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Whether you join us in the morning or at night, there's nothing better than a sober sunrise. We hope that you enjoy today's speaker. Can everybody hear me out there?

Like, I really need this mic. I'm one of those loud, obnoxious Americans that you all heard about. I I normally don't need a mic here.

It's absolutely a pleasure to be here in uh in Copenhagen. I'm here with my lovely wife, Valyriia Bazanti. Let's all give her a big hand.

I have the absolute honor of being taped from all around the world. Uh Copenhagen is absolutely very it's a beautiful place here. And um this is the first time I think I've uh I've had the pleasure of bringing my wife.

So she's going to make sure that I stay honest, that I don't exaggerate too much. But everybody has heard about her on these these uh CDs that are that are placed on the internet now of me and uh they're all wondering who she is and she's gonna she's going to tell you about the Alanon part of the Alcoholics Anonymous program. As you know Alcoholics Anonymous started in 1935 June 1st and then all the other 200 12step programs in the world have come off our 12 steps.

uh narcotics anonymous over eaters an we can go anonymous over anonymous but what I'm going to teach you today is the way the original founders Dr. Bob from Akran, Ohio and Bill Wilson from New York City, how they came about this program and how they used to work it and how they used to sponsor people. So what I'm doing right now is I am showing 200 people here on how to sponsor sponsies.

So there's no thought pattern. It there's no well I thought well here just try this. I am going to show you an easy method out of the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous on how they used to do it.

Do you know that there used to be a 75% one-year sobriety rate? That means out of a 100 people, 75 of them would stay sober for a year. Do you know what that number is right now?

Does anybody know? That's right. It's about 8 to 13%.

So, so what happened? And and in my studies, I found out that what we have today that we call Alcoholics Anonymous is nothing compared to what it was like from 1935 to 1945. Nothing.

It's totally different. You hear all kinds of sayings, meeting makers make it. Well, they had one meeting a week back in the 30s and the 40s.

One meeting every week. Two seconds. How many need worksheets?

Raise your hand. I'm going to print some more. Who was that man?

Was Was that the drunk off the street? I saw somebody. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else want to come up on stage? How about if I just sit down here for Is this the way we work in Copenhagen?

No, I'm kidding. Just a little joke. It's American humor.

We're going to have a lot of that today. I hope you enjoy laughing. All right, we like laughing here.

You know, rumor has it around the country and around the world that uh the Scandinavians are very serious people. I I' I've found you very loving and very giving and and fun. And so um and so that's what we're going to do here today.

I'll tell you what, if I was in this program of Alcoholics Anonymous and I had to trudge the Road of Happy Destiny, I I drank. I mean, why do I want to trudge anything? I was trudging when I was drinking.

That's trudging, right? You're drinking, you're getting up, you're going to work, you're like, "Oh my god." You know, these beautiful days. How many of these beautiful days have we missed drunk or drugged up just like you tuned down that sun a little bit?

It's killing me over here. Right. So, back to where we were.

75% of the people that came in got sober. Got sober. That's amazing, isn't it?

We're 8 to 13%. And it breaks my heart. It breaks my heart when I sit in a meeting and I hear people with 30 years sobriety saying just don't drink, go to meetings.

Oh my god. I tried that for 90 days. I almost put a bullet in my head.

I said, "Is this it?" Well, yeah, that's it. We did step one, admitted I was powerless over alcohol. That was it.

That's as far as I got. There was so much more that I needed to do to see the light to help others. So, what we're going to do today, how many people here have are are working out of an English-speaking book?

Okay. How many are working out of the uh Danish book? Okay, we got a lot.

You want to do it? All right. What we're going to do is we're going to do a translation of pages for you.

Okay. because the English book, the fourth edition and the um the Danish book, the pages are off. So, what we're going to do is I have my lovely assistant here.

In America, we in America we call him Ple. Your actual name is Ple is fine. Okay.

Now, my lovely assistant Ple over here, this is really about the 12 steps, folks. I I swear to God, it's not a comedy hour over here. Um, he's going to translate for me and help me here.

So, the first thing I would like everybody to do is I would like everybody to open up their big books. Okay, I'm working from a third edition. So, my page numbers are a little different than yours in the fourth edition.

and we'll write down the difference only until we get to the numbered ones. Then we're going to be good. I'm going to bring you through this book and I want you to highlight the areas I tell you to highlight.

Why? It's because it's the meat and the potatoes in the history of the big book. Things I tell you here today and you're going to read in the big book, you're going to be like, "Oh my god, why do they say that in meetings then?

Why don't they do this?" I've brought people through this book who have relapsed time after time after time after time. And then when I bring them through the book, they say to me with tears in their eyes, "Why has no one shown me this?" Don't get mad. I beg of you today not to get mad at those who are blinded to the truth.

They just don't know. You You don't know what you don't know. Correct?

Now, when you leave here today and you don't do it, shame on you. Okay? because this now you know and you're choosing not to which is fine.

We all make choices in life. Okay. So I want everybody to open up to the very first page where it says Alcoholics Anonymous.

The very first page where it says Alcoholics Anonymous right there. Got it? Now, what used to happen, what used to be was there was a circle and a triangle on that page.

Do you know why there's not a circle in a triangle now? Because what happened was in Michigan or Minnesota, somewhere in the United States, somebody was making pillow cases using the circle and the triangle. So, we had two things we could do.

Number one, sue them because Bill Wilson did a thing in the United States called trademark. That means we of Alcoholics Anonymous own this or since our traditions tell us that we have no outside issues, we could not sue them. We gave it up.

That's it. We just gave it up. Let them make pillowcases and blankets and whatever they wanted to make with it.

Does everybody know how this works? I when I first came in here used to think it was just a pretty medallion. Heck, they got them downstairs.

You see them? These little necklaces. They're beautiful.

You got these little stuff. But it actually means something. And this is what it means.

I was told this. I'm going to use a word that you don't hear in Alcoholics Anonymous. The word permanent recovery.

Forever. Woo. Okay.

You can't say that. You say that in the United States and it's like it stops the meeting. permanent recovery.

It's mentioned twice in the big book. When they wrote this book, the founding fathers and one sister, they knew they were in this forever. This is it.

This circle represents the universe. It's not like we made this up. All right?

This was made before Christ and the Buddhists. They believe in mind, body, and soul. Have you all heard of that?

Mind, body, and soul. If that is all tranquil, then we are all equal with the universe and we have a beautiful flowing life. Okay.

what we decided to do. Bill Wilson being the businessman that he was from Wall Street, New York City, he says, "Well, if we have recovery unity in AA, if the alcoholic works the recovery program like this, he will never drink again because he will be safe and protected in the middle of the triangle by God." Okay. So, what does this mean?

Recovery. I want you to I want you to draw this in your book. Recovery.

The 12 steps. It's the 12 steps. The unity.

The unity are the meetings. Aa is the service work that everybody is doing here. Okay.

