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The directions published in 1939 is still applicable today. The "Big Book" is still the basic text for recovery and used by millions.
Everyone wants to make a buck but there is something a bit snake like when one take advantage of spiritual books. You will recognize a real one by the price tag--look at e-bay, one went for over a million dollars. The "real" first edition was printed in 1939. literature is published by "Alcoholics Anonymous World Services" or "A.A.W.S." not some person named Publisher: Benei Noaj (July 26, 2007). Alcoholics Anonymous' "Big Book" is a great book; however, this is not the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous' "Big Book" as the publisher claims. Note the date. In addition, all published General Service Conference approved A.A.
I also, however, I also have mild Cerebral Palsy, controls issues, and can be described as a nervous, obsessive little guy.So for me, alcohol worked on two levels: it slowed my horserace mind, and, frankly, I liked the taste. What I wanted back was my music, my writting, my relationships--where I got lucky on that no one ever quit on me even in the darkest hour, and that was pretty black.In short, I told my sponser at the end I wanted MY life back. or How. Nothing REALLY bad every happened to me. It is not a question of them being weak: AA can give you tools to deal with truma that you used to try to deal with by drinkingBut for me, the thing to do was to dry out and get on with my life. I found the committment of having to call a sponser, go to meetings, and live an AA life was not what I went to AA for.
I'll take what I have now, good and illThis is me, this is no one else. a person stops drinking, as long as they do. I think of my friends, I think of my late night review writing, and being safe in my own body, mind, and car. I want this. I drank way to much for about four years, and needed help stopping.When I first started AA, I read the big book, a lot. It is no contest. I did not want to trade my booze for an AA life, I wanted to reclaim everything that alcohol stole from me and move forward, not be part of a daily collective and a "new" life.SO: two years and counting without a drop and not using AA. This may be true for some--and please, I don't think I am better than anybody else, but my relationship with alcohol was driven by obsessiveness, not a compulsion to numb pain.If a abuse victim or a person who has not developed coping skills uses alcohol to numb themselves, to relate to the world, then yes, I think AA is a great option.
My feeling is who cares WHY. Obsessive little magpye that I am, booze got into my obsessive process--I buy too many CDs, smoke a lot, and drink to much coffee.The problem is that alcohol is far more dangerous to throw into that process. I, however, had problems with AA and some of the ideas in this book. I can't say what the answer is for you, and if you have found it to be an AA life, bless you, bless you, bless you: if you are not drinking, the heavens have smiled on you and I am certianly glad they have and I really, really hope you get everything that makes you happy and a whole lot more--you deserve it.But that is you. It is called life, and I know I can either have all this, and a whole lot more, OR I can have my beer back. It was of great comfort to me-- the personal accounts more so than the twelve steps or the princibles.If you are in AA and it is working for you, stay there. I would never judge anyone for going to AA, if it works for him or her. The impact on a self-indugent person is more immediate and far more searing than with more harmless indulgances.The trouble I had with AA is that the assumption is that there is some horrible beast within, and if this beast is not tamed by AA, you are going to drink.
Please, no comments about how I am doomed to drinkAA is an answer--not THE answer. Not me. I was in AA for the reason most people attend. I am NOT knocking AA--but will say why it didn't work for me.I was never abused, molsted, and I had good parrents, a lot of friends, and a nice creative life. Everyday,I take a minute.
And to top it off it is a bunch of stories about people who drink too much. This book was actually small. I just dont get it.
And if it IS for you the book will not look like new for long because you read it over and over as you work AA. Only 1 page folded over, no other marks. THE book if you are looking at the AA Program or if you are working it. I purchased the used book through Amazon, it came in a few short days in great condition. This book is not for everyone.
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