kobe-ja/AsBillSeesIt · Datasets at Hugging Face

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perhaps I should not have stayed sober with less work.
"However, sooner or later most of us are presented with
other obligations -- to family, friends, and country. As you
will remember, the Twelfth Step also refers to `practicing
these principles in all our affairs.' Therefore, I think your
choice of whether to take a particular Twelfth Step job is to
be found in your own conscience. No one else can tell you
for certain what you ought to do at a particular time.
"I just know that you are expected, at some point, to do more
than carry the message of A.A. to other alcoholics. In A.A. we
aim not only for sobriety -- we try again to become citizens of
the world that we rejected, and of the world that once
rejected us. This is the ultimate demonstration toward which
Twelfth Step work is the first but not the final step."
Fear as a Steppingstone
The chief activator of our defects has been self-centered fear
-- primar fear that we would lose something we already
possessed or would fail to get something we demanded.
Living upon a basis of unsatisfied demands, we were in a
state of continual disturbance and frustration. Therefore, no
peace was to be had unless we could find a means of
reducing these demands.
For all its usual destructiveness, we have found that fear can
be the starting point for better things. Fear can be a
steppingstone to prudence and to a decent respect for
others. It can point the path to justice, as well as to hate. And
the more we haveof respect and justice, the more we shall
begin to find love which can suffer much, and yet be freely
given. So fear need not always be destructive, because the
lessons of its consequences can lead us to positive values.
Worshipers All
We found that we had been indeed worshippers. What a state
of mental goose flesh that used to bring on! Had we not
variously worshipped people, sentiment, things, money, and
ourselves?
And then, with a better motive, had we not worshipfully
beheld the sunset, the sea, or a flower? Who of us had not
loved omething or somebody? Were not these things the
tissue out of which our lives were constructed? Did not these
feelings, after all, determine the course of our existence?
It was impossible to say we had no capacity for faith, or love,
or worship. In one form or another we had been living by
faith and little else.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, P. 54
Alike When the Chips Are Down
In the beginning, it was four whole years before A.A. brought
permanent sobriety to even one alcoholic woman. Like the
"high bottoms," the women said they were different; A.A.
couldn't be for them. But as the communication was
perfectedmostly by the women themselves, the picture
changed.
This process of identification and transmission has gone on
and on. The Skid-Rower said he was different. Even more
loudly, the socialite (or Park Avenue stumblebum) said the
same -- so did the artist and the professional people, the rich,
the poor, the religious, the agnostic, the Indians and the
Eskimos, the veterans, and the prisoners.
But nowadays all of these, and legions more, soberly talk
about how very much alike all of us alcoholics are when we
admit that the chips are finally down.
GRAPEVINE, OCTOBER 1959
We Cannot Stand Still
In the first days of A.A., I wasn't much bothered about the
areas of life in which I was standing still. There was always
the alibi: "After all," I said to myself, "I'm far too busy with
much more important matters." That was my near perfect
prescriptionfor comfort and complacency.
How many of us would presume to declare, "Well, I'm sober
and I'm happy. What more can I want, or do? I'm fine the way
I am." We know that the price of such self-satisfaction is an
inevitable backslide, punctuated at some point by a very rude
awakening. We have to grow or else deteriorate. For us, the
status quo can only be for today, never for tomorrow.
Changewe must; we cannot stand still.
True Independence of the Spirit
The more we become willing to depend upon a Higher Power,
the more independent we actually are. Therefore,
dependence as A.A. practices it is really a means of gaining
true independence of the spirit.
At the level of everyday living, it is startling to discover how
dependent we really are, and how unconscious of that
dependence. Every modern house has electric wiring
carrying power and light to its interior. By accepting with
delight our dependence upon this marvel of science, we find
ourselves personally more independent, more comfortable
and secure. Power flows just where it is needed. Silently and
surely, electricity, that strange energy so few people
understand, meets our somplest daily needs.
Though we readily accept this principle of healthy
dependence in many of our temporal affairs, we often fiercely
resist the identical principle when asked to apply it as means
of growth in the life of the spirit. Clearly, we shall never know
freedom under God until we try to seek His will for us. The
choice is ours.
TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 36
Daily Reprieve
We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a
daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual
condition.
We of A.A. obey spiritual principles, at first because we must,

perhaps I should not have stayed sober with less work.