It says in chapter five of the big book, rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. The word rarely, they mean that rarely did they back then. Nowadays, rarely have I seen anyone succeed.

Everyone's relapsing and then they come into these pro, oh, give me a hug. Give me a hug. Give me a You needed that.

You don't need that. It's the It could kill you. You know, it's like, "Okay, this bullet won't kill me this time." Okay, let's try it again.

Playing Russian roulette with your life. The 12 steps. I'm going to show you how I work the 12 steps daily in my life today through this.

Okay? I go to a minimum of two, this is just me, meetings a week, but I sponsor people through the steps one-on-one on a Saturday in my house in Florida. I sit there 10:00 to 2:00.

You know, sometimes I hear and I got a stinking drunk at the door. I'm like, "Woo, come on in." And I'll bring them through the steps. That's what I do.

That is that is what I I I believe my life is is to give back. Whether it's one-on-one or whether it's in front of 200 beautiful Denmarkian people and you are a good-looking crowd, let me tell you that. And accept that compliment.

Well, we're going to learn that today. Meetings. Okay, meetings.

Two meetings a week. That's just me. And then service work.

I have a home group and my home group is in Charlottesville, Virginia. Yes. I take a plane every second week.

Every second Thursday of the month, I fly up. I go to my home group. I stay there for the weekend cuz I love my home group.

All right. So, I have a home group. Rarely have I seen a person fail who has done this on a weekly basis.

Rarely. Okay. What happens?

What happens? We start feeling good and what happens? Ah, forget about this.

Forget about this. Right? Also, what happens is this.

We are substituting the meetings for the program of recovery. We are substituting the meetings. So, we're just going to meetings.

So, I'm counting on you humans to keep me sober. It is not going to happen. How has it worked so far?

Well, we're down to 8 to 13% sobriety ratio. It will not work, folks. I am telling you that now.

Go to God. Okay, that's the deal. And this is coming from an atheist.

I used to be an atheist when I first came in here. That is nice. Okay, they're bringing down the house, right, honey?

Am I doing good up here so far? Oh, thank you. Thank you.

Seven years we're still on our honeymoon. All right. And I'll tell you how that happened.

I will tell you how that happened. Okay, this is the circle and the triangle. All right, I want everybody to turn to um the table of contents.

The table of contents. It's on V for you. The table of contents on page V or page five in Roman numeral numbers.

Now, I've been asked a thousand times. This is my email account, by the way. If you would like to email me, email me at dmure01gmail.com.

Yes, that's right. dmure. Feel like I'm doing a sales pitch up here.

And if you don't think this isn't a sales pitch, then you're missing the point because it is a sales pitch. Table of contents. I want everybody, you can tell I used my book a little bit.

I want you to box in like this from the preface to chapter three. That is step one. That's the way I want it to look.

Okay. So, box it in from the preface to chapter three. That's where step one is in the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous.

All right. Got that? Okay.

All right. We're in the table of content. Everybody in the table of content.

Do you see where it says preface? Do you see where it says chapter three, the number three? Everybody see that?

Okay. I want you to put just a line like this, saying that's where step one is. Okay.

These chapters are step one. Got it. Uh Valer, uh you're gonna need to go around and start helping some people.

Okay. Number four. Number four is step two.

That's where step two is. We the agnostics is where step two is. Okay.

Steps uh chapters five, six, and seven. We box it in like that. And that's where steps 3 through 12 are.

Steps 3 through 12 are in chapters 5 through 7. Okay, is everybody following me? Okay, now chapters 8 through 11, they did not have Alanon back then.

They didn't have Alanon. So if you look at stapes 8 through 11, those are really the Alanon pages. It tells the wives how to deal with an alcoholic.

It tells the family how to deal with an alcoholic. It tells the employer how to deal with an alcoholic. Okay?

And then the last and my favorite chapter 11 is a vision for you folks. When I start a company in the United States, the first thing I do is I come up with a vision. a vision of how the company is.

I start at the end and then I work my way back to the present moment. That's what they did here. They are giving us a vision on what your life's going to be like sober.

And it's a beautiful vision. And if you have not read it, I beg of you to read it. It's a vision for you.

For you. All right. Are we good?

All right. I want everybody to turn to the preface. Xi.

The preface is XI in the third edition and in the Denmark book it is. Here he goes. Ready?

Here we go. Nice 12. Okay.

It's X I. All right. I want everybody to go to the second paragraph.

A paragraph in the big book is one where there's an indentation. Okay? So, you'll get writing and then you'll have writing over here.

The one that's indented is considered a paragraph. Fair enough. I want you to go to the second paragraph and I want you to highlight this with your highlighter.

You ready? Here we go. Because this book has become the basic text for our society and has helped such large number of alcoholics men and women to recovery.

There exists a sentiment against any radical changes. What's a textbook? I want you to circle the word textbook.

What's a textbook? A textbook is something that needs to be taught, right? It needs to be taught.

Why would I tell you, take home this book and read it and tell me what you think? It'd be like me saying, uh, I'm a retired airline pilot from one of the airlines in the United States. It'd be like me giving you a 747 flight manual saying, "Go home and study this and tell me what you think about it in 30 days." And then all of a sudden, you come back and I say, "Okay, let's spark this thing up and fly to Denmark." You'd look at me like, "Are you crazy?" It's the same thing.

When I first got sober, I was in one of those funny forms, you know, with the padded rooms and stuff, and I had a a a guy who said, "Take this book and read it." I read it. I read it that night. I had nothing else to do.

I was locked up in a padded room. I read the book and I called the guy the next day and I said, "Listen, the book was written very poorly and this guy, Bill, he's a loser. I have I don't drink anything like this guy.

He's a loser. All right, that's what I thought from the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous. Then I had a sponsor like me bring me through the book like I'm bringing you through the book page by page like a textbook explaining to me how this textbook worked.

And then he said, "You must do likewise with others." And I have and I do it on a little grander scale nowadays. All right, I want you to turn to the next page. The next page is called X I I X III.

You got yours? Uh, right here. You want to come sit over here?

The next page, the preface. XI. Okay.

I want you to go to the first paragraph. It says, "All changes made over the years in the big book." Circle the word big book. Do you know why we call it a big book?

There's two things we did when we started this. When the when when we when I say we, I mean you too, the alcoholics in this place. When we started this, we were broke.

We had no money. So, they had a deal on paper in New York. And the paper was very thick and we also had a deal on the color.

So, we made the jacket of the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous red and yellow instead of blue like it is now. It was red and it was ugly. But the book is about this big.

is about that thick. It's huge. So, we call it the big book.

But only one group could afford a book because back then it was $3.25 in 1935. That would be like, I don't know, $200 nowadays, which is 600 700 uh 800 cronins. Okay?

So, that's why they call it the big book. I want you to go to the next page. X I I X I I forward to the first edition.

