at least another pour, and that would add up to a third of a bottle. One more pour to finish the meal with brings it up to half a bottle. It's not a lot. I would not be tipsy let alone drunk. Wine is easy drinking. I could see a bottle vanish in a flash, at the bar, between me and a friend, while waiting to be seated in a restaurant. At the table, the sommelier would come up with his recommendations. What do I do then? Eat without wine? I would only do that if I were eating out of a dumpster with Mink57.
Well, if he's "habitually" (his words) drinking, then it is a problem.
I’m not saying you’re wrong—assuming we can take these posts at face value (which, well?).
Quote:
Originally Posted by myuen2
Every night? I have half a bottle every night. It's not much. First pour, with the cheeses and appetizers, is a little less than a quarter bottle. By the time, I get to the main course, I would have at least another pour, and that would add up to a third of a bottle. One more pour to finish the meal with brings it up to half a bottle. It's not a lot. I would not be tipsy let alone drunk. Wine is easy drinking. I could see a bottle vanish in a flash, at the bar, between me and a friend, while waiting to be seated in a restaurant. At the table, the sommelier would come up with his recommendations. What do I do then? Eat without wine? I would only do that if I were eating out of a dumpster with Mink57.
No, he's an atheist. As cb said, he could also be an alcoholic being a fighter pilot and having access to free liquor. It's the same with the navy and their tradition with rum.
Indians can be notorious alcoholics. Johnie Walker Red (or is it black the better?) is the holy grail. Fighter pilots are ALL alcoholics, mostly because they had free access to liquor in the armed forces. Most of India was dry for a long time. Not anymore. The sight of an alcoholic up close is not pretty, Indian or American.
You could be right about fighter pilots being alcoholics. Their profession takes a terrible toll on the psyche. They live on the edge all the time even when not operating in contested airspace. Imagine having to land on a moving runway of an aircraft carrier at night in the dark with a full bomb load. It does take character to deal with that kind of stress. How does this relate to spirituality? To me, spirituality has to do with freedom from stress (i.e. suffering).
Also, atheists are hardly barred from 12-step programs. One does not need to believe in a literal higher power to have the serenity to accept things one cannot change, the courage to make changes within one’s own control, and the wisdom to know the difference. Some meetings have cultures where belief in a higher power is paramount to recovery. Many meetings do not have such overbearing expectations.
I know that some people are critical of 12-step programs for a whole host of reasons (most of which have nothing to do with religion and spirituality). I have no dog in that fight, and I’m certainly thrilled for the people in my life who have found long-term success through these programs.
My wife has a lot of addiction in her father’s family (of the four siblings, only one has lived a life free of substance abuse). It’s interesting because I don’t think her paternal grandparents ever had those problems, although at least one great-grandfather on that side was an alcoholic.
Genetics, environment, life experiences. A whole number of things can influence one’s predisposition to addictive behaviors. Apart from ethnic and religious groups that abstain from alcohol entirely, Jews (of all levels of observance, including none at all) are the least likely to develop alcoholism, although Jews are not immune from alcoholism and there are certainly Jewish alcoholics. While I don’t know if I’d call him an alcoholic, my father has developed some problematic drinking habits in his later years.
That is really interesting. Never heard this before.
Same. Who conducted the study? Oh, let me guess...
It’s an extremely well-studied phenomenon and is succinctly explained in this Forwardarticle (which cites external sources). If this upsets you because you dislike Jews, then I’m #sorrynotsorry.
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