My greying anarchism

At "business meetings" after a couple of separate 12th-step meetings I found myself in very mild disharmony with a specific woman who moved down here recently from Boston.  On each occasion, she advocates adhering to the recommendations of and best practices derived by World Service Organizations, whereas I am guided by an impulse that, as autonomous bodies, each individual 12th-step meeting can do whatever it likes.

I talked to her about it yesterday.  I've talked to her about specific instances of this several times, because it's always a worthwhile discussion.

Thinking about it, I realize that what bubbles up in me in these situations -- aside from wanting to move on with my day and not get involved in lengthy discussions of small matters (except, of course, on my blog) -- is a deep-seated bias towards anarchism. That's where my thinking/feeling about governance begins.

But then I have to admit that I live in a society, and in a place where the population density continues to rise.  And that I choose to live here, and reap the benefits of doing so.  And that means that I am always in a state of interdependency and compromise, working together with others.

I remember around the time of the Occupy Wall Street movement, when they were talking about anarchism and its role in the OWS modus operandi, they mentioned that 12th-step groups were a model for how they ran.  Hadn't really thought about that before.



(I do hope the blog is not getting too boring for yall.  Will be in NYC/NJ/PA next week.  Hopefully I'll see some funny/crazy shit on the streets)