"Keep it simple". How many times did Dr. Bob have to remind Bill to just keep it simple?
You either believe that our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety or you do not. Simple. It does not say, stay sober period. It says stay sober and help other Alcoholics achieve sobriety. Where is the disagreement? When I have a toothache, do I argue with the Dentist over the procedure to fix it? Do I relish the pain and fantasize on how I can recreate the moment again and again? Do I debate the Dentist on whether the tooth needs a crown first or the filling last?
Many times to make a point, we each revert to pulling a quote or a thought from the material; Big Book, Twelve and Twelve, AA Comes of Age, As Bill Sees It and using it out of context to support our reasoning, argument or positions. This is not bad, it simply is, we are learning. My old foes, the Christians do much the same; they will belabor a verse and miss the message that came with the story surrounding it. When I look at the promise of a new life, I have to take in the whole panorama and not just one certain area for close dissection without regard for the rest of the view.
I believe that if you experience a psychic change you are free. Simple. To maintain that freedom you must, you must give the experience of a psychic change away. How do you experience a psychic change? There is a litany of ways in Alcoholic Anonymous to get from point A to point B. Some of these are not written in our literature; they came from practical experience by those who went before. Does it make them less effective, less honest and less worthy of our consideration? “Well, if it ain’t in the book”…
How does it work? Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path...
1. Be full of booze
2. Go to meetings
3. Get a Sponsor
4. Purchase a Big Book, Little Red Book, Twelve and Twelve and a Thought for the Day and read them daily
5. Listen to the directions from the Sponsor
6. Work the Steps according to the directions of the Sponsor
7. Get a Home Group
8. Do service work approved by the Sponsor; Coffee, Chairs at the home group
9. Recognize periods of your Sobriety
10. Complete the Steps with the Sponsor
11. Find a new person
12. Start over with the new person
I am reminded of the debates surrounding Baseball today and the impact of the steroid years on the Hall of Fame. Our current dilemmas sound almost like a near recreation of the debate of whether treatment centers placed some dark stain on our fellowship. Maybe we should place an asterisk next to each member’s name that went through treatment; I would obviously have a trail a mile long, or two.
Like starlings on a clothesline…