Throwback Thursday AA history link - Rebellion Dogs Publishing on The Secret Bookshelf of Bill W.: Rebellion Dogs Publishing on The Secret Bookshelf of Bill W. - Influences on AA
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From our online AA literature study guide at AABookClub.org , Big Book topics for study, meditation or use with a sponsee. (For the origin of these topics, click here: AA Book Club - Topics ): The Flimsy Reed of Faith Faith has to work twenty-four hours a day in and through us, or we perish. (Page 16) with all the desperation of drowning men. What seemed at first a flimsy reed, has proved to be the loving and powerful hand of God. A new life has been given us or, if you prefer, “a design for living’’ that really works. (Page 28) Instead of regarding ourselves as intelligent agents, spearheads of God’s ever advancing Creation, we agnostics and atheists chose to believe that our human intelligence was the last word, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and end of all. Rather vain of us, wasn’t it? We, who have traveled this dubious path, beg you to lay aside prejudice, even against organized religion. We have learned that whatever the human frailties of var...
From William Schaberg's Writing the Big Book, Page 351: Bill Denies Lois's Request to Write the [Wives] Chapter There are numerous citations on the internet and elsewhere in print claiming that the Akron Archive contains evidence that Marie Bray, the wife of the Akron A.A. member Walter Bray, wrote a preliminary draft of "To Wives," or at least lent a hand in the writing of that chapter. However, a recent thorough search of the Akron Archives produced no such evidence, nor was the existence of any such evidence known to the long-time archivist who was responsible for creating that collection. It can only be presumed that Marie Bray did actually write a chapter entitled "An Alcoholic's Wife" for the story section of the book. (This was the same story chapter Bill had offered to Anne Smith the previous June, but she had declined to write.) [A footnote at the bottom of this page states that "Bill Wilson never asked Anne Smith to write "To Wives...
One Day At A Time It is often said that we stay sober 'one day at a time.' There are several passages in our major books mentioning a similar phrase, but only one refers to staying sober on a daily basis. The rest refer to daily practice of spiritual principles, etc. There are more references to Permanent Sobriety . There is a passage in the later book Living Sober (page 6), indicating that a newcomer still facing temptation or fear of lifelong sobriety might promise himself to not drink ' just for today '. Big Book: “We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.” “Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into all of our activities.” Page 85, Into Action, Step Ten “A kindly act once in a while is not enough. You have to act the Good Samaritan every day, if need be.” Page 97, Working With Others “Let the alcoholic continue his ...
