Borrowed from Religion Everything That Unites, Politely Declined Everything That Divides — the Spiritual Heist of the Century – Sandy B.
About This Speaker Tape
This is the final gathering of Far Corners, a spiritual retreat founded six years earlier by the speaker, who woke at three in the morning with the entire plan clear in his mind. Far Corners was designed as a departure from standard AA conventions — no preamble, full names used, no local announcements, word of mouth only — a space for old-timers and those approaching long sobriety to explore spirituality beyond the program, as suggested by the Eleventh Step. The retreat featured books, lectures, holograms, and a St. Francis prayer walking path. Over the years it drew attendees from Brazil, Iceland, Scotland, and Ireland. The speaker explains this was always meant to be a "prodigal son journey" — venture out into wider spiritual territory, then come home to discover the answers were in the Big Book all along.
The speaker reflects on Bill Wilson's phrase that AA is "an utter simplicity which encases a complete mystery." He argues that alcoholics resist simplicity because it leaves no room for their own creativity or input — they want to complicate things so they have an excuse not to finish. The program's power is that it simply needs to be followed, and when followed with a good sponsor it consistently produces spiritual awakenings. He quotes the Big Book's page 25 passage about being "rocketed into the fourth dimension" and finding absolute certainty that a creator has entered our hearts.
He shares a striking personal story from his Marine Corps years. His drinking caused such severe withdrawal symptoms in the cockpit that he nearly ejected multiple times and finally told his colonel he would never fly again — ending a 14-year aviation career and bringing crushing shame. For 42 years he carried that shame until a man approached him at a Los Angeles convention and revealed he had been in the plane with him. The man told him the entire squadron had been heartbroken when he left, that the colonel had been calling friends trying to save him. The speaker had to go back and replace his shame-distorted memory with the truth — a vivid illustration of how working the steps reshapes our past.
The talk closes with the story of James Newton and the book Uncommon Friends, tracing how one man's friendships with Edison and Firestone led to Firestone's son attending an Oxford Group weekend, getting sober, and ultimately bringing the Oxford Group to Akron — without which there would have been no phone list for Bill Wilson to call and no meeting between Bill and Dr. Bob. The speaker marvels at how one small human connection set the entire chain in motion, then yields the floor as his energy fades from recent serious illness.
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