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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.
3.
Of course the sponsor points out that our friend's life is still unmanageable even though he is sober, that after all, only a bare start on A.A.'s program has been made.
4.
He made a beginning.
5.
Every man and woman who has joined A.A. and intends to stick has, without realizing it, made a beginning on Step Three.
6.
He made a beginning, we
have seen, when he commenced to rely upon A.A. for the solution of his alcohol problem.
7.
If you have already made a decision, and an inventory
of your grosser handicaps, you have made a good beginning.
8.
9.
Step Three -- "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood Him."
10.
11.
12.
He should not be made a favorite.
13.
14.
If you have already made a decision, and an inventory
of your grosser handicaps, you have made a good beginning.
15.
16.
17.
18.
Step Eight -- "Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all."
19.
20.
21.
22.
There my drinking became
so much worse that the boys in the fraternity house where I lived felt forced to send for my father, who made a long journey in the vain endeavor to get me straightened around.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
Outline the program of action, explaining how you
made a self-appraisal, how you straightened out your past and why you are now endeavoring to be helpful to him.
28.
How could we be certain that we had made a true catalog of our defects and
had really admitted them,
even to ourselves?
29.
Henry Ford once made a wise remark to the effect that experience is
the thing of supreme value in life.
30.
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.
31.
32.
It is hoped that this volume
will afford all who read it a close-up view of the principles and forces which
have made Alcoholics Anonymous what it is.
33.
34.
Yet, in other moments, we found ourselves thinking, when
enchanted by a starlit
night, "Who, then, made all
this?"
35.
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.
36.
This was only a beginning, though if honestly and humbly made, an effect, sometimes a very great one, was felt at once.
37.
They experienced a few distressing failures,
but in those cases they made an effort to bring the man's family into a spiritual way of living, thus relieving much worry and suffering.
38.
When A.A. was quite young, a number of eminent psychologists
and doctors made an exhaustive study of a good-sized group of so-called problem drinkers.
39.
40.
41.
As the day goes on, we can pause where situations must be met and decisions made, and renew the simple request: "Thy will, not mine, be done."
42.
New acquaintances who know nothing of alcoholism might be made and
thoughtful considerations given
their needs.
43.
In it alcoholism was described from the alcoholic's point of view, the spiritual ideas of the Society were codified for the first time in the Twelve Steps, and the application
of these Steps to the alcoholic's dilemma was
made clear.
44.
45.
Being still inexperienced and having just made conscious contact with God, it is not probable that we
are going to be inspired at
all times.
46.
Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some
time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt.
47.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do
so would injure them or others.
48.
Step Nine -- "Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do
so would injure them or others."
49.
"Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do
so would injure them or others."
50.
Therefore, the first portion of this volume, describing the A.A. recovery program, has been
left largely untouched in the course of
revisions made for the second, third, and fourth editions.
51.
52.
53.
Here was the terrible dilemma in which our friend found himself when he had the
extraordinary experience, which as we have already told you, made him a free man.
54.
55.
56.
57.
What he has received is a free gift, and yet usually, at least in some small part, he has made himself ready to receive it.
58.
Why, he argued, should he lose the remainder of his business, only to bring still more suffering to his family by
foolishly admitting
his plight to people from
whom he made his livelihood?
59.
The patient had made his own diagnosis, and deciding his situation hopeless, had hidden in a deserted barn determined to die.
60.
Because this book has become the basic text for our Society and has helped such large numbers of alcoholic men and women to recovery, there exists strong sentiment against any radical changes being made in it.
61.
62.
"I think that psychologically speaking there is a point of
advantage in the approach that is being made in this movement that cannot
be duplicated.
63.
Our growth made it plain that we couldn't be a secret society, but it was equally plain that we couldn't
be a vaudeville circuit, either.
64.
At that time I was not aware of
the almost unlimited supply the government made it possible for us doctors to obtain, neither had I any knowledge of the bootlegger who soon appeared on the horizon.
65.
This resolution I kept steadfastly for the next forty years, except when circumstances made it seem unwise to absent myself.
66.
67.
Though the aggregate of
recoveries resulting
from psychiatric effort
is considerable, we physicians must admit we have made little impression upon the problem as a whole.
68.
The wars which had been fought, the burnings and chicanery that religious
dispute had facilitated, made me sick.
69.
70.
The immense resources now being harnessed promise such a quantity of material blessings that many have come to believe that a man-made millennium lies just ahead.
71.
72.
