~ ITHIR-WDTRATPTKOS? ~ If They’re Happy In Recovery – Why Do They Resent And Take Personally The Skepticism Of Strangers?

~ TSHTHABCAAC-RAIDOAMOE-EPTLOTFSIOHTB-TUTDPWDPCEBSBTST-IIATIT ~ The Self-Help Tradition Has Always Been Covertly Authoritarian And Conformist – Relying As It Does On A Mystique Of Expertise – Encouraging People To Look Outside Themselves For Standardized Instructions On How To Be – Teaching Us That Different People With Different Problems Can Easily Be Saved By The Same Techniques – It Is Anathema To Independent Thought

~ EPIASTTGWTD ~ Experts Package Inanities As Secrets That They’re Generously Willing To Divulge

~ ITSOR-ATYPAS-AAPS-AWIWWTMBC ~ Imagine The Slogan Of Recovery – Admit That You’re Powerless And Submit – As A Political Slogan – And What Is Wrong With This Movement Becomes Clear

~ TPSOTRMRTSTTEIA:APLTTAT&MPAMATP ~ The Phenomenal Success Of The Recovery Movement Reflects Two Simple Truths That Emerge In Adolescence: All People Love To Talk About Themselves And Most People Are Mad At Their Parents

~ YCAWAT-YCOCIWATOYO-THNVAA-YCEBSOIVAT-T-AASFT-IC ~ You Can’t Argue With A Testimonial – You Can Only Counter It With A Testimonial Of Your Own – Testimony Has No Value As Argument – You Can’t Even Be Sure Of Its Value As Testimony – Testifying – As A Substitute For Thinking – Is Contagious

~ ITSHU-AIP ~ In The Self-Help Universe – Anything Is Possible

~ IIFTSTEWWPWTUFTW ~ It Is Frightening To See The Ease With Which People Wall Themselves Up From The World

~ SWERDE(TOSTAEOAT)-TSTETANTBQ-AIVNI ~ So While Experts Routinely Disclaim Expertise (They Often Say They Are Experts Only About Themselves) – They Seem To Expect Their Authority Never To Be Questioned – And It Virtually Never Is

~ CARUTMTESLCF-WPBS ~ Confessions Are Routinely Used To Make The Experts Seem Like Common Folk

~ JSTBTPWRALBM ~ Jargon Seems To Be The Place Where Right And Left Brains Meet

~ SNI ~ Saying Nothing Inspiringly

~ S-CWFH-IA-C-CT-O-PRW-TLTQT-CPFTEB-TATOA ~ Smugness – Coupled With False Humility – Is A – Common – Central Trait – Of – Popular Religious Writers – They Like To Quote Themselves – Citing Passages From Their Earlier Books – They Are Their Own Authorities

~ ESHEDTTBI-‘QF’-RBOT ~ Even Self-Help Experts Deny That They Believe In – “Quick Fixes” – Right Before Offering Them

~ SHCMII-B-TTTROE ~ Self-Help Consumers May Idealize Intuition – But – They Tend To Rely On Experts

~ SHBMAIACT-IIBNT-A-FTIOBF ~ Self-Help Books Market Authority In A Culture That – Idealizes Individualism But Not Thinking – And – Fears The Isolation Of Being Free