(c) Copyright issue?

(...) writes:

Dear V,

As mentioned before I appreciate your thoughts, and I was thinking would you object to having some of your posts translated by me to Hungarian and shared at local 12 Step groups? Do you have any objections with copyright issues?



V. Writes:

Thank you for your consideration. I guess I should have called this post "Copyright issue and the It's all about Me syndrome" If you are only interested in my response on copyright issues as applied to my writing, then just read the first paragraph. If you are interested in hearing more about the "It's all about Me syndrome" then read the rest of the post. You see if I was into recovery for money, I would say NO to your request, as my recovery work would be ego and money based. But as Thoreau tell us: "Trade curses everything it touches, and even though your trade in 'messages from heaven' trade attaches itself to the venture and the whole thing becomes cursed." I prefer to be 'practice' based and not 'ego and money' based. Always feel free to use my writing for any 'Noncommercial' recover or self improvement purpose you see fit. I prefer to keep my recovery as 'curse free' as possible. You do not have to write me for permission - Just Use It. As I will discuss below, that is the secondary reason these posts are sent in - to be of help. Of course, we all have to earn money, eat and pay the light bills, so professional writers in the audience, do not take my opinions to heart and be offended. I just 'prefer to not **** where I eat' as the saying goes.

Step 12: having had a spiritual awakening...tried to carry the message...practice these principles in all our affairs.

Tradition 5: ...carry the message to those that still suffer.

The question about copyright you have asked can also be answered by the secondary reason I send out these posts - I do it to help others. Always remember my friend, that we can use our lives to 'build others up' or to 'tear them down.' As I told you earlier, tearing others down appeals to ones ego and pride, but so did torturing insects when we were kids. If you want a different method to build you self esteem other than destruction, then you can go the way of generation. We can generate peace - peace within you and peace within others. As you instill seeds of peace within others, you plant the same seeds and water these seeds within you as well. As you give so you receive. It is a law of the universe that transcends all religions. This is why working steps 12 and tradition 5 are so important. As you share your program with others it shares and refreshes the same program within you as well. Generosity has little to do with the benefits of working step 12 and tradition 5 - it is based on universal law.

The first and 'most important' reason I write on the multitude of topics I do is that 'what I write I also reread myself' to help crystallize what needs to be done to keep my recovery. It is a good roadmap and reminds me how I got to where I am today. As I wrote earlier, this technique of reading your own writing has a firm grounding in historical philosophy. Greco - Roman philosophers, Marcus Aureoles in particular, would use their own writings for such purposes - to read their own writings as a model to live their own lives. This is why they thought so highly of maxims - "For as it is the nature of the body to be developed with appropriate exercise, it is the nature of the soul to be developed by moral precepts." Whether we use maxims, slogans, long or short stories - these are all good tools for us to keep us going in the right direction with our lives.

A critic of my writing wrote:

"... too many of your mails sound like lectures and are not first person accounts of your own experience, strength and hope as pertains to compulsive overeating. If I want to learn about Islam - I'll check it out myself on the web. If I want to learn about voluntary simplicity, I will check it out on the web. And so on. Or I will join a group that pertains to those topics. I don't come to overeaters anonymous to hear about Islam, voluntary simplicity, debt recovery, clutter, Buddhism and the like. The purpose for this group is recovery from overeating - that's why I am here."

(quote has been paraphrased to protect anonymity)


V writes:

Well, you are most welcome to your opinion, but my opinion of this subject is much different from yours. A lecture can be a long, stern reprimand or a transfer of information. While my posts are long winded, I hope they are more of a 'transfer on information' than a reprimand, as I 'order' you to do nothing. But, just remember, when I write about universal laws, they apply to us all, but it is still your choice to abide or not abide by universal laws. I only offer tools for the taking, but only if you choose to pick them up and use them. I could never use them for you, just as I could never do your exercise for you or eat healthy food for you either. Egocentricity and entitlement are two common ailments we can suffer from if not careful.

What this critic fails to see is that my posts are not directed 'just' for her. She is blinded by the 'It's All About ME' Syndrome.' Recovery is not all about her, nor is it all about me, nor is it all about you. Proportionality and balance are very important topics that I will go into below and will shed some light as to what it IS all about. Whenever some of you get disturbed by my posts, always remember, you do not pay me to write for you. I am not obligated in any way to write what you want to hear. If you want a topic written about in a certain way, then you write it or hire a writer to write for you. I write what I perceive is the best for my own recovery program and for developing inner peace and also try to make this writing applicable to others for the possibility of instilling peace within them. But I am under NO obligation to please you in any way with what I write.

