Big Book Quote

[Astro]

*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"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. We are unable, at certain times, to bring
into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the
suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are
without defense against the first drink."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 1st Edition, There Is A Solution, pg. 24~

[nothingface]

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty, and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming---*WOW-What a ride*!"

i love that, its so true. Were all put here under the same sun, surviving the best we can.

[jimhere]

Originally Posted by nothingface

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty, and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming---*WOW-What a ride*!"

i love that, its so true. Were all put here under the same sun, surviving the best we can.

Can you please enlighten me as to how the above quote is connected to the Big Book quote?

[McGowdog]

They were appreciating Astro's new sig. It is pretty clever.

[shaun00]

when i read that it brings to mind 2 trips to the mental health ward.

not long ...a couple of weeks each time..

after a couple of vague suicide attempts....for your own safety they said

within 3 days i felt fired up and ready to get that new job...new wife..

i would show this lot just how someone can turn there life around.

both times apon release....i got off the bus 2 or 3 stops early so i could get a bottle...drink most of it on the way back to my mothers....

my resolve and will power dwindled to nothing.....my love for my mother meant nothing....

all thoughts were overpowered by getting a drink.

sure i was without defense....

[Tommyh]

thank you Astro
I find powerless concerning booze comes in 2 phases or sections or areas concerning my drinking

1-Once I started drinking,I drank all I could get.I did that most of the time since I took my first drink.I just could not stop or control it,and beside who would want too if it did for them what it did for me at such a young age?I drank for the effect.
I could control when I drank,but could not control how much I drank in my teenage years.I could manage life between drinking bouts.

2-Later on in life,after a seriously bad time with booze,I would try and quit.I stayed dry for a period of days and sometimes a few weeks.Then I drank again,and finally it got to where my dry time was only a day maybe two.
I still could not control how much I drank or even when I drank.I could not manage life between drinking bouts.

[jimhere]

Originally Posted by McGowdog

They were appreciating Astro's new sig. It is pretty clever.

Now I get it!

[Rob B]

Originally Posted by Astro

*~*~*~*~*^ Big Book Quote ^*~*~*~*~*

"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. We are unable, at certain times, to bring
into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the
suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are
without defense against the first drink."

~Alcoholics Anonymous, 1st Edition, There Is A Solution, pg. 24~

So much for I choose not to drink today, this paragraph hammers home step one for a guy like me.They are speaking to the insanity prior to taking the 1st drink. More than a few AA members go to the grave believing they had a choice. I have stood with some of them.

If I had a choice in drinking, I would not need AA, and I certainly would not need God. This topic always moves me and I get fired up, not because I have a need to be right, but because the misunderstanding regarding choice power and control is lethal for certain types of alcoholics. I stay current with my 1st step. I will drink no matter what.

Like a friend of mine says, the only choice I have to make today is this: God is everything or nothing. Since the day I chose GOd and have taken actions to maintain spiritual fitness, I have not had a drink, nor obsessed about it. Thanks for the Post Astro, this is an extremely important topic to look at.

[navysteve]

I learned a valuable lesson at about 12 sober regarding being without defense:

I have said it many times that around 5 years sober I began to drift away from meetings. I had moved to Texas and didn't connect well there ( actually back in Maryland I was patted on the back for being so young and brave and being so smart and intellligent for getting it blah blah blah) and I did things lke start a family, go to college, and advance in my career. Not bad for a punk who was going nowhere. I used to say AA gave me a life worth living, it ain't my life. A very true statement for me today but at the time it didn't hold the same meaning.

Anyway...

So I drifted away....

Move forward to October 30th 2001. I am sitting in a bar ( nothing wrong with an alcoholic sitting in a bar at all if they are on solid spiritual grounds) when the thought hit me:

It was just a phase Steve, everyone did the stuff you did back then (drank, shot dope etc...)

I was given a gift that night because just as fast as that thought entered into my mind and I began to play with it, romance it, order a drink another thought nearly brought me to my knees...

God tapped me on the shoulder that night and showed me who I was. I know first hand what Rob is talking about as far as choice goes:

God is everything or nothing

He is everything to me, he removed the obsession to drink. All I have to do to keep it that way is follow a few simple rules. Its not a bad deal. Even with almost 20 years separating me from my last drink left on my devices I will be unable, at certain times, to bring into my consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. I am still without defense against the first drink.

I don't get too upset about folks who say they choose not to drink or that they have to remind themselves about step 1 everyday because I believe that God is everything, that means he will intervene in their life too. That is not an excuse for inaction, that is a great reality for me. I have experienced it firsthand and it holds more power for me than any words uttered by men.