The Structure of a Higher Power-Directed Life – Paul K.

About This Speaker Tape

1st. Chatt.Conv.1986 - 1986

A former professional athlete and high-flying corporate executive Paul K. describes a life of 'pork pie hats' and 'coonskin coats' that eventually dissolved into a blur of bootleg gin and high-performance cars. He recounts a descent from the boardrooms of New York and Washington to a gutter near Akron where he survived on 'purple death' wine. The turning point arrives not through a medical miracle but through the raw unvarnished intervention of two strangers who refused to talk down to him. Paul details a rigid structured recovery based on the four absolutes—honesty unselfishness purity and love—and the grueling process of making direct amends to those he had professionally sabotaged. The narrative culminates in a poignant letter from his wife Kay K. and a final reminder from a dying Bob S. to keep the program simple and avoid the 'Freudian complexes.'

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Opening remarks and jokes about the CHATTACHOOCHE Valley Fellowship.
• 5:15 Laughter: Paul discusses his wife's longer tenure in the fellowship.
• 12:30 Discussion of the 'four absolutes' and the history of the Akron area pioneers.
• 22:15 Paul describes his early life as a professional athlete and his first experience with 'Mastika' bathtub gin.
• 35:40 The 'functional alcoholic' phase: working high-level government jobs while drinking bitter ale.
• 48:10 Hitting bottom: living on 'purple death' wine under railroad tracks near Akron.
• 55:20 Step 1: The encounter with two strangers and the definition of the physical allergy.
• 1:05:10 Step 4 and 5: Using the four absolutes to conduct a thorough moral inventory.
• 1:15:45 Step 9: Making direct amends to a corporate rival he had tried to ruin.
• 1:28:30 A moving account of the healing power of love in the recovery of a woman named Anita A.
• 1:35:15 Marina reads a letter from Paul's wife, Kay K., on the importance of keeping AA simple.
• 1:48:20 Closing: Recounting Bob S.'s final words on love and service, followed by the full Serenity Prayer.