The following two member contributions seemed to lend themselves to the above subject. We might consider this as a regular ESSAY feature if others want to answer the same question. (Please include your current length of uninterrupted SA sexual sobriety with your one-paragraph answer to this question.)

I go to meetings to share at depth. This always entails trust, but it requires a higher consciousness. The group provides the higher consciousness, and my trust comes from God. Something magical happens when another shares honestly and at depth about himself. When this happens, I feel connected to that person because I invariably identify. I am compelled to share the secret thoughts and intents of my heart and to give back the gift of love and trust that was so freely given to me by a person that shares in such a way. With each consecutive sharing, the power of the gift passing from person to person creates a higher consciousness that lifts me up out of myself, and I feel a part of, and I feel whole and alive and good, and God is there.

Having had this experience once, I must have it again, and I realize that I am responsible for getting it started. That requires me to lead with my weakness and share at as deep a depth as I possibly can and to pass on the gift that was so freely given to me in one of my first SA meetings.

The best meeting for me is the one where I’m able to name my weakness and have it ring true. I tell who I am and do not minimize my defects or manage what I say to have a certain effect. In this meeting, my brothers and sisters expose their brokenness as well. I can look beyond their outsides (good looks, articulate speech, high or low achievement) and see the true need for what I need; for the reality of God’s action in their lives. There is sobriety; and we all stand for sobriety. We agree that we must change, that we need to use the 12 Steps and to choose God’s way over our own to open ourselves to His gifts for recovery.