kobe-ja/AsBillSeesIt · Datasets at Hugging Face

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principles, we began to conform because it was right to do
so. Some of us, notably myself, conformed even then with
reluctance.
But at last we came to a point where we stood willing to
conform gladly to the principles which experience, under the
grace of God, had taught us.
A.A. COMES OF AGE, P. 224
Is Sobriety Enough?
The alcoholic is like a tornado rearing his way throughthe
lives of others. Hearts are broken. Sweet relationships are
dead. Affections have been uprooted. Selfish and
inconsiderate habits have kept the home in turmoil.
We feel a man is unthinking when he says that sobriety is
enough. He is like the farmer who came up out of his cyclone
cellar to find his home ruined. To his wife, he remarked,
"Don't see anything the matter here, Ma. Ain't it grand the
wind stopped blowin'?"
We ask ourselves what we mean when we say that we have
"harmed" other people. What kinds of "harm" do people to
one another, anyway? To define the word "harm" in a
practical way, we might call it the result of instincts in
collision, which cause physical, mental, emotional, or
spiritual damage to those about us.
The Beginning of True Kinship
When we reached A.A., and for the first time in our lives
stood among people who seemed to understand, the sense
of belonging was tremendously exciting. We thought the
isolation problem had been solved.
But we soon discovered that, while we weren't alone any
more in a social sense, we still suffered many of the old
pangs of anxious apartness. Until we had talked with
complete candor of our conflicts, and had listened to
someone else do the same thing, we still didn't belong.
Step Five was the answer. It was the beginning of true
kinship with man and God.
TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 57
Day of Homecoming
"As sobriety means long life and happiness for the
individual, so does unity mean exactly the same thing to our
Society as a whole. Unified we live; disunited we shall
perish."
"We must think deeply of all those sick ones still to come to
A.A. As they try to make their return to faith and to life, we
want them to find everything in A.A. that we have found, and
yet more, if that be possible. No care, no vigilance, no effort
to preserve A.A.'s constant effectiveness and spiritual
strength will ever be too great to hold us in full readiness for
the day of their homecoming."
Love Everybody?
Not many people can truthfully assert that they love
everybody. Most of us must admit that we have loved but a
few; that we have been quite indifferent to the many. As for
the remainder -- well, we have really disliked or hated them.
We A.A.'s find we need something much better than this in
order to keep our balance. The idea that we can be
possessively loving of a few, can ignore the many, and can
continue to fear or hate anybody at all, has to be abandoned,
if only a little at a time.
We can try to stop making unreasonable demands upon
those we love. We can show kindness where we had formerly
shown none. With those we dislike we can at least begin to
practice justice and courtesy, perhaps going out of our way
at times to understand and help them.
TWELVE AND TWELVE, PP. 92-93
Privileged to Communicate
Everyone must agree that we A.A.'s are unbelievably
fortunate people; fortunate that we have suffered so
much;fortunate that we can know, understand, and love each
other so supremely well.
These attributes and virtues are scarcely of the earned
variety. Indeed, most of us are well aware that these are rare
gifts which have their true origin in our kinship born of a
common suffering and a common deliverance by the grace of
God.
Thereby we are privileged to communicate with each other to
a degree and in a manner not very often surpassed among
our nonalcoholic friends in the world around us.
"I used to be ashamed of my condition and so didn't talk
about it. But nowadays I freely confess I am a depressive,
and this has attracted other depressives to me. Working with
them has helped a great deal."°
° Bill would like to say that he has had no depression since
The Value of Human Will
Many newcomers, having experienced little but constant
deflation, feel a growing conviction that human will is of no
value whatever. They have become persuaded, sometimes
rightly so, that many problems besides alcohol will not yield
to a headlong assault powered only by the individual's will.
However, there are certain things which the individual alone
can do. All by himself, and in the light of his own
circumstances, he needs to develop the quality of
willingness. When he acqires willingness, he is the only one
who can then make the decisionto exert himself along
spiritual lines. Trying to do this is actually an act of his own
will. It is a right use of this faculty.
Indeed, all of A.A.'s Twelve Steps require our sustained and
personal exertion to conform to their principles and so, we
trust, to God's will.
TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 40
Everyday Living

principles, we began to conform because it was right to do

so. Some of us, notably myself, conformed even then with

reluctance.

