“Until we had talked with complete candor of our conflicts, and had listened to someone else do the same thing, we still didn’t belong.” ~ TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 57 What a strange world. Never feeling like you’ve belonged anywhere until entering the four walls of A.A. Yet, inevitably, when the meeting ends, […]
Big Book
The Wisdom to Know the Difference
Like most middle-class, suburban Americans, I was raised on a healthy diet of exceptionalism. I believed, without a doubt, that my life had some greater meaning. I may have suffered humble beginnings, but I was certain that in the end, I was going to make it big. A rock star, perhaps? I was, probably, the […]
Forever is a Long Time
Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism. Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover. Nor ought A.A. membership ever depend upon money or conformity. Any two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an A.A. group, provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation. AA’s […]
An Argument for Literal Interpretation
Confession, Prostration, and the Extreme You Makeover The initial steps in the suggested program of Alcoholics Anonymous exist to break down the facade you’ve created, whether out of pride or ignorance, that you’re in control of your drinking. This can be rectified by reducing or destroying the ego: we admit that we’re powerless over alcohol, […]
More About Alcoholism
I have read the Alcoholics Anonymous book “The Big Book” several times over and have spent countless hours pondering and relating to the ideas in it. Bill W., one of the AA founders, was the author of the majority of it. Being new to recovery and accepting the fact of alcoholism as a disease can […]