Mickey B. – The Invisible Line of Alcoholism – 2001

About This Speaker Tape

Mickey B. dismantles the first three steps with a gritty, no-nonsense approach, rejecting the idea of 'opinion' in favor of the Big Book's blueprints. He maps out the 'invisible line' of alcoholism—the point where a person stops drinking for the effect and starts drinking to satisfy a craving beyond mental control.

Using the metaphor of the duck and the eagle, he explains how alcohol once allowed him to feel like a soaring eagle, but eventually left him as a duck in the gutter. He argues that hitting bottom is an internal psychic collapse rather than a set of external tragedies, and that recovery requires a 'we' program to unwarp the mind. He closes by framing sobriety not as a state of being powerless, but as the acquisition of power through action and the refusal to 'give the Higher Power the finger' by altering the mind with chemicals.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Mickey introduces the workshop on Steps 1, 2, and 3.
• 3:15 Laughter: Mickey discusses the 'we' program and the danger of newcomers following an old-timer's 'opinion'.
• 7:40 Mickey explains the difference between wanting to stop and having the tools to not want to do it.
• 12:10 Mickey discusses the 'magic' of one alcoholic relating to another for the purpose of recovery.
• 16:45 Mickey breaks down the 'invisible line' and the phenomenon of craving.
• 22:30 Discussion on the 'duck and the eagle' metaphor and the abnormal reaction to alcohol.
• 30:15 Mickey defines 'hitting bottom' as an inside job, not outside circumstances.
• 36:20 Step 2: The power of two alcoholics coming together to restore sanity.
• 42:10 Step 3: The metaphor of the Jaguar sports car and putting one's life in the 'care' of a mechanic.
• 48:50 Mickey concludes by discussing the power to stay sober and the danger of 'giving the Higher Power the finger'.