Step 2 and the Debate in the Agnostic’s Mind – Sandy B.

About This Speaker Tape

Florida Convention - 1990

Sandy B. maps out the internal machinery of the alcoholic arguing that the real problem wasn't the booze but a fundamental inability to stand being sober. He traces his trajectory from a terrified teenager in Connecticut to a Marine Corps fighter pilot who eventually flew his Crusader while suffering from alcohol withdrawals nearly ejecting himself in a panic. After a seizure and a stint in a psychiatric ward's 'nut ward,' Sandy B. describes the brutal no-nonsense sponsorship of a Marine who treated him like 'Fido.' He dismantles the 'debate step' of the Second Step using a vivid metaphor of falling 50,000 feet from a jet to illustrate the absolute necessity of a Higher Power when one is truly powerless. He frames the 12 Steps as the process of unwrapping a gift—the real self—stripping away the garbage of old ideas to reveal a latent genuine concern for others.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Sandy B. opens with a joke about his name and the 'miracle' of getting happy with not drinking.
• 5:15 Recounts the 'purgatory' calculations of his youth in Connecticut.
• 10:20 Describes the first drink at university and the immediate chemical shift in his perception of the world.
• 15:45 Laughter: Stories about joining the Marine Corps and the absurdity of his attire at Quantico.
• 21:10 The danger of flying fighter jets while experiencing alcohol withdrawals.
• 26:30 The 'nut ward' experience at Bethesda Naval Hospital and the hierarchy of drunks.
• 31:00 Describes his first 12 Step call and the 'Fido' relationship with his sponsor, Bill B.
• 35:40 Deep dive into the Second Step and the 'debate' regarding a Higher Power.
• 41:15 The 50,000-foot fall metaphor illustrating the nature of powerlessness.
• 47:20 Discussion of the 'Chapter to the Agnostic' in the Big Book.
• 53:10 The Jack B. 'money or your life' dilemma applied to the choice between spiritual life and alcoholic death.
• 58:00 The metaphor of the 12 Steps as unwrapping a present to find the real self.