Chapter Two

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six Part Seven Part Eight

Part Nine Part Ten Part Eleven Part Twelve Part Thirteen Part Fourteen Part Fifteen

"We, of Alcoholics Anonymous, know thousands of men and women who were once just as hopeless as Bill. Nearly all have recovered. They have solved the drink problem.

We are average Americans. All sections of this country and many of its occupations are represented, as well as many political, economic, social and religious backgrounds. We are people who normally would not mix. But there exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is indescribably wonderful. We are like the passengers of a great liner the moment after rescue from shipwreck when camaraderie, joyousness and democracy pervade the vessel from steerage to Captain's table. Unlike the feelings of the ship's passengers, however, our joy in escape from disaster does not subside as we go our individual ways. The feelings of having shared in a common peril are one element in the powerful cement which binds us. But that in itself would never have held us together as we are now joined."

1. When you came into program, did you feel equal to, better than or lesser than those others in the room with you?

2. Did you feel at home?

3. Why or why not?

4. What made you decide to keep coming back?

When I came through the doors of OA, I definitely felt 'better than' those in the room...After all, they were FAT...I was just 'slightly' overweight...I didn't feel at home in the least, yet for some reason, I was back the following week...And the week after that...And on and on...I guess that although the human part of me felt above the rest, my soul knew I had found a home and needed to be there...Eleven years ago this month, I walked through the doors of OA...Obviously, I'm still here...I've shared many times that part of my food plan is to eat 'crow'...Without this fellowship, not only would I be seriously overweight, my insanity would have increased and I'd honestly be lucky if I were still alive...Thank you HP for the fellowship of OA...

"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.

An illness of this sort - and we have come to believe it an illness - involves those about us in a way no other human sickness can. If a person has cancer all are sorry for him and no one is angry or hurt. But not so with the alcoholic illness, for with it there goes annihilation of all the things worth while in life. It engulfs all whose lives touch the sufferer's. It brings misunderstanding, fierce resentment, financial insecurity, disgusted friends and employers, warped lives of blameless children, sad wives and parents - anyone can increase the list.

We hope this volume will inform and comfort those who are, or who may be affected. There are many."

Greetings all...I'm ******, COE, addict in general and your chairperson this month...I remember first coming into program thinking, comparing COEing and alcoholism as apples and oranges...It's not like being a COE affects anyone but me...Boy, oh boy was *I* wrong!...The strongest lesson I learned was the day I made the comment, "It's not like we endanger people on the road because we eat and drive, for heaven's sake."...The very next day, a person came to a meeting and in her lead talked about someone she had witnessed in a serious car crash...This person was eating while driving when she/he dropped a particular food item...In that moment of retrieval, he/she took his/her eye off the road and BAM, smacked right into the car in front of him/her...I do believe in this story someone actually died in that car crash...Think COEing affects only you?...Think again...

1. How has compulsive overeating affected other members of your family?

2. Your spouse...Your children...Your extended family...Your friends?

"Highly competent psychiatrists who have dealt with us have found it sometimes impossible to persuade an alcoholic to discuss his situation without reserve. Strangely enough, wives, parents and intimate friends usually find us even more unapproachable than do the psychiatrist and the doctor.

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.

That the man who is making the approach has had the same difficulty, that he obviously knows what he is talking about, that his whole deportment shouts at the new prospect that he is a man with a real answer, that he has no attitude of Holier Than Thou, nothing whatever except the sincere desire to be helpful; that there are no fees to pay, no axes to grind, no people to please, no lectures to be endured-these are the conditions we have found most effective. After such an approach many take up their beds and walk again."

1. Is it easier for you to listen and talk to those who share your common dis-ease about your eating disorder? Why or why not?

2. Do your family/friends complain that you spend too much time with your fellow OAers and not enough time with them?

Greetings all...I'm ******, COE, addict in general and your chairperson this month...I remember first coming into program thinking, comparing COEing and alcoholism as apples and oranges...It's not like being a COE affects anyone but me...Boy, oh boy was *I* wrong!...The strongest lesson I learned was the day I made the comment, "It's not like we endanger people on the road because we eat and drive, for heaven's sake."...The very next day, a person came to a meeting and in her lead talked about someone she had witnessed in a serious car crash...This person was eating while driving when she/he dropped a particular food item...In that moment of retrieval, he/she took his/her eye off the road and BAM, smacked right into the car in front of him/her...I do believe in this story someone actually died in that car crash...Think COEing affects only you?...Think again...

