This Is What I Did

This is from a pamphlet entitled "A Member's Eye View of Alcoholics Anonymous" which is reprinted from a talk one of our member's gave concerning the disease of alcoholism to a group of counselors at a large university.  It's a good pamphlet but - boy - can you ever see the gentle sexism and overt Christianity come out.  It's not moderated at all.  There are a lot of Bible passages referenced.  I can't see how this would pass muster today.     

Anyway . . . "Instead of a constant and on-going rat-a-tat-tat of 'This is what you should do,' he heard an instantly recognizable voice saying, 'This is what I did.'  The intuitive understanding the alcoholic receives, while compassionate, is not indulgent.  The new man is not asked what he is thinking.  He is told what he is thinking.  No one waits to trap him in a lie.  He is told what lies he is getting ready to tell.  In the end, he begins to achieve honesty by default.  There's not much point in trying to fool people who may have invented the game you're playing."

Yeah, well, welcome to Alcoholics Anonymous, right?  

"The Twelve Steps are so framed and presented that the alcoholic can either ignore them completely, take them cafeteria-style, or embrace them wholeheartedly.  No member is ever told he must perform these Steps.  We change our mantra from 'A.A. is all you need' to 'A.A. is all I need.'  It remains then for each member to discover and to share whatever works for him.  The supreme catalyst seems to be the word 'share.'  The alcoholic's omnipresent, ever-lurking need to withdraw from the mainstream and turn in upon himself.  Learning to substitute a group, no matter how large, for one's own self-centeredness is only partial recovery."