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[00:00:00.800 – 00:00:02.580] And in this chapter, there is a solution. [00:00:02.580 – 00:00:04.620] We're gonna talk about two powers. [00:00:04.620 – 00:00:11.520] We're gonna talk about the power of the fellowship, and we're gonna talk about the power of the vital spiritual experience. [00:00:11.520 – 00:00:20.080] And if we who are powerless could get both of these powers in our lives, then maybe we could overcome alcoholism also. [00:00:20.080 – 00:00:27.840] On page 17, for those who are powerless, he writes the prescription. [00:00:27.840 – 00:00:30.860] Here he talks about the two powers. [00:00:30.860 – 00:00:36.540] Ebby presented Bill with a solution, and now Bill's gonna present us with a solution in the same way.

[00:00:36.540 – 00:00:38.540] He said there is a solution. [00:00:38.540 – 00:00:42.980] And as a friend of mine back home says, there's as many different types of solutions as there are people in AA. [00:00:42.980 – 00:00:47.520] And I say, if you look at the chapter heading on page 17, it'll tell you how many solutions there are. [00:00:47.520 – 00:00:50.320] There is a solution, one. [00:00:50.320 – 00:00:52.750] It said we, and there's that big word again. [00:00:52.750 – 00:00:57.040] We of Alcoholics Anonymous know thousands of men and women who were just as hopeless as Bill. [00:00:57.040 – 00:00:59.220] Nearly all have recovered.

[00:00:59.220 – 00:01:00.720] They have solved the drink problem. [00:01:00.720 – 00:01:02.500] Said we were average Americans. [00:01:02.500 – 00:01:09.580] Today, we can say that we're average citizens of the world because by last count, there was AA's in 154 countries around the world. [00:01:09.580 – 00:01:16.820] So all sections of this country and various occupations are represented, as well as many political, economic, social, and religious backgrounds. [00:01:16.820 – 00:01:19.440] We are people who normally would not mix. [00:01:19.440 – 00:01:26.039] And I think that we're probably the most mixed up group of alcoholics in the world here this morning- -here in Laughlin, Nevada. [00:01:26.039 – 00:01:34.440] You know, if we didn't have alcoholics to talk, Alcoholics Anonymous to talk about or drinking and recovery therefrom, I wonder what we would drink about, talk about.

[00:01:34.440 – 00:01:35.700] There's hardly anything. [00:01:35.700 – 00:01:39.720] I told you I had a good memory, just short. [00:01:39.720 – 00:01:42.780] We wouldn't, we wouldn't have anything to talk about. [00:01:42.780 – 00:01:47.100] But we're, it says that, that we are people who normally would not mix. [00:01:47.100 – 00:01:52.040] But there exists among us a fellowship and a friendliness which is indescribably wonderful. [00:01:52.040 – 00:01:54.540] And I hear that this morning and before the meeting. [00:01:54.540 – 00:02:03.160] All the talk and the laughter and the going on, that's the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, the spirit of Alcoholics Anonymous, and I got sober on the spirit of Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:02:03.160 – 00:02:04.740] That was the only thing keeping me here. [00:02:04.740 – 00:02:06.240] So it's a powerful thing. [00:02:06.240 – 00:02:10.100] The fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous kept me sober for quite some time. [00:02:10.100 – 00:02:20.100] Now, he's gonna describe this fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous by talking about something he already assumes that we know about it, or he know, thinks we already know about [00:02:20.100 – 00:02:20.220] it. [00:02:20.220 – 00:02:23.140] And all great teachers have always done this. [00:02:23.140 – 00:02:32.960] When they want to teach you something new, they would talk to you first about something you already know and use that as an example to teach you something new.

[00:02:32.960 – 00:02:38.560] You know, we had a great teacher that lived two thousand years ago, and he was really good at this. [00:02:38.560 – 00:02:42.880] When he wanted to teach something to a shepherd, he told, he would tell him a story about sheep. [00:02:42.880 – 00:02:46.860] But if he wanted to teach the same thing to the fisherman, he would change his story. [00:02:46.860 – 00:02:48.920] This time it would be about fish. [00:02:48.920 – 00:02:52.340] Then when he went to the farmer, he talked about cattle and grains. [00:02:52.340 – 00:02:54.140] All good teachers do this. [00:02:54.140 – 00:02:59.060] Bill is gonna use the example of the great passenger ship.