He relies upon the assurance that his many troubles, now made more acute because he cannot use alcohol to kill the pain, can be solved, too.
73.
This world of ours has made more material progress in the last century than in all the millenniums which went before.
74.
Tell him you once felt as he does, but you doubt whether you would have made much progress had you not taken action.
75.
I pointed out that I had had
nothing to drink whatever for three years, and this in the face of difficulties that would have made nine out of
ten men drink their heads off.
76.
If men and women didn't exert themselves to be secure in their persons, made no effort
to harvest food or construct shelter, there
would be no survival.
77.
78.
So far, upon the total problem of several million actual and potential alcoholics in the world, we
have made only a scratch.
79.
80.
He has a positive genius
for getting tight at exactly the wrong moment, particularly when
some important decision
must be made or engagement kept.
81.
82.
83.
84.
All changes made over the years in the Big Book (A.A.
members' fond nickname for this volume)
have had the same purpose: to
represent the current membership of Alcoholics Anonymous more accurately, and thereby to reach more alcoholics.
85.
When our inventory is carefully taken, and we have
made peace with ourselves, the conviction follows that tomorrow's challenges can
be met as they come.
86.
If you propose such a procedure to him, it may be necessary to advance the cost of treatment, but we believe it should be made plain that any expense will later be deducted from his pay.
87.
Still goaded by sheer necessity, we reluctantly come to grips with those serious character flaws that made problem drinkers of us in
the first place, flaws which must be dealt with to prevent a retreat into alcoholism once again.
88.
To those who have made progress in A.A., it amounts to a clear recognition of what and who we really are, followed by a sincere attempt to become what we could be.
89.
90.
Nearly every sound human being experiences, at some
time in life, a compelling desire to find a mate of the opposite sex with whom the fullest possible union can be made -- spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical.
91.
92.
When your prospect has made
such reparation as he can
to his family, and has thoroughly explained to
them the new principles by
which he is living, he should proceed to put those principles into action at home.
93.
The moment this Twelfth Step work forms a group, another discovery is made -- that most individuals
cannot recover unless there
is a group.
94.
Only Step One, where we made the 100 percent admission we were
powerless over alcohol, can be practiced
with absolute perfection.
95.
To those now in its fold, Alcoholics Anonymous has
made the difference between misery and sobriety, and often the difference between life and death.
96.
97.
After we have made the list of people we have harmed, have reflected carefully upon each instance, and have tried to possess ourselves of the right attitude in which to proceed, we will see that the making of direct amends divides those we should approach into several classes.
98.
But my friend sat before me, and he made the point-blank declaration that God had done for him what he could not do for himself.
99.
100.
101.
I used to promise my wife, my friends, and my children that I would drink no more -- promises which seldom kept me sober even through the day, though I was very sincere when I made them.
102.
103.
But if a willing start is
made, then the great advantages of doing this will so quickly reveal themselves that the
pain will be lessened as one obstacle after another melts away.
104.
105.
Its foreword made this revealing statement: "It is important that we remain anonymous because we are
too few, at present, to handle the overwhelming
number of personal appeals which may result from
this publication.
106.
One of these men, staff member of a world-renowned hospital, recently made this statement to some of
us: "What you say about the general hopelessness of
the average alcoholic's
plight is, in my opinion,
correct.
107.
Our basic troubles are the
same as everyone else's, but when an honest effort is made "to practice these principles
in all our affairs," well-grounded A.A.'s seem to have the ability, by God's grace, to take these troubles in stride and turn them into demonstrations of faith.
108.
109.
110.
111.
112.
He made up his mind that until he had been successful in business
and had retired, he would not touch another drop.
113.
114.
This went from bad to worse until sophomore spring when, after a prolonged period of drinking, I made up my mind
that I could not complete my course, so I packed my grip and went South to spend a month on a large farm owned by a friend of mine.
115.
But the moment I made up my mind to go
through with the process,
I had the curious feeling
that my alcoholic condition was relieved, as
in fact it proved to be.
116.
Demands made upon other people for too much attention, protection,
and love can only invite domination or revulsion
in the protectors themselves -- two emotions quite as unhealthy as the demands
which evoked them.
117.
Many of us have been so touchy
that even casual reference to spiritual things made us bristle with antagonism.
118.
119.
120.
121.
122.
123.
124.
Arrangements were also
made with the chief psychiatrist of a large public hospital to select still others from the stream of misery which flows through that institution.
125.
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