Step 3 – Sponsorship and 12 Step Workshop – Part 1 of 7 – 2011 – Audrey C.

About This Speaker Tape

Sponsorship and 12 Step Workshop - 2011

A Dallas summer spent living out of a car without air conditioning serves as the backdrop for this deep dive into Step Three. The speaker argues that Step Three is not a mystical act of surrender but a pragmatic decision to stop playing Higher Power and commit to working Steps Four through Twelve. He dismantles the 'self-help' mentality mocking the idea of pulling oneself up by the bootstraps and describes the 'bondage of self' as a mind that tries to kill the individual while making it look like an accident. By contrasting the 'actor' who tries to run the whole show with the reality of being broke homeless and unemployable at thirty-five he frames the decision to turn it over as the only logical move left when one's own best thinking has led to a total wreck.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:45 Discussion on the confusion surrounding Step Three and the definition of unmanageability.
• 3:15 The speaker recounts his desperation in a courtroom, begging a Higher Power for a way out.
• 5:20 Critique of the 'bootstraps' mentality and the self-help industry.
• 7:40 Analysis of the 'actor' metaphor from page 61 of the Big Book.
• 10:10 The 'musts' in the Big Book regarding the necessity of removing selfishness.
• 12:30 Laughter: The speaker describes being 35, homeless, and living out of a car in Dallas.
• 15:10 The 'secret' that not doing a Fourth Step means you've only 'filled up a chair' in the rooms.
• 18:20 Discussion on the role of a sponsor as a pilot showing someone how to fly.
• 20:15 Analysis of the Third Step Prayer and the 'bondage of self'.
• 23:00 The warning that a heartfelt Third Step commitment 'screws up your drinking' by closing the door on the bottle.