I once heard the directions for the 12 steps broken down like this. Just curious if you've ever heard it.
The directions for the 12 steps are contained in the 8 pages of The Doctor's Opinion and the first 103 pages of the Big Book. That's 111 pages.
Step one is covered in The Doctor's Opinion and pages 1 through 43. That's 51 pages....Almost half....Devoted to step one. Pages 1 through 23 deal with the physical craving...And starting on page 23 where it says..."These observations would be academic and pointless if our friend never took the first drink, thereby setting the terrible cycle in motion. Therefore, the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, rather than in his body."....Up to page page 43....Deals with the mental obsession.
Pages 44 to 63 deal with steps two and three....That's two critical steps in 19 pages.
Now you have steps 4 through 9...Bottom of page 63 through page 84....Six steps in 20 pages.
That leaves 19 pages for steps 10 through 12....With step 12 being the only step to have it's own chapter.
It doesn't look so overwhelming when you break it down like that....You don't have to carry around an encyclopedia set to figure this thing out.....It's all in a 111 pages of that Blue Book.
The biggest problem I have is that I can read those 111 pages, then immediately ask myself "What are they trying to say ??"
I begin to take those carefully chosen and on-point words/sentences/paragraphs and spin them until they make sense to my cross-wired headbone.
I water-down, change, pollute and misconstrue the simplicity of the plainly worded Big Book until it's worse than useless, it's unpalatable ... and I want a better recovery treatment (easier/softer/comfortable/fast) .
I'm befuddled again and can't figure out what happened ... I just know it's not MY fault.
I remember hearing George Kell (famous Detroit 3rd baseman) being interviewed about how he became so good at 3rd. .....what was the secret .
George said the only secret he knew was when a ball was hit in his direction to "Knock the ball down, pick the ball up... and throw the man out".
I was needing all the lessons I could and did get on "Keep it simple" and still do. I am attention deficit and that slogan means I get miracles when recovery is "kept simple and then simply kept". "Trust God (Steps 1-3), Clean House (steps 4-11), Help others (step 12). Being ADD and also an analyzer comes with merry-go-round music. (((hugs)))
-- Edited by Jerry F on Wednesday 30th of January 2013 07:07:58 PM
The amazing thing for me is that second to the 1st step, the 12th step has the most written about it in the "Working with others" chapter. I think this is one of the most overlooked part of the book.
__________________
Rob
"There ain't no Coupe DeVille hiding in the bottom of a Cracker Jack Box."
So true SC! The answers are in The Book. I'm yet to have a problem that the BB doesn't cover with a solution. I like that. I also used and continue to use a dictionary when reading the BB. I realized after looking up words how far off I really was. LOL I'm not as smart as my diesase tells me I am. Humbling- Yes! I need that.
A good example of how a dictionary came in handy...At least for me. In Bill's Story....He describes reaching a bottom..On Page 8....I think I read it three times the first time I saw it....It described where I was.
No words can tell of the loneliness and despair I found in that bitter morass of self-pity. Quicksand stretched around me in all directions. I had met my match. I had been overwhelmed. Alcohol was my master.
Curious about why he used the word overwhelmed I looked it up....Websters defines it as....Overpowered in thought or feeling. He's admitting he's powerless without even saying it. There is a lot of that stuff in that book....That book fascinates me.
AHA!!! But we must not forget.....Our vital Step "0" work........"Step 0, she says.....oh that poor nutty Lady Eli!" .....Welllllllll........Our Preface (the Beginning), directs the new person to the Personal Stories, hoping they will "pause when reading one of the 42 (or 44?) personal accounts, and think,".....................?" There are 3 little phrases the new person needs to ask......Then, between the Preface, and "How it Works" it directs us , I believe, to read the Stories....FIVE separate times!!!!! Then comes, "Our stories disclose (meaning the Stories in the back of the book) in a general way, what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. IF you have decided you want what we have, and are willing to go to any length to get it, then........." There is a very strong STRONG, implication, that reading the Stories are a pre-requisite for making that decision! We disregard and ignore the precious stories, and direct the new people to "the first 164 pages" at our , and their peril...... Works Publishing was funded by a bunch of poor drunks, during the Depression. Paper was expensive! They devoted a LOT of paper to just Steps 1 and 2.....but, just look how much paper they devoted to Step "0"!!!!!!!....JUST SAYIN'.....thats what the BB SAYS to do!!!!!! Love, Lady Eli
Oooo....wait....sorry guys...but I got more..... My husband ( DOS 5-28-73, and died sober) left me his 1941 Webster dictionary, a Godsend............the meanings of words change over time ("gay" in 1950 meant HAPPY)...and if you can get your hands on a dictionary near the period the book was written, you may be amazed!!!!! Today, "obsession" feels like a purely psychological term.........NOT SO in 1941.........I quote Websters New Collegiate Dictionary from 1941 definition of "Obsession........1. Act of an evil spirit in besetting a person, or impelling him to action, from without................(I KNOW! GASP!) Cf.POSSESSION "........Can you believe THAT creepiness? When Bill and the others wrote of obsession, it meant POSSESSION....and had much more spiritual, rather than psychological connotations...........thats how my alcoholism felt to me , thats for sure!!!!! 'Nuff outta me......((((Room)))) Lady Eli
Very true lady Eli...Our personal adventures before and after...I look at that as Bill's Story...The guy that drank whiskey with milk and the few others as before....And the stories in the back as after....I like the stories...They all find the solution....I might be wrong...But I think the first 164 pages suggestion may have been a product of rehabs...Much like doing 90 in 90 is...They may have felt they had better results with suggesting a portion of the book...rather than the whole thing. The first 164 pages are the meat and potatoes of the program...I'd prefer that suggestion over just reading the stories...Which I read as....this program works...If you work it.
I'm not as smart as my diesase tells me I am. 
Humbling- Yes! I need that.