Big Book Revealed

  • Home
  • Big Book Revealed

Big Book Revealed 12 Step Recovery as it is laid out in the "Big Book" titled Alcoholics Anonymous.

Tonight we will take all that we have looked at in history thus far, related to Bill over the past few months, and pick ...
26/12/2024

Tonight we will take all that we have looked at in history thus far, related to Bill over the past few months, and pick back up in his story.

Join us. Space is limited.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87112578154?pwd=Q0dQNGh1RGJmZ1J3T0FmOGpCaHJwUT09

Meeting ID: 871 1257 8154
Passcode: 005790

(Check your time against ours at 7:30pm EST as some zones have already changed.)

No study tonight! Merry Christmas!
24/12/2024

No study tonight! Merry Christmas!

11/12/2024
11/12/2024

A very wise and Higher Powered man, Bill W., would have celebrated 90 years today. My thoughts go to the many who have benefited as a result of his tireless efforts. He wrote a line that reads "Lack of power was our dilemma." And as a result of never-ending effort he empowered and continues to empower many through the same process. He also wrote something to the effect of only "being able to scratch the surface" and my thoughts go to those who will never get the chance to recover.

Join us tonight
10/12/2024

Join us tonight

Big Book Revealed

Pleased to meet you. Huuuu!!!
28/09/2024

Pleased to meet you. Huuuu!!!

I love when this one resurfaces and makes the rounds across social media.
25/09/2024

I love when this one resurfaces and makes the rounds across social media.

22/09/2024

Each time I lead another fellow or group through the Big Book I relive the experience I had when I went through with my sponsor.
When it doesn’t hurt I know those promises are evident. When it does hurt I know there are bits and pieces I haven’t let go of yet.

20/09/2024

Faith is the bridge between despair and healing.

19/09/2024

"Once the spiritual malady is overcome we straighten out mentally and physically."

I never truly knew just how sick I was until I wrote out a fourth step and followed it with the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th steps. The experience and information revealed to me about my nature was explosive to me. I saw my failure and more importantly just how badly I needed God.

As the malady was overcome I was indeed restored to sanity, my mind went from soft and mushy as they say to something I could rely on. My physical body enjoyed a bit of a renewal as well but it was my physical life and the trappings that were straightened out. My physical life was rearranged. Rearranged to match the new set of principles that I came upon as a result of the spiritual experience.

The greatest result of all the work was that I needn't play God anymore. I could accept all that was, and is, as acts of Providence. I could understand that indeed there was this plan and even though I would question it from time to time there really wasn't a need to do this. I simply had to work for God in the best way that I can, carrying the message of the spiritual experience.

Nowhere was this going to be more pronounced than in the effort of working with others. Unfortunately the temptation to play God will always be lurking somewhere inside but fortunately the exercise of working with others brings the constant reminder that it simply doesn't work. It never did, and it never will.

Most times we don't get to choose the who, what, where, when, and how of working with others. God designs these acts for us. Sometimes we simply bring a prospect to a third step decision. Sometimes we see them through the fourth step or partly through it. Sometimes we get to hear that fifth step and get to see them through that pivotal turning point of steps six and seven and into their amends. Sometimes we even get to see them make it to the point where they see the role God assigns them as they work with others.

There is a great deal of satisfaction that comes with working with others yet sometimes there is a bit of sadness as well. Those who cannot or will not make it leave marks on us. Scars. We grow calloused with the work which in turn strengthens us to trudge further along the path. Though we might feel the irritation of the scar tissue when a prospect balks or moves on it holds valuable lessons that bring us back to the idea that we are indeed beyond human aid and the God is the One with all the Power.

