*”The Spiritual life is not a theory”*. ~We have to live it.~ Unless ones family expresses a desire to live upon “Spiritual ‘Principles” we think we ought not to urge them. We should not talk incessantly to them about “Spiritual” matters. They will change in time. Our behavior will ‘Convince’ them more than our words.
( Side Note: Principles= (noun)
1. rule of conduct or action:)
2. fundamental truth or cause”)

Big Book p. 125 “The Family Afterward”
— ( avoid hurtful gossip)– “Tolerance”, and true “Love” of man and God
We families of Alcoholics Anonymous keep few skeletons in the closet. Everyone knows about the others’ alcoholic troubles. This is a condition which, in ordinary life, would produce untold grief; there might be scandalous gossip, laughter at the expense of other people, and a tendency to take advantage of intimate information. Among us, these are rare occurrences. We do talk about each other a great deal, but we almost invariably temper such talk by a *Spirit of Love* and *TOLERANCE*.

Another “Principle” we observe carefully is that we do not relate intimate experiences of another person unless we are sure he would approve. We find it better, when possible, to stick to our own stories.
ABSI p. 103 –As Bill Sees it- (“Honesty”, “Tolerance”, and true “Love” of man and God)
Principle Before Expediency.

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 and morality, we’d stand a better chance of getting what we really wanted. But whenever we had to choose between character and 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*, and true *LOVE* of man and God The ‘Daily basis of living.
<< << << >> >> >>
Rom 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the *LOVE* of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is ‘Given unto us.

Zep 3:17 The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is ‘Mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with Joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing.

Twelve and Twelve p. 71-2
Grapevine, January 1958
How to translate a right mental conviction into a right emotional result, and so into easy, happy, and good living, is the problem of life itself.

ABSI p. 158 –As Bill Sees it- (*Tolerance, love*, inclusiveness)
“We found that the ‘Principle’ of *TOLERANCE* and *love* had to be emphasized in actual practice. We can never say (or insinuate) to anyone that he must agree to our formula or be excommunicated. The atheist may stand up in an A.A. meeting still denying the Deity, “yet” reporting how vastly he has been changed in attitude and outlook. Much experience tells us he will presently ‘change his mind about God, {*”But nobody tells him he must do so”*}.

“In order to carry the ‘Principle’ of inclusiveness and *TOLERANCE* still further, we make no religious requirement of anyone. All people having an alcoholic problem who ‘Wish’ to get rid of it and so make a happy adjustment with the circumstances of their lives, become A.A. members by simply associating with us. Nothing but ‘Sincerity is needed. But we do not demand even this.

“In such an atmosphere the orthodox, the un- orthodox, and the unbeliever mix happily and usefully together. An opportunity for “Spiritual” growth is open to all.”
letter, 1940

Luk 8:15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an “Honest” and ‘Good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with “Patience”.

Psa 86:15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of ‘Compassion, and ‘Gracious, ‘Longsuffering, and ‘Plenteous in ‘Mercy and ‘Truth.

(‘Definition for the word Tolerance’.)
1. a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion,nationality, etc., differ from one’s own; freedom from bigotry.
2.
a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one’s own.
3.
interest in and concern for ideas, opinions, practices, etc., foreign to one’s own; a liberal, undogmatic view point.

Eph 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Eph 4:23 And be “Renewed in the “Spirit of your “Mind;
Eph 4:24 And that ye put on the “New man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

THE DOCTOR’S NIGHTMARE pg. xxv 4th edition

If you still think you are strong enough to beat the game alone, that is your affair. But if you really and truly want to quit drinking liquor for good and all, and sincerely feel that you must have some help, we know that we have an answer for you. It never fails, if you go about it with one *Half the Zeal* you have been in the habit of showing when you were getting another drink.
*” Your Heavenly Father will never let you down!”*
( Where do you think Dr.Bob got this Statement ? If you read the 4 Gospels you will Notice Jesus Never Called God, -God.. He always Called Him Father. Fact.)
Psa 21:13 Be thou exalted, “LORD”, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy *:Power”*.

Joe and Charlie Big Book study – Recorded in 1998 Step 12  

The Original Joe & Charlie Big Book Talks Step 11  

Speaker meeting With Russell S. Step 1

.

A.A. Speaker Meeting With Russell S. Step 2 Unity,

BB p. 47 — (*”Willingness is Spiritual cornerstone”*)
 We needed to ask ourselves but one short question. “Do I now believe, or am I even willing to believe, that there is a Power greater than myself?” As soon as a man can say that he does believe, or is *”Willing to believe”*, we emphatically assure him that he is on his way. It has been repeatedly proven among us that upon this simple cornerstone a *Wonderfully effective “Spiritual” structure can be built.
 That was “Great news to us”, for we had assumed we could not make use of “Spiritual” principles unless we accepted many things on faith which seemed difficult to believe.

 Mat 26:41  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the “Spirit” indeed is *”Willing”*, but the Flesh is weak.

2Co 8:12  For if there be first a *”Willing mind”*, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.

 BB p. 570 –

 Most emphatically we wish to say that any alcoholic capable of honestly facing his problems in the light of our experience can recover, provided he does not close his mind to all “Spiritual” concepts. He can only be defeated by an attitude of intolerance or belligerent denial. We find that no one need have difficulty with the “Spirituality” of the program. *”Willingness”*, honesty and open mindedness are the “Essentials of recovery”. But these are indispensable.

Joh 6:63  It is the “Spirit” that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the *Words* that I speak unto you, they are “Spirit”, and they are life.

