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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. Basically today we're going to go ahead and and and Scott's going to start us off with with a little overview of what's in the preface and the forwards and uh then I'm going to give a little bit of history on on the doctor's opinion and its importance and how it how it came to be part of the basic text of the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous.

So Scott, why don't you come on up here? Sure. Thank you.

You guys will have to bear with me. I'm multitasking, recording and speaking. Um, my name is Scott, man.

Very definitely an alcoholic. Um, I was separated from alcohol on November 28th, 1997. It's a real honor to be here with you guys.

Uh, before I get started, I want you to know that each and every one of you people has influenced my sobriety. Um, I am absolutely convinced that every single person that walks in these doors has influenced my life in one way or another. And, uh, a little bit about what we're going to do here.

Uh Matthew and I have, you know, we talk inside the program and outside of the program and we realized that a lot of people they talk about the big book, but do people absolutely understand the big book and the doctor's opinion? Okay. Uh one of the biggest myths and I want to start out with this.

One of the biggest myths you hear in these rooms is that there's 164 pages. Uh, matter of fact, let's get a show of hands. How many people sponsor us said?

Read the first 164 pages. And guess what? You probably skipped over the doctor's opinion.

Right. Right. >> Have you drank again?

>> Yeah. Well, I like audience participation, and I think that's what's going to open this up for everybody to feel like we're a part of. I do not represent Alcoholics Anonymous.

I represent a sober person who has stayed sober in spite of myself. Okay. But I think that the doctor's opinion is the essence of the first step.

If I don't understand the doctor's opinion, real good chance I'm going to drink booze again. Real good chance. Cuz the doctor's opinion lays out the allergy, the obsession of the mind, and uh obviously the spiritual malady.

The three parts, the body, the mind, and the spirit of the illness. Uh, I used to understand the spirit of the illness, but I guarantee I didn't understand the body or the mind. I just thought it was only a moral issue.

Okay? I.e., I went down to the Pentecostal church every Sunday morning, every Wednesday night, and I rededicated my life. But for whatever reason, I couldn't stop drinking when I did that.

And I had no idea this is not just a moral issue. Okay? They didn't tell me that at the Pentecostal church.

They didn't say, "Well, buddy, you're suffering from an allergy of the body and you're condemned by an obsession of the mind to drink yourself to death." They said, "Brother, just keep coming back to the altar cause. God's going to change your life." And I'm not here to talk about what the Pentecostal Church did or didn't do, but that was my experience before prior to coming to Alcoholics Anonymous. Um, long story made short, I want to start out at the very beginning.

The doctor's opinion is what we're hoping we'll get through today. But uh I want to start you guys out on the preface. You >> want to say a prayer?

Prayer. >> Yeah. You forgot the prayer, didn't you?

>> Thank you, John. >> I'm an alcoholic. >> That's okay.

Yeah. Let's go ahead and have a prayer, guys. Let's have a moment of silence followed by the serenity prayer.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Okay. So, we're going to start on page Xi, Roman numeral 11.

Is everybody got a book? You don't have a book? Uh Dell, do you mind bringing out the books from the back for the folks who don't have the books?

So, I want everybody to follow along with me if at all possible. Hopefully, you brought your highlighter. I'm going to make some notes.

And what we're going to do is I'm just going to go through one paragraph at a time. Some stuff is pertinent to your sobriety. Some stuff isn't.

But we're going to go ahead and go through it the way my sponsor did it with me, one paragraph at a time. It says at the top of the preface, "This is the fourth edition of the book Alcoholics Anonymous. The first edition appeared in April 1939, and the following 16 years, more than 300,000 copies went into circulation.

The second edition, published in 1955, reached a total of more than 1,150, 500 copies. The third edition, which came off the press in 1976, achieved a circulation of approximately 19,550,000 copies in all formats. Okay, there's some good information there for me.

Basically, one thing I want to say about the big book, it's not as much what it says as what it means. That's what my sponsor wanted me to understand when I went through this book with him. He says, ' Don't read this thing just literally for what it says.

Try to find the underlying meaning. And what that first paragraph means to me is in 1939 when this book was written, they put out 300,000 copies. Sounds like a lot of copies, right?

But in 1976, there were 20 million copies in circulation. So what that says to me is this is an important book. We went from 300,000 copies and then 41 years later, I think it's 41, forgive me if my math's wrong, but 1976, we've got 20 million copies out there.

If this book was not important and this book did not work, I promise you it wouldn't have increased like that. Okay, so let's go to the second paragraph. says because this book he's become the basic text for our society and has helped such large numbers of alcoholic men and women to recovery there exists strong sentiment against any radical changes being made in it.

Therefore, the first portion of this volume describing the AA recovery program has been left untouched in the course of revisions made for the second, third, and fourth editions. The section called the doctor's opinion has been kept intact just as it was originally written in 1939 by the late Dr. William D.

Silkworth, our society's great medical benefactor. Okay, there's a very very important sentence there for me in the very first line. Okay, says because this book has become the basic text text.

So it's saying this book is a text book. What were textbooks when you guys were in in school? You went home and studied textbooks, right?

Okay. See that? This was not my experience the first six years of sobriety.

Physical sobriety. I like to say that. Physical sobriety.

Cuz I don't know if I was really sober then because I hadn't been introduced to this book to this level until I went to an 81-year-old man on the east side of town. And ever since I got with him, I've been a free man. Um the textbook philosophy, I used to think this was just a non-fiction novel.

Okay. You go pick it up in the self-help section at Barnes & Noble, right? Anybody else ever thought that?

Well, that's not what this is saying. This is a textbook. Okay?

I have to study this book if I want to recover from alcoholism. Not read it. Study it.

Reading it and studying. Two different ball games. So, it's already telling us this is a textbook and we're only on the second paragraph of this book.

Okay. Um, and it talks a little bit about the section called the doctor's opinion has been kept intact. So the doctor's opinion has stayed the same since 1939.

I.e. once again there's some important information in that chapter. Otherwise they would have changed it by now.

So let's go to the third par paragraph. It says the second edition added the appendices the 12 traditions and the directions for getting in touch with AA but for the chief change was in the section of personal stories which was expanded to reflect the fellowship's growth. Bill's story, Dr.

Bob's Nightmare and one other personal history from the first edition were retained intact. Three were edited and one of these was retitled. New versions of two stories were written with new titles.

30 completely new stories were added and the story section was divided into three parts under the same headings that are used now. Only thing that says to me is basically, you know, we've got four editions of this book that have been written and I guess each edition we've had different types of members coming in. We've had new experience, new members.

Therefore, they've changed the personal stories up a little bit to reflect the change in AA membership. Okay. and and I'm assuming that when we write when the fifth edition of this book is wrote, there'll also be some changes then because I think that AA is is constantly changing, but we need to hope that it's changing for the better and not the worse.

Um, and we'll get into that later on. Um, so the third edition, part one, Pioneers of AA, was left untouched. Nine of the stories in part two, they stopped in time, were carried over from the second edition.

Eight new stories were added. In part three, they lost nearly all. Eight stories were retained and five new ones were added.

The only thing that jumped out at me on that is I came to Alcoholics Anonymous. I've been sober since the age of 23. I was in the minority.

Um the group that I got sober in, the Harbor Group, I do not think there was another person my age at that time when I came in. So, I got a mind from the very beginning that was telling me, you may not be an alcoholic. Okay.

From the very get-go. you know, when you're 23 years old and all your your peers are, you know, late 40s, 50s, my mind's trying to get me out the door, okay? And some of you guys can probably still relate to this.

You may think you're too young to be an alcoholic now, right? But anyway, I went to a guy in the meeting one time in Harbor and he said, "There's a section in the back of the book. It's called They Stopped in Time." And it was written from young people's perspectives.

that man may have saved my life that day. Okay, I didn't know about this. And so I went to the back of the book and lo and behold, there were about eight stories that were reflective of people that got sober in Alcoholics Anonymous at a young age.

See, every time I've been willing to seek, God has always provided an answer for me. Um, but I got to say, first couple years, I had a lot of doubts if I was an alcoholic. I really did.

not to think about all the the misery, the panic attacks, anxiety attacks, guilt, shame, and remorse. See, my mind doesn't even think about that stuff. It talks about that we're unable to bring into uh consciousness the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago.

So, I'm sitting in Alcoholics Anonymous wondering if I'm an alcoholic. I didn't remember the time I wanted to blow my brains out at the age of 20 years old. Right.

So, we're dealing with some serious business here. A serious mental illness. Um, so I think it talks a little bit about and everybody's going to find something in this book that relates to them on a personal level.

I'm sharing my experience hoping that maybe it will spawn something in you guys that you will see. Um, next part says, "The fourth edition includes the 12 concepts for world service and revises the three sections of personal stories as follows. One new story has been added to part one and two that originally appeared in part three have been repositioned there.

Six stories have been deleted. Six of the stories in part two have been carried over. 11 new ones have been added and 11 taken out.

Okay, this is pretty monotonous now. Okay, part three now includes 12 new stories. Eight were removed in addition to the two that were transferred to part one.

Okay, we got a lot of information there. It's basically reiterating how much the book has changed. It's kind of funny, too, how much has changed.

I mean, you got to realize we still got alcoholics writing this book. You know, we're opinionated people, and I'm sure they're very opinionated up in New York, too, even though they're at the GSO. So, there's a lot of lot of changes going on here.

Um, the 12 concepts of world service is basically service at a world level. Okay? So, we've got the service at uh personal recovery first, then we've got service at a group level, and then you have service at the world level.

Okay? Okay. And that's what the 12 concepts for world service are.

