The Medical Side of Recovery and Dr. S. – 1961 – Sam S.
About This Speaker Tape
A moon-faced alarm clock, hurled in a drunken rage, hangs embedded in the wooden cross of a New York church. For Sam S., this image captures the wreckage of the "gentleman drunk" and the failure of professional religion to reach the desperate. He recalls the early days of the fellowship, where the "god of science had spoken doom" and the only exit was a total surrender of the will.
Sam S. dismantles the facade of the "right-hand top drawer lady" and the "half-awakened church," arguing that one can be just as drunk on self-righteousness as on gin. He traces the lineage of recovery from the Oxford Group to the "direct inspiration" of the Twelve Steps, framing them as transmissible principles for any human being trapped in a "fascinating sidetrack." To Sam S., the root is faith and the fruit is freedom; without a Higher Power to anchor the soul, man is condemned to be ruled by tyrants or his own obsessions.
Discussion
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