92 letter 1960
        When I was tired & could not concentrate, I used to fall back on an affirmation
toward life that took the form of simple walking & deep breathing. I sometimes told
myself that I could not do even this - that I was too weak. But I learned that this was the
point at which I could not give in without becoming still more depressed.

        So I would set myself a small stint. I would determine to walk a quarter of a mile.
& I would concentrate by counting my breathing - say, six steps to each slow
inhalation & four to each exhalation.

Having done the quarter mile, I found that I could go on, maybe a half mile more. Then
another half mile & maybe another.

        This was encouraging. The false sense of physical weakness would leave me (this
feeling being so characteristic of depressions). The walking & especially the breathing
were powerful affirmations toward life & living & away from failure & death. The
counting represented a minimum discipline in concentration, to get some rest from the
wear & tear of fear & guilt.
       
93 Twelve & Twelve p-97/98
        Those of us who have come to make regular use of prayer would no more do
without than we would refuse air, food, or sunshine. And for the same reason. When we
refuse air, light or food, the body suffers. And when we turn away from meditation &
prayer, we likewise deprive our minds, our emotions & our intuitions of vitally
needed support.

        As the body can fail its purpose for lack of nourishment, so can the soul. We all
need the light of God's reality, the nourishment of His strength & the atmosphere of
His grace. To an amazing extent the facts of A.A. life confirm this ageless truth
       
94 letter 1966
        The chief purpose of A.A. is sobriety. We all realize that without sobriety we have
nothing.
        However, it is possible to expand this simple aim into a great deal of nonsense, so
far as the individual member is concerned. Sometimes we hear him say, in effect,
"Sobriety is my sole responsibility. After all, I am a pretty fine chap, except for my
drinking. Give me sobriety, & I have got it made!"

        As long as our friend clings to this comfortable alibi, he will make so little
progress with his real life problems & responsibilities that he stands in a fair way to
get drunk again. This is why A.A.'s Twelfth Step urges that we "PRACTICE THESE
PRINCIPLES IN ALL OUR AFFAIRS". We are not living just to be sober; we are
living to learn, to serve, & to love.
     
95 letter 1954
        We are only operating a spiritual kindergarten in which people are enabled to get
over drinking & find the grace to go on living to better effect. Each man's theology
has to be his own quest, his own affair.
      
95 A.A. Comes Of Age p-162/163/167
        When the Big Book was being planned, some members thought that it ought to be
Christian in the doctrinal sense. Others had no objection to the use of the word "God"
but wanted to avoid doctrinal issues.

Spirituality, yes. Religion, no.

        Still others wanted a psychological book, to lure the alcoholic in. Once in, he
could take God or leave Him alone as he wished.

        To the rest of this was shocking, but happily we listened. Our group conscience
was at work to construct the most acceptable & effective book possible.

        Every voice was playing its appointed part. Our atheists & agnostics widened our
gateway so that all who suffer might pass through, regardless of their belief or lack of
belief.
      
96 Twelve & Twelve p-66
        Practically everybody wishes to be rid of his most glaring & destructive
handicaps. No one wants to be so proud that he is scorned as a braggart, nor so greedy
that he is labeled a thief. No one wants to be angry enough to murder, lustful enough to
rape, gluttonous enough to ruin his health. No one wants to be agonized by chronic
envy or paralyzed by sloth.

        Of course, most human beings do not suffer these defects at these rock bottom
levels & we who have escaped such extremes are apt to congratulate ourselves. Yet
can we? After all, has not it been self-interest that has enabled most of us to escape?
Not much spiritual effort is involved in avoiding excesses which will bring us
punishment anyway. But when we face up to the less violent aspects of these very same
defects, where do we stand then?
       
97 A.A. Comes Of Age p-287
        At the beginning we sacrificed alcohol. We had to, or it would have killed us. But
we could not get rid of alcohol unless we made other sacrifices. We had to toss self-
justification, self-pity & anger right out the window. We had to quit the crazy contest
for personal prestige & big bank balances. We had to take personal responsibility for
our sorry state & quit blaming others for it.