Um, last paragraph on the preface says, "All changes made over the years in the big book, AA's me AA members fond nickname for this volume have had the same purpose to represent the current membership of Alcoholics Anonymous more accurately and thereby to reach more alcoholics." Okay, so that sums up everything we just talked about that the big book has changed only to represent and help more alcoholics. Okay. Um, if you have a drinking problem, we hope that you may pause and reading one of the 42 personal stories and think, "Yes, that happened to me." Or more important, "Yes, I felt like that." Or most important, "Yes, I believe this program can work for me, too.

Okay. And so if you if you skip the first if you just read the first 164 pages, you just skipped some real good information, didn't you? Right.

And again, I'm speaking from personal experience cuz I've done it before. I really have. And I was a dead man walking.

I was a dead man walking. Um, so let's go into the forward of the first edition. I told Matthew I wasn't going to be long-winded, but it's al almost a contradiction of my nature.

Oh, okay. So, we're on page Roman numeral 134 of the first edition. And remember, you guys can take notes.

Highlighter is great, but I usually have a pen beside me, too. Uh, AA is four years old when this AA was four years old when this book was written. Can you imagine these guys going from 1935 to 1939?

Absolutely blind. I mean, they didn't have anything down in writing of their concepts and their beliefs. They were studying everybody else's concepts and beliefs at that point.

And I think that's the reason Bill wrote this book ultimately is he realized, I've got to get this down on paper. It's going to have a lot greater effect on alcoholics if it's down on paper somewhere that people can look at it. Um, so in 1939 when this book was written, AA was 4 years old.

It says, "We of Alcoholics Anonymous are more than 100 men and women who have recovered past tense from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body." To show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book. There's some real important information there for me. Okay, recovered.

There's some more controversy. How many recovering alcoholics do you hear that a lot in here? You hear recovering?

Okay. Well, let me let me clarify this. Recovered does not mean cured.

Okay. I promise you if I have not been through the big book and worked the 12 steps with a sponsor, I am recovering. Okay?

These guys were recovered because they had done that. So, you know, look at it if how you want to, but if you've gone through the 12 steps, you are recovered alcoholic. But recovered and cured are two different things.

Okay? Um to show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book. So, if this book is the basic text, we already established in the preface, right?

This book is the basic text for our society. Isn't that what it said? And then it says that the main purpose of this book is to show other alcoholics how we have recovered.

So would it be important to say that the main purpose of this program is this book? Would it be safe to say that since it said what it said in the preface about that? This book is very very important.

Okay. It's the only thing that I can carry on to another alcoholic that's foolproof. It really is.

It's foolproof because all the information is right here. That ain't opinion. It's all right here.

Um, and anything that I may say today that doesn't that contradicts this book, you can disregard it, okay? Cuz I'm sharing my experience on this. So, the book is an absolute necessity to overcome alcoholism for them.

We hope these pages will prove so convincing that no further authored then I can get into some other literature. Okay, then I can start reading my daily reflections and I can start becoming a guru on a daily basis. I can start praying and meditating in the morning.

But first of all, I better recover first. See, what we got going on is we're reading all kinds of other literature that is real good information. Don't get me wrong, it's all AA literature, but we've already established this book is the basic text for recovery.

The end. Period. The end.

Okay. Not living sober. This book.

Okay. Um it says no further authentication will be necessary. That means there's no reason I don't have to change this.

I don't have to go write my own version of it. You know, although my ego says it'd like to, I got to tell you, I was thinking about, man, I wonder if we could come up with our own version. I'm like, dude, that's absolutely insane.

You know, see, my mind can still go out there and I have to tell you guys this. I I have to say it out loud so I can hear myself, but that's the kind of mind we're working with here. Okay, I'm talking about how important this book is.

And then I got a mind that says, "Maybe I could come up with my own version." You know what I mean? Um, we think this account of our experiences will help everyone to better understand the alcoholic. Many do not comprehend that the alcoholic is a very sick person.

And besides, we are sure that our way of living has its advantages for all. Guess what? They've got over what, 212step programs now.

AA was the very first 12step program. Now they've got uh, you name it. Narcotics Anonymous, Sex Addicts Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, it goes on and on and on.

And what that says to me is anybody can benefit from this way of life. Okay? I.e.

I think that's why there's been people go out and start 12step programs that were based upon our 12 steps because AA was the first 12step program and now you've got over 200. Um second paragraph it says it is important that we remain anonymous because we are too few at present to handle the overwhelming number of personal appeals which may result from this publication. Being mostly business or professional folk, we could not well carry on our occupation in such an event.

We would like it understood that our alcoholic work is an abocation. Real important word guys. Highlight underline parentheses abocation.

The definition of abocation is uh I've got my little big book dictionary here and I'm going to give you some opinions on this. You can agree with them or not, but activity which is less important than one's regular job. Okay, that's the actual definition.

Activity which is less important than one's regular job. An advocation to me um means I do this for free and for fun. Okay, whenever I get done talking today, I'm not going to ask you guys to write me a check for my services.

Okay, because this is an avocation. If I start charging money for this, you might as well go buy me a funeral plot. Okay?

Really, you might as well. And this is my opinion and my opinion only. I think that's part of the reason treatment centers don't have the success that Alcoholics Anonymous does.

Okay, they're charging money for what we do for free. And I guarantee you the message that one alcoholic carries to another, one alcoholic that has recovered is going to have a lot more power than me having to pay some guy 5 grand to go stay in his treatment center. Don't get me wrong, treatment centers have a place.

They're about discovery. They're about drying out. They're about getting the booze and the drugs out of my body.

But one alcoholic helping another for free and for fun is the oldest principle known to man. You cannot charge money for this. Okay?

And that's what avocation means to me. We do this for free and for fun. And uh and thank God for that.

Thank God for that. Uh then it says when writing or speaking publicly about alcoholism, we urge each member of our fellowship to omit his personal name. designating himself instead as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Okay, that's an anonymity statement. And what it means to me and the way my sponsor described it, he says you can give your full name within the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. The anonymity statement is more to protect your fellow AA member, your friends in AA rather than yourself.

Okay? It'd be like if I went outside and I said I saw Matthew and I gave his last name to somebody that's not in AA. I just shattered Matthew's anonymity.

Okay, that's if I'm outside of this room and I give Matthew's full name and the person I'm talking to is not an AA member. I shattered his anonymity. And I got to tell you, I've done this stuff once or twice in my sobriety without even realizing I was doing it.

like running into somebody I know and we have a mutual friend like, "Hey, did you hear so and so is going to AA?" Whoop! I didn't realize it. I just broke that guy's anonymity.

You know what I mean? So, the important thing for me to understand, it says when writing or speaking publicly. This is not publicly.

Publicly is at the Kowanas Club. It's at your local high school, your local middle school, wherever. That's publicly.

So, if I'm out speaking in public, you know, as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, I can only give my first name. I can't say, "My name is Scott Man. I'm an alcoholic." I say, "My name is Scott.

I'm a member of Alcoholics Anonymous." And that's what Bill Wilson was talking about. And you know why? Because back then, they only had a hundred members.

Guess what? They didn't have every group in town for people like us to go speak at. They had to go to churches.

They had to go to the Kuanas Club because they didn't have anywhere to go speak. That's why Bill Wilson wrote this anonymity statement. This does not apply as greatly to us today as it did to them back then because there was only a hundred of those people.

You know, they were very limited on where they could go share their stories. And we're going to read about that in the forward of the second edition where they go and they spoke at a couple of special dinners for people that were non-Aa members. So the important thing for me to know is uh is within the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, I can give my full name, but once I leave these rooms um and I go speak in public as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous, I better just give my first name only.

Okay, to protect AA and protect anonymity. Uh next paragraph says, very earnestly we ask the press also to observe this request for other otherwise we shall be greatly handicapped. We are not an organization in the traditional sense, conventional sense of the word.

There are no dues or fees whatsoever. The only requirement for membership is an honest desire to stop drinking. We are not allied with any particular faith, sect, or denomination.

Nor do we oppose anyone. We simply wish to be helpful to those who are afflicted. Bless it sounds kind of like that abocation again.

Just I really want to be helpful to to those who are afflicted. I don't, you know, have any other uh don't have any other real needs that I need to have met here than help somebody that's a a fellow alcoholic. Funny about this, the forward of the first edition, Bill, our third tradition stated the only requirement for membership was an honest desire to stop drinking.

Well, if we look at it now, it doesn't say anything about honest. And now this is folklore, but I heard Bill took honest out because there ain't an alcoholic on the planet who knows how to be honest when he comes in here. And I heard that's why he took it out.

But anyway, um matter of fact, I don't know if I could have handled that either when I came cuz honesty was definitely not my best policy. I got to tell you. Um so I think it's kind of ironic he originally had honest in there and now it's just a desire to stop drinking, which is important.

uh we shall be interested to hear from those who are getting results from this book particularly from those who have commenced work with other alcoholics. Okay, we should like to be helpful to such cases. It says inquiry by scientific, medical and religious societies will be welcome.

That's pretty open-minded, wouldn't you say? Pretty open-minded. He's saying, "We'd be glad to hear from scientists, doctors, religions." And that once again reconfirms that that AA does not have all the answers to every problem known to man.

Okay? Otherwise, he wouldn't be saying, you know, you're welcome to uh ask us any questions you might have. Okay?

We don't have all the answers. I'm not a doctor. I'm not a lawyer.

I'm not a romance counselor. Okay? I'm just a sober member of AA who has stayed sober.

