Study Guide to the AA Big Book

AUTHOR’S PREFACE:  This is a Study Guide to the book Alcoholics Anonymous. It is dedicated to those who want recovery from alcoholism, but have difficulty with the word "God". Especially, as that word gets used by individuals who embrace traditional religious concepts of what it means to them. Be advised that other ideas and interpretations, which are consistent with the basic AA text, also have value and usefulness in the recovery process.

Should you choose to follow this Study Guide, you will be presented ideas which
this author has found to be consistent with the basic text of AA. However, some of those
ideas go beyond the limitations many traditional religions have in their interpretation of the word "God" and what that word means for them. Readers who are open minded (see
Appendix II) may discover new thinking about "a power greater than yourself".

The three-letter word "God" is generally used to communicate a concept of infinite
knowledge and power. Concepts, other than those utilized by traditional religion, do
exist. One fundamental idea of God, based upon the basic text of AA, (see pg 55), is
being offered in this Study Guide. Some individual alcoholics may find the approach is
useful in their personal recovery.

It is self-evident that no person is qualified to speak for God, nor for AA as a
whole. The vital spiritual experience, necessary for recovery from alcoholism, is intensely
personal to the individual alcoholic. That is precisely the point. A readers concept of
God need not follow traditional lines.

The experience of the first successfully sober members of AA tells us:
"Why don't you choose your own conception of God?" (AA page 12)

Regardless of whatever approach you choose for yourself, you can be assured that:
THERE IS A POWER FOR GOOD, AND YOU CAN UTILIZE IT IN YOUR LIFE.
~by Ken W.

EXCERPT FROM EBOOK

Most of my books are available as ebooks at:
http://www.amazon.com/Ken-Montrose/e/B001K8MG0S.
Thanks,

Ken Montrose

You can also find an online version of it here.

God neutral 12 Steps the "We revision"

God neutral, The 12 Steps "We revision"

1. Drinking and drugs were bad for us.
2. We could not do it alone - something about fellowship with other drunks and drug addicts helped us stay sober.
3. Having all the answers was not a help--we had to learn to listen and follow directions.
4. We had to stop blaming, rationalizing, excusing, and we had to take responsibility, as well as take a good look at ourselves.
5. Our version of events was skewed, we needed to run it by someone a bit more objective.
6. All of our lives we had been doing things that hurt us, sabotaged our best efforts, our self esteem was warped, twisted, and improperly inflated.
7. We had to look at these things, stop doing them, and work on our selves.
8. We had shame over how we hurt others - we had to address this in order to move on--we did this by owning our part in things.
9. We had to make things right, mostly by living soberly, and by owning our responsibility to people we had hurt (appropriately, discretely, and not to those still raging and drinking).
10. We had to learn to use the emergency brake, that means when we started to lie or get angry, we had to learn how to slow down - shutting our mouth was usually a good start.
11. We came to understand that in the universe we are just specks and that life goes a whole lot better if we learn to act accordingly and when we forget this basic truth, we need to reflect about it until we remember.
12. Whew! When we do these things we are better people, we are happier, we can actually like the person we have become - sometimes people come to us for help and sometimes we have things to say that help them.

Revised by CC Property of the universe.

Sick and Tired of Sick and Tired

As one of the the one of the authors of this blog, I thought that I might start with the one if not the first post of sharing my experience, strength, and hope.  AA Agnostica does this, and it seems to work for them so well that they have offered up some books to help support their site. Not that I expect this site to be as large as theirs, but I can't assume that one story won't resonate more with one person over another.  We have but one common goal. To live a sober and sane life.  So far, I've been able to do so for over a decade, and I hope that if you're stuggling, you can find a life that is free from the grips of John Barleycorn. 

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I had been a fan of alcohol since the first time I drank it. Of course, first time I drank, I drank alone, and got sick. As if a little bit of the stuff made me feel good and buzzed, why not just a titch bit more? I was seventeen at the time.