Workshop on Singleness of Purpose at the Gulf Shores AL Jubilee in Gulf Shores, AL

Area delegate and he is also the representative of Area 1-2 New York. He's still very active in service work and he is here to give us a workshop, workshop on the on singleness of purpose, which is something that is important to a great many of us. And so I'd like to introduce John Shirley.

Let me get my pile out here.

My name is John Shirley. I'm definitely alcoholic.

You saw this pile up here, you'd believe me.

Have gathered a little information here. I'm going to try. And

you know, when you're talking about a principal and Alcoholics Anonymous, I believe the first thing that we should all do as members of Alcoholics Anonymous is reach for our literature.

And that's what I've done here today. So. But let me get started here. I am alcoholic. My Home group is the in-depth big book study in Pensacola, FL. We meet on Wednesday night at 8:00 at the East Brent Baptist Church. We'd love to have you come. It is a closed meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous and my sponsors, A guy named Hal and his Home group is a downtown group in Pensacola. And my sobriety date is January 11th, 1989.

I tell you all those things because I think that that's integral to sobriety.

The whole roughnecks that sobered me up were from Baldwin County and

and if you had ever met these guys, they would have asked you what your Home group was and your sobriety date was and probably they would ask you where you were in the steps and about the 1st 2 1/2 minutes that you met them.

They were like that. They believed in the principles. Alcoholics Anonymous,

I think mine, my manners here. I'd like to thank the committee and Anna and for asking me to be here and talk to you today about singleness of purpose. And it's a subject that's very dear to me. It's kind of a daunting task.

It's a pretty broad subject and there's quite a bit of information. I'm not an expert on this topic or any other topic.

I'm kind of like the donkey that rode Jesus into Jerusalem. Just another Jackass. Carrie in the message.

I've tried to use information and I'm going to try not to put you to sleep. So I'm going to kind of watch your heads here.

You know, I probably dug into this topic a little too deep or something, but I'm going to be doing a lot of reading. I'm going to try to intersperse that reading with comments so that I'm not just reading to you. But again, I want to really hold out what our literature, the literature and Alcoholics Anonymous, the conference approved literature

holds out as singles purpose. I think that that's vitally important. And I think I'm going to show you what I'm reading from. I'm going to tell you what I'm reading from so that you'll know, so that you can put your hands on the same piece of information that I'm talking about. So that should this question arise, you can answer it with our literature

rather than your opinion or my opinion.

So I'm getting pretty good. I've got a 5 year old and I'm really good at sleepytime stories so I'm I'm hoping that this doesn't become one.

Let's see. Thanks. I'm going to talk about the history of of singleness of purpose, the Washingtonians, the Oxford Group, Alcoholics Anonymous. Maybe it's early days. I'm going to talk about the group level, personal level, trying to work with professionals in facilities and out. And hopefully I'll be able to wrap that up with some form of how singleness effects all of us personally

and on a spiritual level.

I believe that Alcoholics Anonymous is like this great mosaic. And a mosaic is just a painting or a a image that's created by taking little stones or pieces of tile and carefully laying them together so that they form an image.

Back in 97, I had a chance to visit with the old guy from over here in Baldwin County, Hillary

to Rome. And we went to Rome and went to Saint Peters. And after I'd been in Saint Peters Cathedral for better part of a day, somebody pointed out that none of these wonderful murals on the walls were actually painted. They were all mosaics. And the deal is if you walk up to a mosaic and it's real close to you, all you can see are the little pieces.

And it doesn't really make any sense

until you begin to back away from the image. And as you back away,

then the image begins to become in focus and it makes sense. And I think that AAI know that certainly my my life has held that out, that unless I'm able to back away from it and look at it, it's hard to really see the full beauty of the image of what we are part of.

On April 2nd, 1846, drinkers got together and formed a little organization called the Washingtonian Society,

and it was a temperate society. They met for the first time at this place called Chases Trek Tavern in Baltimore, MD on Liberty St. and the idea was that they were going to help, relying on each other, sharing their alcoholic experiences and relying on divine help that somehow or another they could experience total abstinence from alcohol.

