R is for Recovery from the beginning. It was a work in progress and I truly believe it was divinely inspired. It took two and lead to Bill and Dr. Bob and 100 men and women to compile the Big Book. So grateful that AA was willing to share the 12 Steps with others.
Quote:
I just finished reading Bill W's autobiography. My first 40 Years. Towards the very end in Towns Hospital Ebby gave him a book titled " The Varieties of Religious Experience " by William James. He was an intellectual, called by some the father of modern psychology. Bill began to see that all the experiences cited had certain common denominators, despite the ways they manifested themselves. The first common denominator was calamity. Nearly every recipient described had met utter defeat in some controlling area of life. Every resource of courage, understanding, and will had failed. the next condition was the admission from the very depths of being that defeat was utter and absolute. the third condition was an appeal to a higher power for help. It did not matter what form or channel this higher power was, more importantly seemed the appeal. Utter defeat, the complete mission of helplessness and the appeal. These were the essential things. The bearer of this message was Ebby with whom Bill shared the common experience of alcoholism and who'd related this same form of transformation on a more gradual basis than Bill had just experienced himself.
Received from a good friend in NA
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