The AA Fundamentalist and the Big Book – Charlie P.

About This Speaker Tape

Chattahoochee Valley Fellowship - 1986

Charlie P. maps out the anatomy of a physical allergy and the mental obsession that kept him trapped for 26 years. He recalls being a 'short fat kid with glasses' who found a temporary dangerous courage in moonshine which allowed him to finally dance with and kiss a girl named Betty. He dismantles the delusion that he could control his drinking recounting how he repeatedly ignored warnings from his mother father and first wife. After a brutal bottom in a utility room and a hospital stay he found a Higher Power through a desperate 'false' prayer. Charlie makes a case for the Big Book as the only reliable map for recovery warning that the fellowship has watered down the program into a 'numbers game' of meetings and osmosis rather than the rigorous personality change required to stay sober.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Charlie P. opens with his sobriety date and gratitude.
• 4:15 Laughter: The joke about the weight machine and missing the bus to San Bernardino.
• 10:30 Charlie describes the 'physical allergy' and the abnormal reaction to alcohol.
• 16:45 Story about being a shy kid with glasses and the first drink of moonshine.
• 25:10 The 'obsession of the mind' and ignoring warnings from family and bosses.
• 32:20 Meeting Floyd and the first introduction to the disease concept.
• 41:15 The cycle of relapse and the failure to 'taper off' the vodka.
• 48:30 Hitting bottom in the utility room and the hospital stay.
• 53:10 The 'false prayer' and the immediate removal of the obsession.
• 62:00 Detailed breakdown of the 12 Steps and the 'personality change' defined in Appendix II.
• 75:40 Discussion on the 'fourth dimension of existence' in Steps 10, 11, and 12.
• 84:15 Critique of the 'numbers game' and the importance of returning to the Big Book.