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For Dr. Bob, the insatiable craving for alcohol was evidently
a physical phenomenon which bedeviled several of his first
years in A.A.,a time when only days and nights of carrying
the message to other alcoholics could cause him to forget
about drinking. Although his craving was hard to withstand,
it doubtless did account for some part of the intense
incentive that went into forming Akron's Group Number One.
Bob's spiritual release did not come easily; it was to be
painfully slow. It always entailed the hardest kind of work
and the sharpest vigilance.
Humility First
We found many in A.A.who once thought, as we did, that
humility was another name for weakness. They helped us to
get down to our right size. By their example they showed us
that humility and intellect could be compatible, provided we
placed humility first. When we began to do that, we received
the gift of faith, a faith which works. This faith is for you, too.
Where humility formerly stood for a forced feeding on
humble pie, it now begins to mean the nourishing ingredient
that can give us serenity.
TWELVE AND TWELVE
A Full and Thankful Heart
One exercise that I practice is to try for a full inventory of my
blessings and then for a right acceptance of the many gifts
that are mine -- both temporal and spiritual. Here I try to
achieve a state of joyful gratitude. When such a brand of
gratitude is repeatedly affirmed and pondered, it can finally
displace the natural tendency to congratulate myself on
whatever progress I may have been enabled to make in some
areas of living.
I try to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart
cannot entertain great conceits. When brimming with
gratitude, one's heartbeat must surely result in outgoing
love, the finest emotion that we can ever know.
GRAPEVINE, MARCH 1962
Pipeline to God
"I am a firm believer in both guidance and prayer. But I am
fully aware, and humble enough, I hope, to see there may be
nothing infallible about my guidance.
"The minute I figure I have got a perfectly clear pipeline to
God, I have become egotistical enough to get into real
trouble. Nobody can cause more needless grief than a
power-driver who thinks he has got it straight from God."
Dealing with Resentments
Resentment is the Number One offender. It destroys more
alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of
spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and
physically ill, we have also been spiritually ill. When the
spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and
physically.
In dealing with resentments, we set them on paper. We listed
people, institutions, or principles with whom we were angry.
We asked ourselves why we were angry. In most cases it was
found that our self-esteem, our pocketbooks, our ambitions,
our personal relationships (includingsex) were hurt or
threatened.
safety valve -- providing the wastebasket is somewhere
nearby."
Material Achievement
No member of A.A. wants to deprecate material achievment.
Nor do we enter into debate with the many who cling to the
belief that no satisfy our basic natural desires is the main
object of life. But we are sure that no class of people in the
world ever made a worse mess of trying to live by this
formula than alcoholics.
We demanded more than our share of security, prestige, and
romance. When we seemed to be succeeding, we drank to
dream still greater dreams. When we were frustrated, even in
part, we drank for oblivion.
In all these strivings, so many of them well-intentioned, our
crippling handicap was our lack of humility. We lacked the
perspective to see that character-building and spiritual
values had to come first, and that material satisfaction were
simply by-products and not the chief aims of life.
TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 71
Membership Rules?
Around 1943 or 1944, the Central Office asked the groups to
list their membership rules and send them in. After they
arrived we set them all down. A littlereflection upon these
many rules brought us to an astonishing conclusion.
If all of these edicts had been in force everywhere at once it
would have been practically impossible for any alcoholic to
have ever joined A.A. About nine-tenth of our oldest and best
members could never have got by!
At last experience taught us that to make away any
alcoholic's full chance for sobriety in A.A. was sometimes to
pronounce his death sentence, and often to condemn him to
endless misery. Who dared to be judge, jury, and executioner
of his own sick brother?
Self-Confidence and Will Power
When we first challenged to admit defeat, most of us
revolted. We had approached A.A. expecting to be taught
self-confidence. Then we had been told so far as alcohol was
concerned, self-confidence was no good whatever; in fact, it
was a total liability. There was no such thing as personal
conquest of the alcoholic compulsion by the unaided will.
It is when we try to make our will conform with God's that we
begin to use it rightly. To all of us, this was a m
As a rule, the average newcomer wanted his family to know
immediately what he was trying to do. He also wanted to tell

For Dr. Bob, the insatiable craving for alcohol was evidently

a physical phenomenon which bedeviled several of his first

years in A.A.,a time when only days and nights of carrying

the message to other alcoholics could cause him to forget

about drinking. Although his craving was hard to withstand,

it doubtless did account for some part of the intense

incentive that went into forming Akron's Group Number One.