        Were these sacrifices? Yes they were. To gain enough humility & self-respect to
stay alive at all, we had to give up what had really been our dearest possessions - our
ambition & our illegitimate pride.
       
98 letter 1966
        As the book "Alcoholics Anonymous" puts it, Resentment is the number one
offender. It is a primary cause of relapses into drinking. How well we of A.A. know
that for us "to drink is eventually to go mad or die".

        Much the same penalty overhangs every A.A. group.  Given enough anger, both
unity & purpose are lost. Given still more righteous indignation the group can
disintegrate; it can actually die. This is why we avoid controversy. This is why we
prescribe no punishments for any misbehavior, no matter how grievous. Indeed no
alcoholic can be deprived of his membership for any reason whatever.

        Punishment never heals. Only love can heal.
       
99 talk 1960
        Slips can often be charged to rebellion; some of us are more rebellious than others.
Slips may be due to the illusion that one can be "cured" of alcoholism. Slips can also be
charged to carelessness & complacency. Many of us fail to ride out these periods
sober. Things go fine for two or three years - then the member is seen no more. Some of
us suffer extreme guilt because of vices or practices that we can not or will not let go
of. Too little self-forgiveness & too little prayer - well, this combination adds up to
slips.

        Then some of us are far more alcohol damaged than others. Still others encounter a
series of calamities & cannot seem to find the spiritual resources to meet them. There
are those of us who are physically ill. Others are subject to more or less continuos
exhaustion, anxiety & depression. These conditions often play a part in slips -
sometimes they are utterly controlling.
     
100 A.A. Comes Of Age p-52/53
        When I was a child, I acquired some of the traits that had a lot to do with my
insatiable craving for alcohol. I was brought up in a little town in Vermont, under the
shadow of Mount Aeolus. An early recollection is that of looking up at this vast &
mysterious mountain, wondering what it meant & whether I could ever climb that
high. But I was presently distracted by my aunt who as a fourth birthday present, made
me a plate of fudge. For the next thirty-five years I pursued the fudge of life & quite
forgot about the mountain.
      
100 Twelve & Twelve p-67
        When self-indulgence is less than ruinous, we have milder word for it. We call it
taking our comfort.
      
101 Grapevine July 1962
        How often do we sit in A.A. meetings & hear the speakers declare, "But I haven't
yet got the spiritual angle." Prior to this statement, he has described a miracle of
transformation which has occurred in him - not only his release from alcohol, but a
complete change in his whole attitude toward life & the living of it.

        It is apparent to everyone else present that he has received a great gift, & that this
gift is all out of proportion to anything that may be expected from simple A.A.
participation. So we in the audience smile & say to ourselves "Well, that guy is just
reeking with the spiritual angle - except that he does not seem to know it yet!"
      
102 Grapevine August 1961
        When we consult an A.A. friend, we should not be reluctant to remind him of our
need for full privacy. Intimate communication is normally so free & easy among us
that an A.A. adviser may sometimes forget when we expect him to remain silent. The
protective sanctity of this most healing of human relations ought never be violated.

        Such privileged communications have priceless advantages. We find in them the
perfect opportunity to be as honest as we know how to be. We do not have to think of
the possibility of damage to other people, nor need we fear ridicule or condemnation.
Here, too, we have the best possible chance of spotting self-deception.
       
103 Twelve & Twelve p-71/72
        Most of us thought good character was desirable. Obviously, good character was
something one needed to get on with the business of being self-satisfied. With a proper
display of honesty & morality, we'd stand a better chance of getting what we really
wanted. But whenever we had to choose between character & comfort, character
building was lost in the dust of our chase after what we thought was happiness.

        Seldom did we look at character building as something desirable in itself. We
never thought of making honesty, tolerance & true love of man & God the daily
basis of living.
       
103 Grapevine January 1958
        How to translate a right mental conviction into a right emotional result, & so into
easy, happy, & good living, is the problem of life itself.
     