Are you ready for this? I want you to go to the first paragraph and highlight it says we meaning the first 100 people of Alcoholics Anonymous are more than 100 men and women who have let's look at that word recovered that is a past tense that means it's all over it's done you're recovered and I'll tell you the difference between recovered and cured from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body to show other alcoholics precisely exactly how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book. If the main purpose of this book is to show you exactly precisely how we have recovered, why should we go anywhere else?

That means the answers are right here. Okay? When they talk about mind and body, how many people mind and body, they're talking about the mind obsession.

How many people here would get a hangover? Oh my god. And you'd wake up and you'd go to work and you'd be there at work like this.

Just like that. I mean, fall on back. And you swear to God you weren't going to drink that day.

I mean, if we hooked you up to a lie detector test, you'd pass it. I'm not going to drink today. I swear to God, I'm not going to drink today.

And then all of a sudden 1:00 comes along and you're like, hm, maybe I was a little too tough on myself, right? I'll have one drink. And then four o'clock comes along and is like, "Hey, where are we going for happy hour?" Right?

And then before you know it, all you're doing is thinking about the drink. The drink. The drink.

The drink. Right. The mind obsession.

If you have that, welcome to Alcoholics Anonymous. Because my wife didn't have that. She doesn't have that.

And I haven't shown her the secret handshake that we all know. Make sure you don't tell her. She still thinks it's a secret handshake.

Okay. What happens when we put the alcohol in our body? We get the craving.

It makes it virtually impossible for us to stop. A doctor from South Miami Hospital, which was the funny farm that I went to, showed it to me like this. He says, "When a non-alcoholic drinks, like my wife, this is her, right?

She's from Rome, Italy. So, of course, she has to have her wine. So, this is it.

At night, she has a four-step process that happens. It comes in as alcohol. Comes in as alcohol to her body.

Follow me? It turns into a thing we call formaldahhide. Formaldahhide is a poison.

So when it hits her body, the mind says, "Boop, stop drinking." So she leaves a half a glass of wine. Does does anybody understand that we've been together seven years and I'm still like well are you gonna honey are you gonna finish that turn turns into formaldahhide then it goes into its substance of barley and hops of how it was made and then it goes to H2O and she goes to the bathroom she stops she leaves a half a glass of wine whatever that's her problem she has to deal with that how many people have heard you've crossed the line. You have crossed the line.

You're way out of control. I heard that one. We literally we literally have crossed the line.

What happens is it comes in as alcohol. It turns to formaldahhide. Our shut off button says, "Man, if one is good, 20 is phenomenal." All right.

So, let's kick it up a notch. What happens is we have a gene in our mind that is producing a codin-like substance and that's why we get the more the more the more the more and has anyone done any stupid like try to stop in the middle of a drinking. You're better than I.

It turns to codine, gives you the more, more, more, more, and we just drink into oblivion. And then we wake up in the morning thinking, "Golly, what happened? I thought I wasn't going to drink." Mind obsession, body craving.

Once you have crossed this line, you can never come back. As it says in the big book, we're like people who have lost their legs. We can never grow them back.

Okay, you got this. All right. Mind obsession, body craving.

I want you to uh I want you to turn to the next page. XIV XIV. And I want you to at the top of the page on the second line down it says the only requirement for membership is an honest desire to stop drinking.

Is an honest desire. If you don't have an honest desire to stop drinking, welcome. Okay?

because we are loving towards all. But please don't sponsor somebody. You're going to kill them.

That's what happened. We were infiltrated in Alcoholics Anonymous by non-alcoholics. And it all started with the court systems in America.

You'd have Uncle Fanny who was married to Aunt Farmer and then all of a sudden Aunt Farmer dies. Uncle Fanny is devastated. So he starts drinking a little bit too much, but he's not an alcoholic and he gets a driving while intoxicated.

So now he's standing in front of the judge. His kids are behind him and he says, the judge goes, "You go to Alcoholics Anonymous." And now this guy comes into the rooms and me, who is the real deal alcoholic on page 21, as I'll show you, comes up to him because he sounds so good, he looks so good. I'm like, "Help me." and he says, "Take your time doing the steps." And I'm pointing at this young man because that's what happened to him right now.

And we're going to do the steps with him this afternoon. He's going to kill me. He's going to kill me because I'm going to go out and I'm going to drink again because I did not get the spiritual awakening that's sufficient enough for me to stay sober.

And then what happens? I come back in and he gives me a hug. You needed that.

Oh, okay. How about that beating I got in the bar from that guy? Did I need that also?

Do you see what I mean? That's what happens. That's why I don't allow hard drinkers and alcoholics anonymous.

I'm like, "Please join us. Hang out if you want, but you're not an alcoholic, so don't sponsor people. You're going to hurt them.

You're going to kill them. We do have the power to kill." I want you to open up to the forward to the second edition. Forward to the second edition.

The first paragraph, third sentence. The first paragraph, third sentence says this. Highlight it.

that every alcoholic who journeys will find the fellowship, the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous at his destination. Folks, let's make one thing perfectly clear here. There's two parts to Alcoholics Anonymous.

There is the fellowship, which I absolutely love, and it's you, but you will not keep me sober. You're human. You're great, but you will not keep me sober.

The fellowship is the meetings. Meetings. Okay.

Then there is the program of recovery which is the 12 steps. This is what happened. This is why we have so many relapses.

Everyone's working this fellowship. They're not drinking, going to meetings, looking good, right? Then the first bad thing happens in their life and woo, they're out to the races drinking and drugging.

The program of recovery, the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous will take you to your God. Okay? By practicing these principles in all our affairs of the 12 steps, you will be relieved from alcohol.

You will be relieved from drugs. That has been my experience for 13 years. No matter how bad it gets, no matter how bad it gets, you will not drink or drug again.

When we just do one without the other, you're done. It's not going to work. Okay, that's the fellowship.

I want everyone to understand that. I want everybody to turn to uh page XVI. XVI.

Okay. The first paragraph states that prior to his journey to Akaran, that's Bill Wilson they're talking about when he went to Akran, Ohio, that's when he met uh Dr. Bob.

Prior to his Akran, the broker, which is Bill Wilson, had worked hard with many alcoholics on the theory that only an alcoholic can can help an alcoholic. Okay. How many people, and you don't have to raise your hand, folks, how many people here have been to psychiatrists, psychologists, they're taking all this medication, right?

I have no problem with that, but all it is is dried drunk. Okay. I'm depressed.

Oh. Oh. Oh.

Did I forget to tell you I'm drinking a half a gallon of vodka a day? That part I forgot to tell you. I'm depressed.

Well, of course you're depressed. You're drinking a half a gallon of vodka a day. All right.

Helping others, working with others. I want you to put in the side WWO of that paragraph. Put on the side WWO.

That means working with others. Working with others, bringing people through the steps is imperative to staying sober. And it's going to tell you time and time and time again in the big book.

