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From the books ... Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book) and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (12 & 12)
Click the page number or the book cover icon
to view that page in the literature.1.
2.
If the alcoholic tries to
shield himself he may succeed for a time, but he usually winds up with a bigger explosion then ever.
3.
4.
The only answer I could make
was that if the man followed
the usual pattern, he would
go on a bigger bust than ever.
5.
If we have swept the searchlight of Step Four back and forth over our careers, and it has revealed
in stark relief those experiences we'd rather not remember, if we
have come to know how wrong thinking and action have hurt us and others, then the need to quit living by ourselves with those tormenting ghosts of yesterday gets more urgent than ever.
6.
7.
8.
Instead of regarding ourselves as intelligent agents, spearheads of God's ever advancing Creation, we agnostics and
atheists chose to believe that our human intelligence was the last
word, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and end of all.
9.
10.
Almost no recovery from alcoholism
has ever been brought about
by the world's best professionals, whether
medical or religious.
11.
12.
We are delighted with this dependence; our main hope is that nothing will ever cut
off the supply of current.
13.
14.
15.
"The doctor told him that if
he ever drank again it would kill him, but there
he is all lit up again."
16.
If he temporizes and still thinks he can ever drink again, even beer, he might as well be discharged after the next bender which, if an alcoholic, he is almost certain to have.
17.
Here are some of the methods
we have tried: Drinking beer only, limiting the number of drinks, never drinking alone, never drinking in the morning, drinking only at home, never having it in the house, never drinking during business hours, drinking only at parties, switching from scotch to brandy, drinking only natural wines, agreeing to resign if ever drunk on the job, taking a trip, not taking a trip, swearing off forever (with
and without a solemn oath), taking more physical exercise, reading inspirational books, going to health farms and sanitariums, accepting voluntary commitment to asylums --
we could increase the list
ad infinitum.
18.
How often have some of us begun to drink in this nonchalant way, and after the third or fourth, pounded on the bar and said to ourselves, "For God's sake, how did I ever get started again?"
19.
I insisted that few drunks could ever get well on their own steam, but that in our groups we could do together
what we could not do separately.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
Therefore, no society of men and women ever had a more urgent need for continuous effectiveness and permanent unity.
25.
He left us a note saying you were the best boss he ever had, and that you were
not to blame in any way."
26.
Following his physical
rehabilitation, he had a talk with me in which he frankly
stated he thought the treatment a waste of effort, unless I could assure him, which no one ever had, that in the future he would have the "will power" to resist the impulse to drink.
27.
So it doesn't behoove me to squawk about it for, after all,
nobody ever had to throw me down and pour liquor down my throat.
28.
We are sure that humility,
expressed by anonymity, is the greatest
safeguard that Alcoholics Anonymous can
ever have.
29.
Like so much of A.A.'s basic text, those words have proved to be far more visionary than the founding members could ever have imagined.
30.
Did anyone ever hear of a nation, a church, a political party, even a benevolent association
that had no membership rules?
31.
Did anyone ever hear of a society which couldn't
somehow discipline its members and enforce obedience to necessary rules and regulations?
32.
33.
Some of us veered from extreme to extreme, ever hoping that one day our loved ones would be themselves once more.
34.
35.
10. No A.A. group or member should ever, in such a way as to implicate A.A., express any opinion on outside controversial
issues -- particularly
those of politics, alcohol reform, or sectarian religion.
36.
Ten -- No A.A.
group or member should ever, in such a way as to implicate A.A., express any opinion on outside controversial
issues -- particularly
those of politics, alcohol reform, or sectarian religion.
37.
In this prodigy of service, he was well assisted by Sister Ignatia at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron, Ohio, one of the greatest friends our Fellowship will ever know.
38.
39.
Then he had, in effect, been raised from the dead, suddenly taken from the scrap heap to a level of life better than the best he had ever known!
40.
I had been obliged to discharge him for drinking, though he was brilliant, alert, and one of the best organizers I have ever known.
41.
For no people have ever loved personal triumphs more than we have loved them; we
drank of success as of a wine which could never fail to make us feel elated.
42.
But we are sure that no class of people in the world ever made a worse mess of trying to live by this formula than alcoholics.
43.
Post-war disillusionment, ever more serious alcoholism, impending mental and physical collapse, brought him to the
point of self-destruction.
44.
45.
46.
Twelve -- Anonymity is
the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.
47.
Tradition Twelve -- "Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of
all our traditions, ever
reminding us to place principles before personalities."
48.
"Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of
all our traditions, ever
reminding us to place principles before personalities."
49.
And so it had been ever since.
50.
51.
Ever since, these friends
have reported A.A. with an enthusiasm which the most ardent members would find hard to match.
52.
53.
Once we have placed the key of willingness in the lock and have the door ever so slightly open, we find that we can always open it some more.
54.
On the other hand -- and strange as this may seem to those who do not understand
-- once a psychic change has occurred, the very same person who seemed doomed, who had so many problems he despaired of
ever solving them, suddenly finds himself easily able to control his desire for alcohol, the only
effort necessary being that required to follow a few simple rules.
55.
And how shall he ever straighten out that awful jam that cost him the affection of his
family and separated him
from them?
56.
And no group, regional committee, or individual should ever take any action that might greatly affect A.A. as a whole without conferring with the trustees of the General Service Board.
57.
And no group, regional committee, or individual should ever take any action that might greatly affect A.A. as a whole without conferring with the trustees of the General Service Board.
58.
How could we ever take care of those awful debts, possess a decent home, educate the kids, and set something by for old age?
59.
In no deep or meaningful sense had we
ever taken stock of ourselves, made amends to those we had harmed, or freely given to any other human being without any demand for reward.
60.
Of far more importance was the fact that
he was the first living human with whom I had ever talked, who knew what he was talking about in regard to alcoholism from actual experience.
61.
62.
... ever-urgent questions,
"How can A.A. best function?" ...
BB
Appendix I, The A.A. Tradition, p.561
The "12 Traditions" of Alcoholics Anonymous
are, we A.A.'s believe, the best answers that our experience has yet given to those ever-urgent questions, "How can A.A. best function?" and, "How can
A.A. best stay whole and so survive?"
63.
It became clear that if we
ever were to feel emotionally secure among grown-up people, we would have to put our lives on a give-and-take basis; we would have to develop
the sense of being in partnership or brotherhood with all those
around us.
64.
65.
This has always been so obvious that only a very few A.A.'s have ever worked the Twelfth Step for a fee.
The 164 and More™ Book, eBook, and Web Site
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Alcoholics Anonymous, the
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