104 Alcoholics Anonymous p-63
        We had a new employer. Being all-powerful, he provided what we needed, if we
kept close to him & performed his work well.

        Established on such a footing, we became less & less interested in ourselves, our
little plans & designs. More & more we became interested in seeing what we could
contribute to life.

        As we felt new power flow in, as we enjoyed peace of mind, as we discovered we
could face life successfully, as we became conscious of His presence, we began to lose
our fear of today, tomorrow or the hereafter. We were reborn.
       
105 Alcoholic Anonymous p-96
        To spend too much time on any one alcoholic is to deny some other an opportunity
to live & be happy. One of our Fellowship failed entirely with his first half dozen
prospects. He often says that if he had continued to work on them, he might have
deprived many others, who have since recovered, of their chance.
      
105 letter 1942
        Our chief responsibility to the newcomer is an adequate presentation of the
program. If he does nothing or argues, we do nothing but maintain our own sobriety. If
he starts to move ahead, even a little, with an open mind, we then break our necks to
help in every way we can.
      
106 Grapevine 1961
        For myself, I try to seek out the truest definition of humility that I can. This will
not be the perfect definition, because I shall always be imperfect.

        At this writing, I would choose one like this: Absolute humility would consist of a
state of complete freedom from myself, freedom from all the claims that my defects of
character now lay so heavily upon me.

Perfect humility would be a full willingness, in all times & places, to find & to do
the will of God.

        When I meditate upon such a vision, I need not be dismayed because I shall never
attain it, nor need I swell with presumption that one of these days its virtues shall all be
mine.

        I only need to dwell on the vision itself, letting it grow & ever more fill my heart.
This done, I can compare it with my last taken personal inventory. Then I get a sane
& healthy idea of where I stand on the highway to humility. I see that my journey
toward God has scarce begun.

        As I thus get down to my right size & stature, my self-concern & importance
become amusing
     
107 Grapevine August 1961
        The prideful righteousness of "good people" may often be just as destructive as the
glaring sins of those who are supposedly not so good.
      
107 Twelve & Twelve p-30
        We loved to shout the damaging fact that millions of the "good men of religion"
were still killing one another off in the name of God. This all meant, of course, that we
had substituted negative for positive thinking.

        After we came to A.A., we had to recognize that this trait had been an ego-feeding
proposition. In belaboring the sins of some religious people, we could feel superior to
all of them. More over, we could avoid looking at some of our own shortcomings.

        Self-righteousness, the very thing that we had contemptuously condemned in
others, was our own besetting evil. This phony form of respectability was our undoing,
so far as faith was concerned. But finally, driven to A.A. we learned better.
      
108 A.A. Comes Of Age p-196
        In 1941, a news clipping was called to our attention by a New York member. In an
obituary notice from a local paper, there appeared these words: "God grant us the
serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we
can, & the wisdom to the difference."

        Never had we seen so much A.A. in so few words. With amazing speed the
Serenity prayer came into general use.
      
108 Twelve & Twelve p-100/101
        In meditation, debate has no place. We rest quietly with the thoughts or prayers of
spiritually centered people who understand, so that we may experience & learn. This
is the state of being that so often discovers & deepens a conscious contact with God.
       
109 Grapevine march 1962
        We admitted we could not lick alcohol with our own remaining resources, & so
we accepted the further fact that dependence upon a Higher Power (if only our A.A.
group) could do this hitherto impossible job. The moment we were able to accept these
facts fully, our release from the alcohol compulsion had begun.

        For most of us, this pair of acceptances had required a lot of exertion to achieve.
Our whole treasured philosophy of self sufficiency had to be cast aside. This had not
been done with sheer will power; it came instead as the result of developing the
willingness to accept these new facts of living.

        We neither ran nor fought. But accept we did. And then we began to be free.
      
110 letter 1966
        There was a time when we ignored trouble, hoping it would go away. Or, in fear
& in depression, we ran from it, but found it was still with us. Often, full of unreason,
bitterness & blame, we fought back. These mistaken attitudes, powered by alcohol,
guaranteed our destruction, unless they were altered.

