I have read most of it, and skimmed through some parts.
The most important idea I got from it was that basing your sobriety on a lie doesn't work, which I would agree with. However, I also feel like Adam isn't quite done with his inventory on this matter of the lie. Somehow he has come out of it believing that the lie is somehow the fault of AA's design or AA members. And he thinks AA needs to change, so people like him won't lie anymore. That idea is self-centered.
The fact is, if one actually reads the literature, they discover AA is extremely open in this matter of defining spiritual terms.
Do not let any prejudice you may have against spiritual terms deter you from honestly asking yourself what they might mean to you.
p47
The BB encourages us to ask ourselves what these terms might mean to us. Not what Webster's Dictionary says, not what your Baptist Grandma thinks, but it suggests we
Honestly ask ourselves. Using our brains is not discouraged in AA! In fact, quite the opposite. We are pretty much asked to toss away the brain we came in with ( a brain conditioned by culture, our past experiences, and alcoholism) and use a different brain, one without prejudices and pre-conceived notions, one that explores these terms in depth for our true selves. That is actually a pretty tall order ... I'm not even sure most people are intellectually ready for it in the beginning.
I've known more than a few people who came in with very pre-conceived ideas about God, and they ended up abandoning those ideas, and coming to an understanding of their own. Some of them went back to the bottle. And I'm not talking about atheists or agnostics, I'm talking about the "religious." People who grew up with their parent's God, and just accepted it. They have a God of their Parents understanding or a God of their church's understanding, but not really one of their own understanding. These people struggle as much as agnostics or atheists, because the religious ideas are so deeply ingrained. My sponsor told me once that it was harder to get this type sober than the agnostic/atheist.
To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek.
p46
One of my favorite quotes in the entire book. If one can't find some kind of path for themselves within this statement, I don't really know what to tell them. For myself, I am still seeking. I don't know if the seeking part ever comes to an end for some of us.