kobe-ja/AsBillSeesIt · Datasets at Hugging Face

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because experience suggests that we are apt to receive
whatever may be the most useful for our own needs.
Human beings are never quite alike, so each of us, when
making an inventory, will need to determine what his
individual character defects are. Having found the shoes that
fit, he ought to step into them and walk with new confidence
that he is at last on the right track.
Instincts Run Wild
Every time a person imposes his instincts unreasonable
upon others, unhappiness follows. If the pursuit of wealth
tramples upon people who happen to be in the way, then
anger, jealousy, and revenge are likely to be aroused. If sex
runs riot, there is a similar uproar.
Demands made upon other people for too much attention,
protection, and love can invite only domination or revulsion
in the protectors themselves -- two emotions quite as
unhealthy as the demands which evoke them. When an
individual's desire for prestige becomes uncontrollable,
whether in the sewing circle or at the international
conference table, other people suffer and often revolt. This
collision of instincts can produce anything from a cold snub
to a blazing revolution.
TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 44
"Powerless over Alcohol"
I had gone steadily downhill, and on that day in 1934 I lay
upstairs in the hospital, knowing for the first time that I was
utterly hopeless.
Lois was downstairs, and Dr. Silkworth was trying in his
gentle way to tell her what was wrong with me and that I was
hopeless. "But Bill has a tremendous amount of will power,"
she said. "He has tried desperately to get well. We have tried
everything. Doctor, why can't he stop?"
He explained that my drinking, once a habit, had become an
obsession, a true insanity that condemned me to drink
against my will.
"In the late stages of our drinking, the will to resist has fled.
Yet when we admit complete defeat and when we become
entirely ready to try A.A. principles, our obsession leaves us
and we enter a new dimension -- freedom under God as we
understand Him."
Faith -- a Blueprint -- and Work
"The idea of `twenty-four-hour living' applies primarily to the
emotional life of the individual. Emotionally speaking, we
must not live in yesterday, nor in tomorrow.
"But I have never been able to see that this means the
individual, the group, or A.A. as a whole should give no
thought whatever to how to function tomorrow or even in the
more distant future. Faith alone never constructed the house
you live in. There had to be a blueprint and a lot of work to
bring it into reality.
"Nothing is truer for us of A.A. than the Biblical saying `Faith
without works is dead.' A.A.'s services, all designed to make
more and better Twelfth Step work possible, are the `works'
that insure our life and growth by preventing anarchy or
stagnation."
False Pride
The alarming thing about pride-blindness is the ease with
which it is justified. But we need not look far to see that selfjustification is a universal destroyer of harmony and of love.
It sets man against man, nation against nation.By it, every
form of folly and violence can be made to look right, and
even respectable.
It would be a product of false pride to claim that A.A. is a
cure-all, even for alcoholism.
Mastering Resentments
We began to see that the world and its people had really
dominated us. Under that unhappy condition, the
wrongdoing of others, fancied or real, had the power to
actually kill us, because we could be driven back to drink
through resentment. We saw that these resentments must be
mastered, but how? We could not wish them away.
This was our course: We realized that the people who
wronged us were perhaps spiritually sick. So we asked God
to help us show them the same tolerance, pity, and patience
that we would cheerfully grant a sick friend.
Today, we avoid retaliation or argument. We cannot treat sick
people that way. If we do, we destroy our chance of being
helpful. We cannot be helpful to all people, but at least God
will show us how to take a kindly and tolerant view of each
and every one.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, PP. 66-67
Aspects of Spirituality
"Among A.A.'s there is still a vast amount of mix-up
respecting what is material and what is spiritual. I prefer to
believe that it is all a matter of motive. If we use our worldly
possessions too selfishly, then we are materialists. But if we
share these possessions in helpfulness to others, then the
material aids the spiritual."
"The idea keeps persisting that the instincts are primarily
bad and are the roadblocks before which all spirituality
falters. I believe that the difference between good and evil is
not the difference between spiritual and instinctual man; it is
the difference between properand improper use of the
instinctual. Recognition and right channeling of the
instinctual are the essence of achieving wholeness."
Emotional Sobriety
If we examine every disturbance we have, great or small, we
will find at the root of it some unhealthy dependency and its
consequent unhealthy demand. Let us, with God's help,
continually surrender these hobbling liabilities.
Then we can be set free to live and love; we may then be able

because experience suggests that we are apt to receive

whatever may be the most useful for our own needs.