[00:02:59.060 – 00:03:01.340] He said, "We are like the passengers of a great liner. [00:03:01.340 – 00:03:11.340] The moment after rescue from shipwreck, when camaraderie, joyousness, and democracy pervade the vessel from steerage to captain's table." You know, Bill [00:03:11.340 – 00:03:18.420] is referring to a time in the '30s when your mode of transportation from one continent to another was by the great ocean liners. [00:03:18.420 – 00:03:23.080] And on those great ocean liners, they had what they called the steerage section. [00:03:23.080 – 00:03:33.239] And people who were immigrants that didn't have very much money, they usually booked passage in the steerage section, way down in the bowels of the ship, [00:03:33.240 – 00:03:36.600] very little fresh air, dormitory-style living. [00:03:36.600 – 00:03:39.300] I called it the cheese sandwich section.

[00:03:39.300 – 00:03:40.700] Not very good down there. [00:03:40.700 – 00:03:48.040] Now, if you had a little more money, though, and you wanted better accommodations, you could pay for fourth class and come up a deck or two. [00:03:48.040 – 00:03:51.640] Then you could go third class and come up another deck or two. [00:03:51.640 – 00:03:58.320] Then you could go second class and come up another deck or two, and each time, the accommodations and the food were better. [00:03:58.320 – 00:04:02.760] If you had enough money, you could go in what they call first class. [00:04:02.760 – 00:04:07.100] In first class, they had big, fine staterooms. [00:04:07.100 – 00:04:09.440] They had great dining rooms.

[00:04:09.440 – 00:04:13.380] They had good food, fine waiters, access to fresh air all the time. [00:04:13.380 – 00:04:17.780] But that still wasn't the most elite place on the ship. [00:04:17.780 – 00:04:22.060] If you had the right kind of money- Old, old money. [00:04:22.060 – 00:04:23.200] Old money. [00:04:23.200 – 00:04:31.440] If you had the right religion, the right ethnic background, the right everything, you might be invited to dine at the captain's table. [00:04:31.440 – 00:04:33.960] Just a few select people could do that. [00:04:33.960 – 00:04:40.500] And at the captain's table, you had the best of everything, the best service, the best food, the best everything.

[00:04:40.500 – 00:04:45.320] Now, it's a long, long ways from the captain's table to the steerage section. [00:04:45.320 – 00:04:50.900] And in the journey across the ocean, those two people should never have met each other. [00:04:50.900 – 00:05:01.300] In fact, most of those ocean liners even had separate stairwells, so the first class people never even had to see those who rode in the steerage section. [00:05:01.300 – 00:05:03.540] They had nothing whatsoever in common. [00:05:03.540 – 00:05:13.640] Then I think about the Titanic and the night it hit the iceberg, and these two guys are standing there at the rail of the ship, and one of them got his [00:05:13.640 – 00:05:18.400] tuxedo on, his shiny shoes and his little bow tie and everything that goes with it. [00:05:18.400 – 00:05:21.840] Standing next to him is the guy from the steerage section.

[00:05:21.840 – 00:05:28.040] Got his old work overalls on, his old brogans, never wore a tie in his life. [00:05:28.040 – 00:05:33.660] These guys had nothing whatsoever in common with each other until they jumped overboard. [00:05:33.660 – 00:05:39.560] And when they jumped overboard and their butts hit that cold water- -they had something in common. [00:05:39.560 – 00:05:42.500] How in the hell do we save ourselves? [00:05:42.500 – 00:05:52.800] And they grabbed onto each other and held onto each other, and I doubt very seriously if the man from the captain's table asked for a financial statement from the man from the steerage section. [00:05:52.800 – 00:06:02.919] And when these two guys were rescued and got back on another ship or back on land, there was a feeling amongst them which was indescribably [00:06:02.920 – 00:06:03.600] wonderful.