Watch this. Continue on. I want you to go down about three lines down from where we just ended reading.

go about three lines down and it says he, Bill Wilson, suddenly realized that in order to save himself, in order to save his life, in order for him not to drink, he must carry this message to another alcoholic. I can't tell you how many times that I just felt so bad. I ju I just lost my mother and the first thing I did, I went from her funeral to an AA meeting.

And I just didn't sit there in that AA meeting. I saw a newcomer and I walked up to that newcomer. It was in New Jersey.

I I don't even live in New Jersey. I walked up to that newcomer and I sat down. I said, "How you doing?" He's shaking like a leaf like this.

Well, I guess maybe it wasn't a good question to ask, but he was doing terribly. And I sat there and I worked with him. I gave him motivation.

I gave him a carriage. He didn't know who I was. He just knew I was another drunk trying to help him out.

Did I snap out of it? I snapped out of it just like that and I thanked my wonderful mother for a beautiful life and I'm glad that she's out of pain. Do you see how this works?

It's not like I lose my mother and I lost my go out and drink. What is that going to do? It's not going to do nothing, right?

Because I have God and I have the fellowship together. That's the important part that we're missing here. Okay.

I want everybody to go down to the um last sentence on page XVI. the last sentence on page XVI where we were at and it starts off with the word this seemed to prove this seemed to prove that one alcoholic could affect another as no non-alcoholic could. It also indicated that strenuous work one alcoholic with another was vital to permanent recovery.

That's the first place. Okay. Strenuous work.

One alcoholic with another. Do you know what that means? I've been on the road in America for two weeks, totally exhausted.

I speak like this to bigger crowds in the financial markets around the United States. And and I get off this airplane. I don't even know where I was coming in from.

I was coming in from somewhere. It seemed like a million miles away. And the next day, I wake up and I come here.

And I come here so I could be with you to show you the original message of Alcoholics Anonymous. That is strenuous work. Now, it's not one alcoholic with another.

It's one alcoholic with 200 others. But do you see what I mean? This is where I will go.

This is the length I will go to have freedom. Not just sobriety. Sobriety is not the problem for me anymore.

It's the freedom of life. It's to be able to get into the flow and be happy and love and have fun. I always tell my wife, I am the whipped cream on top of the cherries.

I love this life. this like sometimes I'll be driving down the road and I I'll see something beautiful and I'll just start crying because it's so over this this this this happiness sometimes is just so overwhelming to me. It is.

That's my truth and I'm sticking with it. All right. Now, I want you to watch this.

Okay. I want you to turn to page XV III. I'm going to show you some numbers real here.

These are staggering. Our birthday Our birthday is June 10th, 1935. Okay, follow me.

The big book came out April 1939. So, how long is that? 3 years.

What? April, May, June, July. 3 years, 9 months.

Let's say 3 years 9 months. 3.9 years. Okay, 100 people got sober during that time.

It was all by word of mouth. Okay, 100 people got sober. I want you to check this out.

When the big book came out, I want you to go to page XVI and go to the last sentence from the top of the page in that paragraph. It's not actually a new paragraph and just go from the top to the bottom of that paragraph. And it says, "By the end of 1939, an estimated 800 alcoholics got sober." So the big book came out in April of 1939.

They're saying by the end of 1939, which is December, 800 people got sober. In 7 months when this big book came out or the blue book as you call it, the answer, the solution was put in writing, 800 people got sober. It took 3 years and 7 months to only get 100.

What does that tell you about the power of the big book? It tells you the answers are there. So why are we not using it?

Because people aren't teaching. I wish I had 20,000 people in here. And maybe someday I will speak in front of 20,000 people.

I actually believe that I will because this message is now people are sick and tired of relapsing. They're sick and tired of dying. Are you sick and tired?

And we spoke today. You're tired of it, right? We're all tired.

We're tired of it. I came in here once and it sure ain't because I'm prettier than you all cuz you all are gorgeous. And it's definitely not that I'm smarter because I am not a rocket scientist.

It's because I had a sponsor who showed me this way and I have never wavered in 13 years from this way. That's all I want you to go down. It's the first paragraph on XV III.

If you go down about five sentences, it says by March 1941. Okay, so now we're at March 1941. So this is December 1939 to March 1941.

2,000 people are now sober. What does that tell you about the big book? Pretty powerful book, isn't it?

3 years and 7 months. One, a little over a year and a half, 2000 after the book comes out. All right, those are numbers.

I'm a math guy. I love numbers. Okay, I want everybody to turn to page XX.

Page XX. You want to see a number? I want you to check this out.

Check this out. From the top of the page, I want you to count down four lines. From the top of the page on page XX, I want you to count down four lines.

It starts off with this. and highlight it of alcoholics who came to AA and really tried. Look at this.

50% sobered up at once. 50% sobered up at once. Let's continue reading on.

And the remaining and remained that way. 25% sobered up after some relapses. 25%.

Now, being the mathematician that I say I am, that's a 75% sobriety rate, folks. What happened? We watered down the message.

We were telling people, "Don't drink. Heck, if I could just not drink, you think I'd be here in Cop." Well, I'd probably be here in Copenhagen because this is a beautiful place. But I mean, do you think I'd be in AA?

I just wouldn't drink. It's not that simple. Don't drink.

Go to meetings. Don't drink. Work the steps.

Help others work the steps. Then go to meetings because you have something to give. They wouldn't let you in a meeting in the beginning unless you work the steps because you have nothing to give.

You can't give away what you do not have. Okay. 75% sobered up at once.

That's huge, isn't it? Big number. All right.

I want you to go to the forward to the third edition. forward to the third edition. I want you to go down to the last paragraph in the third sentence.

It says, and this is where we got this, there are some places in the big book where there are some sayings. And the saying is this. Each day, somewhere in the world, recovery begins.

One alcoholic talks with another alcoholic, sharing their experience, strength, and hope. What I am teaching you here today is the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous. At 9:00 tonight, if I'm still awake, I will be ex sharing my experience, strength, and hope with you.

Okay? And my story is just wild and off the hook. My wife is going to share with you also from 8 to 9:00 with her experience because I want to tell you this, when I met her, she couldn't look anyone in the eye.

She just wanted to be in a computer room with no windows and I supplied her with that. We had a a very large company and I put her in a room and it was dark and it was whatever. Now with this company we have she's got a yellow office with all the windows.

All right. And she's the customer service agent for 18,000 clients. She loves talking to people from the steps that we all started here.

It's good for everybody. The steps are good for everybody. I gave you a little history.

Now, we're going to plow through the steps. We're going to have a lot of fun doing it. Uh, for all of you that smoke, and it's, if I'm not mistaken, it's probably the whole room here.

We're going to go outside and have a smoke break. Can you come back in 10 minutes? Okay, good.

Um, folks, for those of you who have uh who need packages, we have more packages in the back. Does anybody Does anybody need a 12step package? It looks like something.

