“But when you start getting into concepts like “dry drunk,” “sponsorship,” and similar apocryphal beliefs, I need more than “success” for validation.”
I guess I’m not really clear on what you mean. For me “dry drunk” is simply someone who does not presenly drink that has not made the neccessary changes in their lifestyle that led them to abusing alcohol in the first place and therefor may not translate in long term sobriety.
Sponsorship is just a term appllied to a friend and mentor that can help walk a person through recovery to be utilized or not depending on the individual.
Unlike a religion which should never be confused with AA, the “authenticity” of these concepts are dependent on the interpretation of the individual involved and what significance or not it my have for them.
I do happen to believe however that success can ultimately lead to validation.
Oh I agree empirical evidence is not to be ignored. My dad always said "you can't argue with performance."
Nevertheless, the truth or falsehood of chakras and meridians is immaterial for a needle in a nerve bundle to cause a decrease in related neurological activity.
The AA experience has so much belief/faith (in AA) based content that it IS quasi-religious, and therefore extraordinarily resistant to anything heterodox, much less something so blasphemous as "optimization!" As such, you can see by the responses on this thread, the derision piled on a researcher with the audacity to suggest they might have a better way.