[00:06:03.600 – 00:06:05.788] This has always been true. [00:06:05.788 – 00:06:15.128] When people escape from a common peril, there is a feeling that ties them together, and it's one of the greatest feelings in the world, and that's what we got in the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous. [00:06:15.128 – 00:06:16.168] We don't care who you are. [00:06:16.168 – 00:06:18.108] We don't care where you came from. [00:06:18.108 – 00:06:19.568] We don't care how much money you got. [00:06:19.568 – 00:06:21.248] We don't care what your education is. [00:06:21.248 – 00:06:25.278] We don't care what your ethnic background is, what your religion is, or anything else.

[00:06:25.278 – 00:06:27.368] All we wanna know is, are you an alcoholic? [00:06:27.368 – 00:06:33.048] And if you are, there is a feeling amongst us which is indescribably wonderful. [00:06:33.048 – 00:06:37.828] Even though we are so different from each other, we are still bound together. [00:06:37.828 – 00:06:39.408] Now watch him. [00:06:39.408 – 00:06:41.008] He's gonna give us a warning. [00:06:41.008 – 00:06:49.228] Unlike the feeling of the ship's passengers, however, our joy and escape from disaster does not subside as we go our individual ways. [00:06:49.228 – 00:06:56.648] These two guys, when they finally got back on shore, they looked at each other, they said, "Well, we really don't belong together," and they separated, probably never to be together again.

[00:06:56.648 – 00:07:06.828] But we will always be alcoholic, and this feeling we have for each other never goes away, and we find it again in city after city after city and country [00:07:06.828 – 00:07:07.468] after country. [00:07:07.468 – 00:07:16.348] One of the greatest things I've been able to experience in my lifetime is to go to an AA meeting in a foreign country and feel just exactly as good as I did at home. [00:07:16.348 – 00:07:21.328] Even though I don't know those people, we are bound together because we're alcoholics. [00:07:21.328 – 00:07:31.648] The feeling of having shared in a common peril is one element of the powerful cement which binds us, but that in itself would never have held us [00:07:31.648 – 00:07:33.068] together as we are now joined. [00:07:33.068 – 00:07:39.578] In other words, this feeling we have for each other in the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous is one of the things that bind us together.

[00:07:39.578 – 00:07:42.228] But then he said that itself is not enough. [00:07:42.228 – 00:07:48.228] The tremendous fact for every one of us is that we have discovered a common solution. [00:07:48.228 – 00:07:54.048] We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree and upon which we can join in brotherly and harmonious action. [00:07:54.048 – 00:07:58.528] This is the great news this book carries to those who suffer from alcoholism. [00:07:58.528 – 00:08:03.348] Not the news of the fellowship, but the news of the common solution. [00:08:03.348 – 00:08:12.228] And later on, we're gonna see where the common solution is the spiritual experience brought about through the program of action. [00:08:12.228 – 00:08:22.608] Now, if we could get the power of the fellowship which supports us and helps us, and if we could get the power of the spiritual experience which changes us and add the two together,

[00:08:22.608 – 00:08:30.428] then that will be enough power to overcome our powerlessness over alcohol, and we can recover from that condition. [00:08:30.428 – 00:08:40.678] I think one of the greatest tragedies that I see in the world today, and there's lots of tragedies going on in the world today, one of the greatest that I see is [00:08:40.678 – 00:08:50.748] we people who are in the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous are spending literally hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars, hundreds and hundreds and [00:08:50.748 – 00:09:00.768] thousands of men and women work hours trying to attract other alcoholics to the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous when we've got thousands and thousands who [00:09:00.768 – 00:09:10.028] are already members of Alcoholics Anonymous who are sitting around dying from untreated alcoholism because they're doing nothing about the common solution. [00:09:10.028 – 00:09:14.728] And the reason they're doing nothing about the common solution is nobody's telling them about it. [00:09:14.728 – 00:09:16.628] Nobody's talking about it.