It looks like this. Does everybody have one of these? Everybody have one of these?

Uh, we have more in the back. Yep. Got many more.

Many more. So, people are going to be walking around with 12step packages. Okay.

All right. Now, we have three big books floating around here. We have the little blue book of which does not equal to the page numbers I'm reading.

So, Ple over here will help you with that. We have the big blue and yellow book which is the fourth edition which I promise you I am going to which I promise you I'm going to um I'm going to rewrite reoutline my big book cuz this is actually falling apart as you could see it's all falling apart. Um and then I will tell you the difference in the page numbers from the big one that you have there.

Okay. Now, what I would like everybody to do is I'd like everybody to turn to the doctor's opinion. Um, the doctor's opinion, which is on page XXV in the fourth edition big book.

Okay, are you ready for this? At the top of that page, does everybody know who Dr. Silkworth is?

His name was Dr. Silkworth. Okay.

He's one of the biggest contributing medical people to our Alcoholics Anonymous. Dr. Silkworth was considered an absolute freak in the United States because he was the only doctor that did not believe that alcoholics were weak.

He believed that there was a mental gene. There was something wrong with us that when we started drinking, we act different than anybody else. and it makes it virtually impossible for us to stop.

How many of you out there, and you don't have to raise your hand, thought you were weak. I was like, "Oh my god, I could accomplish all this in my life and I accomplished a lot at a young age. How come I can't quit this drinking?" And let me tell you now, the only reason I even tried to quit drinking was because alcohol testing came in the airline industry in the United States.

That got me upset. I was mad. So 1995, alcohol testing came in and I thought to myself in January, I was supposed to fly January 4th.

And on January 3rd, I said, you know, I'm shaking a little too much. I'll just have one drink. And what happened?

I set that cycle in motion, didn't I? And you know when I woke up? February 1st.

I woke up February 1st, 3:25 in the afternoon, almost dead. My family had been gone. My wife had took the kids.

They had been gone for 3 days. And I knew it was a little quiet. I I didn't know why it was quiet.

And and and I knew I was hungry because no one was cooking for me. It it was it was a bad scene. Okay.

So, that's my that's my sobriety date. February 1st, 1995. Dr.

Silkworth had 20 years experience with alcoholics. Do you know what a sobriety rate was 2%. It's recorded 2%.

A bunch of drunks come in and they sober up 75%. And he was like, "What is going on over here? What is happening?" And then he took we asked him to write us a letter for the big book.

And guess what he said? No, you're way too new. No way am I going to do this.

And he waited for us to have some years. And then he wrote the letter to the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous. Okay, that letter is huge.

I want you to um I want you to go down to the one uh two three the fourth paragraph on page XXV for the people in the big big book. The fourth paragraph, it starts off highlight this. in the course of his third treatment.

Bill Wilson did not get this the first time. Bill Wilson got this the third time. There's actually some arguments above historians.

They think it took him four times to get sober. Okay, four four treatments. But it says here in the course of his third treatment, Bill Wilson, he acquired certain ideas.

Those ideas were the steps that came from the Oxford group of our time. There were three alcoholics anonymous. I don't know if you know this.

In 1850, they were called the Washingtonians from Washington. There was about a 100,000. What happened?

Civil war broke out in America. There was the North and the South and we just split. Do you see what happened?

We split because we got into public issues. Then the Oxford group came in in about the 20s. The Oxford group, which was a Christian group.

Then World War II broke out and we split again. Okay, we split again because we believed you know why all these people are getting exterminated because they don't believe in Jesus and all this mess was going on and they just split. Alcoholics anonymous.

Have you heard anyone ever argue about your religion? Whether you're Buddhist, Catholic, Jewish, all right, Muslim, it doesn't matter. Doesn't matter to me.

I'd be interested in hearing what you have to say. I've never heard an argument on religion in Alcoholics Anonymous in 13 years. Okay.

So it says here as part of his rehabilitation as part of Bill Wilson's rehabilitation he commenced to present his conception meaning the steps to other alcoholics impressing upon them folks that they must do likewise with others. You must do likewise with others. You must I thought there were no musts in Alcoholics Anonymous.

You want to know how much of a life I don't have? I counted them. There's 82 musts in the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous.

You're probably thinking, you got to get a life, right? My wife says, "You got to get I'm sitting here. There's mug.

One, two, three, four, five. There's 82. I was right.

I gave up a whole day of my life, but I proved there were musts in this big one." Who else but an alcoholic going to sit there counting must? All right. You must do likewise with others.

It says this is a this has become a basis of a rapid growing fellowship. These men and their families this man and over 100 others appear to have recovered. Not recovering.

We have recovered. We have recovered. You want to know the difference?

Let me tell you the difference. There's the word cure, right? The big book says, "We are not cured, right?

We're not cured. Just add alcohol. What happens?" Woo!

We're off to the races, right? Recovered. And then there's cured.

Okay. You have the symptoms. And you have the disease.

Okay. Let's be a little anal over here. And then we have the symptoms and then the disease.

Let's talk about cured. My mother had breast cancer. Okay.

She was cured from cancer. That means her symptoms went away and her disease went away. She was cured.

Then she got lung cancer. I'm not going to preach about smoking. I'm not one to do that.

But then she got lung cancer and she didn't get over that one. God bless her soul. But she was cured, recovered.

When you are working the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, when you are going to meet, when you are helping others, your symptoms go away. Folks, I own the largest bar nightclub in Charlottesville, Virginia. It's huge.

40 different types of beers. I don't go in after 10 because I don't like drunks, but I like employing the 82 people that are there and paying them well and giving them medical benefits and stuff. I'm the only one that does that.

Okay, I love that part. I am not afraid of alcohol. I just don't like drunks.

Okay, I'm not afraid of walking down the beer aisle of having dinner. Oh my god. You all have this bar here that serves this pork.

My It comes in a bowl with this white sauce. Have y'all ever had It's potatoes. Getting a little flustered over here.

I ate it twice. I've been here two days. I had twice.

The lady's like, "You're back." Okay. Recovered. The symptoms are gone when you work the steps.

What happens when you just add alcohol? You're off to the races, aren't you? You're not cured.

Okay, we're recovered. We're recovered. I don't struggle with this anymore.

And this is the way you will be, too. Work the steps. All right.

I want everybody to turn um to the uh next page. XXVI in the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous. He's going to give you the little book.

From the top of the paragraph, if you count down three lines, this is a doctor writing a letter saying this. These men will have a remedy for thousands of such situations. You may rely absolutely on anything they say.

What's a remedy? If you have a remedy for something, what do you have? You have something that is going to fix what you have.

You have a remedy for a cold. It's called penicellin. We have a remedy, right?

We have a remedy for alcoholism. It's called the 12 steps. What happens if you don't take your 12 steps?

You drink and drug. Is that everyone's experience here? I tell you what, it was my experience.

