AA Book Club

  AA literature and history together - read Bill's  1948 Grapevine article on Tradition Eleven: Tradition Eleven Providence has been looking after the public relations of Alcoholics Anonymous. It can scarcely have been otherwise.  Though we are more than a dozen years old, hardly a syllable of criticism or ridicule has ever been spoken of AA. Somehow we have been spared all the pains of medical or religious controversy and we have good friends both wet and dry, right and left. Like most societies, we are sometimes scandalous -- but never yet in public. From all over the world, naught comes but keen sympathy and downright admiration. Our friends of the press and radio have outdone themselves. Anyone can see that we are in a fair way to be spoiled. Our reputation is already so much better than our actual character! Surely these phenomenal blessings must have a deep purpose. Who doubts that this purpose wishes to let every alcoholic in the world know that AA is truly for ...

  "Go to Any Lengths" This phrase and similar ones show the dedication and sense of urgency needed for recovery through our program. Big Book: “If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it, then you are ready to take certain steps.” How It Works “If we haven’t the will to do this [make amends], we ask until it comes. Remember, it was agreed at the beginning we would go to any lengths for victory over alcohol. ” Page 76, Into Action (Steps 8 & 9) “Reminding ourselves that we have decided to go to any lengths to find a spiritual experience, we ask that we be given the strength and direction to do the right thing, no matter what the personal consequences may be.” Page 79, Into Action (Step 9) Related: "Our drinking has made us slow to pay. We must lose our fear of creditors no matter how far we have to go, for we are liable to drink if we are afraid to face them." Page 78, Into Action, Step Nine “Wait for the end of the sp...

Sobriety meme of the week:      

Real People of the Big Book - looking at the individuals behind AA folklore John Henry Fitzhugh "Fitz" Mayo (1898-1943) is the person whose sudden spiritual experience is described at the end of We Agnostics: “Is it possible that all the religious people I have known are wrong?’’ While pondering the answer he felt as though he lived in hell. Then, like a thunderbolt, a great thought came. It crowded out all else: “Who are you to say there is no God?’’ This man recounts that he tumbled out of bed to his knees. In a few seconds he was overwhelmed by a conviction of the Presence of God. It poured over and through him with the certainty and majesty of a great tide at flood. The barriers he had built through the years were swept away. He stood in the Presence of Infinite Power and Love. He had stepped from bridge to shore. For the first time, he lived in conscious companionship with his Creator. Thus was our friend’s cornerstone fixed in place. No later vicissitude has sh...

  Big Book topics for study, meditation or use with a sponsee (From our online literature studies at AABookClub.org): The Unexpected Our behavior is as absurd and incomprehensible with respect to the first drink as that of an individual with a passion, say, for jay-walking. He gets a thrill out of skipping in front of fast-moving vehicles. He enjoys himself for a few years in spite of friendly warnings. Up to this point you would label him as a foolish chap having queer ideas of fun. Luck then deserts him and he is slightly injured several times in succession. You would expect him, if he were normal, to cut it out. Presently he is hit again and this time has a fractured skull. Within a week after leaving the hospital a fast-moving trolley car breaks his arm. He tells you he has decided to stop jay-walking for good, but in a few weeks he breaks both legs. On through the years this conduct continues, accompanied by his continual promises to be careful or to keep off the ...