Page 316 - The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

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PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYSELF! 305
this organization is known as Alcoholics Anonymous.
Why don’t you join it?” I said, “What do you think I’ve
been doing?” “Well,” he said, “you’ve been sober, but
you’ve been floating way up on a cloud somewhere.
Why don’t you go home and get the Big Book and
open it at page fifty-eight and see what it says?” So I
did. I got the Big Book and I read it, and this is what
it said: “Rarely have we seen a person fail who has
thoroughly followed our path.” The word “thoroughly”
rang a bell. And then it went on to say: “Half measures
availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point.”
And the last sentence was “We asked His protection
and care with complete abandon.”
“Complete abandon”; “Half measures availed us
nothing”; “Thoroughly followed our path”; “Com-
pletely give themselves to this simple program” rang
in my swelled head.
Years earlier, I had gone into psychoanalysis to
1
get relief. I spent 5 ⁄2 years in psychoanalysis and pro-
ceeded to become a drunk. I don’t mean that in any
sense as a derogatory statement about psychotherapy;
it’s a very great tool, not too potent, but a great tool. I
would do it again.
I tried every gimmick that there was to get some
peace of mind, but it was not until I was brought to
my alcoholic knees, when I was brought to a group
in my own community with the butcher, the baker, the
carpenter, and the mechanic, who were able to give me
the Twelve Steps, that I was finally given some sem-
blance of an answer to the last half of the First Step.
So, after taking the first half of the First Step, and
very gingerly admitting myself to Alcoholics Anony-
mous, something happened. And then I thought to