When I came into Alcoholics Anonymous, I was a mess. A mess. A mess.

A mess. I had nothing. I couldn't even fly a kite, no matter an airplane.

I was a mess. And I just didn't drink. And I just went to meetings.

And I sat there saying, "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, this is terrible. This is terrible." So, I picked up this 90-day we give door prizes for years of sobriety, whatever. So, I I picked up this 90-day trinket and I was going right for the door.

I was going right for the door and I was going to go to this Five Point Liquors. Okay? Because in Five Point Liquors, you don't have to get out of your car.

It's a drive-thru thing. We have drive-through liquor stores in America. It's beautiful cuz when you're too when you're too drunk to walk, you just drive up and you you keep hitting the side of the building.

I'll have a gallon of vodka. I was going out and my sponsor stepped in front of me and he said, "Listen." He says, "You're acting a little more weird than usual." He says, "And if you're about ready to go out, I don't want you to tell people that AA has failed you. You have not worked a program of recovery." And I looked at that little sob and I said, "What?

I've been going to three meetings a day. You've been dragging my ass to jails and institutions." And he says, "No, no, no, no, no. You've been working a fellowship.

Heck, you're the mayor. You're the governor of the fellowship." He says, "But you have not worked the 12 steps. You've not worked the program.

Now, if you want to work the program of recovery, I know you are unemployed, so you have plenty of time. I want you in my house on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I want you to bring this book called The Big Book of Alcohol Anonymous." And he brought me just like I'm doing you page by page by page.

And then I got this huge spiritual awakening. But the only reason I went over to his house was to prove him wrong cuz I was different. Does anybody else here think they're different?

Yeah. Yeah. I see all these heads like this.

200 heads. Yeah. Yeah.

You are not different. You are not that powerful. Trust me on this.

Okay. I want you on page XVI. XVI is the big book.

And then I want you uh They're still on the same page. One to the second paragraph highlight this. The doctor's theory that we have an allergy to alcohol interest us.

This is the first time he mentions the allergy. What is that allergy? It goes like this.

Remember the alcohol turns into formaldahhide. We cross the line. It turns into codine comes back to barley and hops.

Barley and hops is just the wheat that we make to ferment alcohol. best invention in the world and then it turns into water. Okay, that's the allergy that they're talking about.

Once you get this allergy, once you have cross this line, you're done. You cannot go back. The only way is through total abstinence of alcohol.

Okay? Then we teach you the handshake as we have not taught my wife. I hope no one taught her that.

We have a private handshake here at Alcoholics Anonymous. I want you to go to the next page. I mean the the next paragraph on still on page XXXVI the next paragraph.

Okay, it's one two the third paragraph highlight this though we work out our solution on the spiritual as well as an altruistic plane. So we have a solution to this problem folks. If you have a solution to something that's a good thing.

If you have a problem and you have a solution what's the solution? Well it's twofold. We have a solution.

Spiritual. Oh, bother. Altruistic.

Ready? How do you spell it? Altruistic.

All right. All right. Here you altruistic.

All right. Something like this. Okay.

Spiritual. Spiritual equals 12 steps. If you do not work the 12 steps, you will not receive the solution.

Make sense? I'm here to bring good news. I'm here to bring good news for you.

You ready? If you're a chronic relapser and you have not worked the steps, you have not failed. How could you fail something you have not tried?

I got bad news. If you're a chronic relapser and you have not worked the steps, you're going to continue to be a chronic relapser. That I guarantee.

I promise you that. Altruistic. Ultruistic.

altruistic equals doing good for others without expecting anything in return. I expect nothing from you all today. Okay.

I pray and hope that you will take this message with as much energy as I have even after 13 years and to spread this to others to spread the solution. We have people here. I I had the pleasure of talking to a young lady who has uh six weeks of sobriety and another young man here who who has little time.

So, they're not all messed up yet. So, now they're learning the truth in the way, right? I'm so excited when I get a newcomer.

I swear to God if I'm in a meeting and I see someone raise their hand, I'm like I lock. It's like taking a gun. I mean, I'm just like, "Hey, how are you?

What are you doing for the next five hours? Everybody in the meeting is like, "Oh, there goes Doug." I always promise, "Come on over my house. My wife's an Italian.

She'll cook us pasta." Oh, bring your big book. And a marker and a highlighter and a He comes in. We lock the doors.

You can close the shades. It's not that bad. We have a solution.

It's spiritual. 12 steps. Altruistic.

Doing good for others without expecting anything in return. I expect nothing from you. Although, if you want to take me to that pork place again for dinner, I'm all in.

I want you to go to the next page, which is XV XV III. XXVI. Okay.

I want you to go to the one, two, one, two, three, four, the fifth paragraph. Now, the fifth paragraph, check this out. There are no time frames in Alcoholics Anonymous.

That is the biggest misconception you're going to hear. And you're going to be like, now I'm going to love this. You're going to be sitting in meetings and people like, "Yeah, take your time.

It says in the big book, work one step a month." And you're going to be like, "No, it doesn't. It does not say once a month." Listen to this fifth paragraph. You ready?

Highlight this. Many years ago, one of the leading contributors to this book, which is Bill Wilson, came under our care in this hospital. And while here, he acquired some ideas.

The ideas were working with others and working the steps. Okay. Which he put into practical experience.

How fast? One month, wait a year at once. Now maybe there might be a language barrier here.

How do you how do you say at once in wow with a stamping of the n he put into experience now at once through the book you're going to hear that now immediately next we launched then never one month one day one minute okay all right so that's where we start off with time frames. What I want you to do is I want you to turn to the next page, which is XXV I II, the first paragraph. XXV I I I the first paragraph.

Now, I'm going to want you to do this. Put a box around the first paragraph and highlight it. This is the word powerless.

This is what they mean by the word powerless. How many people have heard in America we do this? It drives me to drink.

Well, not really to drink, but you know what I mean. Hi, I'm powerless over people, places, and things. No, the big book does not say you are powerless over people, places, and things.

I will dispel that right here, right now. But I want to read this paragraph to you. Okay.

XXV I I the first paragraph. We believe we the alcoholics and I who wrote this book and so suggests a few years ago that the action of alcohol on these chronic alcoholics is a manifestation of an allergy as I just showed you. It says here that the phenomenon of craving I want you to circle that and highlight it.

The phenomenal craving is limited to this class and never occurs in the average temperate drinker. My my wife never thinks maybe I should have a little milk before I go out to coat my stomach. Hey, I'll have a couple drinks so no one will know how much I drink.

Hey, well maybe I'll have I'll go for martinis to beers. When she found out that I used to think like that, she's like she thought I was crazy. I already married her before I told her all this stuff.

So, it was pretty cool. Do you see? Do you see what I mean?

We think like this. They don't. Non-alcoholics do not.

And I'm not going to call her normal. I will not call people normal. We'll all normal.