16/09/2024

Twelve years ago on this date I made a phone call that would change my life and the lives of all those around me.
It was a Sunday and I just couldn't go on any further. I wanted out, literally.
On the previous Tuesday I combat rolled out of bed and begged God to please come get me.
Two nights later a "group of fellows" spoke at a meeting I attended and for the first time in the 26 years I had been sober I could see, and more importantly, hear.
That story of the man who is stuck on his roof and asking God for help. The one where many arrive to help by canoe, motor boat, hot air balloon, etc.
The one where he refuses and ultimately drowns and gets to heaven. Then asks God why He didn't answer his prayer and God replies "I did. I sent a canoe for you, a motor boat for you and even a pretty hot air balloon decorated with your favorite colors. It was you who refused Me even after you asked."
This is what these "fellows" turned out to be that evening.
I asked for help with that phone call and the real heavy lifting began two nights later on a Tuesday. I was to be brought into a "way of life" "infinitely better" than the one I was living. And as a result my life, and the lives of those around me, will never be the same.
Was it an easy process? No. Was it simple? So simple an absolute idiot can do it.
For years my thinking was trying to kill me yet it never succeeded as it needed my body to get around.
My ego and pride were fed a constant supply of fear and resentment with a compounded guilt and shame that brought me to a point of desperation. Desperation that happens to be the most efficient fuel for a necessary willingness to get brutally honest and do the heavy lifting necessary to shift from an ego-driven and self-propelled existence to one of absolute trust and reliance on my Creator.
It is the walking daily in a process that requires severe discipline, constant thought of others and a never-ending desire to be of use to others who desire this same personality change and awakening of the spirit that keep me moving forward and to exactly what I begged of God on that Tuesday morning. Simply a communion with Him.
That's my testimony.
The significance of this date, and others where there were profound "turning points," far outweigh and dwarf my date of sobriety going back to when I was in high school. My life, thoughts and literal life, have been and are still being recreated daily. I now understand what is meant when one says "Let's explore the mystery of Faith.”
It is dates like this that I think to all of the "vessels," spirits wrapped in meatsuits, who have been and continue to be a part of this "manner of living."
Bravo God! He is there if you seek Him!

15/09/2024

You have a "Three-Fold Disease?"
"When the spiritual malady is overcome we straighten out mentally and physically."

Nowhere in the narrative of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous is it suggested that we have a three-fold disease. In fact they don't use the word "disease." They carefully chose the words "illness" or "malady."

At the opening of the narrative they speak to the fact that we may recover from a "seemingly hopeless state of mind and body" (if we are willing to go to any length to get what they have). The key word here is "seemingly." It means apparently. It only seems that we are in a state of hopelessness in the mind and body but indeed we are not. It only seems this way. It is was is apparent to us, and those about us. It really isn't so.

So why this talk of "three-fold?"

We have one problem. It's a disconnect from a Power greater than ourselves and most times it happens long before we pick up a drink. The appearance of hopelessness as its related to the mind and body are an extension of this severed connection to the Power.

The remedy? Fix the connection. Repair the divide between us and God. It's that simple.

How? We needn't worry about the how. We need only concern ourselves with the willingness required. Once we have this key we simply follow the directions outlined in the Big Book and the result will be had. A reconnect to that which we lost.

Once reconnected, once we experience a shift away from the bo***ge of self and place our trust and reliance on our New Friend those problems that we seem to have had with the mind and body are repaired. That which seemed to be the problem is straightened out.

God performs His Spiritual Surgery on us by His Grace as we haven't the power to effect any change upon ourselves. We haven't the needed power to repair the connection. What we have a willingness to meet the conditions that are set upon us by Him to meet Him. To seek Him.

The third pertinent idea tells us in a conditional manner that "God could and would if He were sought." There is a great deal of condition in this prediction. It is set forth with the word "if." If we seek Him, He can and will repair us, repair that "one-fold," which will repair the mind and body. If we don't seek Him? He can't and won't. It is this simple. So the next time you chant that line as they read How It Works at the opening of a meeting think to exactly what they are saying to you based on their experience. And remember that appearance of the mind and body as not being able to recover is an illusion.

Make a decision to do the work, write your fourth step, speak to the entirety of what is written. Make a pivot in that staircase of the twelve steps at steps six and seven and get out there and repair the damage you caused as you make amends. All of this action will teach and show you how to properly live the tenets of steps ten and eleven and will show you how to practice these principles in all your affairs while you carry this message.

Address


Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Big Book Revealed posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

  • Address
  • Alerts
  • Claim ownership or report listing
  • Want your practice to be the top-listed Clinic?

Share