Big Book Awakening

In episode #130, Luis shares his experience, strength, and hope with Chapter 11: A Vision for You. "You are going to meet these new friends in your own community. Near you, alcoholics are dying helplessly like people in a sinking ship. If you live in a large place, there are hundreds. High and low, rich and poor, these are future fellows of Alcoholics Anonymous. Among them you will make lifelong friends. You will be bound to them with new and wonderful ties, for you will escape disaster together and you will commence shoulder to shoulder your common journey. Then you will know what it means to give of yourself that others may survive and rediscover life. You will learn the full meaning of “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

In episode #129, Michael continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading from Chapter 5, How It Works, pages 63-65. "Next we launched out on a course of vigorous action, the first step of which is a personal housecleaning, which many of us had never attempted. Though our decision was a vital and crucial step, it could have little permanent effect unless at once followed by a strenuous effort to face, and to be rid of, the things in ourselves which had been blocking us. Our liquor was but a symptom. So we had to get down to causes and conditions." –Alcoholics Anonymous (p. 63)

In episode #128, Michael continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading from Chapter 5, How It Works, pages 61-63. "Selfishness—self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt."

In episode #127, Luis continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading Chapter 5, How It Works, pages 58-61. "RARELY HAVE we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest." – Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 58

In episode #125, Joshua continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading from Chapter 4, We Agnostics, page 49 (paragraph 2) through page 57. "We, who have traveled this dubious path, beg you to lay aside prejudice, even against organized religion. We have learned that whatever the human frailties of various faiths may be, those faiths have given purpose and direction to millions."

In episode #125, Oliver continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading from Chapter 4, We Agnostics, page 48, "The prosaic steel girder is a mass of electrons whirling around each other at incredible speed. These tiny bodies are governed by precise laws, and these laws hold true throughout the material world. Science tells us so. We have no reason to doubt it. When, however, the perfectly logical assumption is suggested that underneath the material world and life as we see it, there is an All Powerful, Guiding, Creative Intelligence, right there our perverse streak comes to the surface and we laboriously set out to convince ourselves it isn’t so."

In episode #124, Joshua continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading from Chapter 4, We Agnostics. "IN THE PRECEDING chapters you have learned something of alcoholism. We hope we have made clear the distinction between the alcoholic and the non-alcoholic. If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic. If that be the case, you may be suffering from an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer."

In episode #123, Patty continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading Chapter 3, More About Alcoholism, page 42, top paragraph. "They had said that though I did raise a defense, it would one day give way before some trivial reason for having a drink."

In episode #122, Jesse continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading Chapter 3, More About Alcoholism, pages 41, paragraphs 1 and 2. “I went to my hotel and leisurely dressed for dinner. As I crossed the threshold of the dining room, the thought came to mind that it would be nice to have a couple of cocktails with dinner. That was all. Nothing more. I ordered a cocktail and my meal. Then I ordered another cocktail. After dinner I decided to take a walk. When I returned to the hotel it struck me a highball would be fine before going to bed, so I stepped into the bar and had one."

In episode #121, Mary continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading Chapter 3, More About Alcoholism, pages 33-35. "Young people may be encouraged by this man’s experience to think that they can stop, as he did, on their own will power."