Apr
30
A GREAT PARADOX
April 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment
These legacies of suffering and of recovery are easily passed among alcoholics, one to the other. This is our gift from God, and its bestowal upon others like us is the one aim that today animates A.A.’s all around the globe. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 151
The great paradox of A.A. is that I [...]
Apr
29
GROUP AUTONOMY
April 29, 2008 | 1 Comment
Some may think that we have carried the principle of group autonomy to extremes. For example, in its original “long form,” Tradition Four declares: “Any two or three gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an A.A. group, provided that as a group they have no other affiliation.” . . . . But this ultra-liberty [...]
Apr
28
TWO “MAGNIFICENT STANDARDS”
April 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment
All A.A. progress can be reckoned in terms of just two words: humility and responsibility. Our whole spiritual development can be accurately measured by our degree of adherence to these magnificent standards. AS BILL SEES IT, p. 271
To acknowledge and respect the views, accomplishments and prerogatives of others and to accept being wrong shows me [...]
Apr
27
JOYFUL DISCOVERIES
April 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment
We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us. Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick. The answers will come, if your own house is in order. But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven’t [...]
Apr
26
HAPPINESS IS NOT THE POINT
April 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I don’t think happiness or unhappiness is the point. How do we meet the problems we face? How do we best learn from them and transmit what we have learned to others, if they would receive the knowledge? AS BILL SEES IT, p. 306
In my search “to be happy,” I changed jobs, married and divorced, [...]
Apr
25
ENTERING A NEW DIMENSION
April 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment
In the late stages of our drinking, the will to resist has fled. Yet when we admit complete defeat and when we become entirely ready to try A.A. principles, our obsession leaves us and we enter a new dimension - freedom under God as we understand Him. AS BILL SEES IT, p. 283
I am fortunate [...]
Apr
24
LEARNING TO LOVE OURSELVES
April 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Alcoholism was a lonely business, even though we were surrounded by people who loved us… We were trying to find emotional security either by dominating or by being dependent upon others . . . We still vainly tried to be secure by some unhealthy sort of domination or dependence. AS BILL SEES IT, p. 252
When [...]