Redmayne

Like many, I suspect when I first read the book 'Alcoholics Anonymous' I turned , after initial examination to Chapter 5,'How it works' and remained baffled, coming to the conclusion that overall it was a pretty dull, dry book anyway and none of its content applied to me anyway!

But I stuck with it and still have my original copy plus a reprint of the original, which pretty much said then what it says now.. I also for intermittent periods, each with regular attendances, attended Fellowship meetings. Often through gritted teeth, sometimes drunk, others near dead on my feet!

Eventually, after something nigh on over 20 years, some guy, Brian took pity on me and over a period of two meetings. Handed me a recording, done on 10 cd's, which again I still not only have but wouldn't part with. Of 'Joe & Charlie's: Big Book Study Meeting'. To be listened together with the book 'Alcoholics Anonymous'. It's the only way, trust me....

And everything changed and keeps on changing to this day including not only my attitude to the 'Big Book' but interpretation of it and its content...where once I was blind now I could see!

It also reminded me of Jack Brennan, once 'a wheel man for the mob' and how he compared no just the book but the taking of the actions described in it, particularly the suggested 12 Step programme in recovery.

Comparing them and it to jumping out of a 'plane with a parachute and suggesting if you pull the ripcord you float down nice and gently whereas if you just hold on to the book/parachute nothing happens and your problems might just get, and do a lot worse!

Following both his and my own example, I'd suggest to anyone contemplating or who is already in recovery. That you don't just hold on to the book 'Alcoholics Anonymous', but read it and take the actions it offers...

Like the Chinese proverb says,'An unopened book is a lump of wood' and who, barring say a lumberjack, wants to carry a lump of wood around with them anyway?

Carpathia

Hi Redmayne.

I have never listened to the Joe and Charlie tapes, but have heard about them many times over the three years I've been sober.

I'll seek them out. Thanks for the post!

Redmayne

I can say that listening to 'Joe & Charlie's Big Book Study' best done whilst keeping a copy of the book 'Alcoholics Anonymous' to hand marked, for me as I know it's done for many others...A BIG turning point in not only my recovery but a clearer understanding of the content of the Big Book itself and what the first hundred who contributed to what they and it were trying to tell us..

If not for it, and I don't say this lightly my drinking would have killed me, whereas now , in recovery. Particularly in my way of thinking and dealing with the vicissitudes of life it has given me, through listening to their shared experience, strength and hope. Opportunities I never dreamt of...

You can't buy or fake these!

surferdoc

My experience with the Big Book was different. I was languishing in a detox facility and I was amazed to see in the Big Book that I was not too messed up, too addicted, too complicated to get sober. I saw that I was like everyone else, and I found hope for the first time. 286 days later, still sober, no longer obsessed

Redmayne

That you took time, at what appears to be a very appropriate moment to read it, is good enough for me. Putting its contents into action is excellent!