And that's what I really have to pass on fundamentally. Okay. Um forward to the second edition which is on page 15, Roman numeral 15.

I want to say this real quick while we're doing it. Guys, um Matthew, did you I don't know if you mentioned that we're going to have a uh we want to have kind of an ask it basket question and answer time. So, for anybody that has any questions on what we're going over today that you want to ask, uh, go ahead and write it down on a piece of paper, put it in the basket, and when we have a little break after the first hour, we'll come back and try to answer all those questions.

And if we can't get to all of them for some reason, I'll be glad we'd be glad to answer any questions at the end of the deal today. So, guys, feel free to write down any questions you might have, okay? Because that's what we're here for.

Uh, forward to the second edition. So this was written in 1955. AA is 20 years old at this point.

Okay. So it's been 16 years since the last writing. It says, "Since the original forward of this book was written in 1939, a wholesale miracle has taken place.

Our earliest printing voiced the hope that every alcoholic who journeys will find the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous at his destination." Already continues the early text. twos and threes and fives of us have sprung up in other communities. What that's saying to me is AA is continuing to grow.

Okay, it's continuing to grow and even after 16 years is continuing to grow. Says 16 years have elapsed between our first printing of this book and the presentation in 1955 of our second edition. In that brief space, Alcoholics Anonymous has mushroomed into nearly 6,000 groups whose membership is far above 150,000 recovered alcoholics.

So, we've got 150,000 recovered alcoholics and 16 years prior we had 100. So, do you think this program works? Do we have any doubt yet?

We still got any doubting Thomases out there like me? Um, we went from 100 recovered alcoholics 16 years later we got 150,000. That speaks for itself, I'd say.

Um, groups would be found in each of the United States and all of the provinces of Canada. AA is flourishing communities in the British Isles, the Scandinavian countries, South Africa, South America, Mexico, Alaska, Australia, and Hawaii. All told, promising beginnings had been made in some 50 foreign countries in US possessions.

Some are just now taking shape in Asia. Many of our friends encourage us by saying that this is but a beginning only the augury of a much larger future ahead. And let's look up auggury cuz I forgot what that meant.

Okay. Auggury. Auggury is a sign, an indication, something that indicates future happenings.

Okay. And Bill uses a lot of language in here. I got this little big book dictionary when I was in Akran at founders day this year and I tell you this thing is a lifesaver man and you can buy them online too by the way.

They've got I don't know if you've seen them before. Um the spark that was to flare into the first AA group was struck at Akran Ohio in June 1935 during a talk between a New York stock broker Bill Wilson and an Akran physician Dr. Bob Smith.

Um 6 months earlier, the broker had been relieved of his drink obsession by a sudden spiritual experience following a meeting with an alcoholic friend who had been in contact with the Oxford groups of that day. He had also been greatly helped by the late Dr. William D.

Silkworth, a New York specialist in alcoholism who is now accounted no less than a medical saint by AA members in whose story of the early days of our society appears in the next pages. From this doctor, the broker had learned of the grave nature of alcoholism. Though he could not accept all the tenants of the Oxford groups, he was convinced of the need for a moral inventory, confession of personality defects, restitution of those harmed, helpfulness to others, and the necessity of belief in dependence upon God.

There's a lot of information there, guys. Okay, so basically this started June 1935. Bill Wilson, Dr.

Bob got together. Um, I like to get a little bit, let's see here. Okay, I think it goes in the next paragraph.

I'll actually get further into the stories, but Bill and Dr. Bob were both members of the Oxford groups. And uh, brief history on the Oxford group.

It was a it was a program that was very similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. We believed they believed in one alcoholic helping another. But the Oxford groups was a religious organization, okay?

And they they they were very clear about that. I believe they even had membership dues. Okay.

And I think that a lot of their their strict doctrine of religion is what ended up being part of their uh their downfall. Why they did not succeed as well as AA is because they had a lot of religious ideas. Okay.

Um so Bill and Dr. Bob were both members of the Oxford group and uh Bill could not accept all the tenants of the Oxford group and the tenants of the Oxford group as my sponsor shared with me are what they call the four absolutes. Okay?

And you don't read about this in the big book but it's very very very important because the four absolutes is what ended up being the 12 steps that you guys know today. Okay? And that was absolute honesty with basically is the first step getting honest that I'm powerless over alcohol.

My life's unmanageable. Absolute honesty, absolute purity, absolute unselfishness, and absolute love. Those were the tenants of the Oxford group.

And uh Bill, I think, was more I just don't think the guy was ready yet. You know what I mean? I mean, we can say it was religion and he couldn't accept it, but really the dude just ain't hit bottom yet is what it gets down to.

Uh, but he realized there was some tenants from the Oxford group that were absolute necessities and he already saw he had the awareness of that, but he just didn't know how to put it into his life yet. So um next paragraph down says prior to his journey to Akran the broker had worked hard with many alcoholics on the theory that only an alcoholic can help an alcoholic. Okay.

But he had succeeded only in keeping sober himself. You guys probably heard about that story. He'd been helping drunks for like 6 months and uh none of them had stayed sober for any any amount of time whatsoever.

And so he went to his wife Lois and he said, "Lois, you know, I just don't know if I'm doing the right thing. I don't know what's going on here." And uh none of them are staying sober and she looked at Bill and she said something very poignant. She said, "Bill, but you are." See, that's that's it, baby.

That's the ticket to freedom right there. Cuz see, whether you guys accept what we're talking about up here and whether you stay sober or not, ultimately I want you to stay sober that I wouldn't rather have anything else in the world, but I guarantee I'm going to. Okay?

And this is this is important to understand by getting out of myself and helping others. That's how we find sobriety, you know. Um, so Bill was staying sober.

They weren't staying sober, but Bill was. Um, so anyway, the broker went to Akran on a business venture which had collapsed, leaving him greatly in fear that he might start drinking again. He suddenly realized that in order to save himself, he must carry his message to another alcoholic.

That alcoholic turned out to be the Akran physician. Okay, I'm going to give you a little history on this because I learned about it a lot this year when I went to the Founders Day in Akran, Ohio, which by the way, if you guys have never been, I would highly recommend it. It was a once in a-lifetime AA experience for me.

Um, we went to the Mayflower Hotel. We saw where actually Bill was when he made the phone calls and and uh saw the bar that he almost went in and drank. and we went to uh Henrietta Cyberlings Gate House where Dr.

Bob and Bill met that day and where they started the whole program. But basically what happened is Bill was in a uh a real bad place. He had gone to Akran business.

Apparently the guy had lost his ass and uh he really wanted to take a drink. Okay. Um, and he already had realized that the guy he can't stay sober on his own.

And so he started pacing the lobby at the Mayflower Hotel. Okay. He heard the camaraderie.

There was a barroom upstairs that literally the And I've been there. So the the barroom is maybe 20 ft from the lobby where Bill was. So I can see that the guy was probably pretty tempted.

It's only about a 20 foot walk to order him a drink. And I think he said uh he thought about going in and ordering the drink right there. And so he went in instead or actually what happened is he had a thought cross his mind.

He was going to order the drink so he could have some camaraderie so he could make a friend for the weekend so he wouldn't be alone. There's that loneliness that we all deal with. And instead a thought came to his mind.

What about the other alcoholics? Okay, pretty powerful right there. You know why that guy was about he was at the lowest point of his life about to take a drink of booze and the thought that came to that man's mind is what about the other alcoholics?

That's powerful. You know what I mean? So Bill went into the bar story goes and instead of ordering a drink he got change and uh so he could go out to the pay phone in the lobby.

Now this is the story I got this year when I went up there. Okay. Bill got on the phone.

He started going down the church directory. It was Mother's Day, by the way. You know, Mother's Day, people are spending it with their families.

It's it's pretty busy time of year, you know. And so this guy starts calling people on this phone list. And he called he got to 10 phone calls.

He got to his 10th phone call before anybody truly responded to what he was saying. You know, can of course, can you imagine a guy calling on Mother's Day and saying, "Hey, my name is Bill Wilson. I'm an alcoholic staying at the Mayflower Hotel.

I need to find another alcoholic to talk to." You know what I mean? I mean, if I got a phone call before I came here like that, I might be like, "This dude's neurotic." You know what I mean? So, and I think uh he some of the phone calls he made within those 10 calls, a couple of the people said, "Well, why won't you come join us in church tomorrow?" you know, so some of them were compassionate, but they still couldn't provide another alcoholic.

And so I believe about the 10th phone call, he he called a person named Walter Tons, a reverend. Okay. Walter Tung was very receptive, although he was busy, too.

Um, he said, "I do think I know somebody." And he knew Henrietta Cyberland. Okay. So, Walter Tunks uh put Bill with Henrietta Cyberling.

Well, Henrietta Cyberling came from the uh the Goodyear Tire and Rubber family in Akran, Ohio. Uh you guys have heard of Goodyear Tires. Her husband was one of the founders of Goodyear Tire, Henrietta.

And Henrietta, uh Walter Tons knew Henrietta because Henrietta was a member of the Oxford groups. See, there's the Oxford group connection again. And so Bill called Henrietta and Henrietta was the first person really who took the time a day to talk to Bill Wilson that day.

She was the first one who stopped what she was doing. We owe a lot to that person, that girl, that woman. She stopped what she was doing to help Bill Wilson that day.

And she says, "You know, Bill, I'm not an alcoholic, but I sure understand you guys. I've, you know, I I I can only imagine that you're in a tough place and I can see why you'd want to talk to somebody else. And so she said, I do know somebody.

She said, I have a dear friend. Her and her husband are member of the Oxford group, too. Her name is Anne Smith.

