Spirituality is essential to our sobriety.
Copyright © The AA Grapevine, Inc.
BY: E. C. | YORK, MAINE Some of us have to get sober before we can get honest THE FOREWORD to the 1939 Big Book, toward the end, reads much like the Preamble to AA as we hear it at most meetings today–including the statement that “the only for membership is an honest desire to … Read more
BY: J.T. MANY of our A.A. friends are distressed about the increasing number of “slips” among members who have been dry three, four and five years. It seems to be the topic of conversation everywhere. There is much “viewing with alarm” among the elders; much incredulous surprise among the newcomers. How often have we seen … Read more
BY: C. B. | SANTA MARIA, CALIFORNIA I HAVE BEEN a member of Alcoholics Anonymous for several years, and I am most grateful. The rewards and benefits I have received have all been made possible through accepting and following certain conditions set forth in the program of AA. Which of these conditions is of the … Read more
BY: W. H. | WEST LEBANON, NEW YORK AS A RECOVERING member of Alcoholics Anonymous and an agnostic, I would like to present a few thoughts on our Fellowship from an agnostic viewpoint. One thing that makes my own experience unusual is that I came into the program eighteen years ago professing a conventional belief … Read more
BY: ED L. | COOS BAY, OREGON In a few days I will celebrate my first birthday in Alcoholics Anonymous. I look forward to it as the most special day of my forty-one years. As I look back on my year of sobriety I feel a great deal of gratitude for the changes that have … Read more
BY: R. C. | ROGERS, NEBRASKA THE FIRST lesson in honesty I remember was when I was about eight years old. Dad and I were in a grocery store that had open nut storage. Dad cracked and tasted some peanuts and gave me some to do the same. “Good, aren’t they?” he said. “We’ll have … Read more
BY: DON MCF. | BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA I FIND that being “rigorously honest” is not always easy. The paths through the jungle of our money society, in which I earn my daily bread, are set with a lot of materialistic traps that make it quite difficult. Even complete honesty with myself is not always possible. … Read more
AROUND THE TABLES, sooner or later, we each are faced with a decision of honesty. Either we get honest or we get and/or remain unhappy. If we do not get honest, we face the terrifying prospect of drinking again. That’s obvious–to me, at least. But here, I am concerned with the miserable state that can … Read more
The doctor said two ounces of alcohol, and this gin was only eighty proof–just forty percent alcohol–so I was shortchanging myself. I did the math. To get two ounces of real alcohol, I’d have to drink five ounces of gin!
Because this program did not dictate the name, size, shape, or color of the power that works here, I was forced to find my own.
The change has been a day-by-day change, one step at a time; but it all began with Step One and Step Two.
Well, that’s exactly what this book is about. Its main objective is to enable you to find a Power greater than yourself which will solve your problem.