The Common Sense of Drinking

I've mentioned Richard Peabody before - the italicized phrases below are from a book of his called "The Common Sense of Drinking" which was written in 1931 and had a profound effect on Bill W.  Indeed, you can find concepts that litter the AA literature all through his book.  Peabody was the first individual who posited in a published book that there was no cure for alcoholism.

Here's some stuff . . . 

On The Wagon:  'On the wagon' was coined in the USA around the turn of the 20th century.  The phrase began as 'on the water-cart', migrated to 'on the water-wagon' and finally to 'on the wagon'.  Those who had vowed to give up drink and were tempted to lapse said that they would drink from the water-cart rather than take strong drink.

A man who is on the wagon may be sober physically, but mentally he may be as alcohol-minded as if he were drunk.

It does little good for a man to endeavor to eliminate his habit until he considers it a sound, sensible, and desirable thing to do; something he would like to accomplish for his own sake; however difficult it may seem.  Incidentally for a man who is willing to buckle down to work the 'work' is always exaggerated at the beginning.

How often do we hear that the practicing alcoholic needs to get sober for him or herself and not for the sake of someone else?

Stinking Thinking:  A bad way of thinking, that makes you believe you will fail, that bad things will happen to you, or that you are not a very good person.

Negative thoughts, given the chance, arise all to swiftly.  For emphasis I repeat: it is of supreme importance that positive thinking be employed whenever the subject comes up . . . 

As soon as the  intellectual control is shaken at all, and it takes very little to shake it, his emotions immediately take control, which is almost the same as saying alcohol takes charge.  While in this condition he wants happiness and relaxation, and he wants them as soon as he can get them . . . 

"Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol.  The sensation is so elusive that, while they admit that it is injurious, they cannot after time differentiate the true from the false.  They are restless, irritable, and discontented unless they can again experience the sense of ease and comfort which comes at once by taking a few drinks . . . "

Big Book P. XXVIII - XXIX