Dr. Bobs Nightmare...

Closer · Senior Member

Dr. Bobs Nightmare...

Mr_David · MIP Old Timer

Great segment Closer, thanks.

Rob84 · MIP Old Timer

"If you think you are an atheist, an agnostic, a skeptic, or have any other form of intellectual pride which keeps you from accepting what is in this book, I feel sorry for you. If you still think you are strong enough to beat the game alone, that is your affair. But if you really and truly want to quit drinking liquor for good and all, and sincerely feel that you must have some help, we know that we have an answer for you. It never fails, if you go about it with one half the zeal you have been in the habit of showing when you were getting another drink."

Above is my favorite paragraph, but draw your own conclusion. (by reading it smile )

Rob

Pythonpappy · MIP Old Timer

I'm with ya Rob ... One of my very favorites too ... ... ... thanks

Pappy

Tanin · MIP Old Timer

Dr. Bob's story and all the rest of the stories are part of the explication to readers of the book Alcoholics Anonymous of "precisely how [the first ~ 100] have recovered."

An essential part of what is AA and an essential part of what has become AA's basic text.

AA, at its core is one drunk talking to another. And what we must always talk about is our own story.

The format of the book included dozens of case studies. And these stories cannot be left out of the program of AA. The stories are part of the BB and part of the program.

My Big Book has 575 pages. Not 179 pages (1st edition), not 172 pages (4th edition), not 164 pages (4th edition) as some AA fundamentalists frequently assert.

Some of these folks in AA are cutting the BB down even further, I notice. Lately I see a lot of suggestions for newcomers to "read the first 103 pages."

Disturbing.

It leaves out Dr. Bob's Nightmare, which is on page 171.

Can one read a better presentation of Alcoholics Anonymous than Dr. Bob Smith's story?

Pythonpappy · MIP Old Timer

Great point Tanin, ... ... ... well stated!

Rob84 · MIP Old Timer

Tanin wrote:
Dr. Bob's story and all the rest of the stories are part of the explication to readers of the book Alcoholics Anonymous of "precisely how [the first ~ 100] have recovered."
An essential part of what is AA and an essential part of what has become AA's basic text.
AA, at its core is one drunk talking to another. And what we must always talk about is our own story.
The format of the book included dozens of case studies. And these stories cannot be left out of the program of AA. The stories are part of the BB and part of the program.
My Big Book has 575 pages. Not 179 pages (1st edition), not 172 pages (4th edition), not 164 pages (4th edition) as some AA fundamentalists frequently assert.
Some of these folks in AA are cutting the BB down even further, I notice. Lately I see a lot of suggestions for newcomers to "read the first 103 pages."
Disturbing.
It leaves out Dr. Bob's Nightmare, which is on page 171.
Can one read a better presentation of Alcoholics Anonymous than Dr. Bob Smith's story?

Well put Tanin, I got sober going to mostly Lead meetings (speaker), I never knew there where 164 pages in the first 11 chapters until I was 17 years sober and moved to GA. A lot of the meetings here still require the topic be picked from the first 164 pages LOL.

Did they not read page 164?? "We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us"

Bill and Bob would be cringing if they heard that it was suggested that we limit our understanding of the AA program to just what was known in 1939

SteveP · MIP Old Timer

My sponsor made sure that I read this, whenever I told that I was worried about dropping into a pub for a quick pint. Dr Bob states explicitly that the desire to drink did not leave him for two years and how he, Dr Bob dealt with that. Live saver, especially when one gets all those "and I never thought about a drink again for after my first AA meeting" shares.

Steve

Tanin · MIP Old Timer

Rob84 wrote:
Did they not read page 164?? "We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us"
Bill and Bob would be cringing if they heard that it was suggested that we limit our understanding of the AA program to just what was known in 1939

Those two sentences, borne of humilty (reality) are among the most important in the Big Book. Bill knew that AA was in its infancy and that any claims to dogma would be easily dispatched over time by science, religion or logic. So he covered himself and AA. Shrewd fellow, Bill.

SteveP wrote:
My sponsor made sure that I read this, whenever I told that I was worried about dropping into a pub for a quick pint. Dr Bob states explicitly that the desire to drink did not leave him for two years and how he, Dr Bob dealt with that. Live saver, especially when one gets all those "and I never thought about a drink again for after my first AA meeting" shares.

Exactly. Here's what Dr. Bob says in his story:

"Unlike most of our crowd, I did not get over my craving for liquor much during the first two and one-half years of abstinence. It was almost always with me."

The desire/craving to drink is a variable for which the level is not the same for all alcoholics in AA. The range of normality is pretty wide. Some people think that if you have a spiritual experience/awakening then, surely, "it is lifted." Not true for all, Dr. Bob being but one example.

Sometimes, certain people in AA suggest that, if the craving/desire is still there, that an AA must not be doing something right. That's a chancy conclusion, IMO. Could be an AA is simply an alcoholic and alcoholism is a mean and persistent affliction.

Sometimes that craving/desire IS lifted--and for a long time, too.

But then it can come back, much, much later.

That's what happened to Bill W. After 36 years of sobriety, after his spiritual experience at Townes Hospital, and after the desire to drink was lifted from him--it came back in the last 30 days of his life. Very strongly.

Bill wanted to drink whiskey so much in his last month, that he repeatedly requested that his caretakers provide him booze.

That's alcoholism.

And that is part of his story in AA. And it can be shared with all AA members, new and old.

-- Edited by Tanin on Sunday 9th of September 2012 08:13:04 PM