Steps 1 and 3 – Chance for Change Workshop – Part 2 of 6 – 2008 – Myers R.

About This Speaker Tape

Chance for Change Workshop - 2008

A piece of licorice stuck in a tooth serves as the opening gambit for Myers R.'s argument against the 'oral tradition' of recovery. He challenges the fellowship to set aside 'old ideas'—like the 90-meetings-in-90-days rule—and return to the Big Book as a baseline. Myers R. dismantles the illusion of external manageability arguing that a drunk only becomes willing when the pain of their existence outweighs the desire to drink. He pushes for a rigorous fast-paced approach to the steps warning that if a newcomer is left to flounder in meetings without a clear understanding of the chronic disease and the 'mental obsession,' they will likely drift back to the bottle or the grave. The narrative shifts from the physical allergy to the 'bondage of self,' where the real enemy isn't the booze but a deep-seated selfishness that renders the alcoholic blind to the needs of others.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Opening joke about licorice and the fellowship's tendency to let people look like fools.
• 5:15 Discussion on 'old ideas' and the controversy of setting aside fellowship dogma to return to the Big Book.
• 12:40 The role of pain in creating willingness; the failure of 'frothy emotional appeals'.
• 18:20 Step 1 truths: The danger of allowing a newcomer to flounder in meetings without understanding the disease.
• 25:10 Laughter: The story of the woman in Australia offended by the term 'guys'.
• 32:00 The 'AA Trinity' (job, girl, car) and the illusion of willpower.
• 41:15 Analysis of the 'mental obsession' and the failure of 'Just Say No' (Nancy R.).
• 48:30 The 'bondage of self' and the definition of selfishness as ignoring the existence of others.
• 55:10 The story of Clint H. and the 'dismantling' of his life after the Third Step prayer.