The Audience

Religions and Recovery have at least one thing in common.  In the same room or worship space, there are persons who are the audience and there are persons who are the practitioners.  They all showed up.  But some are going to engage or participate such that when they leave the gathering they practice what their group is supposed to be about.  Practitioners are looking for something in the gathering to help them to be better persons according to the beliefs, steps, process of the gathering.  The better I participate, even if in active listening, the better practitioner I will be outside in the world.  Is that not what these gatherings are all about?  Getting rid of Self?