While the critic may be familiar with such topics as Voluntary Simplicity, Debtors Anonymous, Islam, Clutterers Anonymous, Buddhism, etc. - others are not. Again, it is not all about YOU. I had to learn about voluntary simplicity from someone else before I could research it on the web. I was ignorant about the wisdom of Islam until someone else told me. Someone had to guide me to an overeaters anonymous meeting back in 1974. Someone also had to tell me about Debtors Anonymous in 1987 as well as the rest of the 12 step programs I am in. A kind person told me about Buddhism one day. A chance meeting with a professor introduced to the benefits of studying philosophy. As I wrote the post on Wisdom of Islam I applied one off the tools from Islam to my own life the day. I didn't have to convert to Islam to do it, I was grateful for the tool and applied it to my life without prejudice of the source. Although I could have also been ungrateful, prejudiced and not applied it - the choice was mine. Almost every tool of recovery and tool of peace was given to me by someone else, so I try to return the favor. This is why the maxim "live and let live" is so important to recovery and peace. For as we apply our closed minded prejudices to others, these prejudices will come back to bite us in the butt. Psychologist William James once said, "A great many people believe they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices." When our minds are closed through prejudice, we are 'blinded' to the many peace promoting tools that are available for us to pick up and start using this very instant.

Grasping and picking up? This topic is discussed much in Buddhist circles. We can get much insight to our behavior with 'picking something up' when we start looking deeply into our actions through introspection. Do we have a tendency to pick something up to use it as a tool for peace or a tool for destruction? It takes energy and disturbs our peace to pick something up to destroy it. On the others hand, it takes none of my energy to pass by and leave a thing alone - I leave it in peace. I practice from many religious and spiritual traditions and philosophical schools without problems or prejudices and readily look for such gifts irrespective of what label they come under. On the contrary, I am 'most grateful' wherever I find them. If I am not able to use a concept, I leave it alone, but do not spend my time or energies to beat others down with it or to try to destroy the concept. Do we like to be beaten down? This the golden rule in action. Whenever we take it upon ourselves to beat down, we are headed in a direction of destroying peace. We destroy our own peace as well as others peace. I prefer to spend my energies on finding and picking up what is useful in promoting inner peace - instead of picking up something to spend time and energies to destroy it or to use as a tool to destroy someone else with.

You want to be at peace with others? To be at peace is a natural ability that is instilled within us all - you only have to become balanced to be at peace. Proportionality and balance used to be taught in ancient Greek educational curriculum. Unfortunately, these studies have gone the way of the dinosaurs. This quest for balance to allow the peace to surface can best be visualized in the 'balance' of the triangle. At the top goes God / Higher Power / Buddha / The Dharma / Nature / Karma or whatever you choose. On the bottom right bottom corner of the triangle goes other people. On the left bottom corner of the triangle goes yourself. Keeping this relationship in harmonious balance helps develop compassion for others and humility within ourselves. We can then see we are all interdependent and not independent with all. It is always good to remember, we all share the same breath. This reminds me that life is not 'all about me' when egocentric sickness starts up. Balance in my life can also be expressed by my credo: "each day I try to live within my means, comfortably fit within my space and gratefully accept my current position in life." Learn to live balanced and you too can be at peace.

As I said earlier, I practice step 12 and tradition 5 with ALL my programs. I am in 8 - 12 step programs and 2 non 12 step recovery programs, so there is a lot of ground to cover with various topics. You don't like it? Don't read my posts. I've learned to apply tools from one program to the benefit of another program. For instance my Debtors Anonymous program gave me much clarity when I applied the tool of budgeting, recording and numerical clarity to my caloric budget in my overeaters program. I used one tool from one program to help me in another. I also used this same tool of 'budgeting and numerical clarity' for my time management problems. How many overeaters eat from stress of living a sickly complex life? I guess voluntary simplicity is of not use for them and they had better heap on more sick complex living on their back to find the answer? Same with drug addicts, alcoholics, rage and sex addicts - they do better with more sick complexities in their life. My greed from my clutter sickness showed up with my greed for food.

I could write pages more on practical application of such recovery tools...but you know the old complaint...my posts are too long. Suffice it to say, the lady critic is very 'small minded' in her thinking. Her recovery is not my recovery. I give her the freedom to do as she likes with her recovery and only ask the same courtesy be extended me. As I told you before with the famous quote from Russell Cromwell, "with the same material, one man builds a a palace and another only a hovel." I've already built my palace. All I can do for you is offer you the same material I used to build it - but you have to do the work to build your own palace. And as you work to build your own palace, maybe you can remember those that still suffer and offer them some material and guidance to help them build their palace.


Good Luck,


V (Male)

A Christian-Buddhist practitioner living a life of Voluntary Simplicity and grateful recovering Debtor, Drug and Substance Abuser, Compulsive Overeater, Clutterer, Rageaholic, Speculative Gambler, Compulsive Spender, Sex and Sensation Addict.