The Prison of Self-Centeredness – Sandy B.

About This Speaker Tape

Sandy B. maps out the spiritual void that alcohol once filled describing his drinking as a search for 'action' and a way to avoid the boredom of a 'straight-ahead life.' A former Marine fighter pilot and steeplejack he traces his path from a naval nut ward—where he was grouped with the 'regular nuts'—to a sobriety maintained by a 'very mean sponsor' who treated recovery like boot camp. He dismantles the illusion of self-sufficiency using the image of a spiritual cushion to explain how a Higher Power protects the alcoholic from the 'potholes' of daily life.

He argues that the only way out of the prison of self-centeredness is a total surrender to the reality of powerlessness transforming a spiritual bankruptcy into a doorway for the program to flow in.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Sandy B. opens with a nod to Al-Anon jokes and the enthusiasm of the local group.
• 4:15 Laughter: Sandy B. recounts his mother's Irish wit and her letters.
• 8:30 Discussion of the 'prison of self-centeredness' and the initial disbelief in a Higher Power.
• 14:20 Sandy B. describes the 'spiritual dimension' of the third to fifth drink.
• 22:10 The 'universal fix' of the 12 Steps compared to the 'universal fix' of a bottle of vodka.
• 28:45 Account of the naval hospital nut ward and the advice from the schizophrenic patients.
• 33:15 The 'boot camp' sponsorship: a Marine infantryman who demanded he 'get in the car' for meetings.
• 41:00 The saga of the missing podium and the 'disbanded' home group.
• 52:10 Step 1: A deep dive into the meaning of powerlessness and the 'falling through an elevator shaft' analogy.
• 58:40 The 'spiritual cushion' and the danger of going out into the world 'unarmed' without a Higher Power.