sugarbear1

A.A. History -- TABLE TALK

Boleo

1940 must have been a good year for AA literature:

1940 AA Preamble

Gottalife

Thanks SB, well worth a read. The explanation and seperation of steps 4 and 5 is very like how I was taken through and seems more consistent with the book than the idea that step 4 is a written step 5. AA came to NZ in 1946 and there are only two sponsors between me and the founder, so there is the possibility that something like this approach made its way here, though it is not widely practiced today.

Boleo, that preamble was pretty up front and concise about what AA was about. Not all groups use the Grapevine preamble, nor do they have to. I wonder if there are any groups using this version today?

"We do not speak for A.A. as a whole and you are free to agree or disagree as you see fit, in fact, it is suggested that you pay no attention to anything which might not be reconciled with what is in the A.A. Big Book."

That para in particular should be a good counter to the off the wall opinions, expressed in some AA meetings, which are often complained about here. It seperates indiviual opinion and exprience from the actual program.

Grungehead

Thanks for those links SB and Boleo! I saved them for future use.

findingout

Very similar to A.A. History: The Detroit Pamphlet which is still in use in some Detroit area meetings including one I've been attending for the past 12 years.

Interesting that the "Table Talk" version splits the Spiritual Phase into 2 discussions. Trying to cover 2,3,5,6,7 and 11 in one discussion has always seemed a bit rushed.

I also like that one discussion covers the traditions. I think I will suggest that we adopt that for the months that have five Fridays.

Thanks.

Boleo

Oddly enough, in Detroit they mostly use a Akron pamphlet:

The Akron Guide to the Twelve Steps