Human beings are never quite alike, so each of us, when

making an inventory, will need to determine what his

individual character defects are. Having found the shoes that

fit, he ought to step into them and walk with new confidence

that he is at last on the right track.

Instincts Run Wild

Every time a person imposes his instincts unreasonable

upon others, unhappiness follows. If the pursuit of wealth

tramples upon people who happen to be in the way, then

anger, jealousy, and revenge are likely to be aroused. If sex

runs riot, there is a similar uproar.

Demands made upon other people for too much attention,

protection, and love can invite only domination or revulsion

in the protectors themselves -- two emotions quite as

unhealthy as the demands which evoke them. When an

individual's desire for prestige becomes uncontrollable,

whether in the sewing circle or at the international

conference table, other people suffer and often revolt. This

collision of instincts can produce anything from a cold snub

to a blazing revolution.

TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 44

"Powerless over Alcohol"

I had gone steadily downhill, and on that day in 1934 I lay

upstairs in the hospital, knowing for the first time that I was

utterly hopeless.

Lois was downstairs, and Dr. Silkworth was trying in his

gentle way to tell her what was wrong with me and that I was

hopeless. "But Bill has a tremendous amount of will power,"

she said. "He has tried desperately to get well. We have tried

everything. Doctor, why can't he stop?"

He explained that my drinking, once a habit, had become an

obsession, a true insanity that condemned me to drink

against my will.

"In the late stages of our drinking, the will to resist has fled.

Yet when we admit complete defeat and when we become

entirely ready to try A.A. principles, our obsession leaves us

and we enter a new dimension -- freedom under God as we

understand Him."

Faith -- a Blueprint -- and Work

"The idea of `twenty-four-hour living' applies primarily to the

emotional life of the individual. Emotionally speaking, we

must not live in yesterday, nor in tomorrow.

"But I have never been able to see that this means the

individual, the group, or A.A. as a whole should give no

thought whatever to how to function tomorrow or even in the

more distant future. Faith alone never constructed the house

you live in. There had to be a blueprint and a lot of work to

bring it into reality.

"Nothing is truer for us of A.A. than the Biblical saying `Faith

without works is dead.' A.A.'s services, all designed to make

more and better Twelfth Step work possible, are the `works'

that insure our life and growth by preventing anarchy or

stagnation."

False Pride

The alarming thing about pride-blindness is the ease with

which it is justified. But we need not look far to see that selfjustification is a universal destroyer of harmony and of love.

It sets man against man, nation against nation.By it, every

form of folly and violence can be made to look right, and

even respectable.

It would be a product of false pride to claim that A.A. is a

cure-all, even for alcoholism.

Mastering Resentments

We began to see that the world and its people had really

dominated us. Under that unhappy condition, the

wrongdoing of others, fancied or real, had the power to

actually kill us, because we could be driven back to drink

through resentment. We saw that these resentments must be

mastered, but how? We could not wish them away.

This was our course: We realized that the people who

wronged us were perhaps spiritually sick. So we asked God

to help us show them the same tolerance, pity, and patience

that we would cheerfully grant a sick friend.

Today, we avoid retaliation or argument. We cannot treat sick

people that way. If we do, we destroy our chance of being

helpful. We cannot be helpful to all people, but at least God

will show us how to take a kindly and tolerant view of each

and every one.

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, PP. 66-67

Aspects of Spirituality

"Among A.A.'s there is still a vast amount of mix-up

respecting what is material and what is spiritual. I prefer to

believe that it is all a matter of motive. If we use our worldly

possessions too selfishly, then we are materialists. But if we

share these possessions in helpfulness to others, then the

material aids the spiritual."

"The idea keeps persisting that the instincts are primarily

bad and are the roadblocks before which all spirituality

falters. I believe that the difference between good and evil is

not the difference between spiritual and instinctual man; it is

the difference between properand improper use of the

instinctual. Recognition and right channeling of the

instinctual are the essence of achieving wholeness."

Emotional Sobriety

If we examine every disturbance we have, great or small, we

will find at the root of it some unhealthy dependency and its

consequent unhealthy demand. Let us, with God's help,

continually surrender these hobbling liabilities.

Then we can be set free to live and love; we may then be able