Early April AA Thread

[retteacher]

Early April AA Thread

DG: Always great to see you here. I never thought about the ethical issue you mentioned. I would have a hard time giving up my home groups. I do see my daughter's former counselor at a meeting from time to time.

Regarding the 13th stepping: I'm bringing it up at business meetings...the message being that we do not tolerate it under any circumstances. I think there was a general feeling of relief that people now know what to do.

I just got back from our area's assembly. It's a big workshop/meetings for GSR's. I do this so that if (God forbid) one of my grandchildren needs AA, it'll be there for him/her. It's somewhat dry & tomorrow we'll vote on financial matters. AA isn't in as bad finanacial shape as I thought. It's supposed to be capital poor as long as we have a prudent reserve for emergencies.

Mary

[bettygirl]

Early April AA Thread

ethics...good thing for us to work on, be it 13th stepping or money/business issues...we sure learn a lot from being sober.
i'm so glad aa is anonymous, because i'm sure some of my husband's patients come to meetings i am at, but that would suck if they knew who i was. that is one of the reasons i didn't go to AA when we lived in the small isolated town in nebraska, it would NOT have been anonymous! egad, i am glad to be out of that situation! :H

i have been having more existential bs in my head about AA. i just can't shake the higher power stuff. i really do not believe in a higher power, at all. i don;t believe something or someone can remove my faults or alcoholism. i sort of feel like i am faking it sometimes when i work on the steps with my sponsor, even though she doesn;t push her beliefs on me, she believe that you MUST believe in some sort of higher power or AA will not work for you...but it IS working for me. i feel like i should come clean to her and see what she wants to do. i don't know if she'll want to sponsor me anymore because she has already modified what she does normally for me...i don;t want to be a pain in the ass, and i don;t think i am, as i don't talk about this stuff to anyone but you guys, so i don't know. i heard some gossip () that a woman who i really like went off at a meeting i go to regularly, and told everyone off and where to shove the big book. weird...she is an atheist and not afraid to tell anyone (i don't tell people, but if they ask, i'm honest...frankly i don't think it's anyone's business what i believe in AA), very outspoken and easily aggitated. she's been sober for 15 years and just got fed up, i guess. i can understand her frustrations, and sometimes think it might be best if i start an atheist group. there is an atheist 12 steps i could go by....i don't know...what do you guys think?

anyway, i will keep going to meetings and taking what i need and leaving the rest!

peace!

[retteacher]

Early April AA Thread

BG: I have a friend who calls his wife his HP. She was the one who finally kicked his butt & said if you don't stop, I'm leaving (after 40+ years of marriage). I know people who use the fellowship as their HP...group of drunks (GOD). I recently read in the Grapevine about a guy who started a group for agnostics & atheists. It's a conference-approved group. The focus is on how we, as individuals & a fellowship, can recover from alcoholism. I've heard people speak countless times at meetings about their skepticism of God/HP. I too have trouble belieiving in something or someone outside of myself that is supposedly controlling my recovery. I just try not to overthink the whole thing & go along w/what has worked so far. Left to my own devices, I'll drink again. I actually envy those who seem to have a firm belief in a power greater than themselves. I just try to do the next right thing for the next right reason. That's worked so far when nothing else did.

Mary

[bettygirl]

Early April AA Thread

yes, good advice, and is exactly what I try to do most of the time, but I just get so hung up and over think it. Its my nature. I kind of feel like if I just went to meetings, I would do just fine. I need that god (group of drunks!) to help resist the drink. the support is just so awesome. anyway, thanks for the response mary, it's good to know that there are options!

have a good day and enjoy your sobriety!

[bettygirl]

Early April AA Thread

here is the non-theist 12 steps for anyone interested...

1.We admitted our addictive craving over alcohol, and recognized its consequences in our lives.
2.Came to believe that a power other than self could restore us to wholeness.
3.Made a decision to go for refuge to this other power as we understood it.
4.Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5.Admitted to ourselves and another human being the exact moral nature of our past.
6.Became entirely ready to work at transforming ourselves.
7.With the assistance of others and our own firm resolve, we transformed unskillful aspects of ourselves and cultivated positive ones.
8.Made a list of all persons we had harmed.
9.Made direct amends to such people where possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. In addition, made a conscientious effort to forgive all those who harmed us.
10.Continue to maintain awareness of our actions and motives, and when we acted unskillfully promptly admitted it.
11.Engaged through the practice of meditation to improve our conscious contact with our true selves, and seeking that beyond self. Also used prayer as a means to cultivate positive attitudes and states of mind.
12.Having gained spiritual insight as a result of these steps, we practice these principles in all areas of our lives, and make this message available to others in need of recovery.