We have an allergy to alcohol just like you might have an allergy to peanuts. Ours takes us to death. Eating peanuts could take you to death, too, I think.

Right. All right. The phenomenon of craving limited in this class and never occurs in the average typer.

These allergic types can never drink alcohol safely in any form. That's powerless. We are powerless over what alcohol does to our body.

When we drink the alcohol, it's over. It's a done deal. Check this out.

People, places, and things. Today, I want you to stop giving up your power. You are you are a as we call it a chip off the old block.

Okay. If we are true creators from God. If God created us in his or her image, then let's check this out.

Then we're all interior gods, are we not? At least that's what my belief is and that's what my experience is. So if that is a true statement, then I could create anything I desire.

And guess what? 7 years ago as an airline pilot, I knew I didn't want to do that anymore. Although I was making a lot of money, it had nothing to do with the money.

I was on a different plane. Not literally. I was on a I was on a different spiritual level.

Okay. I designed this life. And this life was to be a public speaker in financing and an AA.

A public speaker. Where am I now? Who designed this?

I did. God, I designed this. You could design it.

I'm going to show you how to do that today. So, powerless over people. No.

1996, January 2nd, my sister threw it. First, my sister threw a party in New Jersey and I flew up and we used to just we used to just murder each other with our words. It was a terrible, terrible, unhealthy relationship.

And so, she said something to me. Well, guess what? I was falling in love with myself through your help of aa.

And when she said something to me, I was like, "Oh my god, that hurt." And I said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Everybody stop." I pulled my mother in, my sisters, and I said, "This will never happen again. If you talk to me like this again, I will be out of your life.

And if I've ever talked to you like that, I am so sorry. I love you. I love me.

Let's start this new today." My sisters and I adore each other. On my mother's deathbed, she held my sister's hands and she said, "I am so proud of the relationship that you all have fostered." Okay? But I was willing to leave.

I do not stay in any relationship. Never. I love myself too much.

Places leave. Move. You don't like them.

Well, what happens if I have family there? What happens if you do? Call them up.

We got cell phones nowadays. Whatever. Write them.

Go visit. You don't have to live there in that pain. Stop giving this up things.

I found out what it was. I had a cell phone that was driving me crazy. I got this new high-tech cell phone.

I thought I'd do emails, right? Finally, I took that son of a and I threw it out the window and I was like, but I lasted two years in the pain. Okay, people, places, and things.

You are not powerless over that, people. You're powerless over what alcohol does to your body. And that's it.

Are we clear? All right. I want you to go down to um on page XXV I I I the same page one two um the third paragraph if you go down about six lines it starts off with we feel the first 100 people feel we feel after many years of experience that we have found nothing nothing which has contributed more to the rehabilitation of these men than the altruistic movement growing up around them.

So, if they have found nothing what helps rehabilitate alcoholics like you and me by helping others, then why aren't we all doing it? I remember when I went to go do my first big book with a sponsy. I called up my sponsor.

I'm like, "Hey, dude. I'm going to kill this guy." And he started laughing. He goes, "You are not powerful enough to kill that guy." And I thought to myself, he's right.

He says, "Just read the highlighted areas. tell them your experience and that's it. And that's what I did.

And I watched this guy get a a spiritual awakening and I'm like, "Oh, it was like a drug." I'm like, "Holy smokes, I had a little piece of that." It was folks, if you're not sponsoring people, you are so missing the icing on the cake. And doesn't everybody like icing? I mean, you get the bowl, right?

Who likes the cake? It's the icing. All right.

Um, I want you to turn to uh I want you to go to the bottom of that paragraph. I mean the bottom of that page on XXV II II. It starts off with men and men and women drink essentially because they like the effects produced by alcohol.

The sensation is so elusive that while they admit it injurious, meaning it hurts them, they cannot after a time differentiate the truth from the false. That was me. To let them their alcoholics life seems the only normal one.

They are. Here we go. How many people have heard this?

I'm restless, irritable, and discontent. You're restless, irritable, and discontent until you can sense of ease and comfort, which comes immediately from a few drinks. All right?

So, you're feeling all upset. You're feeling ah, you take that drink. I remember I screwed up my schedule a couple times flying.

So, like I couldn't drink for like a day and a half and I'd be like, you know, shaking like this in the flight deck. That's not what you want a pilot to do. I'm shaking and flight, you know, and I'm and I'm flying the last leg of the trip and I'm going home and and all I'm thinking about is the Exxon station down the street and I'm grabbing that beer and I mean I'm I'm running through the jetway and I'm kicking over passengers and I'm taking off the hat and the stripes and I get to the gas station and I get the beer like pouring it all over and then I say I don't have a problem if everyone just leaves me alone.

I'm pouring beer over my head in a pilot uniform. I have no problem. Just leave me alone.

Get off my back. Right. Woo.

Okay. Now, I want you to uh go to page xx. I want you to go to the first paragraph.

I want you to box in that paragraph. And right now, we are going to talk about recovered. Recovered.

This is the definition of recovered. Are you ready? Definition of recovered.

On the other hand, and strangely as it may seem to those who do not understand, once a psychic change, the psychic change you're talking about is what happens when you do the steps. Once the psychic change has occurred, the very same person who seemed doomed like me, who had so many problems like me, he despared of ever solving them. Has anyone felt like that in these rooms?

Yeah. Okay. Um, suddenly finds himself easily able to control his desire for alcohol.

The only effort necessary being that he follows a few simple rules. What are those rules? The 12 steps.

Follow the 12 steps. You'll be easily able to handle your alcohol and life will be phenomenal. It won't even be great.

It'll be phenomenal with a ph. Is that the way you spell phenomenal? Whatever.

I'm asking an Italian how to spell phenomenal. Some are sicker than others. Okay.

Um, I want you to turn to page XXX. At the very top of the page, first sentence, it says, "These men were not drinking to escape. They were drinking to overcome a craving." Okay?

People lose fathers. People lose mothers, children. Okay?

We're not drinking to overcome that. Once we start drinking, now we're drinking to overcome the craving. I remember I used to hear, "The first drink gets you drunk." I'm like, "Yo, lightweight." You know, takes me 18 beers and a fifth of vodka to get me drunk, you loser.

I understand what they mean. The first drink sets in that motion that we keep talking about, right? That's what happens.

The first drink does get me drunk. Got it? Okay.

Now, I want you to go down to the on the same page. One, two, three, four, the fifth paragraph. Okay.

Here's another definition of powerless. Are you ready? It mentions nothing about people, places, and things.

It says, "All these and many others have one symptom in common. All of you here who are alcoholics and drug addicts have one symptom in common. They cannot start drinking without developing the phenomenon of craving.

Circle that phenomenon of craving defines if you're an alcoholic. Not if you had four DWIs driving while intoxicated. Not if you were in jail 11 times for drunken disorderly.