[00:09:16.628 – 00:09:26.678] Nobody's saying, "Look, here's the program of action." Nobody's saying, "Let me take you by the hand and walk with you so you can have a spiritual experience," and they're at fellowship only, and after [00:09:26.678 – 00:09:27.948] a while, they go back to drinking. [00:09:27.948 – 00:09:32.988] And they said, "Well, AA don't work for us." No, they didn't work for AA. [00:09:32.988 – 00:09:34.188] They didn't do the program. [00:09:34.188 – 00:09:35.828] And again, it's not their fault. [00:09:35.828 – 00:09:43.508] It's our fault because we're not insisting that new people work the program of Alcoholics Anonymous, and we're letting them die around us. [00:09:43.508 – 00:09:48.868] Thousands of us are dying every day who are already members of the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:09:48.868 – 00:09:58.888] I think it's our responsibility to see that every newcomer knows about page seventeen and knows there's two powers, the power of the fellowship and the power [00:09:58.888 – 00:10:03.208] of the spiritual experience, and we're not gonna recover without both of them. [00:10:03.208 – 00:10:08.688] Now, we might stay sober for a while, but we're not gonna recover from alcoholism without both of them. [00:10:08.688 – 00:10:11.048] No more preaching today. [00:10:11.048 – 00:10:12.728] Guarantee you that. [00:10:12.728 – 00:10:15.968] Preached a little last night, preached just a little bit this morning. [00:10:15.968 – 00:10:17.828] We'll try not to preach anymore.

[00:10:17.828 – 00:10:23.328] A good textbook never tells you anything, but what it does, it back it up and prove it. [00:10:23.328 – 00:10:31.448] The first half of this chapter is designed to show you and I why fellowship alone is not sufficient. [00:10:31.448 – 00:10:39.948] The last half of this chapter is used to show us the solution to alcoholism, the vital spiritual experience. [00:10:39.948 – 00:10:46.168] Let's look for just a few minutes at why fellowship alone is not sufficient, and then we'll take a break. [00:10:46.168 – 00:10:47.228] Let's go to page twenty. [00:10:47.228 – 00:10:54.108] He said, "You may already have asked yourself why it is that all of us became so very ill from drinking. [00:10:54.108 – 00:11:04.108] Doubtless you are curious to discover how and why, in the face of expert opinion to the contrary, we have recovered from a hopeless condition of mind and body." Now, if you're an alcoholic who wants to get

[00:11:04.108 – 00:11:11.468] over it, you may already be asking, "Well, what do I have to do?" It's the purpose of this book to answer such questions specifically. [00:11:11.468 – 00:11:16.368] Remember last night we talked about precisely, specif-specifically with clear-cut directions. [00:11:16.368 – 00:11:17.488] Well, here's one of those words. [00:11:17.488 – 00:11:19.568] We shall tell you what we've done. [00:11:19.568 – 00:11:23.808] Before going into detailed discussion, it may be well to summarize some points as we see them. [00:11:23.808 – 00:11:28.008] Now, how many times people have said to us, "I can take it or leave it alone. [00:11:28.008 – 00:11:30.988] Why can't he?" "Why don't you drink like a gentleman and quit?

[00:11:30.988 – 00:11:41.228] That fella can't handle his liquor." "Why don't you try beer and wine and lay off the hard stuff?" "His willpower must be weak." "He could stop if he wanted to." "She's such a sweet girl. [00:11:41.228 – 00:11:44.358] I should think he'd stop for her sake." "The doctor told him that…" [00:11:44.526 – 00:11:47.726] If he ever drank again, it would kill him, but there he is, all lit up again. [00:11:47.726 – 00:11:52.166] Now, these are commonplace observational drinkers which we hear all the time. [00:11:52.166 – 00:11:55.176] Back of them is a world of ignorance and misunderstanding. [00:11:55.176 – 00:11:59.526] We see that these expressions refer to people whose reactions are very different from ours. [00:11:59.526 – 00:12:06.686] Now, we're going to look at two kinds of drinkers that these expressions that Joe just read would refer to them.