Bob's spiritual release did not come easily; it was to be

painfully slow. It always entailed the hardest kind of work

and the sharpest vigilance.

Humility First

We found many in A.A.who once thought, as we did, that

humility was another name for weakness. They helped us to

get down to our right size. By their example they showed us

that humility and intellect could be compatible, provided we

placed humility first. When we began to do that, we received

the gift of faith, a faith which works. This faith is for you, too.

Where humility formerly stood for a forced feeding on

humble pie, it now begins to mean the nourishing ingredient

that can give us serenity.

TWELVE AND TWELVE

A Full and Thankful Heart

One exercise that I practice is to try for a full inventory of my

blessings and then for a right acceptance of the many gifts

that are mine -- both temporal and spiritual. Here I try to

achieve a state of joyful gratitude. When such a brand of

gratitude is repeatedly affirmed and pondered, it can finally

displace the natural tendency to congratulate myself on

whatever progress I may have been enabled to make in some

areas of living.

I try to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart

cannot entertain great conceits. When brimming with

gratitude, one's heartbeat must surely result in outgoing

love, the finest emotion that we can ever know.

GRAPEVINE, MARCH 1962

Pipeline to God

"I am a firm believer in both guidance and prayer. But I am

fully aware, and humble enough, I hope, to see there may be

nothing infallible about my guidance.

"The minute I figure I have got a perfectly clear pipeline to

God, I have become egotistical enough to get into real

trouble. Nobody can cause more needless grief than a

power-driver who thinks he has got it straight from God."

Dealing with Resentments

Resentment is the Number One offender. It destroys more

alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of

spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and

physically ill, we have also been spiritually ill. When the

spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and

physically.

In dealing with resentments, we set them on paper. We listed

people, institutions, or principles with whom we were angry.

We asked ourselves why we were angry. In most cases it was

found that our self-esteem, our pocketbooks, our ambitions,

our personal relationships (includingsex) were hurt or

threatened.

safety valve -- providing the wastebasket is somewhere

nearby."

Material Achievement

No member of A.A. wants to deprecate material achievment.

Nor do we enter into debate with the many who cling to the

belief that no satisfy our basic natural desires is the main

object of life. But we are sure that no class of people in the

world ever made a worse mess of trying to live by this

formula than alcoholics.

We demanded more than our share of security, prestige, and

romance. When we seemed to be succeeding, we drank to

dream still greater dreams. When we were frustrated, even in

part, we drank for oblivion.

In all these strivings, so many of them well-intentioned, our

crippling handicap was our lack of humility. We lacked the

perspective to see that character-building and spiritual

values had to come first, and that material satisfaction were

simply by-products and not the chief aims of life.

TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 71

Membership Rules?

Around 1943 or 1944, the Central Office asked the groups to

list their membership rules and send them in. After they

arrived we set them all down. A littlereflection upon these

many rules brought us to an astonishing conclusion.

If all of these edicts had been in force everywhere at once it

would have been practically impossible for any alcoholic to

have ever joined A.A. About nine-tenth of our oldest and best

members could never have got by!

At last experience taught us that to make away any

alcoholic's full chance for sobriety in A.A. was sometimes to

pronounce his death sentence, and often to condemn him to

endless misery. Who dared to be judge, jury, and executioner

of his own sick brother?

Self-Confidence and Will Power

When we first challenged to admit defeat, most of us

revolted. We had approached A.A. expecting to be taught

self-confidence. Then we had been told so far as alcohol was

concerned, self-confidence was no good whatever; in fact, it

was a total liability. There was no such thing as personal

conquest of the alcoholic compulsion by the unaided will.

It is when we try to make our will conform with God's that we

begin to use it rightly. To all of us, this was a m

As a rule, the average newcomer wanted his family to know

immediately what he was trying to do. He also wanted to tell