1
Our very lives, as ex-alcoholics, depend upon our constant thought of others and how we may help meet their needs.
The authors of this book were educated people (xiii:8). When this book was written, great care was taken in the selection of words. They knew what they were saying when they wrote it and they wrote exactly what they meant, each word was carefullly chosen. Here they are stating very simply a profound truth, a truth that had been proven by trial. Our self-centerdness is fatal to us as it can block us off from God and lead us back to drinking. How can we be selfish and self-centered if we are constantly thinking of how we can be useful to others?
4
If you are an alcoholic who wants to get over it, you may already be asking, "What do I have to do?"
Why might we be asking, "What do I have to do?" Perhaps because we have tried everything we can think of and like Bill (17:18) and the two fellows in the Doctor's Opinion (8:2 & 8:12) have admitted defeat and are now willing to look outside ourselves for an answer.
5-6
It is the purpose of this book to answer such questions specifically. We shall tell you what we have done.
Faced with alcoholic destruction, we become willing to follow specific and clear cut directions on how to recover. If we possessed the answers, we would have put them into effect long ago We can be grateful that the authors graciously showed us precisely what we can do to recover.
We are being offered specific answers of exactly what we can do to recovery from this illness. Rather than advice about what we ought to do from people who do not understand us, we are told what these people, who suffer from our common problem, did to recover. The understand our obstinate resistance to advice. Every word in this book is designed to illustrate the path to recovery that the authors followed.
8-11
How many times people have said to us: "I can take it or leave it alone. Why can't he?" "Why don't you drink like a gentleman or quit?" "That fellow can't handle his liquor."
How could they possibly understand the phenomenon of craving or the mental obsession of craving or the mental obsession of the alcoholic without experiencing them?
21-22
Moderate drinkers have little trouble in giving up liquor entirely if they have good reason for it. They can take it or leave it alone.
Am I a moderate drinker? Can I take it or leave it alone? We can diagnose our problem by asking ourselves the questions in this book.
Source:
The Annotated AA Handbook
a companion to the Big Book
Frank D.