scooterdog writes>>>The vibe I'm getting from the people is you need to go to multiple meetings a week (or maybe even multiple meetings a day) and that you never really "graduate" from going to meetings.<<<
When the Alcoholics Anonymous text was written in 1938 there weren't any AA meetings or AA fellowship. As written, the first edition text as well as the multilith was left intact. The only changes in future editions were additions e.g. Spiritual Experience.
AA meetings aren't the suggested program of recovery. The AA text states it very simply in Chapter 5 HOW IT WORKS, on page 59, it reads, Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery: It doesn't read, Here are the meetings we attended, which are suggested as a program of recovery:
What you heard is the typical AA party-line, and it's fear based, but it's not the Alcoholics Anonymous suggested program of recovery. In this context, those that live with this fear are still psychologically addicted.
David Stewart, MD stated well the difference between abstinence and sobriety in his book "thirst for freedom".....
"Few people realize that sobriety is an action of insights and skills far beyond mere abstinence. Sobriety is a creative discipline in the art of freedom of growth and of love. To be yourself, is to become yourself."