But at last we came to a point where we stood willing to

conform gladly to the principles which experience, under the

grace of God, had taught us.

A.A. COMES OF AGE, P. 224

Is Sobriety Enough?

The alcoholic is like a tornado rearing his way throughthe

lives of others. Hearts are broken. Sweet relationships are

dead. Affections have been uprooted. Selfish and

inconsiderate habits have kept the home in turmoil.

We feel a man is unthinking when he says that sobriety is

enough. He is like the farmer who came up out of his cyclone

cellar to find his home ruined. To his wife, he remarked,

"Don't see anything the matter here, Ma. Ain't it grand the

wind stopped blowin'?"

We ask ourselves what we mean when we say that we have

"harmed" other people. What kinds of "harm" do people to

one another, anyway? To define the word "harm" in a

practical way, we might call it the result of instincts in

collision, which cause physical, mental, emotional, or

spiritual damage to those about us.

The Beginning of True Kinship

When we reached A.A., and for the first time in our lives

stood among people who seemed to understand, the sense

of belonging was tremendously exciting. We thought the

isolation problem had been solved.

But we soon discovered that, while we weren't alone any

more in a social sense, we still suffered many of the old

pangs of anxious apartness. Until we had talked with

complete candor of our conflicts, and had listened to

someone else do the same thing, we still didn't belong.

Step Five was the answer. It was the beginning of true

kinship with man and God.

TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 57

Day of Homecoming

"As sobriety means long life and happiness for the

individual, so does unity mean exactly the same thing to our

Society as a whole. Unified we live; disunited we shall

perish."

"We must think deeply of all those sick ones still to come to

A.A. As they try to make their return to faith and to life, we

want them to find everything in A.A. that we have found, and

yet more, if that be possible. No care, no vigilance, no effort

to preserve A.A.'s constant effectiveness and spiritual

strength will ever be too great to hold us in full readiness for

the day of their homecoming."

Love Everybody?

Not many people can truthfully assert that they love

everybody. Most of us must admit that we have loved but a

few; that we have been quite indifferent to the many. As for

the remainder -- well, we have really disliked or hated them.

We A.A.'s find we need something much better than this in

order to keep our balance. The idea that we can be

possessively loving of a few, can ignore the many, and can

continue to fear or hate anybody at all, has to be abandoned,

if only a little at a time.

We can try to stop making unreasonable demands upon

those we love. We can show kindness where we had formerly

shown none. With those we dislike we can at least begin to

practice justice and courtesy, perhaps going out of our way

at times to understand and help them.

TWELVE AND TWELVE, PP. 92-93

Privileged to Communicate

Everyone must agree that we A.A.'s are unbelievably

fortunate people; fortunate that we have suffered so

much;fortunate that we can know, understand, and love each

other so supremely well.

These attributes and virtues are scarcely of the earned

variety. Indeed, most of us are well aware that these are rare

gifts which have their true origin in our kinship born of a

common suffering and a common deliverance by the grace of

God.

Thereby we are privileged to communicate with each other to

a degree and in a manner not very often surpassed among

our nonalcoholic friends in the world around us.

"I used to be ashamed of my condition and so didn't talk

about it. But nowadays I freely confess I am a depressive,

and this has attracted other depressives to me. Working with

them has helped a great deal."°

° Bill would like to say that he has had no depression since

The Value of Human Will

Many newcomers, having experienced little but constant

deflation, feel a growing conviction that human will is of no

value whatever. They have become persuaded, sometimes

rightly so, that many problems besides alcohol will not yield

to a headlong assault powered only by the individual's will.

However, there are certain things which the individual alone

can do. All by himself, and in the light of his own

circumstances, he needs to develop the quality of

willingness. When he acqires willingness, he is the only one

who can then make the decisionto exert himself along

spiritual lines. Trying to do this is actually an act of his own

will. It is a right use of this faculty.

Indeed, all of A.A.'s Twelve Steps require our sustained and

personal exertion to conform to their principles and so, we

trust, to God's will.

TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 40

Everyday Living