The Difference Between Recovering and Recovered – Bob S.

About This Speaker Tape

Los Angeles, in a taxi cab. A passenger skips out on a fifteen-dollar fare, and suddenly the old resentment flares. Bob S. warns that this is where the "drunken monkey" waits in the cage, ready to leap. He draws a hard line between recovering—the state of those in detox or treatment—and being recovered. To Bob, recovering is a dangerous middle ground where one can speak the truth but still act on a lie and drink.

He dissects Step 10 as a five-part survival formula to be used in real-time, not just before bed. It is a mechanical process: spot the selfishness, hit the Higher Power, call a sponsor, and make amends quickly. If you don't, you remain "His Majesty the Baby," irritable and restless. For Bob, being recovered is a conditional state, like surviving pneumonia; you are safe only as long as the window stays shut. The goal is a "fit spiritual condition" where the problem is removed and liquor is recoiled from like a hot flame.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Introduction to the Fourth Dimension Group and the goal of Big Book step seminars.
• 4:15 Discussion on the 'personality change' and why it is insufficient on its own to recover from alcoholism.
• 8:30 Step 10: The five-part direction for handling new mistakes as they crop up.
• 14:20 Laughter: Bob S. describes his time as a cab driver in LA and the 'drunken monkey' in the cab.
• 22:10 The 'Drunken Monkey' metaphor and the conditional nature of being a recovered alcoholic.
• 31:45 Step 11: The nightly review and the morning prayer for direction.
• 42:10 Step 12: The importance of intensive work with other alcoholics to ensure immunity from drinking.
• 52:30 Warning against 'promoting' the program to newcomers and the danger of forcing the message.
• 58:15 The 'Fourth Dimension' of sobriety and the final encouragement to stay in a fit spiritual condition.