"None of us makes a sole vocation of this work, nor do we think its effectiveness would be increased if we did. 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. All of us spend much of our spare time in the sort of effort which we are going to describe. A few are fortunate enough to be so situated that they can give nearly all their time to the work.

If we keep on the way we are going there is little doubt that much good will result, but the surface of the problem would hardly be scratched. Those of us who live in large cities are overcome by the reflection that close by hundreds are dropping into oblivion every day. Many could recover if they had the opportunity we have enjoyed. How then shall we present that which has been so freely given us?

We have concluded to publish an anonymous volume setting forth the problem as we see it. We shall bring to the task our combined experience and knowledge. This should suggest a useful program for anyone concerned with a drinking problem.

Of necessity there will have to be discussion of matters medical, psychiatric, social and religious. We are aware that these matters are, from their very nature, controversial. Nothing would please us so much as to write a book which contains no basis for contention or argument. We shall do our utmost to achieve that ideal. 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."

1. Have you been involved in OA controversy?

2. What did you learn from this experience?

3. What do you wish others learned from this controversy?

Hi everyone...I'm ******, COE, SLA, on-line addict, and God-only-knows-whatelse-addict....Just being a member of these loops pushes us into the line of fire of controversy...We've had OA versus loops controversies, Christian versus others controversies and I'm sure others which I'm not even aware of...Even the person I'm going to quote here has been the center of MANY controversies but, "Can't we all just get along?"...

"You may already have asked yourself why it is that all of us became so very ill from drinking. Doubtless you are curious to discover how and why, in the face of expert opinion to the contrary, we have recovered from a hopeless condition of mind and body. If you are an alcoholic who wants to get over it, you may already be asking - "What do I have to do?"

It is the purpose of this book to answer such questions specifically. We shall tell you what we have done. Before going into a detailed discussion, it may be well to summarize some points as we see them.

How many times have people said to us: "I can take it or leave it. Why can't he?" "Why don't you drink like a gentleman or quit?" "That fellow can't handle his liquor." "Why don't you try beer and wine?" "Lay off the hard stuff." "His will power must be weak." "He could stop if he wanted to." "She's such a sweet girl, I should think he'd stop for her sake." "The doctor told him that if he ever drank again it would kill him, but there he is all lit up again."

Now these are commonplace observations on drinkers which we hear all the time. Back of them is a world of ignorance and misunderstanding. We see that these expressions refer to people whose reactions are very different from ours.

Moderate drinkers have little trouble in giving up liquor entirely if they have good reason for it. They can take it or leave it alone.

Then we have a certain type of hard drinker. He may have the habit badly enough to gradually impair him physically and mentally. It may cause him to die a few years before his time. If a sufficiently strong reason - ill health, falling in love, changing of environment, or the warning of a doctor - becomes operative, this man can also stop or moderate, although he may find it difficult and troublesome and may even need medical attention.

But what about the real alcoholic? He may start off as a moderate drinker; he may or may not become a continuous hard drinker; but at some stages of his drinking career he begins to lose all control of his liquor consumption, once he starts to drink.

Here is the fellow who has been puzzling you, especially his lack of control. He does absurd, incredible, tragic things while drinking. He is a real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He is seldom mildly intoxicated. He is always more or less insanely drunk. His disposition while drinking resembles his normal nature but little. He may be one of the finest fellows in the world. Yet let him drink for a day, and he frequently becomes disgustingly, and even dangerously antisocial. He has a positive genius for getting tight at exactly the wrong moment, particularly when some important decision must be made or engagement kept. He is often perfectly sensible and well balanced concerning everything except liquor, but in that respect he is incredibly dishonest and selfish. He often possesses special abilities, skills and aptitudes, and has a promising career ahead of him. He uses his gifts to build up a bright outlook for his family and himself, and then pulls the structure down on his head by a senseless series of sprees. He is the fellow who goes to bed so intoxicated he ought to sleep the clock around. Yet early next morning he searches madly for the bottle he misplaced the night before."

