The Practical Application of Higher Power – Jack G.

About This Speaker Tape

A rainy backyard in Long Beach. Jack G. is talking to the mail lady when two strangers—a mother and son from Sweden—stumble in, lost and carrying luggage. They are looking for a youth hostel that no longer exists. Jack feeds them tea and pancakes, only to discover through a hunch that the son had previously tied weights to his body and jumped off a bridge in a suicide attempt. He didn't arrive in Jack's backyard by accident; he arrived to find the "practical application" of a Higher Power.

Jack describes his own wreckage as a tidal wave that eventually receded to reveal a landscape of devastation: warrants for his arrest, a marriage to a girl of questionable age, and a daughter he didn't see. He warns against the pride of the "horror story," where drunks brag about jail like a badge of honor to avoid the truth of being self-absorbed crybabies. For Jack, sobriety isn't about approval, but the terrifying realization that he has a fatal disease.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Jack G. opens with a joke about spying on the room to see who is working a good program.
• 2:15 Laughter: Story about crying on a plane while his kids laugh at him.
• 6:40 Story about inviting two stranded Swedish travelers into his home and eventually taking them to a meeting.
• 12:10 Discussion on the 'fatal disease' of alcoholism and the danger of just 'claiming' to be an alcoholic without understanding it.
• 18:30 The 'Cunning' of the disease: how a bong hit led to a total relapse after 30 days.
• 23:15 Tribute to Don L., the man who helped him get sober and died shortly after.
• 31:40 The 11th Step in action: pausing when agitated in the garage with his daughter.
• 36:20 The story of being baptized by his six-year-old daughter.
• 39:10 Closing thoughts on the spiritual vs. material promises of the program.