The Union of Opposition

I read this phrase this morning, and I'm going to write about it, not sure where it's going to lead me. In context, to be honest, the text had set up the use of "opposition" in either the first or second of Merriam-Webster.com's definitions, not the third or fourth which automatically resonate with me when I hear "opposition." Here's the online dictionary's definitions:

1. a configuration in which one celestial body is opposite another (as the sun) in the sky or in which the elongation is near or equal to 180 degrees
   
2. the relation between two propositions having the same subject and predicate but differing in quantity or quality or both
   
3. an act of setting opposite or over against : the condition of being so set
   
4. hostile or contrary action or condition
   
5. a: something that opposes ; specifically : a body of persons opposing something b often capitalized : a political party opposing and prepared to replace the party in power
   

Moving on to Step Four in AA's Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, these are the readings that catch my attention:

• "Yet these instincts, so necessary for our existence, often far exceed their proper functions. Powerfully, blindly, many times subtly, tey drive us, dominate us, and insist upon ruling our lives." (page 42)
  
• "Nearly every serious emotional problem can be seen as a case of misdirected instinct. When that happens, our great natural assets, the instincts, have turned into physical and mental liabilities." (ibid.)
  
• "By discovering what our emotional deformities are, we can move toward their correction." (page 43)
  
• "...we think it logically follows that sobriety--first, last, and all the time--is he only thing we need to work for." (page 45)

The Union of Opposition. The instincts are not wrong, they're misguided, overemphasized, out of balance. They differ in quality or quantity from where they ought to be. I guess the lesson of the morning is that what we need in Step Four is not a surgeon but a chiropractor. 

We're okay. I'm okay. God doesn't make junk. But sometimes what he makes gets messed up and needs realignment so he's in sharp focus again.