1Th 5:6  Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be *”Sober”*.
“There is a principle which is a bar against all information,
  which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to
  keep a man in everlasting ignorance–that principle is contempt
  prior to investigation.”
         –Herbert Spencer

AFTER the breaking up of our home, my Father went west and took up his work and became fairly successful.
Then it was decided that I should be sent to a preparatory school so to a midwestern school I was sent. It didn’t last long for I got into a jam and left.
I went to Chicago, wrote my Father and he sent me fare to come on west, which I did. I started in to High School after I got there, but I had no companionship, for my Father was away most of the day and when he came in he always spent the evenings reading and studying.
This all caused me to become very bitter towards anything religious, because I felt that I was only in his way when he wanted to read his religious books and he took only enough interest in me to leave a dollar on the dresser each morning to buy my meals with. It caused me to become so hostile towards anything religious that I formed a hatred against religion which I was to carry for years.
During the time which I spent by myself, I had found that I could buy wine and loaf around saloons and it wasn’t long before I had formed a taste for drink. I was only about fourteen years old then, but I looked eighteen.
When vacation time came I wanted to go to San

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Francisco. My father willingly let me go and after seeing the sights of that city I decided I wanted to go to sea and see the world, so it was only a short time before I found myself signed as an apprentice at sea and leading a new life.
In the meantime my mother had married again. I knew she was well taken care of so my letters were few and my visits home were years apart, and through the selfish interest I had taken in myself I never gave a thought to how worried she might be over me. I had become a person wrapped up in my own life only and giving no thought of anyone else.
Starting to sea out of San Francisco brought me in and out of port there a great deal so I considered San Francisco my home, and as I had arrived there about 1905 I knew the old San Francisco of before the earthquake where the lid was off and vice flourished at all times.
In my young life I saw all and knew all and considered myself well able to play the game as others did.
I developed into a steady drinker and, when going to sea, was sure I took enough liquor along to take care of me for the trip. When we arrived at a foreign port we would go ashore and proceed to see the sights which mostly started at the first saloon. If American liquor was not to be had or was too high in cost then we would drink their native drink, and as I look back it hardly seems possible that I have a brain left to remember with for I have done about everything possible to destroy it by over-indulgence in alcohol.
I have been to most of the ports in this world; have

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stayed in some for some time; have put in a winter in Alaska; lived in the tropics; but no time did I ever find a place where I could not get liquor.
I quit the sea when I was just past 20. I had become interested in construction work, also had studied some art and learned the Freco decorating trade. Eventually I went into the building trade and have followed that ever since.
I had always made good wages or made good at contracting, but was ever a rolling stone, never staying in one place long and drinking just the same as in my seafaring days.
I had always a certain respect for myself and I carried my liquor well for years; knew enough not to make a show of myself and stopped when I had enough.
Then came the war. I was 29 years old and was in Texas when I went into the army and went overseas from there. After leaving Texas I found out that we were stopping in my home town for an hour and I received permission to call my mother when we arrived there, so fortunately I was able to get her down to the train before I left. I had not been home in 11 years and I then told her if I came back alive I would come home to stay.
I had not been in the service long before I was a high ranking non-commissioned officer, for I had learned army discipline years before in the army transport service and while in this country and when behind the lines in France this gave me a chance to get my liquor when my buddies couldn’t.
But when we got to the front lines it was the first

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time in years that I was unable to get my daily share of alcohol but, when it was possible, I never missed.
On into Germany for six months where I made up for lost time. “Schnapps” was barred to American Troops but I got mine. After coming back to the U.S. I received an honorable discharge and came back to my home and mother.
Then I started trying to break away from liquor but it did not last. The last few years found me in all kinds of mixups for I had at last developed into an alcoholic.
When I drank I would get to the state where it required a doctor to straighten me out. The times I have had to rely upon doctors are numerous. I even tried sanitariums for relief. I had plenty of suffering thrown in but still I would drift back again to that first drink and off again I went.
I wanted to quit but each time I drank it was worse than before. The misery that my mother went through was unbelievable for I had become her sole support. I was willing to try anything if I could only get a release from this curse. I knew it was breaking up my home and I was losing everyone that was dear to me.
For a few months I was successful in discontinuing drinking. Then all of a sudden I fell again. I lost my position and thought I was through.
When I was told of a doctor who had been successful in overcoming alcohol and was asked to go and see him in a nearby city, I consented but with a feeling that it was just another cure.
From him and a number of other men, however, I found it was possible to become a man again. He sug-

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gested my entrance into a hospital to clear my mind and build me up. Meals had become a thing of the past for me. I had lost all appetite for food but forced myself to eat a little to survive.
This doctor told me that unless I was sincere in wanting to quit drinking, I would be wasting his time and mine and also money in doing this. My answer was I would try anything that would release me.
I went into the hospital and started to build my body up again through proper nourishment, and my mind through a different method than I had ever known of.
A religious awakening was conveyed to me through some unseen force. I at one time would have laughed at such a possibility because I had tried it and failed because I had not applied it properly. I, at last, was shown the way by these men to whom I am now most grateful.
I am now 50 years old, unmarried, have become sane and sensible again, have made my mother happy and brought back those who were dear to me, have made many new friends, mix where I never mixed before, received back my old position. I have the respect of my fellow men and have learned how to actually live and really enjoy life. It has been nearly six and a half years since I have found this new life and I know as long as I do the few things that God requires me to do, I never will take another drink.

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The Original Joe & Charlie Talks, on The Tenth Step A.A.  

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An Artist’s Concept
It is important that at present we believe there is only one sure pathway to recovery for any alcoholic.
In my own case I was not entirely ignorant of the causes that led me into excessive drinking. In a desperate effort to eliminate these causes, to find a means to better mental and physical health, I investigated the alcoholic problem from every angle. Medicine, psychology, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis absorbed my interest and supplied me with a great deal of general and specific information. It led me in the end, however, to the fact that for me here was a mental and physical disease that science had placed in the category of “incurables.” Briefly, all that this study and research ever did for me was to show something about WHY I drank. It substantiated a fact I had known all along, that my drinking was symptomatic. It did point out a road to better mental health but it demanded something of me in return that I did not have to give. It asked of me a power of self-will but it did not take into consideration that this self-will was already drugged with poison-that it was very sick. Intuitively I also knew that a person constrained to temperance by the domination of will is no more cured of his vice than if he were locked up in prison. I knew that somehow, some way, the mental stream, the emotions, must be purified before the right pathway could be followed.
It was about this time that I began “flirting” with religion as a possible way out. I approached the subject in a wary, none too reverent, attitude. I believed in an omnipotent God or Deity, but the orthodox approach through the church, with its dogma and ritual,

