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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.
Sometimes they were so inaccessible that it seemed as though a great wall had been built around them.
3.
4.
Though a situation had not
been entirely our fault, we
tried to disregard the other person involved entirely.
5.
(*) The fellowship of Al-Anon Family Groups was formed about thirteen years after this chapter was written. Though it is entirely separate from Alcoholics Anonymous, it
uses the general principles of the A.A. program as a guide for husbands, wives, relatives, friends and others close to alcoholics. The foregoing pages (though addressed only to wives) indicate the problems such people may face. Alateen, for teen-aged children of alcoholics, is a part of Al-Anon.
6.
We had failed to see that though adult in years we were still behaving childishly, trying to turn everybody -- friends, wives, husbands, even the world itself -- into protective
parents.
7.
8.
In our drinking time, we acted as if the money supply was inexhaustible, though between binges we'd sometimes go to the other extreme and become almost miserly.
9.
Best of all, I met a kind doctor who explained that though certainly selfish and foolish, I had been seriously ill, bodily and mentally.
10.
The second section of this
volume, though designed for A.A.'s membership, will give such inquirers an inside view of A.A. never before possible.
11.
That may be true of certain
nonalcoholic people
who, though drinking foolishly and heavily at
the present time, are able to stop or moderate, because their brains and bodies have not been
damaged as ours were.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
His call to the clergyman
led him presently to a certain resident of the town, who, though formerly able and respected, was then nearing
the nadir of alcoholic despair.
17.
Among our rapidly growing membership of thousands of alcoholics
such transformations,
though frequent, are by no means the rule.
18.
Many mornings I have gone to classes, and even though fully prepared, would turn and walk back to the fraternity house because of my jitters, not daring to enter the classroom for fear of making a scene should I be called on for
recitation.
19.
Try to remember that though God has wrought miracles among us, we should never belittle a good doctor or psychiatrist.
20.
21.
22.
Though he could not accept all
the tenets of the Oxford Groups, he was convinced of
the need for moral inventory, confession of
personality defects,
restitution to those harmed, helpfulness to others, and the necessity of
belief in and dependence
upon God.
23.
24.
In late 1934 I attended a patient who,
though he had been a competent businessman
of good earning capacity, was an alcoholic
of a type I had come to regard as hopeless.
25.
26.
Though he is now a most effective member of Alcoholics Anonymous, he
still smokes and drinks coffee, but neither his wife nor anyone else stands in judgment.
27.
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.
28.
29.
Being possessed of a spiritual experience,
the alcoholic will find he has much in common with these people, though he may differ with them on many matters.
30.
They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn't think so.
31.
I had been obliged to discharge him for drinking, though he was brilliant, alert, and one of the best organizers I have ever known.
32.
Very soon, though, his assumed authority to run everything begins to be shared with the first alcoholics he has helped.
33.
34.
My wife became deeply interested, and it
was her interest that sustained mine, though I at no time sensed that it might be an
answer to my liquor problem.
35.
They had said that though I did
raise a defense, it would one day give
way before some trivial reason for having a drink.
36.
Wishing to be polite, though I felt very badly, I said, "Let's make the call," and extracted from my wife a promise that we would not stay
over fifteen minutes.
37.
Though I had been only a nominal churchman, their proposals were not, intellectually, hard to
swallow.
38.
I used to get terribly upset when I saw my friends drink and knew I could not, but I
schooled myself to believe that though I once had the same privilege, I had abused it
so frightfully that it was withdrawn.
39.
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.
40.
This was only a beginning, though if honestly and humbly made, an effect, sometimes a very great one, was felt at once.
41.
Though in some cases we cannot
make restitution at all,
and in some cases action ought to be deferred, we
should nevertheless make
an accurate and really exhaustive survey of our past life as it has affected other people.
42.
So intense, though, is our fear and reluctance to do
this, that many A.A.'s at first try to bypass Step Five.
43.
Neither is reason, as most
of us use it, entirely dependable, though it emanate from our best minds.
44.
(*) The fellowship of Al-Anon Family Groups was formed about thirteen years after this chapter was written. Though it is entirely separate from Alcoholics Anonymous, it
uses the general principles of the A.A. program as a guide for husbands, wives, relatives, friends and others close to alcoholics. The foregoing pages (though addressed only to wives) indicate the problems such people may face. Alateen, for teen-aged children of alcoholics, is a part of Al-Anon.
45.
Though it is infinitely better that he have no relapse at all, as has been true
with many of our men, it is by no means a bad
thing in some cases.
46.
It relieved me somewhat
to learn that in alcoholics the will is amazingly weakened when it
comes to combating liquor, though it often remains strong in other respects.
47.
We cannot subscribe to the belief that this life is a vale of tears, though it once was just that for many of us.
48.
We found that as soon as we
were able to lay aside prejudice and express even a willingness to believe in
a Power greater than ourselves, we commenced
to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that Power, which
is God.
49.
Though it was not our intention to create such an impression, many alcoholics have nevertheless concluded
that in order to recover
they must acquire an immediate and overwhelming "God-consciousness" followed at once by a vast change in feeling and outlook.
