Joe and Charlie Big Book Study – “We Agnostics” – Joe W.

About This Speaker Tape

This session of the Joe and Charlie Big Book Study walks listeners through Chapter 4, 'We Agnostics,' page by page. Joe opens by tying Dr. Jung's line about 'ideas, emotions, and attitudes' to his own seven-year-old conception of Higher Power, and explains that the chapter exists not to push a particular religion but to get the alcoholic to 'read, question, and wonder' until Higher Power can disclose Himself. Charlie breaks down the word agnostic — 'without knowledge' — and argues that most of us arrive believing in some Higher Power but having never actually turned to Him.

From page 45 onward, Joe and Charlie hammer the shift the Big Book makes: after this point it stops talking about alcohol and talks only about lack of power and where to find it. They work through pages 46–47 on casting aside prejudice, using 'your own conception of Higher Power,' and the cornerstone of Step 2 — willingness to believe, not faith. Charlie tells the story of his sponsor George giving him permission to write down what he wanted Higher Power to be, and Joe uses the mechanic analogy to separate belief from faith: you can only start with belief, take action, and earn faith on the other side.

The session builds to the Columbus illustration on page 51 — willingness, belief, decision, action, results, then faith — which Joe and Charlie map directly onto Steps 1 through 12. They finish on page 55 with the 'great reality deep down within us,' telling the three-wise-men parable about hiding the crown of life inside man himself. By the end, the listener is handed the bridge into Chapter 5: once Higher Power is understood as a personal, indwelling power, you are ready to make the Step 3 decision and learn 'How It Works.'

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Opening Chapter 4 u2014 Jung's 'ideas, emotions, and attitudes' and Joe's childhood concept of Higher Power
• 3:30 Defining 'agnostic' u2014 without knowledge u2014 and Bill's mind snapping shut at a personal Higher Power
• 8:00 The two Big Book questions for spotting an alcoholic, plus Wine-O-Joe's joke list
• 14:00 Atheist vs. agnostic vs. true believer u2014 how do you get from one to the other
• 18:00 Page 45 u2014 lack of power was our dilemma; the book's main object is to help you find a Power
• 22:00 Page 46 u2014 laying aside prejudice; George telling Joe to write down what he wanted Higher Power to be
• 28:00 Page 47 u2014 willingness as Step 1 and belief as the Step 2 cornerstone; belief vs. faith, the mechanic analogy
• 34:00 Page 51 u2014 superstition and fixed ideas; the Columbus story as willingness, belief, decision, action, results, faith
• 42:00 Mapping Columbus's formula onto the Twelve Steps u2014 you can't start with faith, only belief
• 48:00 Page 55 u2014 the three wise men parable and finding the Great Reality deep down within us, ready for Chapter 5