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left me unmoved. The more I struggled to gain an intelligent grasp upon spiritual development, the more confused I became. On the other hand a purely materialistic viewpoint that postulated a “mechanical order of things” seemed too negative even to entertain. As an artist I had spent too much time communing with nature-trying to place upon canvas or paper my emotional feelings, not to know that a tremendous spiritual power was back of the universe. There was, however, so much that seemed illogical or sentimental about religion in general-so many doubts assailed me, so many problems to be confronted-yet there was within myself a strong and urgent desire for spiritual satisfaction. The occasional periods in which I felt a spiritual emotion, I immediately examined with all the ardor of the inveterate analyst. Was this emotion just a form of religious ecstasy? Was it fear? Was it just blind belief or had I tapped something?
“Most men,” wrote Thoreau, “lead lives of quiet desperation.” It was the articulation of this despair that led to my drinking in the beginning. Religion, so far, had only added to my desperation. I drank more than ever.
A seed had been planted, however, and a short time afterward I met the man who has for the past five years devoted a great deal of time and energy to helping alcoholics. Looking back on that meeting, the simplicity of his talk with me is amazing. He told me very little but what I already knew, in part, but what he did have to say was bereft of all fancy spiritual phraseology-it was simple Christianity imparted with Divine Power. The

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An Artist’s Concept
next day I met over twenty men who had achieved a mental rebirth from alcoholism. Here again it was not so much what these men told me in regard to their experiences that was impressive, as it was a sense or feeling that an invisible influence was at work. What was it this man had and these other men exemplified without their knowing? They were human every-day sort of people. They certainly were not pious. They had no “holier than thou” attitude. They were not reformers, and their concepts of religion in some cases were almost inarticulate. But they had something! Was it just their sincerity that was magnetic? Yes, they certainly were sincere, but much more than that emanated from them. Was it their great and terrible need, now being fulfilled, that made me feel a vibratory force that was new and strange? Now I was getting closer and suddenly, it seemed to me, I had the answer. These men were but instruments. Of themselves they were nothing.
Here at last was a demonstration of spiritual law at work. Here was spiritual law working through human lives just as definitely and with the same phenomena expressed in the physical laws that govern the material world.
These men were like lamps supplied with current from a huge spiritual dynamo and controlled by the rheostat of their souls. They burned dim, bright, or brilliant, depending upon the degree and progress of their contact. And this contact could only be maintained just so long as they obeyed that spiritual law.
These men were thinking straight-therefore their actions corresponded to their thoughts. They had given

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themselves, their minds, over to a higher power for direction. Here, it seemed to me, in the one word “Thought”-was the crux of the w hole spiritual quest. That “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” and so is his health, his environment, his failure, or his success in life.
How foolish I had been in my quest for spiritual help. How selfish and egotistical I had been to think that I could approach God intellectually. In the very struggle to obtain faith I had lost it. I had given to the term faith a religious significance only. I had failed to see that faith was “our common everyday manner of thinking.” That good and evil were but end results of certain uniform and reliable spiritual laws. Obviously, my own thinking had been decidedly wrong. Normal most of the time, it was abnormal at the wrong times. Like everyone’s thinking, it was a mixture of good and bad, but mainly it was uncontrolled.
I had been sticking my chin out and getting socked by spiritual law until I was punch drunk. If one could become humble, if he could become “as a little child” before this powerful spiritual thought force, the pathway could be discovered.
The day I made my first efforts in this direction an entire new world opened up for me. Drinking as a vicious habit was washed completely out of my consciousness. I have never even been tempted to take a drink since. As a matter of fact there are so many other things within myself that need correction that the drink habit looks silly in comparison. Please do not assume that all this is but an exposition of spiritual pride. A

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An Artist’s Concept
chart of my spiritual progress would look like the “graph” of a business that had been hit by everything but an earthquake. But there has been progress. It has cured me of a vicious habit. Where my life had been full of mental turmoil there is now an ever increasing depth of calmness. Where there was a hit or miss attitude toward living there is now new direction and force.
The approaches of man to God are many and varied. My conception of God as Universal Mind is after all but one man’s approach to and concept of the Supreme Being. To me it makes sense, opens up a fascinating field of endeavor and is a challenge, the acceptance of which can make of life the “Adventure Magnificent.”

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Alcoholic’s Anonymous pg. 24 & 58

Pg. 24    ”There is a Solution”

 At a certain point in the drinking of every alcoholic, he passes into a state where the most “Powerful desire” to stop drinking is of [ *Absolutely* no avail” ]. This tragic situation has already arrived in practically every case long before it is suspected. The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink.{ Our so-called “Will Power”} becomes practically nonexistent. 

Chapter 5 “How It Works pg. 58

Rarely have we seen a person fail who has *” THOROUGHLY”* followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who *”Cannot or Will not”* *“Completely”* give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands “Rigorous Honesty”. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover “IF” they have the capacity to be honest.

Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it-then you are ready to take certain steps.

At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. *”Some of us have tried to “Hold on to our old ideas” and the result was nil *”Until we let go ABSOLUTELY”*.

Remember that we deal with alcohol-Cunning, Baffling, Powerful! Without help it is too much for us.But there is ONE WHO HAS ALL –POWER- THAT ON IS GOD MAY YOU FIND HIM NOW !

Pg. 13 “Bill’s Story”

 There I humbly offered myself to God, as I then understood Him, to do with me as He would. I placed myself *” UNRESERVEDLY UNDER HIS CARE AND DIRECTION”*. I admitted for the first time that of myself I was nothing; that without Him I was lost.

Pg. 85     “Into Action”

It is easy to let up on the “Spiritual” program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a *Subtle foe*. 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.~} “How can I best serve Thee – {>>Thy will (Not Mine) be done.”<<} 

Joh 6:63  It is the *Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the Words that I speak unto you, they are *Spirit, and they are life.

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the True worshippers shall worship the Father in *Spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.

Joh 4:24  God is a *Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in *Spirit and in Truth.

Psa 40:8  I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

Luk 11:2  And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

Luk 11:3  Give us day by day our “Daily bread”. …..(The Word Is Our Spiritual Bread.)….see ; John 6:35

Luk 11:4  And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil….( Step 5 Our Wrongs.)

(Our Evil was Alcohol.)

Deu 8:3  And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man >*”Doth not live by bread only, but by “EVERY WORD” that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live”*<. ( Our Spiritual Condition is Based on this Verse.)

