Big Book Workshop – Don P. – AUG.14th – 1999

About This Speaker Tape

Don P. dismantles the early chapters of the Big Book, treating the text as a diagnostic tool to separate the 'modern drinker' from the 'real alcoholic.' He maps out the mental obsession and the total loss of power of choice, using the image of his own converted chicken coop as a sanctuary where he once drank himself into oblivion to avoid the spinning bed of a blackout. Don argues that willpower is a non-existent defense and that the only exit from the 'hopeless and futile' state is a total spiritual transformation.

He warns that the path of the Steps is a one-way street: once a person commits to the Third Step, they are locked in, and the only way out is to either finish the process or return to the bottle. He frames the solution not as a psychological fix, but as a power shift, replacing a broken human will with a Higher Power.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Don opens by discussing how his experience now validates the Big Book.
• 4:15 Don breaks down the three types of drinkers described in the Big Book.
• 8:30 Laughter: Don describes the 'chicken coop' and the physics of the spinning bed.
• 12:45 Discussion on the mental obsession and the 'alibis' alcoholics use to justify the first drink.
• 18:20 Don explains the total loss of the 'power of choice' and why that is good news.
• 24:10 Don discusses the fear of being locked in a mental institution while sane.
• 28:50 Don warns that most people are lost at the Eighth Step and emphasizes the need for willingness.
• 33:15 Don discusses the 'vital spiritual experience' and the Carl Jung reference.
• 38:40 Don describes the 'smile' of the convicts in early AA meetings.
• 44:10 Don concludes by defining the 'singular problem' as a lack of power.