And in the passage of time, this,

they

became a sort of prohibitionist organization, which is pretty hot at the time. And they believed in the legal and mandatory prohibition of alcoholic beverages.

Concurrent with that movement was also this loose group of treatment centers, except they weren't called. They were actually they were facilities for inebriate living popped up. Temperance was kind of a hot topic at the time. So these guys were fitting in pretty well. So maybe 1840s, you know, treatments not quite as cutting edge as you may think,

but the Washingtonian's at their peak

reach somewhere around, you know, 10s of thousands, as high as an estimate of 300,000 Alcoholics just along the eastern seaboard of the United States. That's pretty good #300,000

And in the space of just a few short years, they began to become sort of fragmented from their primary purpose. They began to get involved in all sorts of public controversial

issues, alcohol reform, prohibition, sectarian religion, politics, the abolition of slavery. It was reported that Abraham Lincoln actually came to one of their big gatherings at one point in time, and just not to because he had an alcohol problem, but to listen to the topics of the day. So they were involved in all sorts of things.

The Washingtonians drifted away from their initial purpose

of helping Alcoholics and began with infighting and arguments and disagreements, controversy, and eventually it destroyed the group.

I guess that wouldn't be much, but if you think about the Washingtonians became so entirely extinct, 300,000 people now think about that.

That 50 years later, Bill Wilson, Doctor Bob joined together for sobriety,

had never even heard of them.

That's extinct

so the Oxford groups pop up Oxford groups rose of prominence in the 1920s Nineteen 30s gentleman by the name of Doctor Frank Buckman. He was a Lutheran minister and Frank in 19 O eight had had a revolutionary spiritual experience and had

started this Oxford Movement of the time and Keswick England

in 1921. Originally it was called the 1st Century Christianity or the 1st Century Christian Fellowship, later to become known as the Oxford Group. I brought with me a copy of What is the Oxford Group? This is original publication that I managed to get my hands on. So this is non conference approved a a literature

but I want to read a couple things to you from their book and justice Listen for some similarities. See if any of this sounds familiar to you. You cannot belong to the Oxford group that has no membership list, subscriptions, badge, rules, or definite location. It is a name for a group of people who, from every rank, profession and trade in many countries, have surrendered their lives to God and who are endeavoring to

a spiritual quality of life under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Oxford Group is not a religion. It has no hierarchy,

no temples, no endowments. Its workers have no salary, no plans but God's plan. Every country is their country, every man their brother, their holy crusaders and modern dress wearing spiritual armor.

The you know, that I'm sure sounds a little familiar to me. Frank Buckman was notorious for having these tea parties, they called them, and the tea parties were typically held in sort of socially elite. Frank believed that if members of society that were sort of elite, high-ranking business professional folks

had the spiritual experiences

that it would trickle down. He believed in a trickle down kind of theory. And and so these tea parties would typically be held in some social elites house, some big person in the community's home. So if you got an invitation to a tea party and you were part of a little community, you wouldn't say no

'cause you would probably be thought I'll of in the community. So these people would show up.

The catch was Frank Buckman believed that people suffered from like sin is his term. We would probably call it a character defect in Alcoholics Anonymous, but

Frank believed in these sins. If by sharing of one sins with others that you might be able to be relieved of that. And so at these tea parties,

Mr. A, who had a gambling problem,

would be politely introduced to Mr. B with some reference to I think you may have something in common.

And the guy who had already had this spiritual experience, have been relieved of his gambling obsession, would know that that was his hot little cue

to begin to share in a very matter of fact way how he had been relieved of his problem, his sin, his character defect.

In, again, the Oxford Group. He says people in need are more inclined to tell us the truth about themselves if they know we are willing to tell the truth about ourselves. This is the foundation

trust which is essential when we witness in order to bring others to a life change. That's from the Oxford Group. Again, non conference approved literature here.

You know, you think about that is the relationship that Frank Buckman put out there, this miracle of identification. That's something he locked into. You heard the Washingtonians, it is the principle that they locked into and it was effective up until they began to deviate from that singleness of purpose. Same deal with the with the Oxford Group. Very effective mode of sharing that when we have that identification, Oxford Group is not an alcoholic

identification. It's a matter of fact. Bill Wilson, when he finally does sober, is going to run into some trouble over this. But Evie, who is being committed for alcoholic insanity, and many of you know the story, three men appear in court and talk the judge into letting him have it. And they he gets under the clutches of the Oxford Group who share with him and he has a spiritual awakening.