They'd be like, "Here comes Doug." You know, I mean, my my uh my shoes are dragging or two cops are carrying me in. They all thought I was a comedian. I remember the first time.

I remember the first time they were filling They were filling out the forms, right? They're filling out the forms. The cops fill out for Okay, he's down here.

He didn't look up once. What do you do for a living? I'm an airline pilot.

No, really. What do you do for a living? I'm an airline pilot.

He's like, I bet you he never flew again. All right. It says, "This phenomenon have we as we have suggested may be the manifestation of an allergy which differentiates these people and thus sets them apart as a distinct entity." Folks, did you ever think you were a distinct entity?

Isn't that great? She doesn't have it. When my mother died, my sisters did not have it.

I had it. I was in the middle of wherever and I just called up a hotline. An alcoholic picked up and I said, "I need a meeting and I need a meeting now." And he talked me all the way through.

Does she have that? Nope. We do.

It brings tears to my eyes. Are we blessed? Think about this.

I used to I'm a blessed alcoholic. I'm like, "You're a loser." You know, I understand what he means now. I understand what they say now.

I am a blessed alcoholic. Are this is like this is the coolest little organization I've ever belonged to. Well, actually, it's the only one you let me stay in.

Bless you, by the way. All right. Now, we're done with that.

Bill's story. Let me tell you about Bill's story. You don't have to turn to it.

If I want to hear a story, I'll hear your story. He was a drunk. Okay.

He got he got sober in uh November of 90, November of 34. And that's it. So, let's continue on from there.

Um, we're going to go to page All right. Now, we're back, folks. Now, we're back on the on the regular number pages.

Turn to page 17. It's going to be a little different in the Denmark book. Denmark book.

You got to get an Italian book, honey. These guys got Denmark everything. I got Look at Look what I got.

Come here. I got you a present. Come here.

Got you a present. I got you this for women. And I got you this.

It's in Denmark. I can't read it, but it says sober. I think I think that's great.

I really do. You guys, really, you're so organized. This has absolutely been fun.

Chapter two. There is a solution. Really?

You would never know it from the people coming in and out of the rooms all the time. Oh, you needed that. No, you did not need that.

Okay, there is a solution. Is that the good news? There's a solution.

If you want to hide money from an alcoholic, put it in his big book. Here, let me tell you another joke, honey. You ready?

Let me tell you that. Ladies and gentlemen, my biggest fan. You wonder why I bring her around?

Okay, there is a solution. Check this out. First paragraph, third sentence.

Imagine if you said this in an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. It would blow everybody's mind. It says, "Nearly all have recovered.

They have solved the drink problem." Try it. Hi, my name is Doug. I recovered from alcoholism.

I have solved my drink problem. Everybody would be like, "Oh my god, you arrogant son of a I mean, it'd go on and on, right?" No, no, no. Just read page 17, first paragraph, third sentence, right?

That's what they believed. They believed when you came in here, you came in here for good. That was it.

That you had solved your drink problem. Is that the biggest taboo word to say? He's going back out, right?

He's going to have a drink. That is not true. Okay.

I want everybody to go on the page 17, the last paragraph. I want you to write in the corner. I want you to box in that paragraph and write big book is solution.

It tells you in this paragraph the big book is the solution. So why don't we tell anybody about it because it's like the best kept secret in AA. I don't know the tremendous fact for every one of us.

For every one of us. Okay. So let's do this.

For every one of them they all agree. Let's just take this first row and we'll start off from the right and ask each other where do you want to go for lunch and there will be a diff no one will agree. Every one of them agree on this.

It says the tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have discovered a common solution. We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree and upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious action. This is the great news this book carries to those who suffer from alcoholism.

Is that tremendous? Okay. Page 19.

Page 19, first paragraph, third sentence. Page 19. First paragraph, third sentence starts off with, "We feel we the first 100 feel that the elimination of drinking is but a beginning.

Don't drink. Go to meetings." Great. So now you told me one and they never finish up.

Don't drink. Go to meetings. All right.

Don't drink. Work the steps. Help others.

Go to meetings. That's what they should say, but they never do. It says here, we feel that the elimination of drinking is but a beginning.

A much more important demonstration of our principles. From this point forward, whenever they would mention the word principles, they're talking about the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous lies before us on our respective homes, occupations, and affairs. And they don't mean you're having an affair with another man or woman.

That's not what they're talking about. Okay? We, Valyri and I have a large company in the States.

We have 7,000 employees, which could be a headache at sometimes. But you could always tell how somebody is in AA. Walk into their house.

How are their children? How are they treating their wife? Do they love and adore their wife?

Okay. How are they at work? Oh, between 9 and 5, I could screw you all over and steal your money, but when I walk into that AA meeting, I'm Mr.

Aa. I'm the spiritual guru. You see what I mean?

It's a bunch of crap. the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Whether I'm on stage speaking to a thousand financial people in the United States or whether I'm here with you, my language just changes a little bit.

But these people don't know, these financial people don't know that I'm zinging them with aa all day. And they pay for this one. See, this is great.

We don't pay for this. I make them pay dearly for that. I get up on stage.

I get up on stage and I say this. Money is the root of all good. And all of them are like I get a standing ovation, right?

I get the standing ovation. They're thinking of it from the selfish point. I'm thinking of it and I say, listen to me when I say this.

Money is the root of all good. Why? Because I am so blessed that I can give so much away and help thousands of people.

thousands of people. Valeri and I help literally thousands and thousands and thousands of people. And that's why it's an energy, folks.

It's just an energy. It's not a good or a bad. Heck, your money is wherever it is, is like beautiful.

It's orange and purple and stuff. Ours is very boring, but it's just energy. We're transferring energy.

Think about it as such. Okay. How many people in AA are just in financial straits because we don't know how to work it?

If you work the steps, you will straighten that out, too. I will show you that this afternoon. I will show you how to be financially responsible.

I'll do that for free. Ask her what I charge people for that. Woohoo.

Right. That's another part of our group. Doctors, lawyers, we have everybody in here.

Everybody. Everybody. Garbage men.

And I met a great guy yesterday. Uh, everybody, you know, electricians, plumbers, we all need each other. We all need each other.

Okay? In everything we do. Okay?

I want you to um I want you to go on page 19. I want you to go down to the third paragraph. I want you to write, "The big book is the program." Okay?

Box it in again. The big book is the program. All right.

The big book is the program. And here we go. We have concluded to publish an anonymous volume setting forth the problem as we see it.

We shall bring to the task of our combined experience and knowledge. This should suggest a useful and circle the word program for anyone concerned with a drinking problem. That is it.

We talked about the fellowship was the meetings. We talked about the big book now which is the program. Now you're learning the program.

Okay? And you need to go out and tell the world. Take a smoke break.

Chacha 10 minutes. Thank you for listening to Sober Sunrise. If you enjoyed today's episode, please give it a thumbs up as it will help share the message.

Until next time, have a great day.