Sobriety Meme of the Week:
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Dr. Bob is not known for his writings, but here is an article he wrote in 1944 for the Grapevine: On Cultivating Tolerance By Dr. Bob S. Copyright © AA Grapevine, Inc, July 1944 During nine years in AA, I have observed that those who follow the Alcoholics Anonymous program with the greatest earnestness and zeal not only maintain sobriety but often acquire finer characteristics and attitudes as well. One of these is tolerance. Tolerance expresses itself in a variety of ways: in kindness and consideration toward the man or woman who is just beginning the march along the spiritual path; in the understanding of those who perhaps have been less fortunate in education advantages; and in sympathy toward those whose religious ideas may seem to be at great variance with our own. I am reminded in this connection of the picture of a hub with its radiating spokes. We all start at the outer circum...
Buddhism and the Big Book is our original study of AA's Twelve Steps, comparing them with the Buddhist spiritual teachings in the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path. Here is an except: Though these terms are understood differently, the journey from delusion to awakening in each tradition [AA and Buddhism] includes several common principles. For example: * Realization of the need for a spiritual solution * Commitment to pursue that solution * Assessments of one's personal faults * Willingness and effort to be rid of these faults * Continuous monitoring of one's mental and emotional state * Practice and improvement in awareness of a Reality greater than the physical. These and other principles are practiced in different ways, often in ...
Real People of the Big Book - looking at the individuals behind aa folklore: Edwin T. "Ebby" Thacher (1896-1966), who passed the message of recovery to Bill: "My musing was interrupted by the telephone. The cheery voice of an old school friend asked if he might come over. He was sober . It was years since I could re member his coming to New York in that condition. I was amazed. Rumor had it that he had been committed for alcoholic insanity. I wondered how he had escaped... In a matter of fact way he told how two men had appeared in court, persuading the judge to suspend his commitment. They had told of a simple religious idea and a practical program of action. That was two months ago and the result was self-evident. It worked! He had come to pass his experience along to me—if I cared to have it. I was shocked, but interested. Certainly I was interested. I had to be, for I was hopeless. Big Book page 9-10 Ebby relapsed before Bill began writing the Big Book and struggled...
Throwback Thursday AA history post - The six articles published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer in late 1939 led to tremendous growth in Cleveland's AA Group #3, but also got Clarence kicked out: That fall Clarence smuggled freelance reporter Elrick Davis into meetings of that first Greater Cleveland group and Mr. Davis wrote a series of articles on A.A. which were published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. This resulted in over 500 calls for help to be tended by the only 13 active members... Many members were upset by this workload and by the surreptitious manner in which it was done. So they voted Clarence out of A.A. (which was something that could be done at the time). (aa.cle.org) Reprinted from the October 23, 1939, Cleveland Plain Dealer with permission. [3 of 6 articles] Alcoholics Anonymous Makes Its Stand Here by ELRICK B. DAVIS October 24, 1939 Cleveland Plain Dealer In two previous articles, Mr. Davis told of Alcoholics Anonymous, an organization of former dri...
There are several passages which alcoholics are encouraged to think of staying sober permanently or long term, not merely One Day at a Time . Big Book: "Wait for the end of the spree, or at least for a lucid interval. Then let his family or a friend ask him if he wants to quit for good and if he would go to any extreme to do so." Page 90, Working With Others "Suppose, however, that your husband fits the description of number two. The same principles which apply to husband number one should be practice. But after his next binge, ask him if he would really like to get over drinking for good." Page 112, To Wives "Should it happen again [the husband loses his job], regard it in a different light. Maybe it will prove a blessing! It may convince your husband he wants to stop drinking forever." Page 116, To Wives "Assume on the other hand that father has, at the outset, a stirring spiritual experience. Overnight, as it were, he is a different man...
AA history and literature together - read Bill's 1948 Grapevine article on Tradition Eight: Tradition Eight Throughout the world AAs are twelfth-stepping with thousands of new prospects a month. Between one and two thousand of these sick on our first presentation; past experience shows that most of the remainder will come back to us later on. Almost entirely unorganized and completely non professional, this mighty spiritual current is now flowing from alcoholics who are well to those who are sick. One alcoholic talking to another; that's all. Could this vast and vital face-to-face effort ever be professionalized or even organized? Most emphatically, it could not. The few efforts to professionalized straight twelfth Step work have always failed quickly. Today, no AA will tolerate the idea of paid "AA therapists" or "organizers." Nor does any AA like to be told just how he must handle that new prospect of his. No, this great life-giving stream can nev...