 ( What God were they Talking about It of course was the God of the Bible, 95% of them had a Biblical Back Ground With a 93% Success Rate: See the link Below.)

http://williambagley28.wordpress.com/aa_historical-pioneers-co-founders-places-and-photostrue-christian-roots/

I HAVE the misfortune, or I should say the good fortune of being an alcoholic’s wife. I say misfortune because of the worry and grief that goes with drinking, and good fortune because we found a new way of living.
My husband did not drink, to my knowledge, for several years after we were married. Then we started on an occasional Saturday night party. As I drank nothing except an occasional highball I soon became what was called a “wet blanket.” The parties became more frequent and more often I was left at home.
I would sit up and wait for him. As each car passed the house I would return to walking the floor and crying and feeling so sorry for myself, thinking, “Here I am left at home to take care of the baby and him out having a good time.”
When he did return sometimes on Sunday and sometimes a week later, it usually called for a scene. If he was still drunk I would put him to bed and cry some more. If he was sober it would mean I would say all the things I had been thinking and cry some more. He usually got drunk again.
I finally went to work as the bills worried me. I thought if I worked and got the bills paid he would quit drinking. He had no money in the bank but would write checks as he knew I would pay them for the boy’s sake and in the hopes that each time would be the last.

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I thought I should have a lot of credit, as I was paying his bills, taking care of the house and baby, besides my work, making as much money as he was, doing without things I wanted so he could have a good time.
I always went to church and thought I was living a Christian life. After my husband came in contact with Alcoholics Anonymous I thought our troubles were over as I was sure all our trouble was his drinking.
I soon found out that there was a lot wrong with me. I was selfish with my money, time, and thoughts. I was selfish about my time because I was always tired and had no time left for my family’s pleasure or to do God’s work. All I did was go to Sunday School and Church on Sunday with the boy and thought that was all God wanted me to do. I would be irritable and lose my temper and say all manner of things which usually called for another drunk and me pitying myself all over again.
Since giving my husband’s problem to God I have found a peace and happiness. I know that when I try to take care of the problems of my husband I am a stumbling block as my husband has to take his problems to God the same as I do.
My husband and I now talk over our problems and trust in a Divine Power. We have now started to live. When we live with God we want for nothing.

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*For my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. If any man lack wisdom let him ask God*

Jas 1:5  If any of you lack *Wisdom*, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Hos 4:6  My people are destroyed for lack of *Knowledge*: because thou hast rejected *Knowledge*, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

Pro 1:7  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of *Knowledge*: but “Fools despise *Wisdom* and instruction. (*FEAR = H3374, Feminine of H3373; fear (also used as infinitive); morally *REVERANCE*:)

2Pe 1:2  “Grace” and “Peace” be multiplied unto you *”Through the *Knowledge* of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

 ( Wisdom Speaking through this Whole Chapter.~ She I & Me = “Wisdom”)

Pro 8:1  Doth not *”Wisdom* cry? and Understanding put forth her voice?

Pro 8:2  She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths.

Pro 8:3  She “Crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.

Pro 8:4  Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.

Pro 8:5  O ye simple, *”Understand Wisdom”*: and, ye fools, be ye of an Understanding heart.

Pro 8:6  Hear; for I will speak of Excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be ‘Right’ things.

Pro 8:7  For my mouth shall speak ‘Truth’; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

Pro 8:8  All the *Words of my mouth are in Righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.

Pro 8:9  They are all plain to him that Understandeth, and right to them that find *Knowledge*.

Pro 8:10  Receive my instruction, and not silver; and *Knowledge* rather than choice gold.

Pro 8:11  For *Wisdom* is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.

Pro 8:12  I *Wisdom* dwell with prudence, and find out *Knowledge* of witty inventions.

Pro 8:13  The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I “Hate”. (Fear> Reverence.)

Pro 8:14  Counsel is mine, and sound *Wisdom*: I am Understanding; I have ‘Strength’.

Pro 8:15  By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.

Pro 8:16  By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.

Pro 8:17  *”I love them that love me”*; and those that seek me early shall find me.

Pro 8:18  Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness.

Pro 8:19  My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver.

Pro 8:20  I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment:

Pro 8:21  That I may cause those “That love me” to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.

Pro 8:22  The LORD possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old.

Pro 8:23  I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.

Pro 8:24  When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.

Pro 8:25  Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:

Pro 8:26  While as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.

Pro 8:27  When He prepared the heavens, I was there: when He set a compass upon the face of the depth:

Pro 8:28  When He established the clouds above: when He strengthened the fountains of the deep:

Pro 8:29  When He gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:

Pro 8:30  Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him; (.Him=God.)

Pro 8:31  Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.

Pro 8:32  Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that “Keep my ways”.

Pro 8:33  Hear ~Instruction, and be *Wise*, and refuse it not.

Pro 8:34  Blessed is the man that “Heareth me”, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.

Pro 8:35  For whoso *’Findeth me Findeth Life*, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.

Pro 8:36  But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love “Death”.

(Wisdom Speaking.)

IN EARLY youth I believe I had some of the tendencies which lead to alcoholism. I refer to attempted escapes from reality.
At fifteen and sixteen, although free at home to drink small amounts of beer and wine, I drank considerable quantities of stronger liquors at school and other places. Not enough to cause serious worry, but enough apparently to give me occasionally what I thought I wanted. Escape? A feeling of superiority? I do not know.
I then decided I’d had enough of school, which decision was probably shared by the schools. The next few years were spent in civil engineering work, travel, sports, and a little idleness, and I seem to have avoided alcoholic difficulties of the more pronounced kind.
Immediately before marriage and in the short time before sailing for France, alcohol began to take a real part in my life. A year and a half in war time France postponed the inevitable and the post war period of hopes and plans brought me nearer and nearer to the point where I eventually found myself to be an alcoholic. Not that I would have admitted it then, having the alcoholic’s usual facility for deception, both to self and others.
Divorced, sometimes suspecting that drinking was the basis for most of my troubles but never admitting it, I had enough left in health, interests of various

