GT, I'm going to leap in here, just with my own thoughts about what Robby had said a while back. I too found it confusing, yet I could kind of sense something of where he's coming from.
These thoughts are solely my own, so naturally, I do not speak 'for' Robby as such, but rather, 'to' the type of apparent contradictions you mention. I should also add, in the spirit of disclosure, that I have nothing like the sober time of people like yourself or R. However, I do have an enquiring mind, about AVRT, AA, and all manner of ways in which we might try to make our lives a bit better.
What I think creates the contradiction is the highly logical, black n white, epistemology of AVRT. In fact, not so much AVRT as a simple mental tool...but rather the underpinning conclusions about 'recovery', the 'industry' around it, and so on and so forth. My understanding of the Big Plan is that it 'should' sweep all before it. In other words, once we've made a Big Plan, its sheer logic is - or should be - enough, not only necessary but also sufficient for us to never take another drink again, under any circumstances (the old historiography 'conditions' of certain things happening once there is sufficient impelling force).
For some...indeed, many, yourself, Robby, and others here on this site: that IS sufficient to never take a drink again. In the, if you like, purely technical / physical sense, of never picking up a drink.....[and then, as RR / AVRT suggests, going on to 'deal with' Life, in all its misery and glory, etc].
Segueing to that: Living. I hesitate to suggest that the kind of life story which R has described on these boards is, in some small part, what lies behind such a person (and I count myself in this 'both-and' category) ALSO moving towards some additional space wherein we might learn and experience inspiring ways to live. Within ourselves. Hence the term, 'inside job'.
For some, that additional space may be AA / Buddhist practice of one kind or another / seeing a therapist or priest, a spiritual director or mentor....or all or any of the above.
For myself, I'm less inclined towards embracing the total 'additional space' of, say, AA, as Robby has for many years. But I think what he's saying is that, because he embraced AA (in his case), he did it wholeheartedly. It became an additional space in which to connect with others, and practise a new way of living. Perhaps a little similar to how others here on Secular Connections deploy AVRT AND / together with things like meditation, exercise, outdoorsey living, their particular 'faith' or philosophy....for Living.
My - rather long - 2 cents on the matter :-)