Why the Big Book Says the Solution Never Fails – Steve M.

About This Speaker Tape

Big Book Workshop - 2011

A disease of perception is what Steve M. calls his struggle where the world is seen only as he wants it to be. He recounts the wreckage of a nervous breakdown in law school that ended with police breaking down his door while he lay blacked out on the phone with his father. Steve dissects Bill W.'s story focusing on the 'appalling lack of perspective' and the devious way the mind talks itself back into a drink. He emphasizes that neither self-knowledge nor promises kept him sober but rather a surrender of his own ideas. He describes the shift from being a 'solution drinker'—using alcohol to fix a soul-sickness—to finding a common solution through the fellowship. The talk moves from the wreckage of the 'scrap heap' to the electric effect of fully accepting a program of action over intellectual pontificating.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:45 Steve M. opens with a joke about his Higher Power's lack of taste.
• 5:12 Discussion on the 'appalling lack of perspective' and the mental obsession to drink.
• 10:20 Steve describes his bottom: a nervous breakdown in law school and police breaking down his door.
• 15:45 Analysis of Ebby T.'s visit to Bill W. and the concept of being 'inwardly reorganized'.
• 21:10 Steve references page 181 regarding atheists, agnostics, and intellectual pride.
• 25:30 The 'shipwreck' metaphor: the bond between alcoholics as 'epoxy'.
• 31:15 Discussion on the 'annihilation of all things worthwhile in life' and how the disease affects others.
• 36:40 Laughter: Discussion on the 'doomsday timer' and the pressure to wrap up.
• 41:10 Closing comments from David P. on 'faith without works' and the 'AA math' of giving it away.