Does Al-Alanon Read the AA Big Book

Old 11-14-2014, 10:58 PM
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Does Al-Alanon Read the AA Big Book

I know that Al-Anon works the 12 steps. Does Al-Alon use the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, which is what members in AA use?
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Old 11-14-2014, 11:16 PM
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You must have been reading my mind, JB. I was just wondering about this.

At my meetings we read One Day at a Time, Courage to Change, and Hope for Today. How Alanon Works is sometimes given to newcomers, but we never read it, or refer to it in meetings.

The only time I've heard the Big Book of AA mentioned is when the discussion is about the alcoholic and their recovery.
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Old 11-15-2014, 02:48 AM
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In Al Anon meetings in my area, they are supposed to "refrain from the use or mention of material other than our Conference Approved Literature" during meetings.

The AA big book isn't Conference Approved Literature.

what people use or read OUTSIDE their meetings is entirely up to them.
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Old 11-15-2014, 07:27 AM
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"How Al-Anon Works" is the "big book" of Al-Anon.

I think it's worth reading the AA Big Book just for the information and insight it gives into alcoholism and recovery. The only danger is that you can be tempted to "helpfully" point out passages to the alcoholic! If you can resist that temptation, it's extremely helpful and informative.

One other caveat--even though the same twelve Steps are used, the way they are interpreted and worked in Al-Anon is slightly different. Al-Anons tend to have slightly different issues from the ones faced by alcoholics in recovery. But lots of us who qualify for membership in both programs find benefit to the Steps from slightly different perspectives.
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Old 11-15-2014, 08:41 AM
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Some groups add the AA Big Book by Group Conscience.

My Sponsors and my Steps Group added it as "Required Reading" status for me.

I sometimes pull it out in Group meetings for the "How It Works" (Intro to Chapter 5) and the AA Promises. [REALLY GOOD STUFF]

Of course anything can be used for Good or Bad. Our Choice.

This is sort of funny looking back where I was then . . . . my mindset was REALLY showing.

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...-big-book.html
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Old 11-15-2014, 08:54 AM
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Hammer's right, what literature is used in any given meeting is a matter of group conscience. "Conference Approved Literature" is just that--it's been given the Al-Anon "stamp of approval." The only "rule" for Al-Anon groups is that the group have no other outside affiliation.
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Old 11-15-2014, 11:50 AM
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I know that the first step in AA is "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol and that our lives had become unmanageable."

What is the first step in Al-Anon?
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Old 11-15-2014, 12:01 PM
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My experience reading the book was, in a nutshell.... "How on earth did these old guys write a book about my life today and they wrote it 75 years ago?? "

There are chapters of the big book, specifically written to try and help the spouses and partners of alcoholic folk.

Worth every pennyto get a copy, I reckon
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Old 11-15-2014, 12:33 PM
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JustBreathe,

Here are the steps, copied and pasted off of two different sites. I can only find one word that is different.

The steps, and the principles are the same, and particularly profound when talking about the 1st step. Although I wasn't the one doing the drinking, alcohol had most definitely made my life unmanageable, and I was powerless over it. My attempts at gaining control over my life were futile. I was as powerless over alcohol as my alcoholic husband.


ALANON 12 STEPS:
1) We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2) Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3) Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4) Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5) Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6) Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7) Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8) Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9) Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10) Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11) Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12) Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.


THE TWELVE STEPS OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS:
1) We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2) Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3) Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4) Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5) Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6) Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7) Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8) Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9) Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10) Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11) Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12) Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
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Old 11-15-2014, 01:28 PM
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In my own recovery I found the Big Book to be very helpful.

The A is addicted to alcohol. The alanon is addicted to the A. Understanding the roles we play in the family disease of alcoholism from all perspectives is very enlightening.

There is nothing new under the sun...especially when it comes to alcoholism ...it is like the poor as they will always be with us.... what I have learned is that I don't have to collect alcoholics in my own life anymore because I practice a life of recovery now.
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Old 11-15-2014, 01:31 PM
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Originally Posted by SeriousKarma View Post
The steps, and the principles are the same, and particularly profound when talking about the 1st step. Although I wasn't the one doing the drinking, alcohol had most definitely made my life unmanageable, and I was powerless over it. My attempts at gaining control over my life were futile. I was as powerless over alcohol as my alcoholic husband.
Yup, my experience, too.

LOL, I DEFINITELY get the wisdom of changing the one word in Step 12, however--we Al-Anons would just LOVE to be 12th-stepping our alcoholics! To no avail, of course, but it's a good thing they closed that loophole!
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Old 11-15-2014, 02:27 PM
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There is an Alanon group in my area that is a book meeting and uses the AA Big Book. However, you can only find out about this group by word of mouth from other "renegade" Alanoners. The local Alanon office does not list this meeting and won't even tell you about it. I had called and inquired and was told in no uncertain terms that "the AA Big Book is NOT conference-approved literature" and that thus no group using that could be an approved Alanon group or be listed on the web site.

I went a few times and it seemed like a decent meeting, but I've not been back since due to schedule conflicts.

