"The Only Requirement . . ." In Tradition A.A. is really saying to every serious drinker, "You are an A.A. member if you say so. You can declare yourself in; nobody can keep you out. No matter how grave your emotional complications -- even your crimes-- we don't want to keep you out. We just want to be sure that you get the same chance for sobriety that we've had." << << << >> >> >> We do not wish to deny anyone his chance to recover from alcoholism. We wish to be just as inclusive as we can, never exclusive. TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 139 GRAPEVINE, AUGUST 1946 187 Talk or Action? In making amends, it is seldom wise to approach an individual, who still smarts from our injustice to him, and announce that we have gone religious. This might be called leading with the chin. Why lay ourselves open to being branded fanatics or religious bores? If we do this, we may kill a future opportunity to carry a beneficial message. But the man who hears our amends is sure to be impressed with a sincere desire to set right a wrong. He is going to be more interested in a demonstration of good will than in our talk of spiritual discoveries. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, P. 77
Instinct to Live When men and women pour so much alcohol into themselves that they destroy their lives, they commit a most unnatural act. Defying their instinctive desire for self-preservation, they seem bent upon self- destruction. They work against their own deepest instinct. As they are progressively humbled by the terrific beating administered by alcohol, the grace of God can enter them and expel their obsession. Here their powerful instinct to live can cooperate fully with their Creator's desire to give them new life. << << << >> >> >> "The central characteristic of the spiritual experience is that it gives the recipient a new and better motivation out of all proportion to any process of discipline, belief, or faith. "These experiences cannot make us whole at once; they are a rebirth to a fresh and certain opportunity." TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 64 LETTER, 1965 247 Have You Experimented? "Since open-mindedness and experimentation are supposed to be the indispensable attributes of our `scientific' civilisation, it seems strange that so many scientist are reluctant to try out personally the hypothesis that God came first and man afterward. They prefer to believe that man is the chance product of evolution; that God, the Creator, does not exist. "I can only report that I have experimented with both concepts and that, in my case, the God concept has proved to be a better basis for living than the man-centered one. "Nevertheless, I would be the first to defend your right to think as you will. I simply ask this question: `In your own life, have you ever really tried to think and act as though there might be a God? Have you experimented?'" LETTER, 1950
Three Choices The immediate object of our is sobriety -- freedom from alcohol and from all its baleful consequences. Without this freedom, we have nothing at all. Paradoxically, though, we can achieve no liberation from the alcohol obsession until we become willing to deal with those character defects which have landed us in that helpless condition. In this freedom quest, we are always given three choices. A rebellious refusal to work upon our glaring defects can be an almost certain ticket to destruction. Or, perhaps for a time, we can stay sober with a minimum of self-improvement and settle ourselves into a comfortable but often dangerous mediocrity. Or,finally, we can continuously try hard for those sterling qualities that can add up to fineness of spirit and action -- true and lasting freedom under God. GRAPEVINE, NOVEMBER 1960 328 A New-Found Providence When dealing with a prospect of agnostic or atheistic bent, you had better use everyday language to describe spiritual principles. There is no use arousing any prejudice he may have against certain theological terms and conceptions, about which he may already be confused. Don't raise such issues, no matter what your own convictions are. << << << >> >> >> Every man and woman who has joined A.A. and intends to stick has, without realizing it, made a beginning on Step Three. Isn't it true that, in all matters touching upon alcohol, each of them has decided to turn his or her life over to the care, protection, and guidance of A.A.? Already a willingness has been achieved to cast out one's own ideas about hte alcohol problem in favor of those suggested by A.A. Now if this is not "Providence," turning one's will and then what is it? life over to a new-found ALCOHOLICS TWELVE AND ANONYMOUS, P. 93 TWELVE, P. 35