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kinds, and luck to carry on with considerable success.
About this time I stopped all social drinking. I became a periodical drunkard, the sprees lasting from three days to three weeks and the dry intervals lasting from three weeks to four months.
During one of the best years, I made a happy marriage and the age of thirty-five found me with the following: a beautiful little home presided over by a kind, understanding, and lovely wife; a partnership in a firm I had helped to found years before; more than a comfortable income; many luxuries and many friends; opportunity to follow my interests and hobbies; a love of my work; pride in my success; great health; optimism; and hope on the credit side. On the other hand, I had a growing, gnawing fear of my recurring trouble.
I slipped by far too easy stages to the bottom in less than eight years. Not a pleasant place, the bottom. Sometimes I slept in a cheap hotel or rooming house, sometimes a flop house, sometimes the back room of a police station and once in a doorway; many times in the alcoholic ward at a hospital, and once in a subway toilet. Sometimes decently fed, clothed, and housed, I worked at my business on commission with a large firm; sometimes I dared not appear there cold, hungry, with torn clothes, shaking body and muddled brain advertising what I had become. Helpless, hopeless, bitter.
Sometimes I was apparently on the way back, and sometimes writhing in bed for days at a time, terrorized by the fear of insanity and by the spectres of people without faces, people with horrible faces, people grimacing and laughing at me and my misery. Tortured

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by dreams from which I would awake with a scream of agony and bathed in cold sweat. Tortured by day dreams of what might have been, dreams of the kindness, faith and love that had been heaped upon me.
Due to this last however, and to what little remained of my former self and perhaps to some lingering power of spiritual faith, I became somewhat better. Not well, but better.
This helped me to take stock and to try to do some clear thinking. I found my inventory somewhat mixed, but as my thoughts became clearer, I grew much better and at last arrived at that point where for the first time in several years I could see some light and hope ahead of me. Through a haze of doubt and skepticism I began to realize, partly at least, many things in myself which had greased the path I had pursued, and some vague thoughts and ideas came to me that are now crystallizing with the help of the men I have been happy to join.
What thoughts and ideas? The answer is short, although the road to it is long and tedious.
My intelligence, instead of drawing me further away from spiritual faith is bringing me closer to it. I no longer react in quite the same way when my will and desires are apparently frustrated.
The simple words “Thy Will Be Done” and the simple ideas of honesty and of helping others are taking on a new meaning for me. I should not be surprised to find myself coming to the astounding conclusion that God, whoever or whatever He may be, is eminently more capable of running this universe than I am. At last I believe I am on my way…p.377

.

Alcoholics Anonymous “Practicing The Principle’s”

[“Patience”]            Principles = A governing law.

BB p. 83 –
    Yes, there is a long period of reconstruction ahead. We must take the lead. A remorseful mumbling that we are sorry won’t fill the bill at all. We ought to sit down with the family and frankly analyze the past as we now see it, being very careful not to criticize them. Their defects may be glaring, but the chances are that our own actions are partly responsible. So we clean house with the family, asking each morning in meditation that our “Creator” show us the way of *Patience*, tolerance, kindliness and love.(Creator,Gen, 1:1)
 The “Spiritual life is not a theory. “We have to live it”. Unless ones family expresses a desire to live upon Spiritual “Principles” we think we ought not to urge them. We should not talk incessantly to them about “Spiritual matters. They will change in time. Our ~Behavior will convince them more than our words.

BB p. 111 — (avoid “anger” by practicing patience and good temper)
 The first principle of success is that you should never be “angry”. Even though your husband becomes unbearable and you have to leave him temporarily, you should, if you can, go without rancor. *Patience* and good *temper are most necessary.

 Eph 4:31  Let all Bitterness, and wrath, and “Anger”, and Clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

Eph 4:32  And be ye *Kind one to another, *Tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

Jas 5:8  Be ye also *Patient*; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

A.A. Big Book Story From the First Edition 370 – 374    “Hindsight”

FIRED! Still, I got a new and better job. One which gave me more time to relax and where drinking was permitted during working hours. People were beginning to criticize my drinking habits and I scoffed at them. Hadn’t I earned ten thousand dollars that year? And wasn’t this the middle of the depression? Who were they to say that I couldn’t handle my liquor? A year of this and I was fired.
Other jobs followed with the same net result. After each experience of this kind I would sit down and figure out the reason why it happened. I always found a good reason, and usually people accepted it and gave me another chance. For weeks, sometimes months, I wouldn’t touch a drop and because I could do this, I reasoned that there was a real excuse for that last bender, and since that excuse no longer existed I could start to drink moderately again.
I usually did-for a while. Then I would step up the consumption about one glass per day until I reached the stage where all of the past unhappy experiences associated with drinking were brought back to my mind. Soon I was crying in my beer, full of self-pity, and off again to a flying start toward a floundering finish.
How many times this happened, I don’t know. I don’t even want to know. I do know that during this period I completely smashed nine new automobiles and

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was never scratched. Even this didn’t convince me that there might be a God who was looking out for me i n answer to the prayers of others. I made many friends and abused them terribly. I didn’t want to, but when it was a question of a friendship or a drink, I usually took the drink.
In a final effort to escape, I went to New York thinking I could leave my reputation and troubles behind me. It didn’t work. I was hired by eight nationally known organizations and fired just as quickly when they had checked my references. The world was against me. They wouldn’t give me a chance. So I continued my drinking and took any mediocre job I could get.
Occasionally I dropped into a church half hoping that I might absorb something, anything, that might help a little bit. On one of these visits I saw and met a girl who I felt could be the answer to all of my problems. I told her all about myself and how I felt sure that with her friendship and love everything could and would be different. Although born in New York she was “from Missouri.” I would have to show her first. She had seen other girls try to reform men by marrying them and she knew it didn’t work.
She suggested praying and having faith and a lot of things that seemed silly at the time, but I really got down to business and started doing some serious bargaining with God. I prayed and prayed. In all earnestness I said, “If You will get this girl for me then I’ll stop drinking for You.” And “If You will only get me my original job back, I’ll drink moderately for You.”

