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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.
That was a hard thought.
2.
3.
4.
5.
... thought a
great deal about the relationship ...
BB
Appendix III, The Medical View on A.A., p.569
Dr. Harry M. Tiebout, psychiatrist:
"As a psychiatrist, I have thought a great deal about the relationship
of my specialty to A.A. and I
have come to the conclusion that our particular function can
very often lie in preparing the way for the patient to accept any sort of treatment or outside help.
6.
7.
8.
He thought all alcoholics
should constantly have chocolate available for
its quick energy value at times of fatigue.
9.
He attended church school, where he became rebellious at what he thought
an overdose of religious education.
10.
XII. The Conference shall observe the spirit of A.A. tradition, taking care that it never becomes the seat of perilous wealth or power; that sufficient operating funds and reserve be its prudent financial principle; that it place none of its members in a position of unqualified authority
over others; that it reach all important decisions by discussion,
vote, and, whenever possible, by substantial
unanimity; that its actions never be personally punitive nor an incitement to public controversy; that
it never perform acts of government, and that,
like the Society it serves, it will always remain democratic in thought and action.
11.
12.
13.
This thought brings us to Step Ten, which suggests we continue to take personal inventory and continue to
set right any new mistakes as we go along.
14.
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.
15.
16.
While I lay in the hospital the thought came that there were thousands
of hopeless alcoholics
who might be glad to have what had been so freely given me.
17.
As I crossed the threshold of the dining room, the thought came to mind that it would be nice to have a couple of cocktails with dinner.
18.
We learned that if we were seriously disturbed, our
first need was to quiet that disturbance, regardless of who or what we thought caused it.
19.
We thought "conditions" drove us to drink, and when we tried to correct these conditions and found that we
couldn't to our entire satisfaction, our drinking went out of hand and we became alcoholics.
20.
The A.A. groups, many thought, could go into business, might finance any enterprise whatever in
the total field of alcoholism.
21.
"Suddenly the thought crossed my mind that if I were
to put an ounce of whiskey in my milk it couldn't
hurt me on a full stomach.
22.
We now see that when we began to drink deliberately, instead of
casually, there was little
serious or effective
thought during the period of premeditation
of what the terrific consequences might be.
23.
24.
Maybe there are serious domestic or romantic difficulties, or perhaps
that boy we thought God was looking after becomes a military casualty.
25.
True, most of us thought good character was desirable, but obviously
good character was something one needed to get on with the business of being self-satisfied.
26.
But his face falls when we speak of spiritual matters, especially when
we mention God, for we have re-opened a subject which our man thought he had neatly evaded or entirely ignored.
27.
We thought he ought to be willing to do that if necessary, but if he were in jail he could provide nothing for either family.
28.
29.
Some time later, and just as he thought he was getting control of his liquor situation, he went on a roaring bender.
30.
He finds himself in possession of a degree of
honesty, tolerance, unselfishness, peace of
mind, and love of which he had
thought himself quite incapable.
31.
Nevertheless, I still
thought I could control the
situation, and there were periods of sobriety which renewed my wife's hope.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
He thought it better to give comfort than to receive it; better to understand than to be understood; better to forgive than to be forgiven.
38.
I learned that it was something of a spiritual
nature, which did not appeal
to me very much, but I thought it could do no harm.
39.
40.
41.
Three years ago, when my head doctor, Silkworth, began to tell me of the idea of helping drunks by spirituality, I
thought it was crackpot stuff, but I've changed my mind.
42.
43.
Our thought-life will be placed on a much higher plane when our thinking is cleared of wrong motives.
44.
They grinned, which I didn't like so much, and then asked me if I thought myself alcoholic and if I
were really licked this time.
45.
I could go for such conceptions as Creative
Intelligence, Universal Mind or Spirit of Nature but I resisted the thought of a Czar of the Heavens, however loving His sway might be.
46.
47.
48.
49.
I felt especially virtuous as I thought of all
the ex-drunks who wouldn't even send the Foundation a dollar apiece, and here I was gladly making a five-dollar investment to fix a hangover.
50.