        Then came A.A.. Here we learned that trouble was really a fact of life for
everybody - a fact that had to be understood & dealt with. Surprisingly, we found that
our troubles could, under God's grace, be converted into unimagined blessings.

        Indeed, that was the essence of A.A. itself: trouble accepted, trouble squarely
faced with calm courage, trouble lessened & often transcended.  This was the A.A.
story & we became a part of it. Such demonstrations became our stock in trade for
the next sufferer.
       
111 Twelve & Twelve p-79/80
        We should make an accurate & really exhaustive survey of our past life as it has
affected other people. In many instances we shall find that, though the harm done others
has not been great, we have never the less done ourselves considerable emotional
injury.

        Then, too, damaging emotional conflicts persist below the level of consciousness,
very deep, sometimes quite forgotten. Therefore, we should try hard to recall &
review those past events which originally induced these conflicts & which continue to
give our emotions violent twists, thus discoloring our personalities & altering our
lives for the worse.
       
111 letter 1957
        We reacted more strongly to frustrations than normal people. By reliving these
episodes & discussing them in strict confidence with somebody else, we can reduce
their size & therefore their potency in the unconscious.
       
112 Twelve & Twelve p-120/121
        Upon entering A.A., the spectacle of years of waste threw us into panic. Financial
importance was no longer our principal aim; we now clamored for material security.

        Even when we were re-established in our business, terrible fears often continued to
haunt us. This made us misers & penny pinchers all over again. Complete financial
security we must have - or else.

        We forgot that most alcoholics in A.A. have an earning power considerably above
average; we forgot the immense good will of our brother A.A.s who were only too
eager to help us to better jobs when we deserved them; we forgot the actual or potential
financial insecurity of every human being in the world. And, worst of all, we forgot
God. In money matters we had faith only in ourselves & not too much of that.
       
113 Grapevine July 1965
        Too often, I think, we have deprecated & even derided projects of our friends in
the field of alcoholism just because we do not always see eye to eye with them.
 
        We should very seriously ask ourselves how many alcoholics have gone on
drinking simply because we have failed to cooperate in good spirit with these many
agencies - whether they be good, bad, or indifferent. No alcoholic should go mad or die
merely because he did not come straight to A.A. at the beginning.
       
113 Twelve & Twelve p-91
        Our first objective will be the development of self-restraint. This carries a top
priority rating. When we speak or act hastily or rashly, the ability to be fair minded &
tolerant evaporated on the spot.
       
114 letter 1940
        At first, the remedy for my personal difficulties seemed so obvious that I could not
imagine any alcoholic turning the proposition down were it properly presented to him.
Believing so firmly that Christ can do anything, I had the unconscious conceit to
suppose that He would do everything through me - right then & in the manner I chose.
After six long months, I had to admit that not a soul had surely laid hold of the Master -
not excepting myself.

        This brought me to the good healthy realization that there were plenty of situations
left in the world over which I had no personal power - that if I was so ready to admit
that to be the case with alcohol, so I must make the same admission with respect to
much else. I would have to be still & know that He, not I, was God.
       
115 Grapevine July 1965
        Let us never fear needed change. Certainly we have to discriminate between
changes for worse & changes for better. But once a need becomes clearly apparent in
an individual, in a group, or in A.A. as whole, it has long since been found out that we
cannot stand still & look the other way.

        The essence of all growth is a willingness to change for the better & then an
unremitting willingness to shoulder whatever responsibility this entails.
      
116 letter 1954
        Beyond a Higher Power, as each of us may envision Him, A.A. must never, as a
society, enter the field of dogma or theology. We can never become a religion in that
sense, lest we kill our usefulness by getting bogged down in theological contention.

116 letter 1950
        The really amazing fact about A.A. is that all religions see in our program a
resemblance to themselves. For example, Catholic theologians declare our Twelve
Steps to be in exact accord with their Ignatian Exercises for Retreat, & though our
book reeks of sin, sickness & death, the Christian Science Monitor has often praised
it editorially.