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I soon found out that God didn’t work that way because I didn’t get the girl or the job.
Six months later I was sitting in a small hotel on the west side of New York full of remorse and desperate because I didn’t know what would happen next. A middle-aged man approached me and said in a very sincere voice, “Do you really want to stop drinking?” Immediately I answered “Yes,” because I knew that was the correct answer. He wrote down a name and address and said “When you are sure you do, go and see this man.” He walked away.
I began to think, “Did I really want to quit? Why should I? If I couldn’t have this girl and I couldn’t ever have a good job again, why in the hell should I quit?” I tucked the address into my pocket along with a nickel for subway fare, just in case I eve r decided to really quit. I started drinking again, but could get no happiness or release regardless of the number of drinks.
Occasionally I would check up to see if the address and the nickel were still safe, because I was being tortured with one thought this girl had given to me. “You must be decent for your own sake. And because you want to be decent, not because some one else wants you to be.”
A week later I found myself in the presence of the man whose address was in my pocket. His story was incredible. I couldn’t believe it, but he had the proof. I met men whose stories convinced me that in the ranks of men who had been heavy drinkers I was a n amateur and a sissy.
What I heard was hard to believe but I wanted to

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believe it. What’s more I wanted to try it and see if it wouldn’t work for me.
It worked, and is still working. For weeks I was bitter against society. Why didn’t some one put me wise to this before? Why did I have to go on like that for years making my parents unhappy, abusing friends, and passing up opportunities? It wasn’t fair t hat I should be the instrument to make people unhappy.
I believe now that I was given this experience so that I might understand and be of use in helping others to find a solution to this and other problems.
When I decided to do something about my problem, I was reconciled to the fact that it might be necessary for me to wash dishes, scrub floors, or do some menial task for possibly many years in order to re-establish myself as a sober, sane, and reliable per son. Although I still wanted and hoped for the better things in life, I was prepared to accept whatever was due me.
Once I became sincere, good things began to happen to me. My first experience in overcoming fear was three weeks later when I applied for a position with a national organization. After numerous questions I was finally asked why I had left the company I ha d been with six years. I replied that I had been fired for being a drunk. The manager was flabbergasted and so completely astounded by the truth that he refused to believe me. I referred him to my former employer but he refused to write him-but he did give me the job.
It has been six and a half years since I made that decision. Those years have been the happiest years of

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my life. The little girl, who was big enough to tell me the nasty truth when I needed it, is now my wife.
Eight months ago I went to another city to set up a new business. I had sufficient money to last me several months. What I wanted to accomplish could have been done under ordinary circumstances in about two weeks. The obstacles I have encountered and over come are hard to enumerate. At least twenty times I have been sure that I would be doing business within the next twenty-four hours and at least twenty times something has happened which later made it seem that the business never would get started.
While I am writing this I happen to be at the low point of the twenty first time. Money is exhausted. All recent developments have been unfavorable, everything seems on the surface to be wrong. Yet I am not discouraged. I am not blue. I feel no bitterness toward these people who have tried to obstruct the progress of the business, and somehow I feel because I have tried hard, played square, and met situations, that something good will come from this whole experience. It may not come the way I want it, but I sincerely believe that it will come the way that it is best.

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Actually we were fooling ourselves, *“For deep down in Every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God”*. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or other it is there. For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.
1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the *Spirit” of God dwelleth *”In You”*?
We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was a part of our make-up, just as much as the feeling we have for a friend. Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but He was there. He was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis it is only there that He may be found. It was so with us.

Joh 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you “Friends”; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

Joh 15:3 Now ye are clean through the “Word” which I have spoken unto you.
Joh 15:4 Abide in me, and *I in you*. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and *I in him*, the same bringeth forth much fruit: [“For without me ye can do nothing”.]

     Big Book Story from First Edition pg. 364 – 369,  The Car Smasher

DURING the first week of March, 1937, through the grace of God, I ended 20 years of a life made practically useless because I could not do two things.
First, I was unable to not take a drink.
Second, I was unable to take a drink without getting drunk.
Perhaps a third as important as the other two should be added; my being unwilling to admit either of the first two.
With the result I kept trying to drink without getting drunk, and kept making a nightmare of my life, causing suffering and hardship to all those relatives and friends who tried so hard to help me and whom, when I was sober, I took the greatest pleasure in pleasing.
The first time I drank anything strong, or in greater quantity than a glass of beer, I got disgustingly drunk and missed the dinner which had been arranged for me in honor of my coming marriage.
I had to be taken home and remained in bed the following day; more sick than I thought a human could be and live. Yet, until five years ago I periodically did the same thing.
Making money was always pretty easy when I was sober and worked.
All right when sober-absolutely helpless with a drink aboard. But I seemed to have had the idea that making

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money or a living was something to take or let alone.
I got into the real estate business-began to neglect business, sometimes with four houses under construction, wouldn’t see any of them for a week or even longer-sometimes paid good money for an option, then forgot to exercise it. I made and lost plenty of money in the market.
Understand, I wasn’t actually drunk all of this time but there seemed always to be an excuse to have a drink, and this first one, more and more often lead to my becoming drunk. As time went on, periods between drunks got shorter and I was full of fear; fear that I wouldn’t be able to do anything I agreed to do; fear of meeting men; worrying about what they might know of my drinking and its results; all of which made me quite useless whether I was sober or drunk.
Thus I drifted. Breaking promises to my wife, my mother, and a host of other relatives and friends who stood more from me and tried harder than humans should be expected to, to help me.
I always seemed to pick the most inopportune time for a binge. An important business deal to be closed might find me in another city. Once when entrusted to purchase for a large customer, I agreed to meet his representative in New York. I spent the time waiting for a train in a bar; arrived in New York tight; stayed tight the week; and came home by a route twice the distance from New York.
Worked weeks, by long distance, wire, letters, and personal calls, to contact possible business connections under proper conditions and finally succeeded, only to

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show up tight or get tight and insult the man whose friendship, or respect meant so much.
Each time there was the feeling of regret, inability to understand why, but a firm determination that it would never happen again-but it did-in fact the periods between became increasingly shorter, and the duration of each binge longer.
During the aforementioned period, I had spent thousands of dollars, my home was broken up; half a dozen cars smashed up; I had been picked up by police for driving while intoxicated-plain drunk; had sponged and borrowed money; cashed rubber checks; and made such a general nuisance of myself that I lost all the friends I had. At least they felt unwilling to be a party to financing me while I made a more complete ass of myself. And I, on my side was ashamed to face any of them when I was sober.
My friends secured jobs for me; I made good on them for a time. I advanced quickly to night superintendent in a factory but it wasn’t long until I was missing, or worse, turning up drunk; was warned-warned again; finally fired. I was later rehired as a factory hand and mighty glad to have it-advance again-then back to the bottom-always the same process.
I drank continuously and when I drank, sooner or later, and generally sooner, I got drunk and threw everything away.
During the early part of 1935 my brother secured my release from the city jail. On that day by sincere but non-alcoholic friends I was shown what might be done about my drinking with the help of God.

