We are assuming, of course, that the reader desires to stop. A 40,000 to 80,000-word memoir is around 150-265 . I had been overwhelmed. Your husband knows he owes you more than sobriety. We may have had certain spiritual beliefs, but now we begin to have a spiritual experience. When you have carefully explained to such people that he is a sick person, you will have created a new atmosphere. Post- war disillusionment, ever more serious alcoholism, impending mental and physical collapse, brought him to the point of self-destruction. I had no intention of drinking. Whatever our ideal turns out to be, we must be willing to grow toward it. We cannot subscribe to the belief that this life is a vale of tears, though it once was just that for many of But it is clear that we made our own misery. There were 134 "Musts" in the first and second editions of Alcoholics Anonymous. To his wife, he remarked, Dont see anything the matter here, Ma. Perhaps you have a husband who is at large, but who should be committed. The process of one addict/alcoholic guiding another through the Book takes between 24 and 30 hours, usually done in 2 3 hour sessions, typically over a period of 2 3 weeks. They criticize, pointing out how he is falling down on his spiritual program. Said the future Fellow Anonymous: Damn little to laugh about that I can see.. But we must be careful not to drift into worry, remorse or morbid reflection, for that would diminish our usefulness to others. We gave up our positions and off we roared on a motorcycle, the sidecar stuffed with tent, blankets, a change of clothes, and three huge volumes of a financial commission should be appointed. Maybe we are divorced, and have remarried but havent kept up the alimony to number one. There had been a humble willingness to have Him with me-and He came. Mathematically, if the word God were distributed evenly throughout the book it would appear every 1.2 pages. Father feels he has struck something better than gold. (Click here to read them). I felt lifted up, as though the great clean wind of a mountain top blew through and through. To show other alcoholics precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book. They can urge action without arousing hostility. Should he have the same consideration as other ailing employees? But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave. Far from admitting he was an alcoholic, he told himself he came to the hospital to rest his nerves. We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. Big Book content exclude its stories. If he has trouble later, he is likely to say you rushed him. Four: You may have a husband of whom you completely despair. The First 164 pages of The Big Book with lined pages opposite text for note taking. That war-time day in old Winchester Cathedral came back again. We had to ask ourselves why we shouldnt apply to our human problems this same readiness to change our point of view. Now we go out to our fellows and repair the damage done in the past. The Doctors Opinion. Answer (1 of 2): As others indicated, it depends on page size and font. The employer cannot play favorites, but he can always defend a man from needless provocation and unfair criticism. Jerry needed to know so he started upon a project to identify the changes that were made to various printings and editions of the Big Book. They cannot seem to forgive and forget. You fellows know your stuff all right, but I dont see what good itll do. He is straining every nerve to make up for lost time. Hes just beaten up a couple of nurses. If you do this thoroughly, few people will ask you to drink. There should be no hesitancy in consulting a doctor or psychologist if the condition persists. I knew from that moment that I had an alcoholic mind. We never apologize to anyone for depending upon our Creator. This had to be stopped. We grow by our willingness to face and rectify errors and convert them into assets. Instead of treating the family as he should, he may retreat further into himself and feel he has spiritual justification for so doing. It also has its own Facebook page and Len R is now in the process of creating audio versions of each of the chapters, available on YouTube. There are, however, additional promises in the Big Book. He will match your mental inconsistencies with some of his own. This book was written to carry the AA message to readers who find the first 164 pages of the original AA text hard to digest for any reason. Little by little the family may see their own defects and admit them. Now, the domestic problem: There may be divorce, separation, or just strained relations. Memorial Day Parade Near Me. Some of our alcoholic readers may think they can do without spiritual help. Beyonc Black Parade Website, It just comes! He may be broke and homeless. We finally saw that faith in some kind of God was a part of our make-up, just as much as the feeling we have for a friend. My work took me about Wall Street and little by little I became interested in the market. We have seen men get well whose families have not returned at all. But not so with the alcoholic illness, for with it there goes annihilation of all the things worth while in life. Because of resentment and drinking, he had not paid alimony to his first wife. Here is a brief account: Years ago, in 1935, one of our number made a journey to a certain western city. One day he told me about an executive of the same bank who, from his description, was undoubtedly alcoholic. We had long talks when I would still her forebodings by telling her that men of genius conceived their best projects when drunk; that the most majestic constructions of philosophic thought were so derived. Bills Story. How blind I had been. This practice enables us to lend a hand, at the same time avoiding certain alluring distractions of the road, about which any traveling man can inform you. People have said we must not go where liquor is served; we must not have it in our homes; we must shun friends who drink." BB PG 100-101. We think the business fabric is shot through with a situation which might be helped by better understanding all around. Our ideas did not work. But that was as far as I had gone. The story of how you and your wife settled your difficulties is worth any amount of criticism. We commenced to make many fast friends and a fellowship has grown up among us of which it is a wonderful thing to feel a part. In competent hands, this seldom takes long nor is it very expensive. Read this book. This just isnt so. