AA Book Club

  From our online AA literature study guide at AA Book Club.org , an analysis of Tradition Two and a link to read or download that chapter from the Twelve and Twelve:   AA Book Club.org: Analysis of Tradition Two     Twelve and Twelve: Read or download Tradition Two  

  Spiritual thoughts for the week: February 26 Priming The Pump An understanding faith is the life of prayer. It is a great mistake, however, to struggle to produce a lively faith within yourself. That can only end in failure. The thing to do is to act as though you had faith. Act out what you wish to demonstrate, and you will be expressing true faith. This is the right use of the will scientifically understood. Around the Year with Emmet Fox (Excerpt) February 27  Consistent Building During prayer, many people build up the new mental structure, but as soon as their time of prayer is over, instead of faithfully preserving that structure intact they promptly knock it down again by negative thinking. Obviously, a bricklayer could work hard in this fashion year after year without ever accomplishing anything. Around the Year with Emmet Fox (Excerpt) March 3 I will try to grow in this new life. I will think of spiritual things often and unconsciously I will grow. The nearer I get t...

  Saturday AA speaker link - Clancy I., "One of his funniest talks ever!":

Throwback Thursday AA history link - Twelve Defining Moments in the History of Alcoholics Anonymous by William L. White, MA and Ernest Kurtz, PhD:   Twelve Defining Moments in the History of Alcoholics Anonymous  

Tuesday AA literature post - from William Schaberg's Writing The Big Book, Page 286-287:   Bill as the Sole Author Many modern readers have been critical of the writing in this chapter [We Agnostics - Jim B.], so a few word about its composition may be helpful.    Wilson's authorship of the Big Book has been challenged - most famously by himself - but it is clear from everything he writes during this time that, at this point, he was the writer. There is no mention in contemporary records of the much touted collaborative editing process (which did, to some degree, occur later). In fact, all the 1938 evidence supports Bill Wilson as being the sole author of these chapters. His writing was, however, being criticized and critiqued by Hank Parkhurst and Ruth Hock, the two people who were constantly present as he dictated the book at their Honor Dealers office in Newark. In what proved to be a less than fruitful attempt to help with the book, both Ruth and Hank took a semester...

  Spiritual thoughts for the week: February 21  Quarantine Your Troubles When you are praying or "treating" about a particular thing, you should handle it, mentally, very carefully indeed. The ideal way is not to think about it at all except when you are actually praying about it. Moreover, to talk to others people about it is exceedingly likely to invite failure. When a new problem presents itself to you, decline to consider it except in the light of Truth. I call this "putting a subject in quarantine." Even an old long-standing problem canbe put in quarantine" today, if you mean business and will resolutely break the habit of constantly thinking over that problem. Around the Year with Emmet Fox (Excerpt) February 22 Change From Within Man is a mental being, and to know this is the first step on the road to freedom and  prosperity, for as long as you believe yourself to be primarily a superior kind of animal, you will remain in bondage - in bondage, that is to...

Saturday AA speaker/history post - in honor of Black History Month, a talk by Ben W., first African-American AA member in California: Ben W., first African-American AA member in California (Date of Sobriety 1948)

  Throwback Thursday AA history link - Jack C. on White Light Sobriety: Recovery Speakers.com Jack C. on White Light Sobriety

  From the Bhagavad Gita: When the senses contact sense objects, a person experiences cold or heat, pleasure or pain. These experiences are fleeting; they come and go. Bear them patiently, Arjuna. Those who are not affected by these changes,  who re the same in pleasure and pain, are truly wise and fit for  immortality. Assert your strength and realize this! The impermanent has no reality; reality lies in the eternal. Those who have seen the boundary between these two have attained the end of all knowledge. Realize that which pervades the universe and is indestructible; no power can affect this unchanging, imperishable reality. The body is mortal, but he who dwells in the body is immortal and immeasurable. Therefore, Arjuna, fight in this battle.  

  Spiritual thoughts for the week: February 12 Our Daily Bread The most futile thing in the world is to seek to live upon a past realization. The thing that means spiritual life to you is your realization of God HERE and NOW. Be thankful for yesterday's experience, knowing that it is with you forever in the change of consciousness that it brought about, but do not lean upon it for a single moment for the need of today. Around the Year with Emmet Fox (Excerpt) February 13 In a race, it is when the goal is in sight that heart and nerves and muscles and courage are strained almost to the breaking point. So with us. The goal of the spiritual life is in sight. All we need is the final effort. The saddest records are made by people who ran well, with brave, stout hearts, until the sight of the goal and then some weakness or self-indulgence held them back. They never knew how near the goal they were or how near they were to victory. 24 Hours a Day February 15 Demonstrating Forgiveness The...

  Saturday AA speaker link - Adele S., "Women in Alcoholism Recovery":

  Throwback Thursday AA history link - Mike F., on early AA, History of AA History Conference: Recovery Speakers - Evolution of AA History Conference - early AA, by Mike F.

  Cleveland, OH became the home of AA Group #3 and created AA's very first intergroup committee. From that intergroup website, reflections on Step Two, as well as a link to the Big Book chapter We Agnostics which covers Step Two: Cleveland, OH Intergroup: Reflections on Step Two   Big Book - Chapter 4 We Agnostics (Step Two)  

  Spiritual thoughts for the week:  February 5 I believe that life is a school in which I must learn spiritual things. I must trust in God and He will teach me. I must listen to God and He will speak through my mind. I must commune with Him in spite of all opposition and every obstacle. There will always be days when I will hear no voice in my mind and when there will come no intimate heart-to-heart communion. But if I persist, and make a life habit of schooling myself in spiritual things, God will reveal Himself to me in many ways. 24 Hours a Day February 7 Thy Kingdom Come If only you can find out the thing God intends you to do, and will do it, you will find that all doors will open to you, and you will be gloriously happy. There is a true place in life for each one of us where we can bring the Kingdom of God into manifestation, and truly say, "Thy Kingdom cometh." Around the Year with Emmet Fox (Excerpt) February 8 Thy Will Be Done Now we often choose to use our free will...

  Saturday AA speaker/history post - in honor of Black History Month, a talk from Jim S and surprise guests, author of Jim's Story from the Big Book (low fidelity recording): Dr. Jim S., author of Jim's Story (Date of Sobriety 1943)

  Throwback Thursday AA history link - a 1948 Grapevine article by Dr. Bob on "The Fundamentals - In Retrospect":   Silkworth.net - Grapevine article by Dr.Bob: "The Fundamentals – In Retrospect"