50.
As though lying upon a sunlit beach, let us relax and breathe deeply of the spiritual atmosphere with which the grace of this prayer surrounds us.
51.
52.
53.
When the broker returned
to New York in the fall of 1935, the first A.A. group had actually been formed, though no one realized it at the time.
54.
Though none of these principles had the force of
rules or laws, they had become so widely accepted by 1950 that they were
confirmed by our first International Conference held at Cleveland.
55.
Though not a religious person, I have profound respect for the spiritual
approach in such cases as yours.
56.
57.
58.
Though old buildings will eventually be replaced by
finer ones, the new structures will take years to complete.
59.
60.
Though our decision was a vital and crucial step, it could have little permanent effect unless at once followed by a strenuous effort to face, and to be rid of, the things in ourselves which had been blocking us.
61.
On that basis we are almost
always in collision with
something or somebody,
even though our motives are good.
62.
I earnestly advise every alcoholic to read this book through, and though perhaps he came to scoff, he may remain to pray.
63.
64.
65.
Though self-will may slam it shut again, as it frequently does, it will always respond the moment we again pick up the key
of willingness.
66.
His wife came, scarcely daring to be hopeful, though she thought she saw something different about
her husband already.
67.
68.
The basic principles of
A.A., as they are known today, were borrowed mainly from the fields of religion and medicine,
though some ideas upon which success finally depended were the result of noting the behavior and needs of the Fellowship itself.
69.
Though some of his manifestations are alarming and disagreeable, we think dad will be on a firmer foundation than the
man who is placing business or professional success ahead of spiritual development.
70.
71.
First of all, we had to admit
that we had many of these defects, even though such disclosures were painful
and humiliating.
72.
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.
73.
Maybe this sounds as though the alcoholics in A.A. had suddenly gone peaceable, and become one great big happy family.
74.
By now, though, the chances are that he has become
convinced that he has more
problems than alcohol,
and that some of these refuse to be solved by all the sheer personal determination
and courage he can muster.
75.
76.
77.
Though the earning power of most A.A.'s is relatively high, we have some
members who never seem to get on their feet moneywise, and still others who encounter heavy financial reverses.
78.
Though the essays which follow were written mainly for members, it is thought by many of A.A.'s friends that these pieces might arouse interest and find application outside A.A. itself.
79.
Though the family does not fully agree with dad's spiritual activities, they should let
him have his head.
80.
Though the family has no religious connections, they may wish
to make contact with or take membership in a religious body.
81.
82.
83.
In many instances we shall find that though the harm done others has not been great, the emotional harm we have done ourselves has.
84.
They can hardly fail to approve these simple principles, though the head of the house still fails somewhat in practicing
them.
85.
Though there is no way of proving it, we believe that early in our drinking careers most of us
could have stopped drinking.
86.
Though there may be justifiable exceptions, and though we wish to lay down no rule
of any sort, we have often found this the best course to take.
87.
Though they knew they must help other alcoholics if they
would remain sober, that motive became secondary.
88.
Where people had temporarily let us run their lives as though they were still children, we had felt very happy and secure ourselves.
89.
Though Tradition Nine at first sight seems to deal with a purely practical matter, in its actual operation it discloses a
society without organization, animated
only by the spirit of service -- a true fellowship.
90.
91.
Neither does A.A. take any particular medical point of view, though we cooperate widely with the men of medicine as well as with the men of religion.
92.
Though we did not like their symptoms and the way these disturbed us, they, like ourselves, were sick too.
93.
94.
For alcoholism had been a lonely business, even though we had been surrounded by people who loved us.
95.
More often, though, we had met up with some major calamity, and to our way of thinking lost out because God deserted us.
96.
97.
Though we have no religious connection, we
may still do well to talk with someone ordained by an established religion.
98.
Though we may at first be startled to realize that God knows all about us, we are apt to get used to that quite quickly.
99.
It may be he has done us more harm than we have done him and,
though we may have acquired
a better attitude toward him, we are still not too
keen about admitting our faults.
100.
We used our education to blow ourselves up into prideful balloons, though we were careful to hide this from others.
101.
102.
Though there may be justifiable exceptions, and though we wish to lay down no rule
of any sort, we have often found this the best course to take.
103.
Though we work out our solution on the spiritual as well as an altruistic plane, we favor hospitalization
for the alcoholic who is very jittery or befogged.
104.
Many of us had moral and philosophical convictions galore, but we
could not live up to them even though we would have liked to.
105.
Though you are providing
him with the best possible
medical attention, he
should understand that he must undergo a change of heart.
106.
107.
Being certain he wants to stop, you can go to him with this volume as joyfully as though you had struck oil.
108.
109.
110.
Even though your husband becomes unbearable and you have to leave him temporarily, you
should, if you can, go without
rancor.
111.
112.
You will no longer be self-conscious or feel that you must apologize as though your husband were a weak character.
113.
Even though your protégé may not have entirely admitted his condition, he has become very curious to know how you got well.
114.
Perhaps, though, your relation to him is such that
you would care to reveal only
a part of your story.
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