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Big Book Study - Post #10

Good morning!

Turning our books to Page 25, lets look at paragraph 2:

"The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had
deep and effective spiritual experiences* which have revolutionized
(changed) our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and
toward God's universe. The central fact of our lives today is the
absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and
lives in a way which is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to
accomplish those things for us which we could never do by
ourselves."

This is the solution and this is what the solution has done - we
have changed our entire outlook. The asterisk (*) refers us to
Appendix II which was added to the book after the first printing of
the first edition to clarify the spiritual experience.

The text goes on - paragraph 2: "If you are as seriously alcoholic
as we were, we believe that there is no middle of the road solution."

Let's review for a minute: "no middle of the road solution" - we
aren't doing this thing "cafeteria style" or taking what we like and
leaving the rest.

"We were in a position where life was becoming impossible, and if we
had passed into the region from which there is no return through
human aid, we had but two alternatives: One was to go on to the
bitter end, blotting out the consciousness of our intolerable
situation as best we could; and the other, to accept spiritual help.
This we did because we honestly wanted to, and were willing to make
the effort."

We're given two choices: Keep drinking or accept spiritual help. So,
will meetings everyday suffice? Therapy? Calling a sponsor everyday?
Daily exercise? Yoga? Probably not.

Page 26 paragraph 1: The certain American business man was Roland
Hazard. He worked with Dr. Carl Jung for an entire year.

It's interesting to note that Carl Jung was Roland's third choice -
Sigmund Freud (a one time cocaine proponent) was too busy and Alfred
Adler was too sick to work with him.

Jung tells him he is hopeless, (paragraph 3), but the doctor also
knows what he needs (paragraph 3 on page 27):

"...here and there, once in a while, alcoholics have had what are
called vital spiritual experiences... They appear to be in the
nature of huge emotional displacements and rearrangements (change).
Ideas, emotions, and attitudes which were once the guiding forces of
the lives of these men were suddenly cast to one side, and a
completely new set of conceptions and motives begin to dominate
them."

Another description of the spiritual awakening from Dr. Carl Jung
with "change" being the overall theme.

So, this chapter was aptly named "There is a Solution" and it has
been hammered home to us that the solution is CHANGE. That change is
the spiritual awakening. Go to the top of page 60 for a minute:

"12. Having had a spiritual awakening as THE result of these steps,
we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these
principles in all our affairs." (Emphasis is mine.)

The solution is a spiritual awakening (see Chapter 2), the result of
these steps is a spiritual awakening (Step 12), so the steps are the
solution! It's simple, it really is.

With our next post, we will begin with Chapter 3 "More About
Alcoholism" on page 30 -- the chapter I rely on heavily to define
powerlessness and unmanageability.

Have a great day!

Jim