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. How can I be helpful to him? It was fun to carom around the exclusive course which had inspired such awe in me as a lad. A common theme throughout the book, especially in the first 164 pages, is the identification of a problem, the identification All the indexes we publish are for the 1st 164 pages (the main text). His business may suffer somewhat. Included is all material from inside the front cover through page 164, plus Appendices I (Traditions) and II (Spiritual Experience). The insane idea won out. They need the counsel and love of a woman who has gone through what you have. Here they are: AMONG MANY employers nowadays, we think of one member who has spent much of his life in the world of big business. So he returned to this doctor, whom he admired, and asked him point-blank why he could not recover. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. Is our work solid so far? Program, the very first page of the Big Book clearly states that is not the case! Still no thought of drinking. But we saw that it really worked in others, and we had come to believe in the hopelessness and futility of life as we had been living it. He had three visitors. If common words were not discarded, the 164 and More book would be 4 inches thick containing 1,700 pages. If you both show a willingness to remedy your own defects, there will be little need to criticize each other. We are like the passengers of a great liner the moment after rescue from shipwreck when camaraderie, joyousness and democracy pervade the vessel from steerage to Captains table. There is company insurance. So to you out there-who may soon be with us-we say Good luck and God bless you!. But this description should identify him roughly. The wording was, of course, quite optional so long as we expressed the idea,mvoicing it without reservation. Next, we decided that hereafter in this drama of life, God was going to be our Director. He knows that they are real. The curve of my declining moral and bodily health fell off like a ski-jump. We reviewed our own conduct over the years past. He saw that he had to place the outcome in Gods hands or he would soon start drinking again, and all would be lost anyhow. We have it with us right here and now. Seemingly he could not drink even if he would. Name the two reasons for the strong sentiment against any radical changes being mad to the first portion of the Big . Each individual, in the personal stories, describes in his own language and from his own point of view the way he established his relationship with God. If a repetition is to be prevented, place the problem, along with everything else, in Gods hands. We are not cured of alcoholism. He will tell you he is misunderstood. He is like the farmer who came up out of his cyclone cellar to find his home ruined. It is a design for living that works in rough going. 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. Ask him if he thinks he has the answer. They can take it or leave it alone. This is a point we wish to emphasize and re- emphasize, to smash home upon our alcoholic readers as it has been revealed to us out of bitter experience. It was the usual situation: home in jeopardy, wife ill, children distracted, bills in arrears and standing damaged. Such a man would be crazy, wouldnt he? This is his story: I came to work on Tuesday morning. Nevertheless, with a person we dislike, we take the bit in our teeth. Here was the threat of commitment, the loss of family and position, to say nothing of that intense mental and physical suffering which drinking always caused him. Joykiller, nag, wet blanket-thats what they said. Let him see that you want to be helpful rather than critical. It is our hope that these pages can be a source of inspiration to you. We placed them before us in black and white. Big Book It displays the text of the first 164 pages of the book "Alcoholics Anonymous." The first 164 pages Though there is no true references to the word sponsorship with in the first 164 page of the AA Big Book "Alcoholics Anonymous" it is mentioned in several of the . Among them you will make lifelong friends. That was the last honest manual labor on my part for many a day. Is it not evident to all the rest of the players that these are the things he wants? He wants to quit drinking and you want to help him, even if it be only a matter of good business. I was once, but Im a nobody now. The last three times, I got drunk on the way home from here. Dont start to withdraw again just because your friends drink liquor. Near you, alcoholics are dying helplessly like people in a sinking ship. By force of circumstances, she was often obliged to treat father as a sick or wayward child. Nothing more was required of me to make my beginning. Its main object is to enable you to find a Power greater than yourself which will solve your problem. Chapters describing the A.A. recovery program remain unchanged. These are not pleasant companions. There is a real interest, both humanitarian and business, in the well-being of employees. Freds story speaks for itself. The alcoholic may say to himself in the most casual way, It wont burn me this time, so heres how! Or perhaps he doesnt think at all. He subsequently denied having received the money and used the incident as a basis for discrediting the man. Think of what you can bring to it. Liquor caught up with me much faster than I came up behind Walter. (Bill wrote on the very last page of the first 164 pages: "We realize we know only a little"). I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all. For a time he may try to hug the new treasure to himself. I found a job; then lost it as the result of a brawl with a taxi driver. Is it right to let him ruin your life and the lives of your children? We are growing in numbers and power. Physically, I felt fine. If he does not, you will probably not have long to wait. Sorting and rendering passages in the proprietary format of the 164 and More concordance does not in any way imply affiliation with or endorsement by either Includes pages 1-164 and: The original Foreword. Young Picture Books aim for the 2 to 5-year-old. He may tell mother, who has been religious all her life, that she doesnt know what its all about, and that she had better get his brand of spirituality while there is yet time. A drunk may smash the furniture in your home, or burn a mattress. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. Welcome to 164pages.com! He will have no further reason for covering up an alcoholic employee. He tries every known means to get the jay-walking idea out of his head. Knows he owes you more than sobriety this book say to himself in the well-being of.! Carom around the exclusive course which had inspired such awe in me as basis!, nag, wet blanket-thats what they said great clean wind of a mountain blew. Defects, there will be little need to criticize each other young Picture aim. Promises in the past he returned to this doctor, whom he admired, and have remarried but havent up. Brief account: Years ago, in Gods hands word God were distributed evenly throughout the book it appear... The players that these are the things worth while in life than I came up Walter. 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