Thanks Q. Great stuff.

Fyne Spirit wrote:

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1. What is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker? (Pg. 30)

That he will control and enjoy his drinking

2. What is the first step in recovery? (Pg. 30)

We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholic...The delusion that we are like other people or presently may be alas to be smashed.

3. Do we ever regain control of our drinking? (Pg. 30)

No real alcoholic ever recovers control

4. What is something you have tried to control your drinking? (Pg.31 lists examples).

swearing off..frequently!

5. If you are not sure you are an alcoholic, what does the Big Book suggest you can do to find out? (Pg. 31)

Try some controlled drinking.

6. What did the "man of thirty" believe, that was a lie? (Pg. 32)

That an extended dry period would cure him.

7. Does the length of time or the quantity we drank have anything to do with becoming an alcoholic? (Pg. 33)

Not necessarily.

8. What is the crux of the problem? (Pg. 34)

The question is how to stop altogether.

9. How does Jim's story illustrate the thought that precedes the first drink? (Pg. 35)

Henwas unable to bring in to his consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the Consequences of the last bout. Such memories were easily pushed aside. 

10. Why did the jaywalker cross the road? (Pg. 37)

because he was crazy.

11. Why could Fred not stay sober? (Pg 39-43) because will power and self knowledge could not prevent the strange mental blank spot.

12. Where must an alcoholics defense against the first drink come from? (Pg. 43) A Higher Power.

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-- Edited by Fyne Spirit on Sunday 11th of August 2013 06:12:58 PM

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1. I spent quite a few years trying to control my drinking. The truth is, I did manage to control it to an extent, by not drinking on the job, during the days. Once work was over, however, all temperance was thrown out the window. So that really wasn't any sort of control. I was obsessed all day long about getting to my first drink, and of course my work suffered for it.

2. That delusion was smashed for me sometime before I actually joined AA. I realized I couldn't drink like "normal" people, and I started looking for solutions. When my own willpower didn't work, I tried an outpatient treatment program. That didn't work either, but I'm not criticizing the program - it may have worked for someone more honest. I've learned that there is a difference between admitting you're an alcoholic and admitting that you're powerless over alcohol. I admitted I was an alcoholic a year before I joined AA, but I still thought that my willpower would get me to sobriety.

3. I never regained the control I had in my early drinking career, which consisted of having a few beers with friends after work. By the time I had progressed into full-blown alcoholism, there was no point in even trying to regain control, much as I tried.

4. I could abstain for a week or two by way of white-knuckling. Once I lasted a month. But then I would "reward" myself with a good old-fashioned bender.

5. Try some controlled drinking. Wow. What a different message you hear from non-AA recovery programs. Most people would cringe at telling an alcoholic to go out and drink. But Bill W and the early AA's new better - they knew we had to complete convince ourselves that personal willpower was useless before we could accept the full ramifications of Step One.

6. I thought this also: that if I abstained for a while, I would be transformed into a social drinker. It never worked. Not even once! I would abstain for a while, go back to drinking and TRY to drink normally - and that sometimes lasted for a few days - but in a short time I was right back to a gallon of Smirnoff a day. Toward the end though, I couldn't even manage a day of normal drinking. The first drink led to polishing off the bottle and driving drunk to the liquor store for more.

7. I've met people in the rooms that had short histories of drinking, long histories, and everything in between. Evidently, once a person has reached a certain state of mental anguish, they need the spiritual solution of the 12 Steps regardless of how much or how long they've been drinking. The problem is centered in the mind.

8. As I read the text, the crux of the problem is the first drink. The problem isn't a thousand drinks, but the very first drink that triggers the craving and leads to the thousand.

9. Jim's story illustrates what many of us thought: that self-knowledge and willpower were sufficient to bring about lasing sobriety.

10. Crazy, yes! LOL. Alcoholism is indeed a mental illness. But the Jaywalker got a THRILL from his dangerous pursuits - at first anyway. Why did any of us drink? It's so easy for me to wag my finger at drinkers and say, "That's bad for you - you're destroying your life". But did that ever work for us, when WE were admonished to put the bottle down?

The truth of the matter is that drinking was deeply satisfying and thrilling for many of us - for a long time. I think we need to be honest about that when it comes to newcomers. We can't be afraid to admit just how enjoyable drinking was for a time. It worked - until it didn't.

11. Fred is another example of how self-knowledge and willpower were useless when it it comes to alcoholics of the "hopeless variety". Fred could not admit that he was an alcoholic, much less accept a spiritual solution to his problem.

12. A Higher Power, of course. It stands to reason that if our own power isn't sufficient to the cause of sobriety, we need something stronger.

 

I've got study questions for both the BB and 12&12, going through all the steps. I'll keep posting them in case anyone finds them useful for learning the program, so feel free to copy and paste all you want. They're not mine - my sponsor used them in his studies, and he got them at an AWOL back in the 70's.

Good stuff....Like to see this talked about more in meetings.