To 1950, the year of his death, he carried the A.A. message to more than 5,000 alcoholic men and women, and to all these he gave
his medical services without thought of charge.
51.
Save for a few brief moments of temptation the thought of drink has never returned; and at such times a great revulsion has risen up in him.
52.
53.
I thought of Lois coming home exhausted from the department store each day, only to cook supper for a houseful of drunks who weren't paying board.
54.
We never thought of making honesty, tolerance, and true love of man and God the daily basis of living.
55.
56.
Our very lives, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our constant thought of others and how we may help meet their needs.
57.
We seriously thought of rewriting the laws of the land, and having it declared
that alcoholics are sick
people.
58.
59.
60.
He and his wife would leave elated by the thought of what
they could now do for some stricken acquaintance
and his family.
61.
We thought, on the whole, we
were pretty good women, capable of being nicer if our husbands stopped drinking.
62.
63.
64.
As we glance down the debit side of the day's ledger, we should carefully examine our motives in each thought or act that appears to be wrong.
65.
As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and
ask for the right thought or action.
66.
This vital Step was also the means by which we began to get the feeling that we could be forgiven, no matter what we had thought or done.
67.
We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part.
68.
69.
Why, we thought, our Society of Alcoholics Anonymous might prove to be
the spearhead of a new spiritual advance!
70.
71.
His wife came, scarcely daring to be hopeful, though she thought she saw something different about
her husband already.
72.
73.
I, who had thought so well of myself and my abilities, of
my capacity to surmount
obstacles, was cornered
at last.
74.
75.
We were bothered with the thought that faith and dependence upon a Power beyond ourselves was somewhat weak, even cowardly.
76.
77.
Cling to the thought that, in
God's hands, the dark past is the greatest possession you
have -- the key to life and happiness for others.
78.
How he does cherish the thought that man, risen so majestically from
a single cell in the primordial ooze, is the spearhead of evolution
and therefore the only god
that his universe knows!
79.
It was thought that no alcoholic man or woman could be excluded from
our Society; that our leaders might serve but never govern; that each group was to be autonomous and there was to be no professional class of therapy.
80.
We do not like the thought that
the contents of a book or
the work of another alcoholic has accomplished in a few weeks that for which we struggled for years.
81.
There was actually a time
when the press of America
thought the anonymity of A.A. was better for us than some of
our own members did.
82.
83.
Since we were brighter than most folks (so we thought), the spoils of victory would be ours for the thinking.
84.
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.
85.
They only thought they had lost
their egoism and fear; they
only thought they had humbled
themselves.
86.
They only thought they had lost
their egoism and fear; they
only thought they had humbled
themselves.
87.
It must be remembered that
I had read a great deal and talked to everyone who knew, or thought they knew anything about the subject
of alcoholism.
88.
Our immediate temptation will be to ask for specific solutions to specific problems, and for the ability to help other people as we have already thought they should be
helped.
89.
It was now time, the struggling groups thought, to place their message and unique experience before the world.
90.
91.
92.
When the thought was expressed that there might be a God personal to me this feeling was intensified.
93.
But whenever we had to choose between character and comfort, the
character-building was
lost in the dust of our chase after what we thought was happiness.
94.
We have seen that we were prodded by unreasonable
fears or anxieties into making a life business of winning fame, money, and what we thought was leadership.
95.
96.
97.
When you add to this the habitual supposition
that people ought to give money to alcoholics trying to stay sober, it can be understood why we thought we deserved a pile of folding money.
98.
99.
No doubt we shall point with pride to the good lives we thought we led before the bottle cut us down.
100.
101.
102.
Or, the person concerned
not being present, we thought we were helping others to understand him,
when in actuality our true
motive was to feel superior by pulling him down.
103.
The bill collectors, the
sheriffs, the angry taxi drivers, the policemen, the bums, the pals, and even the ladies they sometimes brought home -- our husbands thought we were so inhospitable.
104.
105.
We thought well before taking this step making sure we were ready; that we could
at last abandon ourselves utterly to Him.
106.
We had long talks when I would
still her forebodings by
telling her that men of genius conceived their best projects when drunk; that the most majestic
constructions of philosophic thought were so
derived.
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