The Difference Between Being a Member and Getting on the Rocket Ship – Russell S.

About This Speaker Tape

101-Step 3-A Technicolor Life -

A lawyer with a penchant for representing 'wacko' codependent women Russell S. argues that the only way to escape a black-and-white existence is to stop treating AA as a glorified group therapy session. He dismisses the 'slop' of meeting chatter—jobs boyfriends and girlfriends—and insists that the only path to the 'rocket ride' of the fourth dimension is a total obsessive surrender to a Higher Power. He describes his own evolution from a man doing the program 'by the numbers' to someone who views life in technicolor warning that those who avoid the spiritual core of the Big Book are merely playing on the field without ever scoring a touchdown.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:15 Laughter: Russell jokes about the 'steerage' section of the room and the Titanic.
• 3:45 Russell discusses his lack of workaholism and the Dry Dock Club in San Francisco.
• 7:10 Russell describes his legal practice and his specialty in representing 'wacko' codependent women.
• 12:30 Discussion on the antipathy toward talking about a Higher Power in some AA circles.
• 18:15 Russell shares a story about his granddaughters at Disney World and the feeling of wanting others to share in his joy.
• 23:40 The metaphor of life moving from black-and-white to technicolor through faith.
• 31:10 Step 3: Russell emphasizes the danger of 'watering down' the Big Book's requirements.
• 38:20 Reading from the Big Book regarding the 'fourth dimension of existence' and the relationship with a Creator.
• 45:10 Russell argues that fear is the root of most problems and is outgrown through dependence on a Higher Power.
• 52:40 The distinction between the requirement for membership (desire to stop drinking) and the requirement for sobriety.
• 58:15 Step 3 analysis: The three pertinent ideas and the danger of following one's own will.