[00:12:06.686 – 00:12:11.506] Said moderate drinkers have little trouble in giving up liquor entirely if they have good reason for it. [00:12:11.506 – 00:12:13.365] They can take it or leave it alone. [00:12:13.365 – 00:12:15.126] Remember we talked about them last night. [00:12:15.126 – 00:12:16.166] They have a couple of drinks. [00:12:16.166 – 00:12:19.486] They get a slightly tipsy, out of control, beginnings of a nauseous feeling. [00:12:19.486 – 00:12:22.005] Alcohol is no big deal for them. [00:12:22.005 – 00:12:25.906] If they have any problems with it, they simply leave it alone.

[00:12:25.906 – 00:12:31.046] Those expressions that Joe read would certainly refer to the moderate drinker. [00:12:31.046 – 00:12:33.106] Then we have a certain type of hard drinker. [00:12:33.106 – 00:12:40.346] He may have the habit bad enough to gradually impair him physically and menil- mentally, and it may even cause him to die a few years before his time. [00:12:40.346 – 00:12:50.446] Now, if a sufficiently strong reason, ill health, falling in love, change of environment, or the warnings or doctor becomes operative, if they do, this man can stop [00:12:50.446 – 00:12:55.626] all or moderate, although he may find it difficult and troublesome and may even need a little medical attention. [00:12:55.626 – 00:12:58.006] Now, we call this guy the heavy or the hard drinker. [00:12:58.006 – 00:13:02.726] They drink like we alcoholics drink, but they are not alcoholic.

[00:13:02.726 – 00:13:07.426] If a good enough reason presents itself to them, they'll do one of two things. [00:13:07.426 – 00:13:10.486] They may learn to moderate their drinking. [00:13:10.486 – 00:13:12.886] They do not have the physical allergy. [00:13:12.886 – 00:13:16.286] They may quit drinking entirely and stay quit. [00:13:16.286 – 00:13:18.966] They do not have the obsession of the mind. [00:13:18.966 – 00:13:23.576] They drink like us, but they're not alcoholic, and you and I see them all the time. [00:13:23.576 – 00:13:31.626] They're the guy that said, "When I was in the service, I was an alcoholic also, but when I got out of the service, I got married, went to church, quit drinking.

[00:13:31.626 – 00:13:35.046] Don't see why in the hell you can't." No, they're not alcoholic. [00:13:35.046 – 00:13:41.746] The expressions that Joe read in the beginning would refer to the heavy drinker, but what about the real alcoholic? [00:13:41.746 – 00:13:45.366] Now, he may start off as a moderate drinker, which many of us did. [00:13:45.366 – 00:13:48.616] He may or may not become a continuous hard drinker. [00:13:48.616 – 00:13:57.166] Some of us stayed periodic, but at some stage of his drinking career begins to lose all control of his liquor consumption once he starts to drink. [00:13:57.166 – 00:14:05.466] Now then, we're going to describe the real alcoholic, and when you see a description in there that fits you, would you please raise your hand? [00:14:05.466 – 00:14:09.326] We'd like to see if we're in a room full of real alcoholics.

[00:14:09.326 – 00:14:15.526] He said, but at some stage of his drinking career, he begins to lose all control of his liquor consumption once he starts to drink. [00:14:15.526 – 00:14:16.026] Mm-hmm. [00:14:16.026 – 00:14:20.606] Charlie talked last night about- He talked last night about crossing over that line. [00:14:20.606 – 00:14:27.006] He talked last night about crossing over that line, but I don't know what line he was talking about, but I know one thing, I was drunk when I went over it. [00:14:27.006 – 00:14:33.306] Okay, now here's the fellow who's been puzzling you, especially in his lack of control. [00:14:33.306 – 00:14:37.006] He does absurd, incredible, tragic things while drinking, is a real Dr. [00:14:37.006 – 00:14:37.746] Jekyll and Mr.

[00:14:37.746 – 00:14:38.146] Hyde. [00:14:38.146 – 00:14:40.226] He's seldom mildly intoxicated. [00:14:40.226 – 00:14:42.346] He's always more or less insanely drunk. [00:14:42.346 – 00:14:43.726] Anybody like that in here? [00:14:43.726 – 00:14:45.506] Yeah, bet you. [00:14:45.506 – 00:14:49.006] His disposition while drinking resembles his normal nature but little. [00:14:49.006 – 00:14:51.926] I always get good-looking and out of debt as soon as I start drinking.

