Favorite lines from the BB
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 812
Favorite lines from the BB
What's one of you favorite lines/sentences from the Big Book and why?
Mine:
“To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive;
never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek.
It is open, we believe, to all men.” --From "We Agnostics"
To me, this encompasses the idea of a God of your own understanding. It was very important to me in early sobriety because I came into the program without a conception of God, and to be honest, I resisted even forming one. This sentence gave me the freedom to explore many different ideas in various religions and spiritual disciplines. In the beginning, it seemed I could only connect with a HP when I was in nature. Then I found spiritual inspiration in books. Then I started hearing my HP speak through others. In reflection, my HP is hindsight. Nowadays, I can find God in everything as long as I earnestly seek.
Mine:
“To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive;
never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek.
It is open, we believe, to all men.” --From "We Agnostics"
To me, this encompasses the idea of a God of your own understanding. It was very important to me in early sobriety because I came into the program without a conception of God, and to be honest, I resisted even forming one. This sentence gave me the freedom to explore many different ideas in various religions and spiritual disciplines. In the beginning, it seemed I could only connect with a HP when I was in nature. Then I found spiritual inspiration in books. Then I started hearing my HP speak through others. In reflection, my HP is hindsight. Nowadays, I can find God in everything as long as I earnestly seek.
12-Step Recovered Alkie
Join Date: May 2010
Location: West Bloomfield, MI
Posts: 5,797
Man oh man..... what a change. First year or so, I would have said nothing in that book it worth my time. Now I've turned into one of "those guys" who's madly in love with it.
I don't know if it's my favorite, but it's certainly one of them:
We (the alcoholics) are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink.
it was that "at certain times" part that hooked me. Sure there were times when I DID have the power to just say now - and I could make it stick. But there were also a lot of "certain times" where I'd say no and end up doing it anyway. This phrase reeeeeally helped me admit the powerless over alcohol part of the first step.
I don't know if it's my favorite, but it's certainly one of them:
We (the alcoholics) are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink.
it was that "at certain times" part that hooked me. Sure there were times when I DID have the power to just say now - and I could make it stick. But there were also a lot of "certain times" where I'd say no and end up doing it anyway. This phrase reeeeeally helped me admit the powerless over alcohol part of the first step.
It`s ok to stay sober
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Central NC
Posts: 20,902
like Daytrader,I have come to love the book
Actually we were fooling ourselves, for deep down in every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or other it is there. For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.
We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was a part of our make-up, just as much as the feeling we have for a friend. Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but He was there. He was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis it is only there that He may be found. It was so with us.
Actually we were fooling ourselves, for deep down in every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or other it is there. For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.
We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was a part of our make-up, just as much as the feeling we have for a friend. Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but He was there. He was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis it is only there that He may be found. It was so with us.
Friend of Jimmy B
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: NYC
Posts: 667
"That the man who is making the approach has had the same difficulty, that he obviously knows what he is talking about, that his whole deportment shouts at the new prospect that he is a man with a real answer, that he has no attitude of Holier Than Thou, nothing whatever except the sincere desire to be helpful; that there are no fees to pay, no axes to grind, no people to please, no lectures to be endured -- these are the conditions we have found most effective."
- and -
"And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone-even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality—safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition."
-allan
- and -
"And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone-even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality—safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition."
-allan
12 Step Recovered Alcoholic
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 6,613
"My friend had emphasized the absolute necessity of demonstrating these principles in all my affairs. Particularly was it imperative to work with others as he had worked with me. Faith without works was dead, he said. And how appallingly true for the alcoholic! For if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge hisspiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he could not survive the certain trials and low spots ahead. If he did not work, he would surely drink again, and if he drank, he would surely die. Then faith would be dead indeed. With us it is just like that."
and " I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all."
The first because I have had a practical demonstration of the truth of it, and the second just because it has a nice ring to it.
and " I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all."
The first because I have had a practical demonstration of the truth of it, and the second just because it has a nice ring to it.
Grateful
Join Date: May 2013
Location: NC
Posts: 1,763
Two of mine show the depths that alcoholism can take us and the rewards we are promised when we reach step 10. These are probably the two most influential paragraphs in the Big Book for me.
This paragraph succinctly described my state of mind towards the end of my drinking.
This paragraph succinctly described my state of mind after completing the first 8 steps and had made a a good start on step 9. The transformation of my mindset from the first paragraph I quoted to the second paragraph I quoted was ample evidence that my Higher Power had restored me to sanity as promised in step 2.
