Big Book Quote

[CarolD]

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

THE PROMISES

"If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will
be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new
freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to
shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will
know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will
see how our experience can benefit others. 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."


~Alcoholics Anonymous, 1st. Edition,
Into Action, Page 83~

[freya]

...well, as quotations go, it doesn't get any better than that!

freya

[Boleo]

1st Step Promises (Page 42)
"Then they outlined the spiritual answer and program of action which a hundred of them had followed successfully. Though I had been only a nominal churchman, their proposals were not, intellectually, hard to swallow. But the program of action, though entirely sensible, was pretty drastic. It meant I would have to throw several lifelong conceptions out of the window. That was not easy. But the moment I made up my mind to go through with the process, I had the curious feeling that my alcoholic condition was relieved, as in fact it proved to be. Quite as important was the discovery that spiritual principles would solve all my problems.”

2nd Step Promises (Page 50)
Here are thousands of men and women, worldly indeed. They flatly declare that since they have come to believe in a Power greater than themselves, to take a certain attitude toward that Power, and to do certain simple things, there has been a revolutionary change in their way of living and thinking. In the face of collapse and despair, in the face of the total failure of their human resources, they found that a new power, peace, happiness, and sense of direction flowed into them. This happened soon after they wholeheartedly met a few simple requirements.

3rd Step Promises (Page 63)
When we sincerely took such a position, all sorts of remarkable things followed. We had a new Employer. Being all powerful, He provided what we needed, if we kept close to Him and performed His work well. Established on such a footing we became less and less interested in ourselves, our little plans and designs. More and 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.

4th Step Promises (Page 70)
Here are thousands of men and women, worldly indeed. They flatly declare that since they have come to believe in a Power greater than themselves, to take a certain attitude toward that Power, and to do certain simple things, there has been a revolutionary change in their way of living and thinking. In the face of collapse and despair, in the face of the total failure of their human resources, they found that a new power, peace, happiness, and sense of direction flowed into them. listed and analyzed our resentments. We have begun to comprehend their futility and their fatality. We have commenced to see their terrible destructiveness. We have begun to learn tolerance, patience and good will toward all men, even our enemies, for we look on them as sick people. We have listed the people we have hurt by our conduct, and are willing to straighten out the past if we can.

5th Step Promises (Page 75)
We pocket our pride and go to it, illuminating every twist of character, every dark cranny of the past. Once we have taken this step, withholding nothing, we are delighted. We can look the world in the eye. We can be alone at perfect peace and ease. Our fears fall from us. We begin to feel the nearness of our Creator. We may have had certain spiritual beliefs, but now we begin to have a spiritual experience. The feeling that the drink problem has disappeared will often come strongly. We feel we are on the Broad Highway, walking hand in hand with the Spirit of the Universe.

9th Step Promises (Page83-84)
If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. 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. And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone – even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality - safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.

10th Step Promises (Page 84-85)
And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone - even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality - safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.

11th Step Promises (Page 86-87)
On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives. Under these conditions we can employ our mental faculties with assurance, for after all God gave us brains to use. Our thought-life will be placed on a much higher plane when our thinking is cleared of wrong motives. In thinking about our day we may face indecision. We may not be able to determine which course to take. Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision. We relax and take it easy. We don't struggle. We are often surprised how the right answers come after we have tried this for a while. What used to be the hunch or the occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind.

12th Step Promises (Page 89)
Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other activities fail. This is our twelfth suggestion: Carry this message to other alcoholics! You can help when no one else can. You can secure their confidence when others fail. Remember they are very ill. Life will take on new meaning. To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a host of friends - this is an experience you must not miss. We know you will not want to miss it. Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is the bright spot of our lives.


Alcoholics Anonymous, 1st. Ediion

[jimhere]

Originally Posted by CarolD

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

THE PROMISES

"If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will
be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new
freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to
shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will
know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will
see how our experience can benefit others. 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."