[00:14:51.926 – 00:14:57.166] He may be one of the finest fellows in the world. [00:14:57.166 – 00:15:02.106] You let him drink for a day, and he frequently becomes disgustingly and even dangerously antisocial. [00:15:02.106 – 00:15:02.495] Yeah, everybody does that. [00:15:02.495 – 00:15:03.756] We got any of those people in here? [00:15:03.756 – 00:15:04.576] Yeah. [00:15:04.576 – 00:15:11.176] He has a positive genius for getting tied at exactly the wrong moment, particularly when some important decision must be made or engagement kept. [00:15:11.176 – 00:15:14.446] Anybody like that in here, always getting drunk at the wrong time?

[00:15:14.446 – 00:15:17.536] Now, everybody holds their hand up on this one. [00:15:17.536 – 00:15:21.796] He's often perfectly sensible and well-balanced concerning everything except liquor. [00:15:21.796 – 00:15:26.126] But in that respect, he's incredibly dishonest and selfish. [00:15:26.126 – 00:15:26.136] Right. [00:15:26.136 – 00:15:32.186] He often specia- possesses special abilities, skills, and aptitudes and has a promising career ahead of him. [00:15:32.186 – 00:15:33.286] Anybody like that in here? [00:15:33.286 – 00:15:34.416] Yeah.

[00:15:34.416 – 00:15:36.766] I've never heard anybody but an alcoholic say that, though. [00:15:36.766 – 00:15:40.206] I've never heard an Al-Anon say it yet. [00:15:40.206 – 00:15:44.106] He uses his gifts to build up a bright outlook for his family and himself. [00:15:44.106 – 00:15:47.126] Then he pulls the structure down on his head by a senseless series of sprees. [00:15:47.126 – 00:15:48.206] Anybody like that in here? [00:15:48.206 – 00:15:49.126] Yeah. [00:15:49.126 – 00:15:53.786] He's a, he's a fellow who goes t- to bed so intoxicated he ought to sleep the clock around.

[00:15:53.786 – 00:15:57.666] Yet early the next morning, he searches madly for the bottle he misplaced the night before. [00:15:57.666 – 00:15:59.006] Any bottle hiders in here? [00:15:59.006 – 00:16:07.146] If he can afford it, he may have liquor concealed all over his house to be certain no one gets his entire supply away from him to throw down the waste pipe. [00:16:07.146 – 00:16:10.226] Anybody spread them around wherever you might be? [00:16:10.226 – 00:16:14.826] Phyllis and I used to buy a lug of whiskey, which is three-fifths, and one to share and one to hide from each other. [00:16:14.826 – 00:16:24.466] As matters grow worse, he begins to use a combination of high-powered sedative and liquor to quiet his nerves so he can go to work. [00:16:24.466 – 00:16:26.726] Anybody ever have to have a little something in the morning?

[00:16:26.726 – 00:16:26.986] Yeah. [00:16:26.986 – 00:16:31.326] Then comes a day when he simply cannot make it and gets drunk all over again. [00:16:31.326 – 00:16:36.566] Perhaps he goes to a doctor who gives him morphine or some sedative with which to taper off. [00:16:36.566 – 00:16:40.206] Then he begins to appear at hospitals and treatments, or excuse me, sanitariums. [00:16:40.206 – 00:16:40.386] Yeah. [00:16:40.386 – 00:16:42.506] Never did taper off. [00:16:42.506 – 00:16:44.226] I always tapered on for some reason.

[00:16:44.226 – 00:16:44.496] I don't know. [00:16:44.496 – 00:16:52.266] This is by no means a comprehensive picture of the true alcoholic, as our behavior pattern is varied, but this description should identify him roughly. [00:16:52.266 – 00:17:01.126] You know, if our government has ever s- done anything right in the field of alcoholism, it's in education of the public as to what alcoholism is and what it isn't. [00:17:01.126 – 00:17:05.906] Because of that, a lot of the stigma has been removed from alcoholism. [00:17:05.906 – 00:17:13.026] Many, many people are getting to us today before they have to do everything here that describes the real alcoholic. [00:17:13.026 – 00:17:18.306] But I'll guarantee you, if you a real alcoholic, you found yourself in there somewhere. [00:17:18.306 – 00:17:19.806] At least one of them are going to fit you.