Now and then a serious drinker, being dry at the moment says, "I don't miss it at all. Feel better. Work better. Having a better time." As ex-problem drinkers, we smile at such a sally. We know our friend is like a boy whistling in the dark to keep up his spirits. He fools himself. Inwardly he would give anything to take half a dozen drinks and get away with them. He will presently try the old game again, for he isn't happy about his sobriety. He cannot picture life without alcohol. Some day he will be unable to imagine life either with alcohol or without it. Then he will know loneliness such as few do. He will be at the jumping-off place. He will wish for the end.
pp. 151-152, Alcoholics Anonymous, First Edition
pp. 151-152, Alcoholics Anonymous, First Edition
And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone - even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality - safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.
pp. 84-85, Alcoholics Anonymous, First Edition
pp. 84-85, Alcoholics Anonymous, First Edition
Guest
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 8,674
"...when I complain about you or me, I am complaining about God's handiwork. I am saying that I know better than God. For years I was sure that the worst thing that could happen to a nice guy like me would be that I would turn out to be an alcoholic...today I find it is the best thing that's ever happened to me." - -- 417-418
"When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing or situation - some fact of my life [ big or small, real or imagined!] - unacceptable to me, and I will find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing or situation as being exactly the way they are supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in God's world by mistake." p 418
I also do the step 10 inventory every morning, about the day prior, and strive to answer the questions with that rigorous honesty (then action if need be) AA suggests is necessary to our recovery.
I also find the St Francis prayer (something I read every morning) a great way to pick one or two of the either/ors (for example, seek not to be understood but to understand) as a focus for my day.
"When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing or situation - some fact of my life [ big or small, real or imagined!] - unacceptable to me, and I will find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing or situation as being exactly the way they are supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in God's world by mistake." p 418
I also do the step 10 inventory every morning, about the day prior, and strive to answer the questions with that rigorous honesty (then action if need be) AA suggests is necessary to our recovery.
I also find the St Francis prayer (something I read every morning) a great way to pick one or two of the either/ors (for example, seek not to be understood but to understand) as a focus for my day.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: California
Posts: 2,722
OMG!, everyone picked excellent passages. My two are is small in comparison. I actually love the entire Doctor's Opinion but here is one sentence that means a lot to me:
"The only relief we have to suggest is entire abstinence."
I like this one because of the word abstinence; I am both sober in AA and abstinent in OA.
In chapter 3 There is a Solution: "We feel that elimination of our drinking is but a beginning."
It is very selfish to think all I had to do was quit drinking.
I also like that the B/B is referred to as a text in the Preface. What do you do with a text book? You study it.
"The only relief we have to suggest is entire abstinence."
I like this one because of the word abstinence; I am both sober in AA and abstinent in OA.
In chapter 3 There is a Solution: "We feel that elimination of our drinking is but a beginning."
It is very selfish to think all I had to do was quit drinking.
I also like that the B/B is referred to as a text in the Preface. What do you do with a text book? You study it.
12-Step Recovered Alkie
Join Date: May 2010
Location: West Bloomfield, MI
Posts: 5,797
Originally Posted by Ringo123 
In chapter 3 There is a Solution: "We feel that elimination of our drinking is but a beginning."
Guest
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 8,674
LOVE the mentions of "but a beginning"- my husband (also in recovery) and I talk often about 'Emotional Sobriety,' The quitting drinking was the beginning and our start in sobriety- living in RECOVERY is so much more to us. For me, it's my worldview, the way I want to live in all ways, and I had so much to learn once i was clean.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Charleston, SC
Posts: 62
"Is he not a victim of the delusion that he can wrest satisfaction and happiness out of this world if he only manages well?"
Love this sentence because it defines my life prior to sobriety so well. I worked a high profile job, made a lot of money, beautiful house, nice vehicles, loving wife and two loving children and at the end of it I felt awful. I had chased and pulled the string of self will to the extent of what I thought I needed all my life to make me happy. GOT IT ALL!
You can't fix an inside spiritual malady with outside things.
