Big Book Study Review – Part 1 – Joe Hawk and Triva – 1992 — Joe H.

About This Speaker Tape

Joe H. and Treva lead a Big Book study, challenging the notion that 'there are as many ways to work the program as there are people.' Joe argues that the fellowship has drifted from the actual program, warning that simply attending meetings is not the same as being in recovery. He describes the 'three-fold disease' of body, mind, and spirit, and the necessity of reworking the first nine steps annually to avoid the 'bondage of self.' The narrative moves from the wreckage of untreated alcoholism—including Joe's time in the Michigan S.

Penitentiary and his stint as a therapist who drank with his director—to the spiritual paradox of surrender. He emphasizes that the Big Book is a textbook, not a novel, and that recovery requires a 'full concession' to the innermost self, moving beyond the 'Higher Power of reason' to find a direct experience of a Higher Power.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Joe opens by questioning how many people in the room have actually finished a set of amends.
• 2:15 Discussion on the 'spiritual paradox' and the inability to 'teach' the experience of recovery.
• 4:30 Joe discusses his 9 years of sobriety and the practice of reworking the first nine steps annually.
• 7:15 Treva shares her experience with the Big Book and the danger of untreated alcoholism.
• 9:45 Detailed breakdown of the Big Book as a textbook and the specific page ranges for the first 11 steps.
• 12:20 Joe recounts his time in the Michigan State Penitentiary and his failure in treatment centers.
• 15:10 Explanation of the AA symbol (Circle and Triangle) as representing Body, Mind, and Spirit.
• 18:30 Discussion on the 12 Traditions and how they apply to the individual, not just the group.
• 21:00 Treva discusses the difference between 'recovering' and 'recovered' alcoholics.
• 25:40 Analysis of the 'Way of the Bigot' and 'Contempt Prior to Investigation' in Step One.
• 28:15 Laughter: Treva describes the 'scary place' of being told she might not be an alcoholic after 8 years sober.