The Spiritual Mathematics of a Life That Sucked – Harold L.

About This Speaker Tape

East Coast Convention - 2021

A drunk tank in St. Louis became the site of a three-word prayer that ended a decades-long war with King Alcohol. Harold L. spent his youth drifting through the South living in a beat-up trailer park with men named Poor C. and Screwdriver and surviving a stabbing that he initially tried to cure with a quart of beer. He spent years in the penal system and lived by 'worldly mathematics'—the belief that money and status equal happiness—until a sponsor named Roy forced him to own the wreckage of his life. Through the 'spiritual mathematics' of the steps Harold transformed from a high-school dropout with a criminal record into a man with two master's degrees and a family of five children. He now spends his time walking into maximum security prisons helping others rediscover a life they thought was impossible.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Harold L. opens with his sobriety date (April 7, 1987) and mentions his home group, AA on the Rocks.
• 4:15 Harold describes his first introduction to AA in 1979 while held in the Derrick County detention center.
• 12:30 A gritty account of waking up in a trailer with blood on his hands and being stabbed in the rib cage.
• 18:45 The story of a high-speed chase and a fatal accident that left him crushed and broken.
• 21:10 The 'most honest prayer' ever said: 'Higher Power help me,' spoken from a drunk tank.
• 26:40 Laughter: The story of Gary and the rusted-out Plymouth Duster.
• 36:15 The turning point with sponsor Roy, who told him he had attracted his life's misery by the person he had become.
• 44:20 Harold discusses the 'spiritual mathematics' of the steps and his journey toward two master's degrees.
• 52:10 Detailed breakdown of the 'Five Big Delusions' and the process of unclogging the spiritual tube through the steps.
• 58:30 Harold discusses his 25 years of service in maximum security prisons and the 'New Freedom' documentary.