This is what I believe is AA's way of saying alcoholics have a "physical allergy" coupled with..a mental obsession. Originally thought that we have an enzyme that effects our thinking and once we act on it, we consume as much as we can, progressively drinking more (tolerance increases).....and knowing our disease progresses even while we maintain sobriety, so drinking again (relapse) we continue to try to drink at or above our previous level, although our period of abstinance creates a major problem at this point (dying from alcohol poisoning, heart gives out, increased organ damage, and so on...).