I get excited about the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. Likely because the principles changed me and continue to change me! Actually my personal favorite text of the Big Book is not IN the 164 pages but speaks OF the program laid out in the first 164 pages. This page came to me during a desperate moment, bottle in hand, Big Book in the other hand, almost as a challenge to God and A.A. to bring me back from the edge of insanity. Thanks to these words and other members of Alcoholics Anonymous I survived that day and these words challenge me still!
Page 311 (3rd Edition) in the story “The Keys of the Kingdom”.
A.A. is not a plan for recovery that can be finished and done with. It is a way of life, and the challenge contained in its principles is great enough to keep any human being striving for as long as he lives. We do not, cannot, out-grow this plan. As arrested alcoholics, we must have a program for living that allows for limitless expansion. Keeping one foot in front of the other is essential for maintaining our arrestment. Others may idle in a retrogressive groove without too much danger, but retrogression can spell death for us. However, this isn’t as rough as it sounds, as we do become grateful for the necessity that makes us toe the line, for we find that we are more than compensated for a consistent effort by the countless dividends we receive.
Tracy L. – Sober since April 5, 1995
It did not take long in reading the BB to find a passage that described me 100%. Page 30……..”No person like to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows” And it goes on to describe about the “countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people”. This was me!!! It was my great obsession. Great to know others felt this same way before finding AA .
Page 30 “Chapter 3 – More About Alcoholism”.
Most of us have been unwilling to admit we were real alcoholics. No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.