Says who?
Says the first 100 members of AA actually!
How come?
Because, the first 100 members tell us QUITE CATEGORICALLY that..
'To DUPLICATE, with such backing, what WE have accomplished is ONLY a matter of willingness, patience and labor'. p163
Doesn't say 'except for Mary, Dave, or Pete' does it? Well then..
How cool is that!
So all those REALLY COOL 'PROMISES' such as..
'We have entered the world of the Spirit'. P84
The joy of living we REALLY have, even under pressure and difficulty. p15
There is scarcely any form of trouble and misery which has not been overcome among us. p15
When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God’s hands were better than ANYTHING we could have planned. p100
There exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is INDESCRIBABLY WONDERFUL. p17
We have found much of heaven and we have been rocketed into a fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed. p25
Apply to YOU!!!!
(provided you 'do' 'willingness, patience and labor.') -in the service of doing EXACTLY what the first 100 members did, as explained in EXTREMELY UNCOMPROMISING STATEMENTS throughout the Big Book. Cool!!
Well that's what I've found!
By the way ''To DUPLICATE, what we have accomplished' does NOT mean I get to go back in time and live as a first 100 member in 1935.
They would have to re write that statement to read ''To DUPLICATE, our lives, EXACTLY as we lived them, including assuming our identities'
But it doesn't say that..
It says ''To DUPLICATE, what we have accomplished'
What did they 'accomplish'?
Well At the time of writing that referred to the BENEFITS THEY HAD EXPERIENCED AS A RESULT OF FOLLOWING THE PROGRAMME OF RECOVERY AS OUTLINED IN THE PAGES OF THE BASIC TEXT.
What are the benefits? I hear you ask..
The 'benefits' are what I call the PROMISES.
I will explain them in another post. But its VERY IMPORTANT that you know what they are.
That why its the FIRST 'job' I give Sponsees.
Just click on the label at the top of the post called Promises' to see the 20 other posts that contain references to them. To perhaps help you figure out what they are. The Topic of Promises is also in the sidebar. Along with all the others.
About Me
- An Irish Friend of Bill
- I have recovered from the disease of Alcoholism. I believe there is only one person really,.. everybody. And that peace of mind is everything. -So treat your neighbor as you would treat yourself, because your neighbor IS yourself. I think most of recovery is what I would call common sense, but that learning to be ordinary is a true gift very few people acquire. My ambition is to accept everything unflinchingly, with compassion, and therefore be intrinsically comfortable in my own skin, no matter what. I am comfortable being uncomfortable and am willing to go to any lengths to improve my life. I believe the Big Book was divinely inspired, and is extraordinarily powerful. Unfortunately AA's best kept secret a lot of the time. (In my opinion). I just try to do what works, no matter what it is.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I think the greatest for me at this time is loosing the feeling of uselessness. Seeking my purpose would result in great sadness, and everytime I would fail to discover my purpose I grew more fearful.
Ohhh how different my life has been since entering the healing rooms of AA.
You're awesome, have a great Friday!!!
for me its about selfishness and self seeking slipping away.. I am still somewhat selfish- BUT wow so much better than I used to be HAppy FridAAy :)
I'm so grateful that I no longer have to regret the past....I have found that it is my pathway to reach the newcomer that is feeling alienated.
Thanks. I thought, because I relapsed for two years, that I was one of those the Big Book referred to as "constitutionally incapable of being honest" with myself. Thank God I finally screwed up the courage to ask another member if I was. Thank God he said "No, you're not." What if he had said "Yes, you are"? I shudder to think how differently things might have turned out. You never know the influence you're having on another struggling newcomer.
Very, very cool
Post a Comment