The Fellowship

Fellowship:  Friendly association, especially with people who share one's interested.

Lonely:       Sad because one has no friends or company; sad feelings that come from being apart from other people.  

"But there exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is indescribably wonderful.  We meet frequently so that newcomers may find the fellowship they seek." 17

"To watch people recover, to see them help others, to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow up about you, to have a host of friends - this is an experience you must not miss."  89

"But even Bacchus boomeranged on us; we were finally struck down and left in terrified loneliness.  Almost without exception, alcoholics are tortured by loneliness.  As we became subjects of King Alcohol, shivering denizens of his mad realm, the chilling vapor that is loneliness settled down."  151

Bacchus is the Roman god of fruitfulness and vegetation - his Greek counterpart is Dionysious.  Did not know that.  I thought he was the god of alcohol or wine.  This is why I look shit up.  Who knew?

Terrified!  Tortured!  Shivering denizens of a mad realm!!  Jesus, please keep that chilling vapor the hell off me.

This image is a woodcut from 1782 by an engraver named John Warner Barber.  King Alcohol is not a new phenomenon.  Note the skeleton standing next to him - this dude is the King's prime minister.

I jotted down these notes for a short lead I'm doing next Monday at a meeting where the secretary reads a few sentences or a paragraph out of the Big Book and makes this the topic of the meeting.  It made me think of how terribly isolated we were when we were drinking.  Some of us were noisy good fellows who wanted to be the center of attention and some of us were cowering in the corner but it didn't matter - we felt alone.  The phrase "The Fellowship" is used lots and lots of time in the A.A. literature.  We know how important it is to be connected with others.