Hi everyone...I'm ******, COE, SLA, on-line addict and God-knows-what-else-addict...Normally, as I read the BB, I am able to see myself in it quite clearly...Today, however, as I wrote this, I started getting angry toward the alcoholics in my life as I listened to their description...Why couldn't 'he' stop?...Why did 'he' take it out on all of us?" etc...So, I went back over this and planted myself firmly in each situation...

"I can take it or leave it. Why can't he?" Because I'm a COE...It's a dis-ease and try as I may, w/o this program, I couldn't stop...I'm not a 'normal' eater...How I wished I were, but that's not who I am and the sooner I realized that, the better I became...

"Why don't you drink like a gentleman or quit?" And why don't I eat like a lady?...Geez, when I'm in the middle of my dis-ease, I literally have to tell myself to slow down, use a plate, use utensils, quit eating off the kids' plates....

"That fellow can't handle his liquor." And I can't handle my food...How pathetic I used to think I was...If only I could worship God the way I worshipped food...

"Why don't you try beer and wine?" "Lay off the hard stuff."

Why don't I eat sugar-free things instead of sugar?...Oh I WISH it were that easy...But the sugar-free stuff tells my body it's the real thing...A little sugar-free...A little more sugar-free...Even more sugar-free...Oh heck, why not just sugar?...Then I'm off and running...

"His will power must be weak."

I've got the strongest will power around...That's why God has such a hard time getting through my thick skull...The problem is not the will power being weak, but being too strong...

"He could stop if he wanted to."

Oh sure I could...I just LOVE eating like a pig, being fat, embarrassing myself, my family etc...

"She's such a sweet girl, I should think he'd stop for her sake."

And maybe I'd still be married if I had quit for the sake of it...

"The doctor told him that if he ever drank again it would kill him, but there he is all lit up again."

Let's see...How many of us have high blood pressure, diabetes, and many other dis-eases we can attribute to our compulsive overeating?...

Hmmm...Guess I'd better not cast any stones at that alcoholic who offended me...While doing so, I'll probably get hit in the back of the head w/ a few stones of my own...

So here are your questions:

"I can take it or leave it. Why can't he?" "Why don't you drink like a gentleman or quit?" "That fellow can't handle his liquor." "Why don't you try beer and wine?" "Lay off the hard stuff." "His will power must be weak." "He could stop if he wanted to." "She's such a sweet girl, I should think he'd stop for her sake." "The doctor told him that if he ever drank again it would kill him, but there he is all lit up again."

"If he can afford it, he may have liquor concealed all over his house to be certain no one gets his entire supply away from him to throw down the wastepipe. As matters grow worse, he begins to use a combination of high-powered sedative and liquor to quiet his nerves so he can got to work. Then comes the day when he simply cannot make it and gets drunk all over again. Perhaps he goes to the doctor who gives him morphine or some sedative with which to taper off. Then he begins to appear at hospitals and sanitariums.

This is by no means a comprehensive picture of the true alcoholic, as our behavior patterns vary. But this description should identify him roughly.

Why does he behave like this? If hundreds of experiences have shown him that one drink means another debacle with all its attendant suffering and humiliation, why is it he takes that one drink? Why can't he stay on the water wagon? What has become of the common sense and will power that he still sometimes displays with respect to other matters?"

1. Reading the above story, why do you continue to behave like the man described?

2. Why do you continue to return to the food?

3. Why can't you stay abstinent?

4. What happened to your common sense and will power?

Hi everyone...I'm ******, COE, SLA, on-line addict and God-only-knows-what-else addict....This month, as I celebrate my 11th year in program, it is the first time that I truly seem to be comprehending my dis-ease...I am a sugar addict, period...With sugar in my system, I binge...Without it, I don't...I had my honeymoon period when I first came into program, losing all my weight and looking terrific...However, still being on sugar, it was just a matter of time before it all triggered again - and believe me, it DID!...For 10 years...Back about September of 1999, I finally had the courage to give up the sugar...I remained abstinent through all the eating times - Halloween, Thanksgiving...Then I decided it was okay to eat sugar Christmas morning...After all, I'd go right back off sugar the next day...But wait!...There's New Year's Day...There's Valentine's Day...Heck, I even 'celebrated' the Chinese New Year and I'm not Chinese!...It took until about 2 weeks ago to regain...What has helped me stay 'sober' these days is talking to people who remained abstinent throughout tragedy...I figure if they can do it, so can I...I thank God daily for these people in my life...They remind me that nothing tastes as good as abstinence feels...Hang out with the winners, gang...It is through them that we become winners ourselves...