When I would travel for work I would stay in hotel rooms and they would be trashed through my stay - trash all over, clothes thrown about, smelled of dying alcoholic. But you know, there was something kind of right about it. There was a funny kind of continuity about it. I looked like **** and felt like **** but my outsides matched it. You take an alcoholic like me with all the depression, anxiety, self loathing, guilt, shame and place it against the backdrop of abundance I had at home and it didn't make things better - in fact it made things worse in darker and more painful contrast. I drank even more while I was at home because the stark contrast of my externals versus my internal sickness was too hard to handle. I would argue that an equally painful stage of an alcoholics life to when they lose everything is when they gain everything they always thought would make them happy and it doesn't do anything but make it worse. What do you do then? You have it all and you feel absolutely awful. That's what makes an alcoholic like myself want to kill himself. Cause what do you do? Someone asks you what is wrong and you have too much pride and ego to ask for help and admit you are powerless - because wasn't the wealth and abundance the power you were always looking for?
I never lost it all but I was living my last 2 years of drinking in full blow alcoholism. It was absolutely painful. I had the financials to string it out for a long time but I finally broke. I knew there was a solution in AA and I had exhausted every other option that I thought would make me sober - therapy, medications, supplements, etc.. Step 2 was a given for me because I had nothing else to go on. I had to believe.
By the grace of god I have been sober since 10/10/16. My life now internally is the best it's ever been and better than I could have ever imagined - because it's not my life anymore. I got my life out of the hands of the idiot that wanted to kill me - ME! lol.
Absolutely grateful to be alive, present and to have not lost my family and everything else. Life is good today.
Love this sentence because it defines my life prior to sobriety so well. I worked a high profile job, made a lot of money, beautiful house, nice vehicles, loving wife and two loving children and at the end of it I felt awful. I had chased and pulled the string of self will to the extent of what I thought I needed all my life to make me happy. GOT IT ALL!
You can't fix an inside spiritual malady with outside things.
When I would travel for work I would stay in hotel rooms and they would be trashed through my stay - trash all over, clothes thrown about, smelled of dying alcoholic. But you know, there was something kind of right about it. There was a funny kind of continuity about it. I looked like **** and felt like **** but my outsides matched it. You take an alcoholic like me with all the depression, anxiety, self loathing, guilt, shame and place it against the backdrop of abundance I had at home and it didn't make things better - in fact it made things worse in darker and more painful contrast. I drank even more while I was at home because the stark contrast of my externals versus my internal sickness was too hard to handle. I would argue that an equally painful stage of an alcoholics life to when they lose everything is when they gain everything they always thought would make them happy and it doesn't do anything but make it worse. What do you do then? You have it all and you feel absolutely awful. That's what makes an alcoholic like myself want to kill himself. Cause what do you do? Someone asks you what is wrong and you have too much pride and ego to ask for help and admit you are powerless - because wasn't the wealth and abundance the power you were always looking for?
I never lost it all but I was living my last 2 years of drinking in full blow alcoholism. It was absolutely painful. I had the financials to string it out for a long time but I finally broke. I knew there was a solution in AA and I had exhausted every other option that I thought would make me sober - therapy, medications, supplements, etc.. Step 2 was a given for me because I had nothing else to go on. I had to believe.
By the grace of god I have been sober since 10/10/16. My life now internally is the best it's ever been and better than I could have ever imagined - because it's not my life anymore. I got my life out of the hands of the idiot that wanted to kill me - ME! lol.
Absolutely grateful to be alive, present and to have not lost my family and everything else. Life is good today.
Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: northern michigan. not the U.P.
Posts: 15,281
The story of how many thousands of men and women have recovered from alcoholism.
It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.
It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.
Guest
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 1,271
Favorite promise:
''The story of how many thousands of men and women have recovered from alcoholism."
Favorite warning:
"It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.'
Favorite concept:
"Actually we were fooling ourselves, for deep down in every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or other it is there. For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.
We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was a part of our make-up, just as much as the feeling we have for a friend. Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but He was there. He was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis it is only there that He may be found. It was so with us.
''The story of how many thousands of men and women have recovered from alcoholism."
Favorite warning:
"It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.'
Favorite concept:
"Actually we were fooling ourselves, for deep down in every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or other it is there. For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.
We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was a part of our make-up, just as much as the feeling we have for a friend. Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but He was there. He was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis it is only there that He may be found. It was so with us.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Living in Today!
Posts: 3,945
page 63 second Edition: "We had a New Employer...
Being All powerful, he provided what we Needed,if we kept close to him
and performed his work well." (Much more Follows) Look it up! Really Good stuff..
Being All powerful, he provided what we Needed,if we kept close to him
and performed his work well." (Much more Follows) Look it up! Really Good stuff..
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