I've done some reading in the Big Book myself and found it somewhat helpful, but for now, I've got other things that seem more pertinent and useful to me right at this point.
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Old 11-15-2014, 02:29 PM
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Cool

Originally Posted by LexieCat View Post
...what literature is used in any given meeting is a matter of group conscience. "Conference Approved Literature" is just that--it's been given the Al-Anon "stamp of approval."...
Actually, 'Conference Approved Literature' does not mean it's been given the Al-Anon "stamp of approval."...or any other's stamp of approval. 'Conference Approved' only means it's been approved to be published/printed by their own publishing/printing company.

...and obviously there's a lot of very good and helpful literature that they cannot publish/print as the copyright's are owned by others. I firmly believe the term/phrase 'Conference Approved' needs to be changed, as it leads to a lot of misunderstanding.........as shown here.

(o:
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Old 11-15-2014, 02:35 PM
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I dunno, maybe that area/district considers use of the book an "outside affiliation." That doesn't seem to me to be a correct interpretation, though, unless they are using the book as their primary text. Al-Anon sort of grew out of AA (begun when Lois and other wives began their OWN groups to support each other), so it doesn't seem that far off the beam to use portions of the text from time to time.

When I was still married to (but separated from) my second alcoholic husband, my favorite group was a mixed AA/Al-Anon-ish group, that did not list itself as either because it did not HAVE a single primary purpose. It was enormously helpful though. The format alternated between AA speakers/readings and Al-Anon (alternating weeks) and I thought it was terrific for people in both programs to get a better understanding of the "other side." I wasn't qualified for AA at the time, but I can see how helpful it would have been to AAs as well. There were a lot of couples that went, but many others who were there on their own.
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Old 11-15-2014, 02:46 PM
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Originally Posted by NoelleR View Post
Actually, 'Conference Approved Literature' does not mean it's been given the Al-Anon "stamp of approval."...or any other's stamp of approval. 'Conference Approved' only means it's been approved to be published/printed by their own publishing/printing company.

...and obviously there's a lot of very good and helpful literature that they cannot publish/print as the copyright's are owned by others. I firmly believe the term/phrase 'Conference Approved' needs to be changed, as it leads to a lot of misunderstanding.........as shown here.

(o:
NoelleR
Well, here's what it says about CAL on AA's GSO website (I couldn't find any comparable page for Al-Anon, but I would assume the meaning is similar in this context):
The term “Conference-approved” describes written or audiovisual material approved by the Conference for publication by G.S.O. This process assures that everything in such literature is in accord with A.A. principles. Conference-approved material always deals with the recovery program of Alcoholics Anonymous or with information about the A.A. Fellowship.

The term has no relation to material not published by G.S.O. It does not imply Conference disapproval of other material about A.A. A great deal of literature helpful to alcoholics is published by others, and A.A. does not try to tell any individual member what he or she may or may not read.

Conference approval assures us that a piece of literature represents solid A.A. experience. Any Conference-approved booklet or pamphlet goes through a lengthy and painstaking process, during which a variety of A.A.s from all over the United States and Canada read and express opinions at every stage of production.
So I think that AMOUNTS to a "stamp of approval." It's very clear that the process does not imply "disapproval" of anything else--like any other outside issue, the Fellowship would not have a position on other literature at all.
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Old 11-15-2014, 02:51 PM
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Originally Posted by LexieCat View Post
I dunno, maybe that area/district considers use of the book an "outside affiliation." That doesn't seem to me to be a correct interpretation, though, unless they are using the book as their primary text.
I'm sure that's the reason, Lexie, as it IS their primary text. They read from it, taking a paragraph each, a chapter each week.

I guess nobody's stopping them from having a meeting, just stopping them from calling it "Alanon" in a formal sense, right?
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Old 11-15-2014, 02:54 PM
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Originally Posted by LexieCat View Post
I dunno, maybe that area/district considers use of the book an "outside affiliation." That doesn't seem to me to be a correct interpretation, though, unless they are using the book as their primary text.
And they do use it as their primary text. They read a chapter a week, taking a paragraph each around the circle. So that's probably it, Lexie.

I guess no one is stopping them from having a meeting, just saying that they can't call it Alanon in a formal sense, right?
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Old 11-15-2014, 03:12 PM
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Right. I kind of think it's a bit odd to use AA's BB as the primary text--it seems like that would not be maximally useful to friends/family of alcoholics. And any Al-Anon could attend an open AA Big Book meeting if s/he wanted to.

Way before I was ever in AA I loved going to AA meetings. Maybe that was a sign, lol. I always felt more "affinity" with the people in AA than I did with the folks at my Al-Anon meetings, but Al-Anon was my lifeline when I was at my most desperate in my relationships with alcoholics.
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Old 11-15-2014, 03:16 PM
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Originally Posted by Hawks View Post
My experience reading the book was, in a nutshell.... "How on earth did these old guys write a book about my life today and they wrote it 75 years ago?? "

There are chapters of the big book, specifically written to try and help the spouses and partners of alcoholic folk.

Worth every pennyto get a copy, I reckon
Incidentally, the Big Book IS available--free--to read online, if anyone has had his/her curiosity piqued: Big Book Online.
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Old 11-15-2014, 03:32 PM
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Conference "approved" doesn't mean it's conference "unapproved."
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