[00:17:19.806 – 00:17:22.566] In my case, practically every one of them. [00:17:22.566 – 00:17:32.686] One in particular, seven years after I got sober, I sold a 40 acre, 45,000 broiler chicken [00:17:32.686 – 00:17:33.426] operation. [00:17:33.426 – 00:17:43.526] For years after that, every once in a while, I would run into the guy that bought it, and sometimes he would wave and smile and say, "Hey, Charlie, we have found another [00:17:43.526 – 00:17:47.746] one." And he's referring to partially empty vodka bottles. [00:17:47.746 – 00:17:49.666] Yeah. [00:17:49.666 – 00:17:55.714] Behind corner posts, under rocks, hollow trees, falling out of feed bins.

[00:17:55.714 – 00:17:57.613] Hell, he found them for years in there. [00:17:57.613 – 00:18:04.154] Now, here's the question: Why does he behave like this? [00:18:04.154 – 00:18:12.294] If hundreds of experiences have shown him that one drink means another debacle with all its attendant suffering and humiliation, why is it that he takes that one drink? [00:18:12.294 – 00:18:14.694] Why can't he stay on the water wagon? [00:18:14.694 – 00:18:16.814] The moderate drinker can. [00:18:16.814 – 00:18:18.554] The heavy drinker can. [00:18:18.554 – 00:18:19.754] Why can't the alcoholic?

[00:18:19.754 – 00:18:25.474] What has become of the common sense and willpower that he still sometimes displays with respect to other matters? [00:18:25.474 – 00:18:29.014] Perhaps there never will be a full answer to these questions. [00:18:29.014 – 00:18:33.714] Opinions vary considerably as to why the alcoholic reacts differently from normal people. [00:18:33.714 – 00:18:37.654] We're not sure why once a certain point is reached, little can be done for him. [00:18:37.654 – 00:18:38.814] We cannot answer the riddle. [00:18:38.814 – 00:18:45.074] We know that while the alcoholic keeps away from drink, as he may do for months or years, he reacts much like other men. [00:18:45.074 – 00:18:55.254] We are equally positive that once he takes any alcohol whatever into his system, something happens both in the bodily and mental sense which makes it virtually

[00:18:55.254 – 00:18:56.734] impossible for him to stop. [00:18:56.734 – 00:19:00.194] The experience of any alcoholic will abundantly confirm this. [00:19:00.194 – 00:19:08.633] Now, these observations would be academic and pointless if our friend never took the first drink, thereby setting the terrible cycle in motion. [00:19:08.633 – 00:19:15.574] Therefore, the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind rather than in his body. [00:19:15.574 – 00:19:16.914] Would you read that again, please? [00:19:16.914 – 00:19:23.134] Therefore, the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind rather than in his body. [00:19:23.134 – 00:19:31.494] Now, we must remember that always just before we take the first drink, we are stone-cold sober.

[00:19:31.494 – 00:19:32.894] Or stark raving sober. [00:19:32.894 – 00:19:34.834] Or stark raving sober, one of the two. [00:19:34.834 – 00:19:44.414] And the real problem centers in our mind telling us we can drink while sober rather than in the body that ensures that we can't drink. [00:19:44.414 – 00:19:50.114] Chances are you'll never go put your hand on a hot stove again to see if it'll burn you the second time. [00:19:50.114 – 00:19:57.514] You know, I remember as a kid growing up back in the Depression years, and there's, there's a few of you in here old enough to remember that, too. [00:19:57.514 – 00:20:00.654] And back in the 1930s, we didn't have very much. [00:20:00.654 – 00:20:03.314] We didn't have hot and cold running water.

