Alcoholics Anonymous

by Alcoholics Anonymous

My friend suggested what then seemed a novel idea. He said, “Why don’t you choose your own conception of God?”

It was only a matter of

being willing to believe in a Power greater than myself. Nothing more was required of me to make my beginning.

Upon a foundation of complete willingness I might build what ...

For a brief moment, I had needed and wanted God. There had been a humble willingness to have Him with me—and He came. But soon the sense of His presence had been blotted out by worldly clamors, mostly those within myself.

There I humbly offered myself to God, as I then understood Him, to do with me as He would. I placed myself unreservedly under His care and direction. I admitted for the first time that of myself I was nothing; that without Him I was lost. I ruthlessly faced my sins and became willing to have my newfound Friend take them away, root and branch. I have not

had a drink since.

My schoolmate visited me, and I fully acquainted him with my problems and deficiencies. We made a list of people I had hurt or toward whom I felt resentment. I expressed my entire willingness to approach these individuals, admitting my wrong. Never was I to be critica...

I was to test my thinking by the new God-consciousness wi...

would thus become uncommon sense. I was to sit quietly when in doubt, asking only for direction and strength to meet my problems as He would have me. Never was I to pray for myself, except as my requests bore on my usefulness to others. Then on...

when these things were done I would enter upon a new relationship with my Cre...

the elements of a way of living which answered all my problems. Belief in the power of God, plus enough willingness, honesty and humility to establish and maintain the new o...

It meant destruction of self-centeredness. I must turn in all things to the Father of Ligh...

but the moment I fully accepted them, the effe...

There was a sense of victory, followed by such a peace and serenity as I had never known. There was utter confidence. I felt lifted up, as though the great clean wind of a mountain top blew through and through. God comes to most...

For a moment I was...

The good doctor now sees many men who have such experiences. He knows that they are real.

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.

For if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge his spiritual 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 fai...

I soon found that when all other measures failed, work with another alcoholic would save the day.

It is a design for living that works in rough going.

The joy of living we really have, even under pressure and difficulty.

There is scarcely any form of trouble and misery which has not been overcome among us.

Faith has to work twenty-four hours a day in and through us, or we perish. Most of us feel we need look no further for Utopia. We have it with us right here and now.

They have solved the drink problem.

We are people who normally would not mix. But there exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is indescribably wonderful.

The feeling of having shared in a common peril is one element in the powerful cement which binds us.

The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have discovered a common solution. We have a way out

on which we can absolutely agree, and upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious action. This is the great news this book carries to those who suffer from alcoholism.

But the ex-problem drinker who has found this solution, who is properly armed with facts about himself, can generally win the entire confidence of another alcoholic in a few

hours. Until such an understanding is reached, little or nothing can be accomplished.

We feel that elimination of our drinking is but a beginning. A much more important demonstration of our principles lies before us in our respective homes,

occupations and affairs.

Most of us sense that real tolerance of other people’s shortcomings and viewpoints and a respect for their opinions are

attitudes which make us more useful to others. Our very lives, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our constant thought of others and how we may help meet their needs.

We see that these expressions refer to people whose reactions are very different from ours.

We are equally positive that once he takes any alcohol whatever into his system, something happens, both in the bodily and mental sense, which makes it virtually impossible for him to stop.

These observations would

be academic and pointless if our friend never took the first drink, thereby setting the...

Therefore, the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, rat...

He has lost control. At a certain point in the drinking of every alcoholic, he passes into a state where the most powerful desire to stop drinking is of absolutely no avail. This tragic situation has already arrived in practically every case long before it is suspected.

We are without defense against the first drink.

There is a solution. Almost none of us liked the self-searching, the leveling of our pride, the confession of shortcomings which the process requires for its successful consummation.

When, therefore, we were approached by those in whom the problem had been solved, there was nothing left for us but to pick up the simple kit of spiritual tools laid at our feet. We have found much of heaven and we have been rocketed into a fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed. The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we

have had deep and effective spiritual experiences* which have revolutionized our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God’s universe. The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves.

We were in a position where life was becoming impossible, and if we had passed into the region from which there is no return through human aid, we had but two alternatives: One was to go on to the bitter end, blotting out the consciousness of our intolerable situation as best we could; and the other, to accept spiritual help.

Ideas, emotions, and attitudes which were once the guiding forces of the lives of these men are suddenly cast to one side, and a completely new set of conceptions and motives begin to dominate them.

We, in our turn, sought the same escape with all the desperation of drowning men. What seemed at first a flimsy reed, has proved to be the loving and powerful hand of God. A new life has been given us or, if you prefer, “a design for living”

that really works.