And so Henrietta made a phone call to Anne. And uh Dr. Bob was pretty much three sheets in the wind that day.

So Anne Anne said, "Hey, Henrietta's on the phone, Bob." and and there's some man from Akran staying at the Mayflower Hotel who'd like to talk to you. And Bob was wasted at this point. It's like late in the afternoon, you know, on Mother's Day.

He said, "I don't want to talk to that guy. Tell him to call tomorrow." You know what I mean? And uh anyway, long story made short, uh Henrietta said, "Well, Bill, Dr.

Bob, you know, he's not in a good place today, but can you can you make it till tomorrow?" And just by Bill being willing to make all those phone calls he made, he was able to get through the day sober that night. And so the following day is when they actually met, Bill and Dr. Bob, the day after Mother's Day.

Okay? And they met at Henrietta's gate house. And if you guys see this property that she owned, her and her husband, it's unbelievable.

It's a mansion. And this gate house is the size of a average person's house. and they've got it all set up with all these historical AA stuff.

I mean, it's it's really pretty amazing. Um, but anyway, Bill and Dr. Bob, Henrietta and Anne, Dr.

Bob's wife and Henrietta put those two guys together. Okay. And Dr.

Bob said, "I'm only going to give the guy 15 minutes." Okay. Well, 6 hours later, they left there. And uh, Bill Wilson obviously didn't take a drink.

Dr. Bob didn't end up getting drunk after Bill went back to New York. Bob got he had to go back out for one more experiment.

He wasn't quite convinced, you know, and uh but shortly thereafter uh and Matthew's going to touch on this the next part of our session. He's going to touch on what Bill finally said to Dr. Bob to sway his opinion, to change his mind.

Um, but that's basically what happened is is uh as a result of a series of phone calls like four or five people, Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob finally got together. Now, I got to tell you that is willing to go to any link to stay sober.

Would you agree? Okay. This guy made 10 phone calls, had to go through five more phone calls after that, and we're all standing here now.

And I want to think about myself today. Poor me. Poor pitiful me.

You see what I'm saying? This is We are selfish and self-centered, man. And we don't even see the light of what our forefathers in AA did for us, man.

I mean, that guy was willing to go to any length. That's the best description I think I've ever heard. Being left all alone in a strange town and making 10, 15 phone calls before you find another alcoholic to talk to.

That's what it takes, man. Um, anyway, that's enough on that, but that's a little bit of what happened for Bill and Dr. Bob to get together.

It says the physician had repeatedly tried spiritual means to resolve his alcoholic dilemma, but had failed. But when the broker gave him Dr. Silkwor's description of alcoholism and its hopelessness, the physician began to pursue the spiritual remedy, spiritual remedy for his malady with a willingness he had never been able to muster before.

And Matthew is going to touch on that one after the break. He's going to go a little deeper into the language of the heart. Uh he sobered never to drink again up until the moment of his death in 1950.

This seemed to prove once again that one alcoholic can affect another al another non-alcoholic. Excuse me. This seemed to prove that one alcoholic could affect another as no non-alcoholic could.

Okay. And I would absolutely agree with that. It also indicated that strenuous work.

Okay. strenuous work one alcoholic with another was vital to permanent recovery. I think everything we've read about star so far goes all it all goes back one alcoholic helping another, doesn't it?

You know what I mean? I hadn't seen strenuous work with other alcoholics in a long time, guys. Have you guys ever seen strenuous work with other alcoholics?

No, you have. Okay. >> Yes, I have.

Dallas. >> It's few and far between now though, isn't it? Not in Dallas.

>> Not in Dallas. Good. Well, we just we just need to bring that over here to Fort Worth, don't we?

Um, so let's go on top of page. Uh, we're on Roman numeral 17. Hence, the two men set to work almost frantically.

I mean, he uses some pretty big big words to describe this. Upon alcoholics arriving in the ward to the Akran City Hospital, their very first case, a desperate one, man. And that's what it takes.

He's got to be desperate to get this recovered immediately. Now, I hear that he really didn't recover immediately. I hear that it took a while for Bill Dodson to recover, but and became AA number three.

He never had another drink. And by the way, AA number three was a man by the name of Bill Dodson. Okay?

Uh he never had another drink. This work at Akran continued through the summer of 1935. There were many failures, but there was an occasional heartening success.

When the broker returned to New York in the fall of 1935, the first AA group had actually been formed, though no one realized it at the time. Okay, so the first official AA group was in Akran. Okay, that's where the first official group was.

A second small group promptly took shape at New York to be followed in 1937 with the start of a third group at Cleveland which was I believe started by the man um by the name a man by the name of Clarence Snider. Okay. A lot of people say that Clarence Snyder is the guy who invented sponsorship.

A lot of people say he's the one who is responsible for sponsorship. uh he wrote the home brew meister and I believe it was the first or second edition of the big book. Very very spiritual man.

I was reading some information on Clarence Snider and Clarence when he got a newcomer he took that newcomer through the steps in about 72 hours. All 12 steps in 72 hours. Again, I hadn't seen that around here in a long time.

Okay? And I and I don't do it myself. I don't do it myself.

But can you imagine that's serious business and uh another thing about Clarence though, he was a very religious man. And so part of him sponsoring somebody is they had to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And I'm not going to go into that deeply, but uh of course we can we can talk about that too because it all goes back to to the big big book anyway.

Um but Clarence was the guy who I believe started AA in Cleveland. That's been my understanding. And he did a lot of miracles.

He performed a lot of work in Alcoholics Anonymous. Incredible man. Besides these, there were scattered alcoholics who had picked up the basic ideas in Akran or New York who were trying to form groups in other cities.

By late 1937, the number of members having substantial sobriety time behind them was sufficient to convince the membership that a new light had entered the dark world of the alcoholic. And what that meant to me is the miracle of God was finally working in their life. Um it was now time the struggling groups thought to place their message in a unique experience before the world.

And once again that's when they realized we got to put all this down on paper. We got to be able to pass this on and be able to show people what we're talking about. You know what I mean?

And that's when Bill Wilson started writing this book. uh the terminate the determination bore fruit in the spring of 1939 by the publication of this volume. The membership had then reached about a hundred men and women.

The fledgling society which had been nameless now began to be called Alcoholics Anonymous from the title of its own book. Okay. So once again it it all goes back to this program.

The meeting we're in today all goes back to this book. Okay. Without this book, there would be no AA meeting.

And see, we're doing a we got the cart before the horse. We're doing it backwards. We're coming to AA and we're just going to meet and we're not studying this book.

But the book is what should come first, then the meetings. You see what I'm saying? Um, so once again, the book is uh is how the whole fellowship really began.

Um the flying blind period ended and AA entered a new phase of its pioneering time. It's because they finally had something they could read and study. It wasn't opinion anymore.

You know, those first four years there's a lot of opinion because they didn't have anything really really is set in stone yet. With the appearance of the new book, a great deal began to happen. Dr.

Harry Emerson Fosdic, the noted clergyman, reviewed it with approval. In the fall of 1939, Fulton Hoursler, the editor of Liberty magazine, printed a piece in his magazine called Alcoholics and God. And I actually printed that off the internet yesterday.

I was doing some research on what we're doing. Um, and it's a very cool story. If you guys haven't read it, this alcoholics and God, this brought a rush of 800 frantic inquiries into the little New York office, which meanwhile have been established.

Each inquiry inquiry was painstakingly answered. Pamphlets and books were sent out. Businessmen traveling out of existing groups were referred to these prospective newcomers.

New groups started up and it was found to the astonishment of everyone that AA's message could be transmitted in the mail as well as by word of mouth. By the end of 1939, it was estimated that 800 alcoholics were on their way to recovery. Okay, I like I'm big on statistics and numbers.

So, in the spring of 1939 when Bill wrote this book, there were 100 members, right? 100 recovered alcoholics. And by the end of 1939, after this book was put out in the world, there were 800.

Okay, so we're talking about a 6 a six-month period. We went from 100 members to 800. In the four years prior without this book, we only got 100 members.

Okay? So, you can again see the importance of this book that this was truly the way they carried the message to one another. Um, in the spring of 1940, John D.

Rockefeller Jr. gave a dinner for many of his friends to which he invited AA members to tell their stories. News of this got on the worldwires.

Inquiries poured in again and many went people went to the bookstores to get the book Alcoholics Anonymous. By March 1941, the membership had shot up to 2,000. Then Jack Alexander wrote a feature article in the Saturday Evening Post and placed such a compelling picture of AA before the general public that alcoholics in need of help really delusioned us.

Uh which means overwhelmed. Uh by the close of 1941, AA numbered 8,000 members. the mushrooming process was in full swing.

AA had become a national institution. Okay. So, spring of 1939, we got 100 members.

By the end of 1941, we got 8,000. And in the first four years without this book, we only got 100 period. So, we went from 100 members to 8,000 in 2 and 1/2 years after this book came out.

Okay. Again, it's one thing to have experience and share your opinion with an alcoholic, but it's another thing to have it in in writing. Okay, so this is the message this book.

Um, our society then entered a fearsome and exciting adolescent period. The test that it faced was this. Could these large numbers of versile erratic alcoholics successfully meet and work together?

Probably not. Will there be quarrels over membership, leadership, and money? Will there be strivings for power and prestige?

Yes. Yes. Yes, still have it today.

Would there be schisms which would split AA apart? Soon AA was beset by these very problems on every side and in every group. But out of this frightening and at first disrupting experience, the conviction grew that AAS had to hang together or die separately.

We had to unify our fellowship or pass off the scene. Okay. So now that we got there was 8,000 of us.

