Reading the Big Book as an Agnostic Just because I identify as an agnostic doesn’t mean I didn’t read the Big Book. After years of relapse, I eventually received the precious Gift Of Desperation. (Acronym for GOD) It was a powerful motivator to get serious about the AA literature. Over time, I became familiar with it. In the first 164 pages, which embraces the first six chapters, the God word appears 142 times. Back then, this bothered me a lot.  A wise sponsor told me to put the whole question of God on the back burner until I had completed the first nine steps. To keep it ..read more

AA conference approved publication I had been attending meetings for quite a few years when someone introduced me to “The language of the heart.” This is an AA conference-approved publication. In the early 90’s it wasn’t that well known in the London fellowship. Someone suggested that I ignore the rest of the book and just focus on reading Part three. There I found thirteen articles written by Bill W (the co-founder of AA). All of them had been published in the AA “Grapevine” magazine. I read all thirteen articles in one sitting. The Content made a big impact on me. This was before I got serio ..read more

“Rarely have we seen a person fail….” A section of Chapter 5 from the Big Book is read at the beginning of AA meetings worldwide. It starts with “Rarely have we seen a person fail” (p. 58) and ends with the “three pertinent ideas” on p. 60 This introductory passage from Chapter 5, “How it works”, offers members a comprehensive definition of alcoholism described as a disease. Then we are presented with the solution to the illness outlined in the twelve steps. An agnostic’s reaction to chapter 5 For several months after arriving in AA, my mind was too befogged from years of alcohol abuse to be a ..read more

What are the 12 promises of AA? The number 12 keeps coming up again and again in Alcoholics Anonymous. I have often wondered if twelve has any significance in numerology. Actually, it does. The number twelve carries religious, mythological and magical symbolism, generally representing perfection, entirety; or cosmic order in traditions since antiquity.  Wikipedia Perhaps it is no coincidence that the number12 appears so frequently in our AA language. It is a number that has been connected to spiritual power “since antiquity.” 12 also appears frequently in religions such as Hinduism a ..read more