"Perhaps there never will be a full answer to these questions. Opinions vary considerably as to why the alcoholic reacts differently from normal people. We are not sure why, once a certain point is reached, little can be done for him. We cannot answer the riddles.

We know that while the alcoholic keeps away from drink, as he may do for months or years, he reacts much like other men. 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. The experience of any alcoholic will abundantly confirm this.

These observations would be academic and pointless if our friend never took the first drink, thereby setting the terrible cycle in motion. Therefore, the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, that rather than in his body. If you ask him why he started on the last bender, the chances are he will offer you any one of a hundred alibis. Sometimes these excuses have a certain plausibility, but none of them really makes sense in the light of the havoc an alcoholic's drinking bout creates. They sound like the philosophy of the man who, having a headache, beats himself in the head with a hammer so that he can't feel the ache. If you draw this fallacious reasoning to the attention of an alcoholic he will laugh it off, or become irritated and refuse to talk."

1. Think of your last 'bender' What was your alibi?

2. What were the results?

Hi everyone, I'm ******, COE, SLA, on-line addict and God-only-knows-what-else addict...My last 'bender' happened on Christmas day...I thought I could eat 'normally' just for one day...Wrong...Took me three MONTHS to get back on the wagon...It's not worth the crummy feelings for me to get off track...It's not worth the pain, the self-loathing...That brief moment of 'ecstasy' is just not worth it...

"Once in a while he may tell the truth. And the truth, strange to say, is usually that he has no more idea why he took that first drink than you have. Some drinkers have excuses with which they are satisfied part of the time. But in their hearts they really do not know why they do it. Once this malady has a real hold, they are a baffled lot. There is the obsession that somehow, someday, they will beat the game. But they often suspect they are down for the count.

How true this is, few realize. In a vague way their families and friends sense that these drinkers are abnormal, but everybody hopefully awaits the day when the sufferer will rouse himself from his lethargy and assert his power of will.

The tragic truth is if the man be a real alcoholic, the happy day may not arrive. 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. The tragic situation has already arrived in practically every case long before it is suspected.

The fact is that most alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called will power becomes practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink."

1. Do you still hope that 'someday' you will be a 'normal' eater?

2. Do you recall the time when the reality finally hit you that you had an eating disorder and were powerless over it?

Hi everyone...I'm ******, COE, SLA, on-line addict and God-only-knows-what-else addict...I suppose I can twist some words around and argue that without hope, I have no reason to live...So I hope I can someday eat normally...However, that is such a blatant lie that I have to admit that my hope is in my Higher Power...Let's face facts...I will NEVER be a normal eater...I can fight that, hate that or accept that...It's my choice...However to fight it and hate it leads only to my own demise...Therefore, for my sanity, my recovery, I must accept it...

I realized I was powerless over food shortly before I entered program...I had had major jaw surgery...In the process, the doctors accidentally paralyzed part of my face...I felt like a freak...It scared my own children...But big girls don't cry so I stuffed and stuffed and stuffed...When I should have been drinking clear liquids, I was eating ummm something incredibly 'chewy'...During those times I did cry...The pain was unbelievable...But it didn't stop me...In three months I put on 30#...I knew then that there was definitely something wrong with me though I didn't know what...So, to admit I was powerless over food and my life was unmanageable wasn't so hard when I walked through the OA doors...

"The almost certain consequences that follow taking even a glass of beer do not crowd into the mind to deter us. If these thoughts occur, they are hazy and readily supplanted with the old threadbare idea that this time we shall handle ourselves like other people. There is a complete failure of the kind of defense that keeps one from putting his hand on a hot stove.

The alcoholic may say to himself in the most casual way, "It won't burn me this time, so here's how!" Or perhaps he doesn't think at all. How often have some of us begun to drink in this nonchalant way, and after the third or fourth, pounded on the bar and said to ourselves, "For God's sake, how did I ever get started again?" Only to have the thought supplanted by, "Well, I'll stop with the sixth drink." Or "What's the use anyhow?"