There's and we're growing by the day. You get a lot of egotist. You get a lot of alcoholics together in one place.

What happens? You get a lot of egos too, right? You get a lot of egos.

And so these guys started getting together and there were so many of them that they started having some some group problems. They started having a lot of opinions, a lot of fights, a lot of arguments. And Bill Wilson realized that something has to happen here.

And that's when he started writing the 12 traditions. He realized that's the only way that we were going to stay together. Otherwise, we were literally going to kill one another.

And that's the whole purpose of the 12 traditions. I promise you, if Bill wouldn't have written them, we wouldn't be having this meeting today. Okay?

We would have absolutely killed one another with our egos and our opinions by now. I mean, you get alcoholics. I'm speaking from my own experience.

one of the most egotistical people in the world. We are the most arrogant people known to man and you get all of us together. Katie, bar the door, man, cuz it's you're going to have some egos.

Um, and so Bill realized that and that's why he wrote the 12 traditions. Another thing I want to say about this guys, and everything I share is my experience. There's a reason groups are ununified.

Okay, there's a reason. is because there's no personal recovery first. >> There's no personal recovery first.

I have to recover through this book through the 12 steps before I can ever become unified. Matter of fact, before I before I work the steps, guys, I got to tell you, none of this matter to me whatsoever. I talk about drug addiction, sex addiction, you name it.

in aa mix because I hadn't recovered. My ego was still running the show. My mind had not changed yet.

I had not had a psychic change. So before the traditions can truly be practiced by an individual member of AA, he has to have recovered through the 12 steps. That's how it's always been for me.

The person that I was before I recovered is not a unified person. got to tell you, I am not a unified individual by myself alone. And that's why we don't have unity in our groups, guys.

It's because we got a lot of members that have not recovered through the 12 steps. Hate to tell you that's it. Okay.

Um don't want to sound like a bleeding deacon, so I'm going to leave it at that, but this is my experience. Uh so uh second paragraph down on Roman numeral 19 as we discovered the principles by which the individual alcoholic could live which is the 12 steps right the principles by the individual alcoholic. So we had to evolve principles by which the AA groups and AA as a whole could survive and function.

But again the principles came first didn't it? The steps come first, then come the traditions. Okay?

It was thought that no alcoholic man or woman could be excluded from our society. That our leaders might serve but never govern. That each group was to be autonomous.

And there was to be no professional class of therapy. There were to be no fe no fees or dues. Our expenses were to be met by voluntary contributions.

There was to be the least possible organization even in our service centers. Our public relations were to be based on attraction rather than promotion. It was decided that all members ought to be anonymous at the level of press, radio, TV, and films.

And in no circumstances should we give endorsements, make alliances, or enter public controversies. I'm just thinking about endorsements. You know, I'm thinking about uh like, you know, basketball players, they get an endorsement from Nike or Reebok.

You know, it' be like me going out and endorsing Budweiser beer. You know what I mean? I mean, we can't get involved in those outside issues.

Okay? They will destroy us. They will destroy us.

And so, that's the 12 traditions right there. That's when Bill wrote them. It says, "This was the substance of AA's 12 traditions, which are stated in full on page 561 of this book.

Though none of these principles had the force of rules or laws, which that means I can't throw you in jail if you don't live by the traditions." Okay? But quite frankly, you going to throw yourself in jail. You're going to throw yourself in jail.

I'm not going to have to. You're going to be in a spiritual prison if you don't live by. Um, I lost my train of thought.

Though none of these principles had the force of rules or laws, they had become so widely accepted by 1950 that they were confirmed by our first international conference held at Cleveland. Today, the remarkable unity of AA is one of the greatest assets that our society has. And I I just I can't go on and on enough about it.

Um while the internal difficulties of our adolescent period were being ironed out, public acceptance of AA grew by leaps and bounds. For this there were two principal reasons. The large numbers of recoveries and reunited homes.

These made their impressions everywhere. Of alcoholics who came to AA and really tried. 50% got sober at once and remained that way.

25% sobered up after some relapses. And among the remainder, those who stayed on with AA showed improvement. Other thousands came to AA came to a few AA meetings and at first decided they didn't want the program, but great numbers of these about two out of three began to return as time passed.

A lot of information there too, guys. Um it tells me right there and this uh for this is a forward of the second edition was written in 1955. So this reflected our fellowship in 1955.

It says of alcoholics who came to AA and really tried i.e. worked the 12 steps, one out of two got sober and stayed sober. Okay.

What do you think our what do you think our statistics are today? A >> lot lower. >> A lot lower.

Okay. Now, I heard one out of 20 gets a five five-year medallion. And I think I got that from a guy speaking about the Dallas central office.

They added up how many desire chips they sold in comparison to how many 5-year medallions they sold. And for every 20 desire chips that the Dallas central office sold, they only sold one 5-year medallion. Okay?

So that basically says one out of 20 that gets a desire chip is going to get 5 years of sobriety. Well, this just says that one out of two got sober in states sober in 1955. Okay, so what's the problem here, guys?

We're not sharing this book anymore. That's the problem. We're sharing treatment center lingo, narcotics anonymous lingo.

We're sharing all kinds of crap that has nothing to do with AA. That's the problem. Okay, this book one out of two got sober and then it says one out of four sobered up after some relapses.

So I mean I think uh I remember reading that Dr. Bob's home group in Akran, they had a 93% success rate. Okay, you guys can research this.

The home group, the first group of Alcoholics Anonymous that Dr. Bob was a member of a 93% success rate. Okay, we got 5% success rate now.

Okay, what's the problem? We're not sharing the sharing the message of this book. Period.

The end. Okay. Um, this book will get us back to the success rate where more alcoholics recover because our forefathers already promised us that through their own experience.

And you cannot argue with experience. Okay, our forefathers taught us before we ever came here. Um, thank God for that cuz believe me, I couldn't have done it.

I needed some guidance and I'm grateful for this. Uh, I'm going to read a little bit more and then we're going to take a short break, guys. Uh, let's see.

Another reason for the wide acceptance of AA was the administration of friends. Friends in medicine, religion, and the press together with innumerable others who became our able and persistent advocates. Without such support, AA could could have made only the slowest progress.

Some of the recommendations of AA's early medical and religious friends will be found further on in this book. Once again, that reiterates I am not a doctor, okay? I'm not a lawyer.

I'm not a counselor. It's saying right there, the greatest asset of our program is our friends in medicine, religion, and the press. So, that lets me know once again that I have to seek outside help.

Okay? I don't have all the answers. And that's another thing the book tells us that it's very clear.

We have to seek the help of uh of people outside of this program to help us in other areas. Alcoholics Anonymous is not a religious organization. Neither does AA take any particular medical point of view.

Though we cooperate widely with the men of medicine as well as the men of religion. Once again, you know, I need doctors and I need preachers. I need both of them and I use both of them.

Okay? I go to church and I also go to my doctor. I think it's very important.

Um, alcohol being no respector of persons, we are an accurate cross-section of America. And in distant lands, the same democratic evening up process is now going on by personal religious affiliation. We include Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Hindus, and a sprinkling of Muslims and Buddhists.

More than 15% of us are women. Okay. Well, the first thing that came to my mind is the Pentecostal church couldn't claim that.

Okay. We couldn't claim uh Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Hindus, and Muslims, and Buddhist all in one place. Okay?

I promise you that's not the way I was brought up. I was brought up to be very prejudice, very judgmental, very close-minded. And Alcoholics Anonymous is such a powerful program, a powerful message.

It doesn't matter what religion you are, doesn't matter what color your skin is, doesn't matter any of that. All that matters is you if you want to recover. Okay, that's the only thing that matters.

There ain't a church known to man that can claim that. Okay, there may be a few out there now. Maybe the Unity Church might be one close, but but you know guys, a 12step program.

This is powerful stuff. Okay. Um at our present, our membership is pyramiding at the rate of about 20% a year.

So far upon the total problem of several million and actual and potential alcoholics in the world, we have made only a scratch. And boy, that's a fact. In all probability, we shall never be able to touch more than a fair fraction of the alcohol problem and all its ramifications.

Upon therapy for the alcoholic himself, we surely have no monopoly. And my sponsor told me that that means AA is not the only way. Okay.

Aa is not the only way for an alcoholic to get sober. For me, it has been because I tried the Pentecostal church. I tried psychiatrist over and over and over again.

And AA was the last choice for me. Um, but we are not the only way. If you guys can find it in another place, another arena, and you can find what we find here, baby, go get it.

Get it. But, you know, for me, this has been the only thing that's that's uh held true. Um, so it says, "Yet our great hope that all those who have yet found no answer may begin to find one in the pages of this book and will presently join us on the high road to a new freedom." Okay.

And we're going to take a short break. Appreciate you guys and your attention. Um, and Matthew's going to come back up and share a little bit after that.

Thank you. Okay. And one thing I want to say, at the beginning of the forward to the third edition, AA is now 41 years old.

So, first edition, we were four years old. Uh, second edition, that's okay. It's just the tape.

That's okay. We got two CDs going, too. So, cool.

Um, second edition, we were, what did I say? 20 years old. 20 years old, the second edition.

And now in 1976, AA is 41 years old. So it's just kind of reflecting the change in our membership. Says by March 1976, when this edition went to the printer, the total worldwide membership of Alcoholics Anonymous was conservatively estimated at more than 1 million with almost 28,000 groups meeting in over 90 countries.

So we went from 100 members to now we got over a million 41 years later. Does anybody have any doubt still that this program works? Um, surveys of groups in the United States and Canada indicate that AA is reaching out not only to more and more people but to a wider and wider range.