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I asked for this help, gratefully accepted it, and in addition to losing my desire for drink, asked for and received the same help in other matters. I began to earn my living and in my new found security, was unashamed to meet people I had avoided for years with happy results.
Things continued well, I had two or three advancements to better jobs with greater earning power. My every need was being met as long as I accepted and acknowledged the Divine Help which was so generously given.
I find now, as I look back, that this period covered about six or eight months, then I began to think how smart I was; to wonder if my superiors realized what they had in me; if they were not pretty small about the money they paid me; as these thoughts grew, my feeling of gratefulness grew less. I was neglecting to ask for help-when I received it as I always did, I neglected to acknowledge it. Instead I took great credit for myself. I began to take credit for the non-drinking too-it came to me strongly that I had conquered the drinking habit myself-I became convinced of my great will power.
Then someone suggested a glass of beer-I had one. This was even better than I thought-I could take a drink and not get drunk. So another day, another beer until it was regular every day. Now I was indeed in the saddle concerning drink-could take it or leave it alone. Just to prove it to myself, I decided to march right past the place I usually stopped for beer, and I felt pretty good as I went to the parking lot for my car. The longer I drove the greater was my pride that I had

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finally licked liquor. I wa s sure I had-so sure in fact that I stopped and had a beer before I went home. In my smugness I continued to drink beer and began occasionally to drink liquor.
So it went until inevitably, “as darkness follows the sun,” I got drunk and was right back where I had been fifteen years before, slipping into a binge every now and then-never knowing when they would come-nor where I would wind up.
This lasted about eight months-I didn’t miss much time from work-did spend one ten day stretch in the hospital after a beating I got while drunk-was warned a few times by my superiors-but was “getting by.”
In the meantime I had heard of some men who, like myself, were what I had always scoffed at being-alcoholics. I had been invited to see them, but after twenty years of drinking, I felt there was nothing wrong with me. They might need it; they might be queer; but not me. I wasn’t going to get drunk again.
Of course I did, again and again, until these men not only contacted me but took me under their wing.
After a few days of “degoofing” in a hospital, these men came to me one by one and told me of their experiences. They didn’t lecture-didn’t tell me I should quit. But they did tell me how to quit. THAT WAS IMPORTANT and simple too.
Their suggestion was that we simply acknowledge we had made a pretty dismal failure of our lives, that we accept as truth and act upon what we had always been taught and known, that there was a kind and merciful

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God; that we were His children; and, that if we would let Him, He would help us.
I had certainly made a mess of my life. From the age of 20 I had thrown aside everything God had seen fit to endow me with. Why not avail myself of this all wise, ever-present help?
This I did. I ask for, accept, and acknowledge this help, and know that so long as I do, I shall never take a drink and what is more important, though impossible without the first, all other phases of my life have been helped.
There are, it seems to me, four steps to be taken by one who is a victim of alcoholism.
First: Have a real desire to quit.
Second: Admit you can’t. (This is hardest.)
Third: Ask for His ever present help.
Fourth: Accept and acknowledge this help.

Original Joe & Charlie Talks, The 5th Step 
 

Another Prodigal Story….First Edition,  357 – 363

“HELLO, Pal.”
“Hello, Buddy!”
“Have a drink?”
“Got one!”
“Come over on the next stool I’m lonesome. Hell of a world.”
“You said it, brother,-hell of a world.”
“You taking rye? Mine’s gin. God, I’m up against it now!”
“How’s ‘at?”
“Oh, same old hell-hell-hell. She’s going to leave me now!”
“Your wife?”
“Yeah. How am I going to live? Can’t go home like this; too damn drunk to stay out. Can’t land in jail-will if I stay out-ruin my business-business going anyway-break her heart. Where is she you ask? She’s at the store, working I guess, probably eating her heart out waiting for me. What time is it? Seven o’clock? Store’s been closed an hour. She’s gone home by now. Well, what the hell. Have one more-then I’ll go.”
That is a hazy recollection of my last debauch. Several years ago now. By the time my new “bar fly friend” and I had soaked up several more, I was shedding tears and he, in the tender throes of drunken sympathy, was working out a guaranteed plan whereby my

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wife would greet me with great joy and out-spread arms as soon as “we” got home.
Yes “we” were going to my home. He was the finest fixer in the world. He knew all about how to handle wives. He admitted that!
So, two drunks, now lifetime buddies, stumbled out arm in arm headed up the hill towards home.
A draft of cool air cleared some of the fog away from my befuddled brain. “Wait a minute, what’s this so-and-so-plan of yours? I got to know about it,” I said. “I got to know what you’re going to say and what I say.”
The plan was a honey! All he had to do was to lead me up to the apartment, ring the bell, ask my wife if I was her husband, and then tell her he had found me down at the river about to jump from the bridge and had saved my life.
“That’s all there is to it,” he kept mumbling over and over, “works every time-never fails.”
On up the hill we staggered, then my “life saver” got a better idea that would clinch the deal. He’d have to go home first and put on clean linen. Couldn’t let the nice lady see a dirty shirt.
That sounded all right. Maybe he’d have a bottle at his home. So we stumbled up to his place, a dreary third floor back room, on a third rate street.
I have a hazy recollection of that place, but have never been able to find it since. There was a photograph of a quite pretty girl on his dresser. He told me it was a picture of his wife and that she had kicked him out because he was drunk. “You know how women are,” he said.