        Now, looking through Quaker eyes, you, too, see us favorably. What happy
circumstances, these!
       
117 Twelve & Twelve p-105
        Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation & prayer is the sense of
belonging that comes to us. We no longer live in a completely hostile world. We are no
longer lost & frightened & purposeless.

        The moment we catch even a glimpse of God's will, the moment we begin to see
truth, justice, & love as the real & eternal things in life, we are no longer deeply
disturbed by all the seeming evidence to the contrary that surrounds us in purely human
affairs. We know that God lovingly watches over us. We know that when we turn to
Him, all will be well with us, here & hereafter.
       
118 Twelve & Twelve p-24
        Few people will sincerely try to practice the A.A. program unless they have "hit
bottom", for practicing A.A.'s Steps means the adoption of attitudes & actions that
almost no alcoholic who is still drinking can dream of taking. The average alcoholic,
self centered in the extreme, does not care for the prospect - unless he has to do these
things in order to stay alive himself.
      
118 A.A. Today p-8
        We know that the newcomer has to "hit bottom"; otherwise, not much can happen.
Because we are drunks who understand him, we can use at depth the nutcracker of the
obsession plus the allergy as a tool of such power that it can shatter his ego. Only thus
can he be convinced that on his own unaided resources he has little or no chance.
       
119 letter 1940
        I now realize that my former prejudice against clergymen was blind & wrong.
They have kept alive through the centuries a faith which might have been extinguished
entirely. They pointed out the road to me, but I did not even look up, I was so full of
prejudice & self concern.

        When I did open my eyes, it was because I had to. & the man who showed me
the truth was a fellow sufferer & a layman. Through him, I saw at last & I stepped
from the abyss to solid ground, knowing at once that my feet were on the broad
highway if I chose to walk.
      
120 letter 1962
        In my view, there is not the slightest objection to groups who wish to remain
strictly anonymous, or to people who think they would not like their membership in
A.A. known at all. That is their business & this is a very natural reaction.

        However, most people find that anonymity to this degree is not necessary, or even
desirable. Once one is fairly sober & sure of this, there seems no reason for failing to
talk about A.A. membership in the right places. This has a tendency to bring in other
people. Word of mouth is one of our most important communications.

        So we should criticize neither the people who wish to remain silent, nor even the
people who wish to talk too much about belonging to A.A., provided  they do not do so
at the public level & thus compromise our whole society.
      
121 Alcoholic Anonymous p-84/85
        We have ceased fighting anything or anyone - even alcohol. For by this time sanity
has returned. We can now react sanely & normally, & we find that this has
happened almost automatically. We see that this new attitude toward liquor is really a
gift of God.

        That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation.
We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist
for us. We are neither cocky not are we afraid.

        This is how we react - so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.
       
122 Twelve & Twelve p-35
        No matter how much one wishes to try, exactly how can he turn his own will &
is own life over to the care of whatever God he thinks there is?

        A beginning, even the smallest, is all that is needed. Once we have placed the key
of willingness in the lock & have the door ever so slightly open, we find that we can
always open it some more.

        Though self will may slam it shut again, as it frequently does, it will always
respond the moment we again pick up the key of willingness.
       
123 Twelve & Twelve p-117/118
        When alcoholism strikes, very unnatural situations may develop which work
against the marriage partnership & a compatible union. If the man is affected, the wife
must become the head of the house, often the breadwinner. As matters get worse, the
husband becomes a sick & irresponsible child who needs to be looked after &
extricated from endless scrapes & impasses. Very gradually, usually without any
realization of the face, the wife is forced to become the mother of an erring boy, & the
alcoholic alternately loves & hates her maternal care.

Under the influence of A.A.'s Twelve Steps, these situations are often set right.

         Whether the family goes on a spiritual basis or not, the alcoholic member has to if
he would recover. The others must be convinced of his new status beyond the shadow
of a doubt. Seeing is believing to most families who have lived with a drinker.
 

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6

Part 7  Part 8  Part 9  Part 10  Part 11  Part 12