AA Book Club

  This week's Throwback Thursday history link - from Recovery Speakers.com, a history of online A.A. meetings: https://www.recoveryspeakers.com/modem-to-modem-history-of-online-aa-presented-by-penny-p-and-michael-b/    ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club Blog by clicking the icon in the upper left corner of the homepage, then clicking the blue 'follow' button. We feature new posts every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and will never have ads or give out user info. Check out our AA literature guide at AABookClub.org **

  From the Itivuttaka, sayings of the Buddha: 3.39   This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant, so I have heard: "There are these three inside stains, inside enemies, inside foes, inside murderers, inside adversaries. Which three? Greed is an inside stain, inside enemy, inside foe, inside murderer, inside adversary. Aversion is an inside stain... Delusion is an inside stain, inside enemy, inside foe, inside murderer, inside adversary. These are the three inside stains, inside enemies, inside foes, inside murderers, inside adversaries."     Greed causes harm.     Greed provokes the mind.     People don't realize it     as a danger born from within.     A person, when greedy,     doesn't know his own welfare;         when greedy,     doesn't see Dhamma (the Truth).     Overcome with greed,     he's in the dark, blind.     But when one, abandoning greed,     feels no greed     for what would merit greed,     greed gets shed from him —         like a d

Thoughts for the week: March 27  INHERITING THE EARTH The word meek in the Bible connotes a mental attitude for which there is no other single word available. It is a combination of open-mindedness, faith in God, and the realization that the will of God for us is always something joyous and interesting and vital. This state of mind also includes a perfect willingness to allow this will of God to come about in whatever way divine Wisdom considers to be best, rather than in some particular way that we have chosen for ourselves. This mental attitude of teachableness, willingness to be led, is the key to dominion, or success in demonstration.  Around the Year with Emmet Fox   (Excerpt)   March 28 There are two things that we must have if we are going to change our way of life. One is faith, the confidence in things unseen, the fundamental goodness and purpose in the universe. The other is obedience: that is, living according to our faith, living each day as we believe that God wants us to

 This week's speaker link - Liz B. in Tampa, FL: https://www.recoveryaudio.org/aa-speaker-tapes/liz-b-from-new-york-at-tampa-fl-9-2-94 ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club Blog by clicking the icon in the upper left corner of the homepage, then clicking the blue 'follow' button. We feature new posts every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and will never have ads or give out user info. Check out our AA literature guide at AABookClub.org **

 This week's Throwback Thursday A.A. history link - Archie T, an early Akron member: https://akronaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/archieT.mp3 ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club Blog by clicking the icon in the upper left corner of the homepage, then clicking the blue 'follow' button. We feature new posts every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and will never have ads or give out user info. Check out our AA literature guide at AABookClub.org **

 From Hasidic Anthology by Louis I. Newman - Aphorisms collected by Rabbi Lazerov:  1. Luxury feeds more poor than philanthropy.  2. Woe to him whom nobody likes: but beware of whom whom everybody likes.  3. One half of the word: 'Freethinkers' is true; they are free, but no thinkers.  4. In accordance with your friends, I measure your wealth. In accordance with your enemies, I measure  your greatness.  5. Man should be master of his will and slave of his conscience.  6. Fear only two: God and the man who has no fear of God.  7. To be contrite means to add no fresh sins to the old.  8. One who looks for a friend without faults, will have none.  9. Fear the one who fears you. 10. One who has confidence in himself gains the confidence of others. 11. The most humble man thinks himself greater than his best friend thinks he is. 12. Gold is the blood of society. Too little or too much is unhealthy for its possessor.    ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club

  Thoughts for the week: March 21 All is fundamentally well. That does not mean that all is well on the surface of things. But it does mean that God's in His heaven and that He has a purpose for the world, which will eventually work out when enough human beings are willing to follow His way. "Wearing the world as a loose garment" means not being upset by the surface wrongness of things, but feeling deeply secure in the fundamental goodness and purpose in the universe. 24 Hours a Day March 24 We cannot fully understand the universe. The simple fact is that we cannot even define space or time. They are both boundless, in spite of all we can do to limit them. We live in a box of space and time, which we have manufactured by our own minds and on that depends all our so-called knowledge of the universe. The simple fact is that we can never know all things, nor are we made to know them. Much of our lives must be taken on faith. 24 Hours a Day   March 25  COMFORT FOR MOURNING Mo

  This week's speaker link - Katie R, Studio City, CA: https://www.recoveryaudio.org/aa-speaker-tapes/2013-04-12-katie-r-studio-city ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club Blog by clicking the icon in the upper left corner of the homepage, then clicking the blue 'follow' button. We feature new posts every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and will never have ads or give out user info. Check out our AA literature guide at AABookClub.org **

