"Our sobriety should be founded on 'unselfish selfishness' ... It's not sound, we have been told, to try to stay dry for the sake of a wife or a sweetheart or someone else dear to us."
That's how I read it also Steppa! I also did it to get the ex wife back. Didn't work out so well. Pain drove me to desperation which in turn gave me the willingness to change. The rest is just part of my experience. The big book describes this pretty well:
Pg 48- BB
Faced with alcoholic destruction, we soon became as open minded on spiritual matters as we had tried to be on other questions. In this respect alcohol was a greatpersuader. It finally beat us into a state of reasonableness. Sometimes this was a tedious process; we hope no one else will be prejudiced for as long as some of us were.
For me, getting sober feels in many ways like a matter of redeeming my soul. If it was just for other people, there's no way that I could do it. The extra benefit is that I'm a much better human being to everyone around me when I'm sober and tapped into HP.
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When every situation which life can offer is turned to the profit of spiritual growth, no situation can really be a bad one.-Paul Brunton