He Was Called a Big Book Nazi – Peter M.

About This Speaker Tape

Saturday Morning - 2004

A sharp uncompromising critique of the 'watered-down' recovery culture Peter M. argues that the fellowship has traded the Big Book's spiritual solution for a social club of 'coffee-makers' and 'gurus.' He describes the wreckage of meetings that have devolved into bad group therapy where members play psychiatrist to each other's traumas rather than offering a path out of alcoholism. From the isolation of being blackballed in a New Jersey town for insisting on a solution-based approach to the frustration of seeing real drunks ignored in favor of 'drama' and 'pity,' Peter M. calls for a return to a singleness of purpose. He rejects the '90 meetings in 90 days' mantra as a replacement for the actual program insisting that the only way to save a life is to stay on the firing line with the raw unvarnished truth of the basic text.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Laughter: Opening joke about colonics and the orange shirt.
• 1:45 Critique of the '90 meetings in 90 days' mantra versus the Big Book program.
• 4:10 Discussion on the 'phenomenon of craving' and the obsession to alcohol.
• 6:30 The 'duck for gunfire' metaphor regarding sharing the Big Book message in Brooklyn.
• 9:15 The story of being blackballed in New Jersey and starting a solution-based meeting.
• 12:40 Discussion on the 'Big Book Nazis' label and the resistance to the basic text.
• 15:20 The failure of the 'Free Spirit' group and the lack of emphasis on Traditions.
• 17:45 Description of a meeting in South Jersey that devolved into 'bad group therapy' regarding a suicide attempt.
• 20:10 The conversation with his sponsor, Mark M., about 'hanging in there' versus the glory of a Higher Power.
• 23:15 Reference to the 'Great Fact' on page 25 of the Big Book.
• 25:00 Critique of the 'sober softball team' and the 'fellowship' trap.