"However, sooner or later most of us are presented with

other obligations -- to family, friends, and country. As you

will remember, the Twelfth Step also refers to `practicing

these principles in all our affairs.' Therefore, I think your

choice of whether to take a particular Twelfth Step job is to

be found in your own conscience. No one else can tell you

for certain what you ought to do at a particular time.

"I just know that you are expected, at some point, to do more

than carry the message of A.A. to other alcoholics. In A.A. we

aim not only for sobriety -- we try again to become citizens of

the world that we rejected, and of the world that once

rejected us. This is the ultimate demonstration toward which

Twelfth Step work is the first but not the final step."

Fear as a Steppingstone

The chief activator of our defects has been self-centered fear

-- primar fear that we would lose something we already

possessed or would fail to get something we demanded.

Living upon a basis of unsatisfied demands, we were in a

state of continual disturbance and frustration. Therefore, no

peace was to be had unless we could find a means of

reducing these demands.

For all its usual destructiveness, we have found that fear can

be the starting point for better things. Fear can be a

steppingstone to prudence and to a decent respect for

others. It can point the path to justice, as well as to hate. And

the more we haveof respect and justice, the more we shall

begin to find love which can suffer much, and yet be freely

given. So fear need not always be destructive, because the

lessons of its consequences can lead us to positive values.

Worshipers All

We found that we had been indeed worshippers. What a state

of mental goose flesh that used to bring on! Had we not

variously worshipped people, sentiment, things, money, and

ourselves?

And then, with a better motive, had we not worshipfully

beheld the sunset, the sea, or a flower? Who of us had not

loved omething or somebody? Were not these things the

tissue out of which our lives were constructed? Did not these

feelings, after all, determine the course of our existence?

It was impossible to say we had no capacity for faith, or love,

or worship. In one form or another we had been living by

faith and little else.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, P. 54

Alike When the Chips Are Down

In the beginning, it was four whole years before A.A. brought

permanent sobriety to even one alcoholic woman. Like the

"high bottoms," the women said they were different; A.A.

couldn't be for them. But as the communication was

perfectedmostly by the women themselves, the picture

changed.

This process of identification and transmission has gone on

and on. The Skid-Rower said he was different. Even more

loudly, the socialite (or Park Avenue stumblebum) said the

same -- so did the artist and the professional people, the rich,

the poor, the religious, the agnostic, the Indians and the

Eskimos, the veterans, and the prisoners.

But nowadays all of these, and legions more, soberly talk

about how very much alike all of us alcoholics are when we

admit that the chips are finally down.

GRAPEVINE, OCTOBER 1959

We Cannot Stand Still

In the first days of A.A., I wasn't much bothered about the

areas of life in which I was standing still. There was always

the alibi: "After all," I said to myself, "I'm far too busy with

much more important matters." That was my near perfect

prescriptionfor comfort and complacency.

How many of us would presume to declare, "Well, I'm sober

and I'm happy. What more can I want, or do? I'm fine the way

I am." We know that the price of such self-satisfaction is an

inevitable backslide, punctuated at some point by a very rude

awakening. We have to grow or else deteriorate. For us, the

status quo can only be for today, never for tomorrow.

Changewe must; we cannot stand still.

True Independence of the Spirit

The more we become willing to depend upon a Higher Power,

the more independent we actually are. Therefore,

dependence as A.A. practices it is really a means of gaining

true independence of the spirit.

At the level of everyday living, it is startling to discover how

dependent we really are, and how unconscious of that

dependence. Every modern house has electric wiring

carrying power and light to its interior. By accepting with

delight our dependence upon this marvel of science, we find

ourselves personally more independent, more comfortable

and secure. Power flows just where it is needed. Silently and

surely, electricity, that strange energy so few people

understand, meets our somplest daily needs.

Though we readily accept this principle of healthy

dependence in many of our temporal affairs, we often fiercely

resist the identical principle when asked to apply it as means

of growth in the life of the spirit. Clearly, we shall never know

freedom under God until we try to seek His will for us. The

choice is ours.

TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 36

Daily Reprieve

We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a

daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual

condition.

We of A.A. obey spiritual principles, at first because we must,