Sandy B. at the Far Corners Spiritual Retreat – 2011

About This Speaker Tape

Far Corners Spiritual Retreat - 2011

Sandy B. dismantles the 'story land' of the alcoholic mind arguing that the only way to break through delusions is through the power of shared stories. He maps out the transition from the isolation of the 'separate entity' to the moment of identification recalling the first time he felt a genuine spark of empathy for a shaking newcomer at a coffee pot. Sandy B. traces the shift from a tough-guy persona to a 'softy' who finds peace with mortality eventually volunteering in hospice and taking patients for unauthorized car rides. He makes his case for the 'spiritual heist of the century'—how AA stripped religion of its divisive elements to leave something uniting—and concludes by urging the group to enter a period of silence to experience the pure essence of 'I am' without the modifiers of anxiety or fear.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Sandy B. opens by discussing the 'story land' of delusions and the role of the storyteller.
• 4:15 Discussion on the healing power of identification and the story of the Prodigal Son.
• 8:30 Sandy B. describes the 'shaking' newcomer at the coffee pot and his first glimpse of empathy.
• 12:10 The encounter with Betsy L. and the 'human touch' on the shoulder that stopped him from running away.
• 15:40 Analysis of AA as a 'spiritual heist' that provides a comforting view of the universe.
• 19:20 The hypothetical courtroom case for the 12 Steps, using Jim S. as a witness.
• 22:10 Tearing into the ego's fear of death and the 'jackpot' of the afterlife.
• 26:40 Sandy B. shares his experience volunteering in hospice and overcoming the fear of hospitals.
• 30:15 A spiritual exercise on stripping adverbs and adjectives from the sentence 'I am'.
• 33:50 Final thoughts on the 'thunder of silence' and the present moment before the closing prayer.