Women now make up more than 1/4 of our membership. Among newer members, the proportion is nearly 1/3. 7% of the AA surveyed are less than 30 years of age.

Among them, many in their teens. And I was in the 7% when I came in because I was 23. And uh again, you don't see as many young people staying around anymore.

We see a lot of young people coming. We get a lot of young people here at the 24, but we don't see as many really stay sober long term. I haven't yet.

Um we do have a couple members that come here that did get sober in their teams. Uh two ladies, there's two girls I can think of that got sober when they were 17 years old, 18. And that's almost unheard of.

Um, the basic principles of the AA program, it appears, hold good for individuals with many different national, many different lifestyles, just as the program has brought recovery to those of many different nationalities. The 12 steps that summarize the program may be called loss do pasos in one country, less do as tapus in another, but they trace exactly the same path to recovery that was blazed by the earliest members of Alcoholics Anonymous. In spite of the great increase in the size and the span of this fellowship, at its core, it remains simple and personal.

Each day somewhere in the world, recovery begins when one alcoholic talks with another alcoholic, sharing experience, strength, and hope. And again, that summarizes our whole program in one paragraph. One alcoholic sharing with another.

Okay, so forward to the fourth edition. Um, AA is 66 years old at this point. Um, this is the fourth edition of Alcoholics Anonymous.

came off the press in November 2001. At the start of a new millennium since the third edition was published in 1976, worldwide membership of AA has just about doubled to an estimated 2 million or more with nearly 100,800 groups meeting in approximately 150 countries around the world. Okay.

So, from 1976 to n or excuse me, 1976 to 2001, we've got another million members at least. So, I mean, we we at least doubled in that 25- year period than we did in the prior 41 years from 1939 to 76. This is again and I and I believe if we continue pre continue carrying the message of of the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous, we will continue to grow.

But if we keep bringing in all these outside issues of drug addiction, treatment center philosophy, all these things, we're really hindering our growth. We really, really are. And see, we don't realize it either.

You don't know until you know. And uh so I think you cannot go wrong with sharing a big book message because it's something that was written a long time before we ever came around. Literature has played a major role in AA's growth.

To reiterate what I was just saying and a striking phenomenon of the past quarter century has been the explosion of translations of our basic literature and into many languages and dialects. In country after country where the AA seed was planted, it has taken root slowly at first, then growing by leaps and bounds when literature has become available. Currently, Alcoholics Anonymous has been translated into 43 languages.

It's pretty important stuff. As the message of recovery has reached larger numbers of people, it has also touched the lives of a vastly greater variety of suffering alcoholics. When the phrase we are people who normally would not mix, page 17 of this book was written in 1939, it referred to a fellowship composed largely of men and a few women with quite similar social, ethnic, and economic backgrounds.

Like so much of AA's basic text, those words have proved to be far more visionary than the founding members could have ever imagined. The stories added to this edition represent a membership whose characteristics of age, gender, race, and culture have widened and have deepened to encompass virtually everyone the first 100 members could have hoped to reach. So it just reiterates how much our membership has changed in you know in the last uh 66 years at this point.

In 1939 we were you know there were 100 members and they were all very similar social, economic and ethnic background. Now we have all different kinds of people. Okay.

And this is just reflecting that. It says while our literature has preserved the integrity of the AA message, sweeping changes in society as a whole are reflected in new customs and practices within the fellowship. Taking advantage of technological advances.

For example, AA members with computers can participate in meetings online, sharing with fellow alcoholics across the country or around the world. And I don't know if any of you guys have ever been in an online AA meeting. I've been in a couple.

Okay. I ended up getting out of it because it was just kind of a a kind of a selfish habit. I'd get in and I'd stay in it for five or 6 hours on these AA chat really not talking about much.

A lot of the people that were in there, you know, had just gotten a desire chip and there wasn't a lot of recovery in some instances, but I might have not been on the on some of the better chats anyway. But if you if you want to um and you need somebody to talk to and you got a computer, go online. You can get in an AA chat room and you can talk to members online.

I mean, this is stuff that was not available to the first hundred members, and those cats stayed sober and they found their way. And man, we got virtually everything available to us now. And we're so selfish that we're not growing, we're not changing.

You know, if we can get back to the the philosophy of those first hundred members, we'll be a lot better better organization and uh in a greater sense of helping more alcoholics. I mean um in a meeting anywhere AA share experience, strength and hope with each other in order to stay sober and help other alcoholics modem to modem or face to face. Aa speak the language of the heart in all its power and simplicity.

And uh I'm going to sit down now and we're going to invite Matthew to come up and he's going to start laying out the hopelessness of the doctor's opinion. So you guys put your hands together for Matthew. Thank you.

Yay, Matthew. >> Well, my name is Matthew Massie and I'm an alcoholic. >> Hey, Matthew.

>> And I want to hear a round of applause for Scott. >> Uh, first off, I I did want to also acknowledge that we have we do have a basket over there. Any questions that anybody might have, feel free to drop them in.

and uh either me or Scott will do the best that we can to answer them based on the literature. Uh this this next portion I'm going to go into a little bit of the AA history on the doctor's opinion and on the importance of it and then we're going to go into the the doctor's opinion itself and and I do want to let y'all know any information that I read to y'all is going to either be out of the language of the heart which is a AA approved book. It's got a it's a it's all Bill W's writings.

So it's excuse me it's it's on a lot of good stuff. Any this is a good book just to get if you want to know on different issues in Alcoholics Anonymous. It kind of singles them out especially dealing with traditions.

You know just terms like anonymity or self-supporting you know it'll it'll it'll talk about that one particular principle rather than the whole tradition. But it does talk about the whole tradition as well. So, it's helped me greatly.

Okay. Uh Scott kind of gave us a a little bit of the AA history and and the preface and the forwards. And uh this doctor's opinion, it's I I'll tell you what, the first time I ever read the doctor's opinion, I must have been an alcoholic synonymous for 6 months.

And uh the reason why I I read it was because I was listening to a big book study by Joe and Charlie. And in this study, they said that the doctor's opinion used to be the first chapter in the book of Alcoholics Anonymous, and they moved it into the Roman numerals. And they said a lot of people are missing this chapter now cuz uh who the heck wants to look at the table of contents and and all that stuff.

So, they skip they skipped to chapter one. and and I can testify and I don't know if if anyone else has had this problem, but uh has has anyone here ever went to sponsor someone and they didn't know what to tell this guy because the guy asked you, "Will you be my sponsor?" And I've always wanted to offer my services to someone and and I'm telling this guy what to do, but I'm telling him the wrong thing cuz I skip him right over the doctor's opinion. >> Mhm.

>> Yep. >> Yep. >> I'm one of them.

I've skipped people over it. I've skipped it and I have watched numerous people tell other people to look right past the doctor's opinion. Uh so so we're going to get into the the how important this this actual chapter is.

Um I guess by December 11th um it doesn't say here the exact year, but I'm supposing that's 1934. Uh Bill W. he he came into the to the uh Charles B.

Towns Hospital. He he uh there was Dr. Silkworth in charge and uh that that was the chief physician of that hospital.

Uh Dr. Silkworth it says here for years had been proclaiming alcoholism as an illness, an obsession of the mind coupled with an allergy of the body. And uh there that's the medical estimate of of uh alcoholism.

So, Bill comes in here. He's uh he's been in there several times already and and and Dr. Silkward actually thought Bill might recover and he had seen a few cases recover, but this last time that he came in, he realized that Bill was hopeless.

And Bill also realized the same thing. And this is what it goes on to say about this. And this is this is Bill's words himself.

He says, "The verdict of science, the obsession that condemned me to drink and the allergy condemned me to die was about to do the trick." That's where medical science personified by the benign little doctor began to fit in. Held in the hands of one alcoholic talking to the next, this double-edged truth uh was the sledgehammer which would shatter the tough alcoholic's ego at death and lay him wide open for the grace of God. Wow.

That's they called it the medical sledgehammer back then. The the doctor's uh medical estimate on alcoholism. See, before anything could be done, before they could accept the spiritual principles, they had to believe themselves to be hopeless that they couldn't do anything to get or stay sober.

And and that's basically step one. >> I'm screwed. I'm doomed.

I can't. I'm sure y'all have heard that before. So then it says in uh in my case it was of course Dr.

Silworth who slung the sledge while my friend Ebie carried to me the spiritual principles in the grace which brought on my sudden spiritual awakening at the hospital 3 days later. I immediately knew that I was a free man. And with this astonishing experience came a feeling of wonderful certainty that great numbers of alcoholics might one day enjoy the priceless gift which had been bestowed upon me.

Very grandiose, you know, he was ready to save the world. I can I can relate, man. I've been out there trying to save the world, too.

And and uh I can say it didn't work. But but I tried and and I didn't lose too many hairs over it. Uh so so Bill, he goes out, he's he's out trying to save drunks.

Scott kind of went into it in the in the uh forwards. He's out trying to save drunks for about 6 months. I've read stories where uh he'd have drunks living in his house, five at a time.

And uh uh one particular time, Lois came home from work to see three drunks sitting stiff and and uh just tense and two other drunks beating each other up with 2x4s. And and this is exactly what I read. This is this is what Bill was doing, man.

He's working with the hopeless type. The hopeless type. He could get them sober, but none of them stayed sober.

Okay? And he he's trying to figure out what the problem is. You know, it worked for him.

It worked for him. So, this is what happened. Finally, one day, Dr.

Silkart took me down to my right size. He said, "Bill, why don't you quit talking so much about the bright light experience of yours? It sounds too crazy.

