Steps 1, 4, 6, 7 and 12 – Friday Night Recovery Workshop – Part 4 of 17 – 2021 – Chris S.

About This Speaker Tape

Friday Night Recovery Workshop - 2021

A bent curtain rod and a house without bathroom doors serve as the backdrop for Chris S.'s argument that abstinence is merely a prerequisite not the cure. He describes the 'tangled thoughts' of the alcoholic mind—the guilt shame and the obsession that leads a man to buy a gallon of vodka on the way to an AA meeting. After his life blew to shreds through legal flight and a disastrous relationship with a 'druggie buggy' companion Chris S. found the spiritual mechanics of the Joe and Charlie tapes. He posits that alcoholics are essentially 'unresolved mystics' suffering from a spiritual vacancy. By moving through the steps from the mental cleanup of the first five to the spiritual horsepower of the tenth and eleventh he shifted from a lunatic with no guardrails to a self-aware biological entity in a vast universe finally finding a way to steer back from the ledge when the default settings of anger kick in.

Topics

Timestamps

• 2:15 Chris S. opens with a story about a bent curtain rod and the synergy of fellowship.
• 5:40 Discussion on the 'obsession of the mind' and the inability to stay separated from alcohol.
• 9:10 Laughter: Chris S. describes his early days in AA as a 'lunatic' with no filter or governor.
• 12:30 The story of buying a gallon of vodka on the way to a meeting and the subsequent seven-month relapse.
• 16:45 Chris S. describes his mind as 'tangled' and the failure of a relationship with a girl from the 'druggie buggy'.
• 21:10 The transition to the Joe and Charlie tapes and the start of Step 4 (Moral Inventory).
• 25:30 The 'unresolved mystic' theory and the spiritual vacancy.
• 30:15 Detailed breakdown of Step 6 (Becoming Ready) and Step 7 (Humbly Asking).
• 34:20 The Rutgers School of Alcohol Studies anecdote regarding shame and the 12 Steps.
• 38:50 The 'unrecovered lawyer' and the danger of opinions over experience.
• 42:10 The TV antenna metaphor for spiritual focus in Steps 10 and 11.
• 46:00 Closing thoughts on Step 12 and being a 'self-aware biological entity'.