[00:20:03.314 – 00:20:05.694] We didn't have forced air heat. [00:20:05.694 – 00:20:13.774] Joe said his family was not so poor they had to live in a tent, but he said, "By God, if we'd had the money, we'd have lived in a tent." That's about how bad it was. [00:20:13.774 – 00:20:23.194] But I remember in those days, even though you didn't have anything, you were very poor people, cleanliness was still next to godliness. [00:20:23.194 – 00:20:28.374] And every Saturday night, everybody in the family had to take a bath. [00:20:28.374 – 00:20:31.194] Now, whether you needed a bath or not's beside the point. [00:20:31.194 – 00:20:32.394] You still had to take one. [00:20:32.394 – 00:20:42.814] And one night in the middle of the winter, Mother had heated the bathwater on the old heating stove in the living room, put it in a number three zinc washtub sitting behind that stove.

[00:20:42.814 – 00:20:47.274] Now, every kid in the family takes a bath in the same water. [00:20:47.274 – 00:20:48.674] I'm the baby of the family. [00:20:48.674 – 00:20:52.494] By the time it got to me, the crud would be about an inch thick on it. [00:20:52.494 – 00:20:58.714] Mother said, "Get in there and get yourself clean." I thought to myself, "How in the hell do I get clean there?" But I didn't dare say that to her. [00:20:58.714 – 00:21:01.834] You didn't talk to your parents that way in the 1930s. [00:21:01.834 – 00:21:03.694] I scraped the crud back. [00:21:03.694 – 00:21:06.414] I got in the tub, began to wash myself.

[00:21:06.414 – 00:21:08.154] Heating stove standing here red hot. [00:21:08.154 – 00:21:12.434] Somehow I managed to lean over and stick my rear against that hot stove. [00:21:12.434 – 00:21:16.574] Burned a blister on my rear end about as big as my hand. [00:21:16.574 – 00:21:20.294] Hurt me worse than anything had ever hurt me before. [00:21:20.294 – 00:21:25.254] And do you know I've never had an obsession in mind to stick my ass on a hot stove since then? [00:21:25.254 – 00:21:35.254] I have never jerked my britches down, backed up to a stove, and said, [00:21:35.254 – 00:21:45.554] "Burn me again." Now, alcohol has burned me over and over and over and over

[00:21:45.554 – 00:21:53.134] and over just as bad as that stove ever burned me, and for some strange reason, my mind cannot remember that. [00:21:53.134 – 00:22:01.094] Left on my own resources, I start thinking about drinking, and after a while, I think about only what it's gonna do for me. [00:22:01.094 – 00:22:10.054] That great sense of ease and comfort, that great, exciting, in-control feeling that comes from the first couple of drinks, and my mind keys in on that. [00:22:10.054 – 00:22:17.614] I forget about the jailhouse, the hospitals, and the divorce courts, and I don't see a thing in the world wrong with taking a drink. [00:22:17.614 – 00:22:24.694] And I take a drink, and I trigger the allergy, and I end up drunk over and over and over again. [00:22:24.694 – 00:22:27.814] Last paragraph, page 24. [00:22:27.814 – 00:22:37.634] Say now, when this sort of thinking is fully established in the individual with alcoholic tendencies, he has probably placed himself beyond human aid, and unless ucked up may die or go permanently insane.

[00:22:37.634 – 00:22:47.854] Now, if we've placed ourself beyond human aid, then the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous will not bring about recovery because the fellowship is made up of a group of human beings [00:22:47.854 – 00:22:50.934] who are just as powerless over alcohol as I am. [00:22:50.934 – 00:22:58.954] So there's got to be a solution to that condition that we've just talked about, and page 25 gives it to us. [00:22:58.954 – 00:23:01.294] There is a solution. [00:23:01.294 – 00:23:02.934] Let's go to page 25. [00:23:02.934 – 00:23:04.044] Yes. [00:23:04.044 – 00:23:06.994] Let's begin to look at the solution.

[00:23:06.994 – 00:23:17.034] We could see that the, uh, fellowship gave us enough power to support us for a while, but we were told that fellowship alone is not [00:23:17.034 – 00:23:21.674] sufficient, and then it explained why fellowship alone is not sufficient. [00:23:21.674 – 00:23:28.134] So now on page 25, we'll start looking at the real solution to alcoholism.