The Dark Night of Recovery: Conversations from the Bottom of the Bottle. This item is unavailable.The Dark Night of Recovery: Conversations from the Bottom of the Bottle

This inspiring work shows readers what it feels like to "hit the wall" or "hit bottom" on a spiritual path, and gives them insight on how to move forward toward a better life. It deals with the darkness, the despair and the joy that are inherent in the quest for enlightenment and self-knowing. Though focused mainly on issues relating to recovery from various kinds of addictions, the principles presented in this tale hold true for all spiritual journeys. The story of The Dark Night of Recovery is in the form of an ongoing dialogue between a relative newcomer to recovery (Lawyer Bob) and an old-timer (Tyler) who meet every two weeks to discuss life and turmoil and love and lust and everything else. Each of the twelve chapters deals with one of the Twelve Steps, using the wisdom of the Tao, the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Winnie the Pooh, Yoda, Thomas Merton and many others. The story line follows Bob as he struggles through personal and spiritual problems, trying to apply the principles he is learning. At the end of the twelve sessions, Bob (and hopefully the reader) has acquired a few more skills to apply to the art of living one day at a time.

Edward Bear, a pseudonym, was born in Brooklyn, NY and grew up in Los Angeles. Early experiences include a brief stint in minor league baseball, too many years in construction work, day labor, bartending, and a variety of dead-end jobs. He attended (sometimes very briefly) six colleges and received no degrees. A correspondence course in engineering landed him a job at Hewlett-Packard, where has been employed for 27 years. His major influences are Winnie the Pool, Eugene O'Neill, John Steinbeck, Meister Eckhart, T.S. Eliot, and Jacques Maritain, not necessarily in that order. He has published several fiction pieces in small literary magazines and a novel, Diamonds Are Trump.