The Formula for Change and the Action Steps – Joe C.

About This Speaker Tape

A world of fixed ideas and superstitions is the only thing that keeps a man from growing Joe C. argues using the stubbornness of Columbus as a blueprint for recovery. He frames the process of change as a rigid formula: willingness belief decision action and finally results.

For Joe C. the spiritual awakening isn't a leap of faith but the result of taking action on the steps moving from a blind belief to a concrete knowing. He dismantles the image of the old man on a cloud with a stick replacing it with the 'fundamental idea of Higher Power' buried deep within the human makeup.

He recalls a time in Tulsa sponsoring a young man in a halfway house and shares a parable about the crown of life hidden in the deepest crevice of the soul. By the end Joe C. moves from a fear of hellfire and brimstone to a personal internal Higher Power that makes the decision to get sober possible.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Joe C. reads from page 51 of the Big Book regarding material progress and fixed ideas.
• 2:45 Laughter: The idea of pushing environmental junk off the edge of a flat earth.
• 4:15 Joe C. breaks down the 'drunk thinking' of Columbus and his alcoholic mannerisms.
• 7:30 Laughter: The story of the sailor with the lantern looking for the edge of the world.
• 10 Discussion of the steps as action steps (4 through 11) leading to a spiritual awakening.
• 12:15 Joe C. explains that willingness is only achieved by drinking enough whiskey to not stand it anymore.
• 14:30 Joe C. describes his childhood image of the Higher Power as an old man on a cloud with a stick.
• 17:00 Story about sponsoring a young man in a Tulsa halfway house and the parable of the three wise men.
• 19:30 Reading from page 55 of the Big Book regarding the fundamental idea of Higher Power.
• 21:45 Joe C. discusses the internal voice and moving away from a Higher Power of hellfire and brimstone.