A Conversation with Sandy B. on the 12 Steps, Willingness, and the Secret Weapon of Sobriety

About This Speaker Tape

Sponsorship Weekend - 1998

The internal shift from 'white-knuckle' misery to spiritual freedom is where problems simply stop bothering Sandy B. He describes the alcoholic's world as a chaotic pinball machine where the only safe harbor was the dark hole of a bar. Sandy B. dismantles the ego's resistance to the 12 Steps comparing the act of faith to a pilot trusting a radio beacon through thick clouds or a boy scout trusting a compass. He argues that while willpower is useless for staying sober it is essential for the actions—calling a sponsor attending meetings—that connect a person to a Higher Power. He concludes that sobriety is the move from an intellectual struggle to an intuitive way of living where one no longer has to fight the world alone but has a 'whole army' of support.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:45 Laughter: The struggle of trying to stay sober just by 'not drinking' and the bulging jaw muscles.
• 3:15 Sandy B. discusses the 'money step' and the lack of financial instructions in the 12 Steps.
• 6:20 The 'magnificence of humanity' in a bar and the subsequent transition to the 'vampire' world of sobriety.
• 8:10 The pinball machine metaphor for the chaos of untreated alcoholism.
• 12:30 The 'Arthur Murray' dance lesson metaphor for taking action before belief.
• 15:40 Discussion on the role of willpower in getting to meetings vs. using it to stop drinking.
• 18:20 The boy scout compass and the 'big rock at the North Pole'.
• 21:10 The Marine Corps pilot metaphor: flying by radio beacon through solid clouds.
• 24:00 The Queen Mary turning around in Tampa Harbor as a metaphor for changing an alcoholic's mind.
• 27:30 Charlie B.'s joke about the two conflicting clocks in a meeting.
• 31:10 The 'freedom driver's day' experiment in handling traffic and anger.
• 34:50 The 'summons' in the mail and the intuitive shift from intellectual to spiritual problem solving.