~Alcoholics Anonymous, 1st. Edition,
Into Action, Page 83~

Carrots that we dangle in front of newcomers like they are something to get, turning the program into a selfish "what's in it for me" deal.
Jim

[Cubile75]

I don't know jim, I can see why you might see that perspective on that BB quote, especially when taken out of context. Like when it is read as a stand alone quote at a meeting...

The first time I read that I was in rehab, not sleeping at all, sitting at the nurses station so I could have light to read.... Night after night.... When I got to that part of the book, I don't know, it kind of scared me... I didn't see it as something I was much interested in... well the whole rehab/recovery thing was new and very foreign to me... yea, I knew I was alcoholic and my life was unmanageable... But this whole selflessness thing, being interested in my fellows... WTF...

It comes as some relief for me now, actually, that I can read that and see the message of hope and promise that it is.

Just my perspective.

Mark

[CarolD]

I do consider the Step Promises to be achievable goals....
and a good way to encourage Step work.

Gee...if I was not going to get something positive
out of AA ...why go?
I like the new improved me

I love the 9th Step Promises ....

[freya]

I find the 9th Step promises, despite -- or maybe even because of the grammar issues LOL! -- to be just plain beautiful...and so, I appreciate them at that level.

Next, for me, I really first "noticed" them shortly after I had started attending AA meetings and I "coincidentally" met this guy from one of the meetings outside my son's bank one day. This guy is very quiet but, when he says something, it's always worth paying attention to. So anyway, we got to talking and he ended up talking about how the promises have come true in his life, and how and why, and how much he loves them. Anyway, that conversation was really the first time that I "got" the importance and the beauty and the passion of working a program with the urgency described in "How It Works"...and after talking to him I went downtown that same afternoon to the Intergroup office and bought my first Big Book. So, that conversation and The 9th Step Promises just, for me, hold a very important place in the history of my own recovery.

Also, I really don't see anything at all "wrong" or "misleading" about sharing with newcomers -- or anyone else -- everything that working a strong program can and has done for me or for others. I mean, really, are we supposed to like be keeping this a secret or something???? What would be at all attractive about that????.....either in the "attraction rather than promotion" sense or even in a more general sense??? And the Third Step Prayer does read in part: "Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of Life." (emphasis added) Methinks it might be kinda hard for our lives to bear witness to God's work in them if we don't let anybody know what great works God has accomplished in them!

Happiness, freedom and joy are attractive -- curmudgeonly asceticism, not so much!

And finally, I personally don't really care one way or the other if someone's motives for starting to work a program are -- in part or in whole -- selfish.....Actually, I very seriously doubt that even 1% of the people who walk through the doors of any 12 Step Program initially show up there for purely altruistic reasons.......In fact, The 9th Step Promises themselves indicate that "losing interest in selfish things" and gaining "interest in our fellows" is one of the gifts that comes with working The Steps. (.......but if people never start because many of the gifts of working the program are hidden from them, then the altruism can never come at all.)

freya

[Cubile75]

I didn't see "losing interest in selfish things" and "interest in our fellows" as gifts when I was still in the insanity of very early sobriety and the shock of required rehab... I saw them as obligations that would be an encumbrance...

Not anymore, they are gifts and they are a result of working the steps...

I still remember those early days like they were yesterday and I remember exactly the moment I read those promises.... I was so confused and full of fear....

Thanx Freya, You got what I was gettin' at.

Mark

[Boleo]

Originally Posted by jimhere

Carrots that we dangle in front of newcomers like they are something to get, turning the program into a selfish "what's in it for me" deal.

Even if a person starts off seeking the promises for purely selfish reasons - the promises themselves will cause that person to become selfless. It does not matter if the cart comes before the horse because the end result is:

"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."

When the famous anthropologist Gregory Bateson took a look at AA he called it a "Cybernetic feedback system". He was describing the way old-timers were giving back some of their output to be used as input to help the new comers. He did not realize it but he was also describing how the promises (output) could serve as motivation (input) to keep us looking for more and more promises.

Einstein was on to something when he said "God does not play dice with the universe".