Though I'm convinced that nothing but better morals will make alcoholics really well, I do think you had the cart before the horse." The point is that alcoholics won't buy all this moral exhortation until they convince themselves that they must. If I were you, I'd go after them on the medical basis first. While it has never done any good for me to tell them how fatal their malady is, it might be a very different story if you, a formerly hopeless alcoholic, gave them the bad news.

Because of the identification you naturally have with alcoholics, you might be able to penetrate where I can. Give them the medical benefit business first and give it to them hard. This might soften them up so they will accept the principles that will really get them well.

Wow. So, he's out there kind of like we doing here. You know, we got a bunch of newcomers coming in and we're going in spiritual God and this and and and uh it's it's doing me good.

It's doing me a lot of good, but what about this guy that came in here and he asked me to sponsor him and I skipped him right over the medical estimate into Bill's story and there's a solution and he gets to hear about all the spiritual experiences that we're supposed to have, but he's not willing to accept those principles in his life cuz he doesn't realize yet that he's hopeless. Maybe he's still got a reservation or a lurking notion, whatever it might be. You know, I I feel like I'm here only because of God's grace because I also skipped over that.

And until I saw the hopelessness in the situation and how I was hopeless, I wasn't really willing to to to uh purs pursue the spiritual remedy, you know, to go to any length to achieve that sobriety. And and it goes far beyond sobriety for me today. But uh so this is what happened next.

Uh he Scott kind of covered it. It's it's in the it's in Roman numeral 16. This this is the first drunk that I could find that he worked with after the doctor told him to put the the horse before the cart.

Okay. It says here he was on that that business trip in Akran. The broker had worked hard with many alcoholics on the theory that only an alcoholic could help an alcoholic.

But he had succeeded only in keeping sober himself. The broker had gone to Akran on business venture which had collapsed, leaving him greatly in fear that he might start drinking again. He suddenly realized that in order to save himself, he must carry his message to another alcoholic.

That alcoholic turned out to be the Akran physician. This physician had repeatedly tried spiritual means to resolve his alcoholic dilemma, but had failed. I watch it happen in here all the time.

I've helped a guy skip over the medical estimate so that he could fail as well. I've helped him do that. And I'm not saying it's my fault, but maybe he would have had a better chance if if id have laid it laid out the hopelessness first.

Uh it says here, uh, "But when the broker gave him Dr. Silhou's description of alcoholism and its hopelessness, the physician began to pursue the spiritual remedy for his malady with a willingness he had never before been able to muster. Oh, and in 1950, he never took another drink again.

Wow. So, uh, obviously we see that this doctor's opinion, it started the steps. It was the beginning.

It's where it all began. And then uh Ebie coming from Ebie got sober in the Oxford group. Ebie came in, showed him the spiritual principles which would make him a free man.

He had his bright light experience and he never had to take another drink again. And I I can kind of relate to that. Mine wasn't so profound, but it eventually played out in the same way.

I never had to take another drink again. My desire for drinking was gone. Uh, so I'm going to go ahead and open up here to Roman numeral 25 and we'll go ahead and get on into the doctor's opinion.

It says here, we of Alcoholics Anonymous believe that the reader will be interested in the medical estimate of the plan of recovery described in this book. Now, this this is the doctor. He had already read the pages.

He'd already exper watched us grow. The first hund people he w we a lot of our members in early times came out of his hospital. He let Bill and Dr.

Bob go into the his hospital and work with those drunks. They were their test monkeys. So, uh, and I don't know about y'all, but if my doctor says that I got cancer, I'm going to believe him.

And that's one reason why this is in here. Convincing testimony must surely come from medical men who have had experience with the suffering of our members and have witnessed our return to health. A well-known doctor, chief physician at a nationally prominent hospital specializing in alcoholic and drug addiction gave Alcoholics Anonymous this letter and and that was the Charles B.

Towns Hospital in in New York. Okay. to whom it may concern.

I have specialized in the treatment of alcoholism for many years. He treated alcoholics for 20 years unsuccessfully defeated. And the man still proclaimed his love to us and his devotion to us.

And I believe the reason that this is because he knew we were sick. He knew we were sick. The people out there didn't know we were sick.

He knew we were sick. In late 1934, I attended a a a patient who thought he had been a competent businessman, excuse me, though he had been a competent businessman of good earning capacity, was an alcoholic of a type I had come to regard as hopeless. Bill, Bill was hopeless, remember he and then he finally gave him the medical estimate and Bill finally could accept the hopelessness of his situation along with the principles that Ebie brought to him.

And this is what happened. In the course of his third treatment, he had acquired certain ideas concerning a possible means of recovery as part of his rehabilitation. He commenced to present this conception to other alcoholics, impressing upon them that they must do likewise with still others.

This has become the basis of a rapidly growing fellowship of over 100 others, excuse me, growing fellowship. these men and their families. This man and over 100 others have appeared to recover.

Now, now this is this is real important. The doctor, he couldn't see us even recover. And all he did was watch us die for 20 plus years.

He didn't know the solution. He only knew the problem. And that's real important.

He didn't have a prescription for our remedy. It was something that medical science could not provide. Uh so he he says we appear to have recovered.

He's pretty skeptical and and he's skeptical throughout his whole writing. Uh let's see. Also, I do want to hit the note on on this uh 12step work that we're seeing here.

One alcohol to another. It actually did start with the Oxford group. They believed in intensive work one with the other and and it continued.

That's where our 12step actually evolved was from was from the uh Oxford group. So I personally know scores of cases who were of the type with whom other methods had failed completely. So other methods besides what was in this book failed completely.

He didn't know any other remedies. Remember only a few cases actually recovered. Only a few.

So maybe there are other ways out there, but this way has worked. And I think Scott laid that out real well that it's the the uh program in this book really works for alcoholics of the hopeless type. >> And it all starts here with this chapter, the doctor's opinion.

Okay. Uh these facts appear to be of extreme medical importance because of the extra extraordinary possibilities of growth rapid growth inherent in this group. They may mark a new epoch in the anals of alcoholism.

So alcoholics anonymous they made history in alcoholism. They made the history books. That's it.

All the treatment centers that I've ever known are based on this book right here. Well, they'll give you a choice. This book or the blue book.

Which one do you want? And they do kind of tell you some things that might not be right. I believe me, I've been in them before and and they told me some things.

Well, you can just switch this word or that word or this word or that word. But, you know, it's it's like it it's kind of like it says in in step 12 that that your job is to be where you can be of the most service. And Alcoholics Anonymous is where I can serve the best.

So that's what brings me here. You may rely absolutely on anything they say about themselves. Wow.

That now now that that is a characteristic of a recovered alcoholic, man. They're practicing that principle of honesty. They are practicing the principle of honesty.

Very yours truly. William D. Silkworth, MD.

And uh this next portion is kind of Bill. Well, I guess, you know, he had to put his say so in on it, you know. Yeah.

So, let's go on to Ed. He kind of there there is a there's two letters here by by Dr. Silkworth.

And the second letter, Scott's going to come in here and take over on it. And before the second letter, Bill puts his say so in. It says, "The physician who at our request gave us this letter has been kind enough to enlarge upon his views in another statement which follows.

In this statement, he confirms we who have suffered alcoholic torture must believe." So, this is a must. This this is a requirement. They say no requirements, but they got some must.

And I don't know about y'all, but a must is definitely a requirement. that the body of the alcoholic is quite as abnormal as his mind. It did not satisi satisfy us to be told that we could not control our drinking just because we were maladjusted to life, that we were in full flight from reality or outright mental defective.

Okay. So, I can't really adjust to life. um little bit uncomfortable, discontent, irritability, you know, the obsession.

I can take a few drinks and I can bring ease and comfort to me >> and I can sit down at the table with y'all and I don't have to shake my leg and and and all that stuff. I'm I'll be okay. And so I take those few drinks and that's the way it played out in my life.

I don't know how many times I've gotten sober, but it played out in my life that way. And I would just take a few drinks. That's all I wanted was a little bit of comfort, ease.

I wanted to relax. I wanted to feel good. Okay?

And that's what a few drinks would do for me. But what I didn't know was that I had that sickness of the body, the phenomenon of craving. And every time that few drinks turned into a whole lot of drinks, it turned in from a sensation to oblivion.

And that's the way it worked for me. And I lived that way for 13 years before I finally just couldn't take it anymore. Okay, these things were true to some extent.

In fact, to a considerable extent with some of us, but we are sure that our bodies were sickened as well. In our belief, any picture of the alcoholic which leaves out this physical factor is incomplete. So obviously if I didn't realize I had a phenomenon of craving, sure I'm going to keep thinking that I can just take a few drinks >> and find that ease and comfort.

I'm going to think that I can just take a few drinks and it's going to happen like that over and over and over. And I didn't even realize when I woke up that I was supposed to have stopped after a few. I'd mark the bottle and then the mark would move down and then the mark would move even lower and then the bottle would be empty.

I couldn't I I didn't know why I couldn't stop and I didn't even try to figure it out. But I'm glad someone told me why. The doctor's theory that we have an allergy to alcoholism to alcohol interest us.

As layman, our opinion as to his soundness may of course mean little. But as ex drinkers, we can say that his explanation makes good sense. It explains many things for which we cannot otherwise account.

that why the mark kept moving down the bottle. Why the bottle would empty end up empty every morning, you know? I mean, this is like a a fifth sometimes even a half gallon, you know, not quite the whole thing.