[retteacher]

Early April AA Thread

BG: I've never seen that before. Thank you. I can identify.

Just got back from the second day of our area assembly. It was interesting, & I can now see that service beyond my own home groups is good. I'm not sure how deep I want to go, but I'm glad I did this. M

[Doggygirl]

Early April AA Thread

BG - I can identify with that too. I haven't seen the non-theist 12 steps either, and I'm glad you shared that. I also do not have a "traditional religious" view of a higher power. It's hard for me to even describe what I believe but it works for me.

I have known quite a few people who parted ways with sponsors where there was conflict in religious beliefs. I think that's OK. Sponsorship arrangements don't work sometimes for any number of reasons. I have learned a lot from each of my sponsors and I'm on my 4th one in under 5 years. I've learned to just go with the flow.

Keep taking what you need to stay sober. That's what counts.

DG

[bettygirl]

Early April AA Thread

you are right dg...I need the meetings and need to just kind of shut my analytical mind up about all this belief stuff. I know what I believe (or don't!). I just get tired of hearing the "I feel bad for atheists" and the whole chapter, to the agnostics kind of make me feel alienated...meh! oh well!

its a new day! enjoy it one and all!

[retteacher]

Early April AA Thread

I too have seen sponsor breakups. I started AA w/a family friend who helped me very much in the beginning. However, he's a man, & I could see that I needed a female sponsor. Thus, the sponsor I have now.

M

[cpn1004]

Early April AA Thread

I was at a meeting in Las Vegas early in my recovery. At the end of the meeting we stood to hold hands and say the prayer. The man next to me whispered "I'm pretty much an atheist, but I've been sober for 8 months. That's some kind of miracle."
So I guess one can get sober in AA and not fully embrace the higher power issue but still believe in miracles.
Kind of cool, don't you think?

[Solitaire]

Early April AA Thread

The 1940 Preamble

Look what I found:

1940 AA Preamble

AA Old Preamble - 1940

We are gathered here because we are faced with the fact that we are powerless over alcohol and unable to do anything about it without the help of a Power greater than ourselves.

We feel that each person's religious views, if any, are his own affair. The simple purpose of the program of Alcoholics Anonymous is to show what may be done to enlist the aid of a Power greater than ourselves regardless of what our individual conception of that Power may be.

In order to form a habit of depending upon and referring all we do to that Power, we must at first apply ourselves with some diligence. By often repeating these acts, they become habitual and the help rendered becomes natural to us.

We have all come to know that as alcoholics we are suffering from a serious illness for which medicine has no cure.

Our condition may be the result of an allergy which makes us different from other people. It has never been by any treatment with which we are familiar, permanently cured. The only relief we have to offer is absolute abstinence, the second meaning of A.A.

There are no dues or fees. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. Each member squares his debt by helping others to recover.

An Alcoholics Anonymous is an alcoholic who through application and adherence to the A.A. program has forsworn the use of any and all alcoholic beverage in any form.

The moment he takes so much as one drop of beer, wine, spirits or any other alcoholic beverage he automatically loses all status as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous.

A.A. is not interested in sobering up drunks who are not sincere in their desire to remain sober for all time. Not being reformers, we offer our experience only to those who want it.

We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree and on which we can join in harmonious action. Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our program. Those who do not recover are people who will not or simply cannot give themselves to this simple program. Now you may like this program or you may not, but the fact remains, it works. It is our only chance to recover.

There is a vast amount of fun in the A.A. fellowship. Some people might be shocked at our seeming worldliness and levity but just underneath there lies a deadly earnestness and a full realization that we must put first things first and with each of us the first thing is our alcoholic problem. To drink is to die. Faith must work twenty-four hours a day in and through us or we perish.

In order to set our tone for this meeting I ask that we bow our heads in a few moments of silent prayer and meditation. I wish to remind you that whatever is said at this meeting expresses our own individual opinion as of today and as of up to this moment.

We do not speak for A.A. as a whole and you are free to agree or disagree as you see fit, in fact, it is suggested that you pay no attention to anything which might not be reconciled with what is in the A.A. Big Book.

If you don't have a Big Book, it's time you bought you one. Read it, study it, live with it, loan it, scatter it, and then learn from it what it means to be an A.A.


I used this last night in our meeting....

[retteacher]

Early April AA Thread

sol: Many thanks! I've never heard or seen this before. I like it. M

[bettygirl]

Early April AA Thread

cool, thanks sol.

i'm sick...not feeling like much of anything...just checking in.

peace!

[retteacher]

Early April AA Thread

BG: Get well soon. Mary

[Determinator]

Early April AA Thread

hidy ho peeps! big day for garlic breath..... I got a sponsor! for the first time ever. I'm really trying to take AA seriously. rather excited here.

xxxx