1. When you catch yourself going down the slippery slope, how do you stop yourself?

2. Do you ever think, what's the use or today's shot, I'll try again tomorrow?

Hi everyone. I'm ******, COE, SLA, on-line addict and God-only-knows-what-else addict... Yesterday was Ash Wednesday...No meat for Catholics...It threw my food plan off whack... So, rather than prepare, I decided to wing it...Not smart...I spent the day with shaky abstinence, struggling not to let the 'committee in the attic' take over and get the best of me...Just when I thought I was 'cured', I quickly discovered I'm STILL a COE...Is anyone else as surprised as I am? :-)

"When this sort of thinking is fully established in an individual with alcoholic tendencies, he has probably placed himself beyond human aid, and unless locked up, may die or go permanently insane. These stark and ugly facts have been confirmed by legions of alcoholics throughout history. But for the grace of God, there would have been thousands more convincing demonstrations. So many want to but cannot.

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. But we saw that it really worked in others, and we have come to believe in the hopelessness and futility of life as we had been living it. 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."

1. What miracles have you seen that you never dreamed would happen for you, which your Higher Power has granted?

Hi everyone...I'm ******, COE, SLA, on-line addict and God-only-knows-what-else addict...I often say that Houdini has nothing on me when it comes to being an escape artist...Just the litany of addictions that I have proves that...The greatest miracle I've seen so far is simply being able to feel the feelings...I never dreamed I'd actually be able to do that - to stay in the moment, to feel the feelings and to LIVE through them...When I think of miracles, I think of walking on water or something equally as incredible...I never realized what a blessing such a seemingly small, insignificant thing like feeling the feelings could be...

"If you are as seriously alcoholic as we were, we believe there is no middle-of-the-road solution. 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. This we did because we honestly wanted to, and were willing to make the effort."

1. The Big Book states that some of us have been able to seek help before we have hit a serious 'bottom'. Have you ever had to leave the program or stop working the program in order to go back 'out there' to hit an even lower low?

Hi everyone...I'm ******, COE, SLA, on-line addict and God-only-knows-what-else addict...Although I've been in program for 11 years, there were many times when I had to go back into the 'real world' to see if I was TRULY as sick, as addicted as people in program told me I was...After all, I didn't weigh as much as some people did and I didn't purge or starve myself...Therefore, I must not be 'as bad' as the people in these rooms, right?...Wrong!...I have since learned that a VAST majority of my 'fat' is between my ears...It is THERE that I must work the program for I cannot lose the weight on my body until I clean out the attic and allow God's fresh air, light and hope in...

"A certain American business man had ability, good sense, and high character. For years he had floundered from one sanitarium to another. He had consulted the best known American psychiatrists. Then he had gone to Europe, placing himself in the care of the celebrated physician (the psychiatrist, Dr. Jung) who prescribed for him. Though experience made him skeptical, he finished his treatment with unusual confidence. His physical and mental condition were unusually good. Above all, he believed he had acquired such a profound knowledge of the inner workings of his mind and its hidden springs that relapse was unthinkable. Nevertheless, he was drunk in a short time. More baffling still, he could give himself no satisfactory explanation for his fall.

So he returned to this doctor, whom he admired, and asked him pointblank why he could not recover. He wished above all things to regain self-control. He seemed quite rational and well-balanced with respect to other problems. Yet he had no control whatever over alcohol. Why was this?

He begged the doctor to tell him the whole truth, and he got it. In the doctor's judgment he was utterly hopeless; he could never regain his position in society and he would have to place himself under lock and key or hire a bodyguard if he expected to live long. That was a great physician's opinion.

But this man still lives, and is a free man. He does not need a bodyguard nor is he confined. He can go anywhere on this earth where other free men may go without disaster, provided he remains willing to maintain a certain simple attitude.

Some of our alcoholic readers may think they can do without spiritual help. Let us tell you the rest of the conversation our friend had with his doctor.

The doctor said: "You have the mind of a chronic alcoholic. I have never seen one single case recover, where the state of mind existed to the extent that it does in you." Our friend felt as though the gates of hell had closed on him with a clang.

He said to the doctor, "Is there no exception?"

"Yes," replied the doctor, "there is. Exceptions to cases such as yours have been occurring since early times. Here and there, once in a while, alcoholics have had what are called vital spiritual experiences. To me these occurrences are phenomena. They appear to be in the nature of huge emotional displacements and arrangements. 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. In fact, I have been trying to produce some such emotional arrangement within you. With many individuals the methods which I employed are successful, but I have never been successful with an alcoholic of your description."