Maybe I, you know, I'd hear stories of people drinking, you know, a gallon of whiskey a day. I' not that bold, but you know, get a half gallon and I'd be pushing the limits, but I could probably finish it off and and uh not even realize it until the next morning. though we work out our solution on the spiritual as well as the altruistic plane.

So spiritual, you know, we're trying to get connected, you know, with what Ebie talked about, >> with what Ebie talks about to build those principles, right? But what about after that? What about after we work the 12 steps?

Then comes the altruistic plane. Once we become a recovered alcoholic and we can actually care about the next man, we're on the altruistic plane that that unselfishness, the devotion to the welfare of others. And that's what altruistic is.

It's there's two parts to this solution there. The doctor just told us or excuse me, Bill just told us he just told us there's two parts, the spiritual and the altruistic. So, it'd be pretty selfish of me to just work those steps and then keep it for myself.

Mhm. >> Right. Well, I don't know if I don't think I could have just worked them and not try to give it away, man.

Cuz they worked on me and I cared about the next man more than I ever could have before I worked them. We favor hospitalization for the alcoholic who is very jittery or beef fogged. I was down there at central office.

cuz me and Mark went down there the other yesterday and uh this lady calls in and and uh she says that she's thinks she needs a meeting and she she's never been to Alcoholics Anonymous before and she's thinking about a hospital and and uh she goes on we we're talking for a minute and I had to let her know first off that Alcoholics Anonymous has has no opinion on those outside issues. You know, the medical profession is something that we're not. But I had to let her know.

And she did say she was having some signs of withdrawal. She was shaking, sweating. I had to let her know that this is a life-threatening situation here that people die from detoxing from alcoholism.

Okay? It's it's more serious than coming off of heroin. And some people might beg to differ, but you know, a heroin addict, as long as they're drinking water, you know, they're going to be okay versus an alcoholic who'll go into a seizure or, you know, them DTS and die.

So, it's serious. And I don't know about looking at this this medical standpoint, if I'm got the phenomenon of craving going, how could I stop? >> How could I stop?

I'm going to need to go into the hospital. Some people need to. I needed to.

I went to the hospital. It was a 24-hour observ 24-hour observation. I didn't have any detox symptoms, but I needed to be free of that craving so that I could not take another drink.

It was that craving that was making me continue to drink. So, I needed to be free to that. Uh, more often than not, it is imperative that a man's brain be cleared before he is approached as he has then a better chance of understanding and accepting what he has to offer.

Yeah, I don't know. I try to work with a lot of wet drunks, you know. It was kind of like talking to a wall, but I felt great afterwards, man.

But I got tired of of uh watching watching the failures. And I realized that they really did need to sober up so that they can actually hear the message that I had to give to them. And it even tells you in the working with others chapter that that uh they're more receptive once they've sobered up some.

The morning after is the best time to get them cuz they're still remorseful, feeling guilty, shameful, and they're willing to maybe hear what you got to say. Uh the next portion is the the second letter. I don't know, do we want to go into that today or do we want to answer the questions?

Well, >> let's answer the questions and then we can go ahead and start on it then. Okay. >> Yeah.

>> Uh >> there's some questions. >> All right. First off, we got one question that a friend asked on the six steps from the Oxford group.

And we got those. She asked what they were. I go ahead and read a paragraph that comes before uh well, let's see.

It says, "Dr. Silworth had indeed supplied us the missing link without which the chain of principles now forged into our 12 steps could never have been complete. Then and there the spark that was to become Alcoholics Anonymous had been struck.

During the next three years after Dr. Bob's recovery, our growing groups at Akran, New York, and Cleveland evolved, the so-called word of mouth program of the pioneering times. As as we commenced to form a society separated from the Oxford group, we began to state our principles something like this.

And this is the first six steps that you sometimes hear about. Uh, step one, we admitted we were powerless over alcohol. Step two, we got honest with ourselves.

Step three, we got honest with another person in confidence. Step four, we we made amends for harms done others. Step five, we worked with other alcoholics without demand for prestige or money.

Step six, we prayed to God to help us to do the things as best we could. They kept it simple back there, huh? >> Yeah.

My my sponsor laid out to me that one of the reasons why they turn those into six steps or 12 steps is is to kind of uh make it easier for the alcoholic to accept them into their lives. And I don't know if that's true or not. There is a little more history.

We will go into that history down the road, but right now we're kind of keeping it around uh step one in the doctor's opinion. So, let's see here. What are your thoughts on 12stepping an addict?

Well, I have had problems with outside issues myself and I have no problem sitting down with a with a someone who has those afflictions. I can relate and I can show them how they can relate as well. So, but this is Alcoholics Anonymous and I have worked with pure-blooded addicts in Alcoholics Anonymous to watch them make great progress only to go back out and and to do what they do best, and that's throw their life away.

Uh, so what I do is after I'm kind of help them calm down and show them that they can trust me, I got this this uh card right here. It says drug problem na calling narcotics anonymous and it's got their number cuz I care about them. Okay, cuz I can relate.

But 95% of my story consists of drinking. And that's why I'm an Alcoholics Anonymous. And and I I I can imagine how it feels to sit here with everyone else talking about something that you don't know nothing about that you've never had a problem with.

I you know, I can't imagine how how it how it feels. And so I want to make sure that they're around people that they can relate to. And then and once again, I'm gonna go ahead and read it out of here.

It uh let's see here. All right. So, so you work you're you're an addict and alcoholic synonymous.

You work the 12 steps and then what it says? Uh, okay. I'm trying to find it for y'all.

Okay, here it is. It says, "Your job now is to be at the place where you can where you may be of maximum helpfulness to others. So, never hesitate to go anywhere if you can be helpful." And I think that says it best, man.

It it talked about the identification process. If you're just an addict, that that alcoholic that walks through the door that's shaking, vibrating, he's he's dying, he's scared, and you sit down and say, "My name's Matthew and I am an addict. How the heck am I going to catch?" That's why Dr.

Silkworth could not help all the 20 years worth of drunks cuz they couldn't relate to them. So, uh, let's see. Make sure.

So yeah, I I I don't mind 12steping an addict at all, but I want to make sure that I direct them to the proper channel, right, >> which is Narcotics Anonymous. Now, uh we do have the personal stories in the back of our book, which consist of some drug use, but those are also alcoholics. It's okay if you got other problems than alcohol, man.

I mean, we got all kinds of problems, you know? I I could make pages of problems, but but if you're not an alcoholic, man, we want to make sure you're in the proper place so that you can be of the maximum usefulness to others when the time comes. So, did did I answer that question properly or is there anyone else that wanted me to elaborate?

No. Okay. What do we do if family members don't always understand our decisions in our life and make us feel guilty for not doing what they want in life?

Well, I can relate. My wife says that the reason our marriage failed was because of Alcoholics Anonymous. Yeah.

Hey, it's a, >> you know, obviously I wasn't doing what she wanted. >> Okay, now they got a good chapter in the back here. It's called the family afterwards.

I would recommend that to any family member and I would recommend it to the the alcoholic as well to read that chapter cuz it kind of helps you to have balance and that's what we're looking for. You know, we don't want to go to extreme in in one area of our life coming off of the extreme of another cuz there's not going to be balance there. We're learning to live here.

You know, we're learning to live with the people in our families and and uh man, I've had to learn to live all over again just this past 6 months since, you know, my son comes to live with me and it's like, you know, so now I got to balance my life out in a new way. But it's not like he can say, you know, daddy, you're going to AA too much or something, you know, but uh he does say, daddy, are you going to play with me? And sometimes I can and sometimes I can't.

You know, that's just kind of the way it is. But there's also uh Alanon kind of kind of like the narcotics anonymous thing. It is a issue that there's a proper channel for it and those people have to hit their bottom too.

They've been sickened as well. It say it says it in here that uh it engulfs the lives of all who touches the sufferers. They're spiritually sick too usually.

That's right. >> They're suffering from selfishness and self-centerness too. Uh the main thing now this is the key for me.

I had to learn to love them when they let me. And when they didn't let me, I had to learn to tolerate them. And that that was the real key for me to be able to handle other people's, you know, selfishness or or demands a lot of times unhealthy demands.

So, uh, any other questions? That was all of them. >> Can we say those six deaths again?

>> Sure. Please. One, we admitted we were powerless over alcohol.

Obviously, that's our step one today. Two, we got honest with ourselves. That'd be step four.

Three, we got honest with another person in confidence. Step five. Uh, four, we made amends for harms done others.

Obviously, we're making our amends there. Step eight, nine. Uh, five, we worked with other alcoholics without demand for prestige or money.

Step 12, obviously, given freely what was freely given to us. Step six, we prayed to God to help us to do these things as best we could. And uh they talked a lot about that in here and what they called quiet time and they were just looking for the knowledge of God's wills and everything even the little things all things.

So that was their last step and it was obviously supposed to be a really important step. So yeah. Yeah.

I've heard that that he did go back and I heard also that even though he went back out, he stayed Bill's sponsor. Is that correct? Mhm.

Okay. So, obviously that's the importance of the relationship between a sponsor and a spons, >> you know. So, well, okay.

Well, we really appreciate everyone coming out. We're going to get back together. We'll have it posted on the on the the board up there.

It'll be the fourth Saturday of next month. Uh we're going to go into the rest of the big book a little bit more, a little bit more history and the steps and and how they came about. So, uh, we can see how we've grown and what the importance are of the al big book of alcoholics anonymous.

Uh, if y'all would let's, uh, share the Lord's Prayer and an empty spiritual foundation of all of our traditions that remind us play principles before personality. Who you see here, what you hear, here, please leave it here when you leave here. >> 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.