AA Book Club

  Spiritual thoughts for the week: May 2 You must BE before you can DO. To accomplish much, be much. In all cases, the doing must be the expression of the being. It is foolish to think that we can accomplish much in personal relationships without first preparing ourselves by being honest, pure, unselfish, and loving. We must choose the good and keep choosing it, before we are ready to be used by God to accomplish anything worthwhile. We will not be given the opportunities until we are ready for them. Quiet times of communion with the Higher Power are good preparation for creative action. 24 Hours a Day May 3 I must overcome myself before I can truly forgive other people for injuries done to me. The self in me cannot forgive injuries. The very thought of wrongs means that my self is in the foreground. Since the self cannot forgive, I must overcome my selfishness. I must cease trying to forgive those who fretted and wronged me. It is a mistake for me even to think about these injurie...

 Saturday speaker post - Ethel Macy, the first woman sober in Akron (low fidelity): Ethel Macy, first woman sober in Akron

  Throwback Thursday AA history post - AA Pioneer Clarence S. on AA history:

 From our online AA literature study guide at aabookclub.org , Big Book topics for study, Meditation or use with a sponsee (for background on the origin of these Topics, go to AA Book Club / Big Book Topics): The Alpha and Omega We found that as soon as we were able to lay aside prejudice and express even a willingness to believe in a Power greater than ourselves, we commenced to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that Power, which is God. (Page 46) We found that God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him. To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men. (Page 46) When, therefore, we speak to you of God, we mean your own conception of God. This applies, too, to other spiritual expressions which you find in this book. (Page 47) Instead of regarding ourselves as intelligent agents, spearheads of God’s ever...

  Spiritual thoughts for the week: April 23  COMING OF AGE As you grow in spiritual power and understanding you will find that many outer regulations will become unnecessary; but this will be because you have really risen above them. This point in your development, where your understanding of Truth enables you to dispense with certain outer props and regulations, is the spiritual coming of age. However, this spiritual coming of age cannot be hurried or forced, but must appear when the consciousness is ready, exactly as the flowering of a bulb can only be the result of natural growth. You have to demonstrate where you are. To seek to demonstrate beyond your understanding is not spiritual. Around the Year with Emmet Fox (Excerpt) April 24  STRIVING FOR PERFECTION What of the man who is conscious of considerable moral imperfection, perhaps of the habit of grave sin, and is at the same time sincerely desirous of spiritual growth? Is he to relinquish the quest for spiritual kn...

  Saturday speaker post - Dr. Bob, from a 1947 wire recording:

 Throwback Thursday AA History post - an interview with Bill and Lois:

  From Writing The Big Book, Page 115-116, on anonymity and an early use of the name of the Fellowship:    [I]t is important to note that even in this first attempt [to write his own story], Bill is already abiding by the principle of anonymity, referring to his wife only as "Mrs. W." Given the amount of shame the associated with alcoholism - a problem the public assumed to be caused by a lack of will power - it is easy to understand why anonymity was quickly adopted as a defensive measure by the early members of the Fellowship. Wilson's use of his last initial here stands as testimony that the principle of anonymity (later appreciated on a much broader level and eventually enshrined in two of A.A.'s Twelve Traditions) was already being respected as an important part of the program of recovery by late 1938. Nor is this an isolated incident of anonymity. One month later, when Bill was writing to Dr. Bob informing him about the work already done on the book, he noted ...

  Spiritual Thoughts for the week: April 16 I must try to love all humanity. Love comes from thinking of every man or woman as your brother or sister, because they are children of God. This way of thinking makes me care enough about them to really want to help them. I must put this kind of love into action by serving others. Love means no severe judging, no resentments, no malicious gossip, and no destructive criticism. It means patience, understanding, compassion, and helpfulness. 24 Hours a Day April 19  THE SHINING LIGHT The state of your soul is always expressed in your outer conditions and in the intangible influence that you radiate at large. There is a cosmic law that nothing can permanently deny its own nature. Emerson said: “What you are shouts so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” The soul that is built upon prayer cannot be hidden, it shines out brightly through the life that it lives. It speaks for itself, but in utter silence, and does much of its best work ...

 Saturday speaker link - Bill Dotson, AA #3:

 Throwback Thursday AA History link - Patrick O'D. on Rowland Hazard, Ebby's Sponsor: Patrick O'D. on Rowland Hazard

 From You Are God by Mary: Wisdom is the key to riches far beyo d the dreams of mortal man. Words are lost in the vast spaces of timelessness when the true source of all knowledge has been touched. Words are inadequate, nunecessary. They are but physical instruments by which physical thoughts are made known between physical beings. Words have the power to destroy, to create; to repulse, to attract; to express all emotion on the mortal plane. But they cannot say the feeling of soaring into the atmosphere of the planes beyond, or the knowing of the presence of God within one, or the exaltation of love from heart to heart in the ever-existing world.  34 In the vast spaces of the inner being lives always the serene knowing of indestructible self, of pure faith, of power over all things within the atmosphere of the material world. Behold your real person when you would find comfort for your loneliness, courage for your fear, condolence for your sorrow. See the inner strength contai...

  Spiritual thoughts for the week: April 11  LOOSEN UP! Loosen up. To be tense is the surest way to fail in any undertaking great or small. To desire success is a splendid thing but to pursue success too tensely is to make certain of missing it. The carefree approach in any endeavor is a shortcut to success. In music, in sport, in study, in business life, many people fail, or advance very slowly, because they make hard work of it. Around the Year with Emmet Fox  (Excerpt) April 12  A DOOR OPENS Change is the law of the universe. Without change, the world would not merely remain in a static state, but it would soon become stale and stagnant. Without change there would be no progress, for change is the essence of betterment. It is obvious that to do anything in a new and better way there must be a change. When a problem or condition arises in your life that indicates a change, rely upon God, and realize that it is not so much that a door has closed on a chapter of your...

 Saturday speaker post -Susan P., "Dawning of a new day in Recovery":

  Throwback Thursday AA history post - Gene C speaking on the Four Absolutes: 

  Tuesday AA literature post - from Cleveland AA, home to AA group #3 and AA's first Intergroup, reflections on Step Four, and a link to read or download Step Four from the Twelve and Twelve:  AA Cleveland: Reflections on Step Four   Twelve and Twelve: Step Four  

  Spiritual thoughts for the week:  April 2  INSUFFICIENCY OF KNOWLEDGE Most people, and learned people especially, have all kinds of knowledge that does not in the least affect or improve their practical lives. Doctors know all about hygiene, but often live in an unhealthy way, notwithstanding; and philosophers, who are acquainted with the accumulated wisdom of the ages, and assent to most of it, continue to do foolish and stupid things in their own personal lives. Now, knowledge such as this is only opinion, or head knowledge, as some people call it. It has to become heart knowledge, or to be incorporated into the subconscious, before it can really change one. The modern psychologists in their efforts to “re-educate the subconscious” have the right idea, though they have not yet discovered the true method of doing so, which is by single-minded prayer, or the Practice of the Presence of God. Around the Year with Emmet Fox  (Excerpt) April 4 You cannot help others u...

  Saturday speaker/history post - Several early OH AA members speak on their experiences (Sobriety dates 1939 to early 40's): Early Akron OH members: Warren Chisom, Polly L,Henry Ross, Mage Kane, etc