ESSAY Magazine (An International Journal of Sexaholics Anonymous)

My name is Raphael. I am a grateful, recovering sexaholic. I have been sober by the grace of God and with the help of all you in this program of SA since April 7, 2019. I am also currently serving a 50-month sentence for actions I took as a result of my addiction to lust.

After finishing my Step Four harms inventory, I was very grateful to notice that each consecutive person that I dated after I got sober had fewer harms. There are still things left to work on, but my ability to have healthy relationships has improved since joining SA. I'd like to describe some of the progress that I saw in my inventory.

There’s a great talk by Roy K. called “Sponsorship and Group Sobriety.” (If you are new to the Program, Roy K. was the founder of our Fellowship). In his talk, Roy K. shares about the highest purpose of sponsorship. It’s not to keep people coming to the Program, and it’s not to keep people sober, because only a Higher Power can do that. According to Roy, the highest purpose of sponsorship is not even working the Steps, although that is an integral part of it. He says that the highest purpose of sponsorship is introducing other men to the real Connection and bringing them into a way of living where the sponsee can experience having that real Connection.

This touching letter was sent by Arturo G., one of the many friends in prison who gets free Program literature from SAICO, as well as the bi­monthly ESSAY magazine. Arturo gave his permission to publish this letter as a way to express his gratitude to the Central Office, the CFC, and the whole SA Fellowship. His desire to be of help testifies of the “spiritual awakening” (SA 143) he has experienced as a result of working the Steps.

Verschiedene Kräfte trieben uns zum ersten AS Indien Workshop Wochenende in Ashirvad, Bangalore. Zu diesen Kräften gehörten eine lebensbedrohliche spirituelle Pleite, das völlige Versagen von Mäßigung und Selbstkontrolle sowie eine glückliche Folge von Ereignissen inmitten verzweifelter Suche.

Als ich im Herbst 2020 zu AS kam, habe ich zwar nicht mehr funktioniert, aber bereit, eine neue Richtung einzuschlagen. Das lag daran, dass ich so verzweifelt war. Meine langjährige Erfahrung bei den Anonymen Alkoholikern hatte mir zwar einige Vorteile gebracht, darunter unzählige Literatur-Meeting und eine gute Vertrautheit mit dem Blauen Buch und den Zwölf und Zwölf. Ich erinnerte mich sogar an einige Passagen, wie z. B. Seite 417 über Akzeptanz, die ich immer noch Wort für Wort aufsagen kann. Die Dinge, die ich auswendig gelernt habe, dienen mir immer noch als eine Art mentale Referenzbibliothek.

Fin dall'inizio del mio percorso in SA sapevo che il nostro fondatore, Roy K., aveva scritto Sexaholics Anonymous (il “Libro Bianco”) e in seguito ho saputo che aveva scritto anche Recovery Continues, Discovering the Principles e diversi opuscoli di SA. Tuttavia, per molti anni mi sono chiesto chi scrivesse tutto il resto della nostra meravigliosa letteratura su SA e chi e cosa fosse coinvolto nel processo di pubblicazione. Poi si è presentata l'opportunità di svolgere un servizio internazionale e mi sono offerto volontario per entrare a far parte del Comitato per la letteratura.

In the beginning of the war, I was having another difficult night. I didn't sleep well. I was lying (trying to sleep) in my common hall on the cold floor. Many cruise missiles were at that night over my country. After sleeping just for a few hours, I woke up and was extremely tired in the morning; realizing that somehow I survived, while other people might have some injuries or even could have died.