AA Book Club

 Throwback Thursday history link - Jay S. on How A.A. Began, The Whole Story: ** 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 **

 Tuesday literature post - Bill's original 1948 Grapevine article on Tradition Six:     Tradition Six                   The sixth of our Twelve Points of AA Tradition is deemed so important that it states at length  the relation of the AA movement to money and property.  This Tradition declares in substance that the accumulation of money, property, and the unwanted personal authority so often generated by material wealth comprise a cluster of serious hazards against which an AA group must ever be on guard. Tradition Six also enjoins the group never to go into business  nor ever to lend the AA name or money credit to any "outside" enterprise, no matter how good. Strongly expressed is the  opinion that even clubs should not bear the AA name; that they ought to be separately incorporated and managed by those  individual AAs who need or want clubs enough to financially support them. We would thus divide the spiritual from the material, confine  the AA movement to its sole ai

  Thoughts for the week: June 27  All God's Universe What is nature? What we call nature is a small part of od's universe that we are able to see at teh present time, and much of which we see awry. All the wonderful things that are going on in the woods, all the marvelous happenings that take place in the depths of the ocean, the whole sublime story of the heavens, are all parts of God's se;f-expression. Above all, our own bodies them selves are part of nature, perhaps the most wondeful aprt of all; and probably the part about which we ourselves know least. Around the Year with Emmet Fox  (Excerpt)  June 28 You cannot see the future. It's a blessing that you cannot. You could not bear to know all the future. That is why God only reveals it to you day by day. The first step each day is to lay your will before God as an offering, ready for God to do what is best for you. Be sure that, if you trust God, what He does for you will be for the best. The second step is to

 Saturday speaker link - Dr. Bob's last major talk (1948):     ** 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 Writing The Big Book by William Schaberg, Page 328:    Dr. Bob Smith was showing these chapters [rough drafts sent from New York] only to those who were in favor of the book being written and he was conducting those review sessions in the privacy of these members homes. Those who were categorically opposed to the project were being left out of the review loop. And of those who did get a chance to read the chapters, none of them ever offered any significant changes or made substantive constructive criticisms of what they were reading.    As Bill Wilson so neatly summed up the so-called Akron review process: "the chapters of the book were sent to [Dr. Bob Smith] for debate and inspection out there [but] he never passed them around very much, merely writing me saying he thought they were all right." No Direction From Dr. Bob  This lack of any widespread or critical review was evident in the comments Dr. Bob offered in his response just four or five days after receiving t

 From You Are Greater Than You Know by Lou Austin:

  Thoughts for the week:    June 19  Peace, The Miracle Worker Regeneration mean building a new mentality; that is, creating a new sould in place of your present one. It does not mean merely improving your present self - it means producing (through the power of God, of course), a new self. If you do this, everything else in your life will rapidly change for the better. Other people will become much more friendly to you. Because your soul will be filled with peace, you will radiate peace, and other people will get it intuitively. Naturally you cannot radiate peace if you do not first possess it within yourself. You cannot radiate anything from the outside. To radiate any quality, that quality must be within yourself. Around the Year with Emmet Fox  (Excerpt)    June 19 Your real work in life is to grow spiritually. To do this you must follow the path of diligently seeking good. The hidden spiritual wonders are revealed to those who diligently seek this treasure... Work on the material p

 Saturday speaker link - Stacy U.,We Are Not Saints Group, Dallas, TX (2021):    

Throwback Thursday history kink - Jay S. on Oxford Group origins, William James and Conversion: ** 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 **

  Tuesday literature link from our online AA literature study guide at AABookClub.org - an analysis of Chapter Six from the Big Book: AABookClub.org  Analysis of Chapter 6 from the Big Book

  Thoughts for the week: June 13  Use That Broom! A good housekeeper sees to it that dust and dirt do not accumulate in nooks and corners and on shelves. Periodically, the house is gone over and given a thorough cleaning. Too often in our spiritual lives, we allow negative things to accumulate in the corners of our minds. We tackle the obvious problems as they come along, but allow the small difficulties to pile up in the corners. Such problems should be dealt with as they arise. If someone has injured you, forgive him now, and be done with it. Take care of other difficulties in like manner. Around the Year with Emmet Fox(Excerpt) June 14 It is not your circumstances that need altering so much as yourself. After you have changed, conditions will naturally change. Spare no effort to become all that God would have you become. Follow every good leading of your conscience. Take each day with no backward look. Face the day's problems with God, and seek God's help and g

  Saturday speaker link - Russell S on Step 6 "Faking It": https://www.recoveryaudio.org/aa-speaker-tapes/step-6the-saturday-night-sobriety-grp-faking-it ** 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 **

  Throwback Thursday history link - William Schaberg, Author of Writing The Big Book, on the creation of A.A.: https://www.recoveryspeakers.com/bill-s-presenting-writing-the-big-book-the-creation-of-aa-12-7-2021/    ** 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 Oneness: Great Principles Shared By All Religions by Jeffrey Moses:   More Blessed To Give Than To Receive It is more blessed to give than to receive. - Christianity The Wise Man doth not hoard. The more he giveth, the more he hath; the more he watereth, the more is he watered himself. - Toaism In the minds of the generous, contentment is produced. - Sikhism Thise who give in charity have lent to Allah a goodly loan. - Islam The giving of a gift is superior to the acceptance of a gift. - Hinduism Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. - Judaism   Better To Examine The Self If you love others, and affection is not returned, look into your love. If you rule others, and they are unruly, look into your wisdom. If you treat others politely and they do not return your kindness, look into your respect. If your desires are not fulfilled by what you do, turn inward and examine yourself in every point. - Confucianism First take the log

 Thoughts for the week: June 5 Only Your Own Thoughts No matter what problem you may have to face today, there is a solution, because you have nothing to deal with but your own thoughts. As you know, you have the power to select and control your thoughts, difficult though it may be at times to do so. As long as you think your destiny is in the hands of other people, the situation is hopeless. Around the Year with Emmet Fox (Excerpt) June 8 Your life has been given to you mainly for the purpose of training your soul. This life we live is not so much for the body as for the soul. We often choose the way of life that best suits the body, not the way that suits the soul. God wants you to choose what suits the soul as well as the body. Accept this belief and a wonderful molding of character is the result... Thus the purpose of your life is being accomplished. 24 Hours a Day June 10 The world wonders when it sees a person who can unexpectedly draw some large and unsuspected sums from the ban

 Saturday speaker link - Clancy I, "The disease of perception":       ** 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 **

  Throwback Thursday history link - Jay S. on 12-Step origins and the Big Book: ** 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 **