  This week's literature link - a talk by Dr. John P., whose story "The Professor and the Paradox" appears in the Second edition of the Big Book: https://akronaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/DrJohnP.mp3 ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club Blog by clicking the icon in the upper left corner of the homepage, then clicking the blue 'follow' button. We feature new posts every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and will never have ads or give out user info. Check out our AA literature guide at AABookClub.org **

 Thoughts for the week:  March 16 I must have singleness of purpose to do my part in God's work. I must not let material distractions interfere with my job of improving personal relationships. It is easy to become distracted by material affairs, so that I lose my singleness of purpose. I do not have time to be concerned about the multifarious concerns of the world. I must concentrate and specialize on what I can do best. 24 Hours a Day March 16  LETTER OR SPIRIT Jesus made a special point of discouraging the laying of emphasis upon outer observances; and, indeed, upon hard-and-fast rules and regulations of every kind. What he insisted upon was a certain spirit in one’s conduct, knowing that when the spirit is right, details will take care of themselves. Yet, in spite of this, the history of orthodox Christianity is largely made up of attempts to enforce all sorts of external observances upon the people. Around the Year with Emmet Fox   (Excerpt)   March 17  MIRACLES Now what, after

 This week's speaker link - Sandy B on Step Three: https://www.recoveryaudio.org/aa-speaker-tapes/3-01-sandy-saturdaymorninglive93s3-1 ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club Blog by clicking the icon in the upper left corner of the homepage, then clicking the blue 'follow' button. We feature new posts every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and will never have ads or give out user info. Check out our AA literature guide at AABookClub.org **

 This week's A.A. Throwback Thursday history link - Joe and Charlie on the organization of the Big Book: https://www.recoveryaudio.org/aa-speaker-tapes/joe-charlies-big-book-study-3 ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club Blog by clicking the icon in the upper left corner of the homepage, then clicking the blue 'follow' button. We feature new posts every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and will never have ads or give out user info. Check out our AA literature guide at AABookClub.org **

Florence Rankin was the first woman to get sober in A.A., though she later relapsed. Her story A Feminine Victory was in the first edition of the Big Book: AA Big Book: A Feminine Victory – Just for Today Meditations ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club Blog by clicking the icon in the upper left corner of the homepage, then clicking the blue 'follow' button. We feature new posts every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and will never have ads or give out user info. Check out our AA literature guide at AABookClub.org **

Thoughts for the week:   March 6  OPEN YOUR MIND Have you an open mind? Is the window of your soul open for fresh air and the sunshine of Truth to come in, or is it closed and shuttered by mental laziness or the emotional congestion that we call prejudice? None of us knows how many fine things we have missed through being self-satisfied and cocksure. No one can be considered really intelligent who does not have a readiness to examine new ideas with an open mind.   Around the Year with Emmet Fox  (Excerpt) March 8  HOW TO FAIL IN EVERYTHING Knock everything systematically. No matter what you hear of, deprecate it and predict the worst. Mind everyone else’s business. This will insure your neglecting your own. Be a sanctimonious humbug, and when you bungle things say it is “the Lord’s will” or that the trouble is that you are too good for your surroundings. Around the Year with Emmet Fox  (Excerpt) March 9 It is the quality of my life that determines its value. In order to judg

In honor of Women's History Month, a link to Mrs. Marty Mann - an early female A.A. member, personal friend of Bill and Lois and  a major figure in alcoholism treatment, speaking in 1966: Marty M. from New York, NY -15th Kentucky State Convention - Louisville, KY - 2/20/1966 - Recovery Speakers    ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club Blog by clicking the icon in the upper left corner of the homepage, then clicking the blue 'follow' button. We feature new posts every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and will never have ads or give out user info. Check out our AA literature guide at AABookClub.org **

  This week's Throwback Thursday history link - Eddie A of Cleveland, one of the first 100 Pioneers (audio): https://www.recoveryaudio.org/aa-speaker-tapes/ed-a-of-cleveland-ohio-one-of-the-first-100 ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club Blog by clicking the icon in the upper left corner of the homepage, then clicking the blue 'follow' button. We feature new posts every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and will never have ads or give out user info. Check out our AA literature guide at AABookClub.org **

This week's literature link - from our AA Book Club online study guide, an analysis of Chapter Three from the Big Book: http://aabookclub.org/aa_bookclub/ch3.htm ** If you like this post, please consider following AA Book Club Blog by clicking the icon in the upper left corner of the homepage, then clicking the blue 'follow' button. We feature new posts every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and will never have ads or give out user info. Check out our AA literature guide at AABookClub.org **