Upon hearing this, our friend was somewhat relieved, for he reflected that, after all, he was a good church member. This hope, however, was destroyed by the doctor's telling him that while his religious convictions were very good, in his case they did not spell the necessary vital spiritual experience.

Here was the terrible dilemma in which our friend found himself when he had the extraordinary experience, which as we have already told you, made him a free man."

1. Did you come into the OA doors with a Higher Power already?

2. How has your vision of God changed since you've been a member?

Hi everyone...I'm ******, COE, SLA, on-line addict and God-only-knows-what-else addict...I feel as though I've done a 360 when it comes to God as far as my worship goes, but today my God is much more loving, much more 'there' for me...I don't have to worry about being struck down by lightening anymore...I also have come to realize that if I choose to worship or not, I'm not hurting God...I'm only hurting myself...My God isn't made or broken by my praising Him...But *I* can be made or broken by how close my ties with Him are...My prayer is that He break my will but never my spirit...In this program, we're told to hang with the winners...I think I'll hang with God - the Ultimate Winner...

"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.

The distinguished American psychologist, William James, in his book "Varieties of Religious Experience," indicates a multitude of ways in which men have discovered God. We have no desire to convince anyone there is only one way by which faith can be acquired. If what we have learned and felt and seen means anything at all, it means that all of us, whatever our race, creed, or color are the children of a living Creator with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try. Those having religious affiliations will find here nothing disturbing to their beliefs or ceremonies. There is no friction among us over such matters."

1. Are you able to accept others' religious affiliations?

2. Were you able to accept them in the beginning of your program or did you feel uncomfortable when you heard others discuss a Power Greater Than?...

Hi everyone...I'm ******, COE, SLA, on-line addict and God-only-knows-what-else addict...In the beginning I was incredibly uncomfortable with the descriptions of a Power Greater Than...Being raised Catholic, just the mere reciting of the Lord's Prayer adding, "For thine is the kingdom, the power, etc. was discomforting...Hearing of Goddess, of the group, etc. made me uncomfortable...It wasn't until I took a good hard look at my own faith, and realized I had a God who others told me I should have, did I come to terms with everyone else's versions...For myself, I had to go through an entire transformation...There were times I gagged on the words, "Our Father"...There were times when I wasn't even sure if there WAS a God...Today, I am grateful for that upheaval that I experienced...Today I can not only accept other people's Higher Power, I can gratefully accept my own...

"We think it no concern of ours what religious bodies our members identify themselves with as individuals. This should be an entirely personal affair which each one decides for himself in the light of past associations, or his present choice. Not all of us join religious bodies, but most of us favor such memberships.

In the following chapter, there appears an explanation of alcoholism, as we understand it, then a chapter addressed to the agnostic. Many who were once in this class are now among our members. Surprisingly enough, we find such convictions no great obstacle to spiritual experience.

Further on, clear-cut directions are given showing how we recovered. These are followed by forty-three personal experiences."

1. What is your favorite part of the Big Book and why?

2. How has it helped you grow?

Hi everyone...I'm ******, COE, SLA, on-line addict and God-only-knows-what-else addict...My favorite part of the BB is "How It Works"...It's where we finally get down to the basics, the blueprint of recovery...I can't begin to count the number of times when I wondered if I was one of those 'constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves.'...My sponsor reminds me often that it's one thing to be dishonest with others - another to be dishonest with myself...It's when I start to believe what I'm saying that I get into the most trouble...

"Each individual, in the personal stories, describes in his own language and from his own point of view the way he established his relationship with God. These give a fair cross section of our membership and a clear-cut idea of what has actually happened in their lives.

We hope no one will consider these self-revealing accounts in bad taste. Our hope is that many alcoholic men and women, desperately in need, will see these pages, and we believe that it is only by fully disclosing ourselves and our problems that they will be persuaded to say, "Yes, I am one of them too; I must have this thing."

1. Has the BB persuaded you to say, "Yes, I am one of those too; I must have this thing."?

Hi everyone, I'm ******, COE, SLA, on-line addict and God-only-knows-what-else addict. When I began reading the BB I couldn't see how this could possibly relate to me...Yet as each chapter, paragraph, sentence, word, unfolded, I was able to see me more and more...It didn't take me long to see the wisdom in this great book and it didn't take long for me to realize that I wanted the peace that these people had just one day at a time...

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