Alcoholics Anonymous Beginners & Refresher Class Sessions Prepared by Mike & Kathy L, West Orange, NJ Revision 1.0 May 5, For additional copies visit http://back.to/aabasics on the Internet ____________________________________________________________________________________ 14 not drink no matter what or maybe we could just don’t drink and go to meetings you could also add the beauty that goes something like “even if your rear-end falls off, pick it backup, drag it to a meeting, and just don’t drink.”, etc, etc.] Because of the mental factor, alcoholics can’t get by on any of those nifty one-liners. Page 25 tells us the real solution to the alcoholic problem is spiritual and we’re given two alternatives) continue drinking to the bitter end of existence Or 2) accept spiritual help Is everyone clear on the physical and mental aspects of alcoholism If not, please speak to your sponsor or one of us during the break. Also, a thorough rereading of Chapters 2 & 3 will help you as well. Chapter More About Alcoholism, give excellent examples of alcoholic thinking which comes before a relapse into drinking. Be sure to read over the examples of the man of thirty, the jaywalker, our friend Jim”, and of course Fred. In Jim’s example they use the word “suddenly”. He says that suddenly the thought came into his mind that if he added milk to whisky it wouldn’t hurt him on a full stomach. Jim got that insane idea suddenly and this was after early members had already worked with him several times prior and he made a beginning on his recovery and he wasn’t even having that bad of a day. But, he only made a beginning on his recovery. He didn’t accept the entire program of action that the early members laid out for him. So in this example, the state of mind before the first drink that got Jim drunk was what we and our AA book refer to as “suddenly”. Let’s briefly give an example using this word suddenly to drive home a particular point How many of us have heard in our meetings, Well, if you feel like taking a drink just give me a call and I’ll talk you out of it That’s like me calling you up and saying, “I’m going to suddenly get diarrhea in 10 minutes and I want you to talk me out of it That’s insane! The last paragraph of Chapter 3 (page 43) says: “The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink. Except in a few cases, neither he nor any