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Some fixer!
He did put on a clean shirt all right and then reached into a drawer and pulled out a .38 calibre revolver. That gave me quite a sobering shock. I reached for the gun realizing in a hazy way that here was trouble.
He began to pull the trigger and every moment I expected to hear an explosion, but the gun was empty. He proved it!
Then he got a new idea. To reconcile my wife and make her happy, he would tell her the gun was mine, that I stood on the bridge, with the gun at my head and that he snatched it away just in time to save my life.
God Almighty must have, at that moment, granted me a flash of sanity. I quickly excused myself while he was completing his toilet and, on the pretext of phoning my wife, rushed noisily down the stairs and ran down the street with all my might.
Some blocks away I came to a drug store, bought a pint of gin, and drank half it in several large gulps, staggered on up to my apartment, and tumbled into bed, fully dressed and dead drunk.
This wasn’t any new terror for my wife. This sort of thing had been going on for several years, only I was getting worse and worse with each drunken spree and more difficult to handle.
Only the previous day I had been in an accident. A Good Samaritan saw my condition and got me away quickly, before the police came, and drove me back to my home.
I was dreadfully drunk that day and my wife consulted a lawyer as preliminary to entering divorce ac-

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tion. I swore to her that I wouldn’t drink again and within 24 hours, here I was in bed dead drunk.
Several months previously I had spent a week in a New York hospital for alcoholics and came out feeling that everything would be all right. Then I began to think that I had the thing licked. I could practice a little controlled drinking. I knew I couldn’t take much but just one drink before dinner. That went all right, too. Sure I had it licked now! The next step was to take one quick one at noon and cover it up with a milk shake. To make it doubly sure, I’d have ice cream put into the milk shake, and the n, so help me, I don’t know what the next step down was, but I surely landed at the bottom with an awful, heartbreaking thud.
The next morning was June 7th. I recall the date so well because the sixth is my daughter’s birthday. And that, by the grace of God, was my last spree.
That morning I was afraid to open my eyes, surely my wife would have kept her promise and left me. I loved my wife. It is a paradox I know, but I did and do.
When I did stir, there she was sitting at my bedside.
“Come on,” she said, “get up, bathe, shave and dress. We’re going to New York this morning.”
“New York!” I said, “To the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“I haven’t any money to pay a hospital.”
“I know you haven’t,” she said, “but I arranged it all last night over long distance and I’m going to give you that one chance, once again. If you let me down this time, that’s all there is.”
Well, I went into that hospital again feeling like a

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whipped cur. My wife pleaded with the doctor to please do something to save her husband, to save her home, to save our business, and our self-respect.
The doctor assured us that he really had something for me this time that would work and with that faint hope, we separated; she to hurry back home, 150 miles away, and carry on the work of two people and I to sit trembling and fearful there in what seemed to me, a shameful place.
Four days later a man called on me and seemed interested to know how I was coming along. He told me that he, too, had been there several times but had now found relief.
That night another man came. He, too, had suffered the same trouble and told how he and the other fellow and several more had been released from alcohol.
Then the next day a fine fellow came, and in a halting but effective way, told how he had placed himself in God’s hand and keeping. Almost before I knew it, I was asking God to clean me up.
I suppose there are many who feel a strong resentment against such a spiritual approach. Some of Alcoholics Anonymous whom I have met since that day tell me they had difficulty in accepting a simple, day to day, plan of faith. In my case I was ripe for such an opportunity, perhaps because of early religious training. I have always, it seems, had a keen sense of the fact and presence of God.
That, too, like loving my wife and at the same time hurting her so dreadfully, is paradoxical, but it’s a fact.

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I knew that God, was there with infinite love and yet, somehow, I kept on drifting further and further away. But now I do feel that my heart an d mind are “tuned in” and by His grace there will be no more alcoholic “static.”
After making this final agreement (not just another resolution) to let God to be first in my life, the whole outlook and horizon brightened up in a manner which I am unable to describe except to say that it was “glorious.”
The following day was Monday and my non-drinking friend insisted that I check out from the hospital and come over to his home in ‘Jersey. I did that and there I found a lovely wife and children all so “happy about the whole thing.”
The next night I was taken to a meeting, at the home of an ex-problem drinker in Brooklyn, where to my surprise, there were more than 30 men like myself, telling of a liberty of living unmatched by anything I had ever seen.
Since returning to my home, life has been so different. I have paid off the old debts, have money enough now for decent clothes and some to use in helping others, a thing which I enjoy doing but didn’t do when I had to contribute so generously to alcohol.
I am trying to help other alcoholics. At this writing there are four of us working, all of whom have been kicked around dreadfully.
There is no “cocky” feeling about this for me. I know I am an alcoholic and while I used to call on God to help me, my conclusion is that I was simply asking

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God to help me drink alcohol without its hurting me which is a far different thing than asking hi m to help me not to drink at all.
So here I stand, living day to day, in His presence, and it is wonderful-This prodigal came home.  p.363

BB, pg. 84 .. Into Action
That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. “FEAR” of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

BB, pg 84
We have entered the world of the Spirit.
Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter.*” It should continue for our lifetime”*. Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and “FEAR”. When these crop up, we “Ask” God at once to remove them. We discuss them with someone immediately and make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone. Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to “*someone we can help*”. ( Step 10 & 12.)

BB, pg. 62
Selfishness – self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles.

BB, pg. 87-88 .. Into Action
*”As we go through the day we “Pause, when agitated or doubtful, and “Ask” for the right thought or action. We constantly remind ourselves *we are “NO” longer
running the show, *”Humbly saying to ourselves many times *EACH DAY* “Thy ~Will be done.” We are then in much less danger of excitement, “FEAR”, anger, worry, self-pity, or foolish decisions. We become much more efficient. We do not tire so easily, for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we did when we were trying to arrange life to suit ourselves.

BB, pg. 62
This is the how and why of it. First of all, we had to quit playing God. It didn’t work.

BB, pg. 88
It works – it really does.
We alcoholics are undisciplined. So we *Let God Discipline* us in the simple way we have just outlined.

Psa 34:4 I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and *Delivered me from all my “FEARS”.
Psa 34:5 They looked unto Him, and were lightened: and their faces were not Ashamed.
Psa 34:6 This poor man “Cried”, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his *Troubles*.

Deu 31:6 Be strong and of a good courage, “FEAR NOT”, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee

Mat 26:42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, *”Thy will be done”*.

Joh 8:28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am He, and that I do *”Nothing of myself; but as my Father hath *”Taught me, I speak these things.
Joh 8:29 And He that sent Me is With Me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do *”Always”* those things that please Him.

( Note; Christ is teaching us by saying Father thy will be Done. He was Obedient to The Father. Just as we should be we are not better then Christ all though we ounce thought we were. He will relieve our Fear.)