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"Seriously Alcoholic"

"If you are as seriously alcoholic as we were, we believe there is no middle-of-the-road solution. 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." ~Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, We Agnostics, pg. 46~

Being seriously alcoholic is something that can only be classified by the person who suffers from it. For those who have classified themselves as serious alcoholics, there is no middle-of-the-road solution. What that means is we have no alternative other than continuing with the same old behavior and probably dying an alcoholic death, or we had to accept help from a source other than what human beings could provide.

I have found it rather strange, but there are those who know this and want to get the help, but they will not accept that the problem is a problem of the spirit. They believe that if some how they can half heartedly do things such as admit their lives being unmanageable, and that alcohol is part of that problem, but they will not get any more honest than that.

It?s pretty easy to understand what the people who wrote the Big Book meant when they said that those who are seriously alcoholic need spiritual help. The book is riddled with the word God, but some how there is a problem when it comes to accepting that they have to surrender themselves to that God to be relieved from the vicious loop of insanity.

The people who have accepted this road to recovery have a message they carry to those people. If you want what we have and are willing to go to any lengths to get it, you are ready to take certain steps. These steps have to be done in complete and utter honesty, and one must be willing to make the effort to understand what those steps represent.

It has been my experience that once we have given up and turned over our situation to a God of our understanding, that a certain peace settles in and the rest of the process becomes much easier after that. What is needed to come to this understanding is to realize how futile trying to hold onto our old ideals is.

We think that it is possible to not drink and be sober. This is the first mistake that one makes when they walk into the rooms of A.A. and proclaim themselves to be alcoholic. As it is said in the Big Book that drinking is only a symptom over the over all problem. It is true that we need to stay away from the booze to think with a clear mind, but I contend that it goes a lot further than that. To be sober one has to feel the peace with-in themselves before the rest of the process will work.

Another problem that I have seen is that there are those that believe they can achieve this inner peace through something other than a God of their understanding. Believe me when I say that understanding a God is the basis of the solution of recovery. I say call that God anything you want, but if you want to become sober you must be willing to turn your will and your life over to this entity for it to work!!!

There are many people who claim that they have found ways to achieve this sobriety through other avenues other than the steps of A.A. If that is so, my hat is off to them. It is just when I look back at how I used to act, and the way I act now, that I understand that being willing and honest enough to accept spiritual help was the only way it could be for me. It has been that way for millions of other people who accepted this, and it will work for you if you are seriously alcoholic like we were?.
--Ed C.