And I don't know about anybody here, but

never been on A5 day Jag at home and, you know, haven't had a shower in five days. And

I

you open the door and it's one of your drinking buddies and woo, you know, you're about the only person that can stand to be around you because you stench is so bad. And I can feel Bill. You know how he must have felt when Eddie, his lifelong chum, shows up at the door. I mean, I really just understand that.

And

Eddie starts talking to Bill

and something's different about Evi. It's so wonderful when you look in in the book Alcoholics Anonymous and you read Bill story. I think it's so the words are so wonderful. You know, the door opened. He stood there fresh skinned and glowing. There was something about his eyes. He was inexplicably different. What had happened? You know, Bill's excited for this guy. OK. But then all of a sudden he asked him what happens? And he goes. He goes, I've got religion now listen to Bill. Now this is

down. I was a gas.

So that was it last summer. An alcoholic crackpot. Now, I suspect a little cracked about religion. You remember those fresh skin glowing? Well, now it's starry eyed look. Yeah, the old boy was on fire. All right, let him rant. Bill is just shut down in two seconds.

Y'all identify with that?

I mean, that's just always amazed to me.

But Evie is able to sit and talk to him. And Evie knows from the Oxford Group this this wonderful pattern of discussion. He did know rant ranting in a matter of fact way. He told how the two men had appeared in court and persuaded the judge to suspend his commitment. They told of a simple religious idea and a practical program of action. That was two months ago and the result was self self-evident. It worked.

It's beautiful stuff.

Eddie's just very calm. Bill doesn't readily accept that. It takes Bill a while to finally sober up, as we know, but finally he does. He finally sobers up and has that miracle and Bill is on a a a Jag to find some other alcoholic and he spends 6 months fighting and trying to find

other Alcoholics to work with. He works in.

It's funny because for that six months, I can't imagine being a six month sober. Think about that. Your first six months of sobriety, you were alone. There's no meeting. There's no real help outside of this religious organization. What must that have been like for Bill?

And he is desperate to find somebody who can really identify. And Ebby is the only guy he's got. He's the only guy he can hang on to.

Lots of failures. He's trying to pull drunks off of bar stools and sober him up. And he finally goes to Silkworth and Silkworth gives him that combination. Doctor Silkworth. It was the Doctor Who treated Bill on all three of his detox periods.

Bill gives him these magic words, the obsession of the mind that compels us to drink and the allergy of the body that condemns us

to go mad or die. He talks to him about that, that allergy and obsession,

Bill says. These were the indiscernible, indispensable passwords to till the black soil of hopelessness out of which every single spiritual awakening has flourished.

That I first got to reach that place of hopelessness where I can surrender

beautiful stuff. That identification of my alcoholism. The identification of that allergy. The the allergy that causes me to not be able to control my drinking or not stop drinking whenever I've started. It's simple identification. That obsession that continuously takes me back to it, despite all the evidence to the contrary that it's going to be OK for me to drink again.

Over and over and over again. My life holds that out.

So Core suggests a Bill that he stopped preaching at the Alcoholics, that he gives them the hard medical facts. So where it says this may soften them up at depth so that they'll be willing to do anything to get well. They may even accept those spiritual ideas of yours and perhaps a higher power. This is Doctor Silkworth talking to Bill.

He is. He knows that Bill has been on this, this,

you know, you gotta got to get God quick deal. And he's forgetting that he's missing that miracle of identification.

And then we know that that's exactly where Bill takes this trip to Akron.

He is in Akron. We know the story. He's desperate. His business deal is falling through. He's in the Mayfield Flower Hotel, pacing the lobby, thinking about taking a drink. Maybe I'll just have one. He's, you know, six months over and down. Listen to those glasses jingling.

And he makes the phone calls to

Tonks, the reverend in the city, and subsequent phone calls that finally put him in touch with Doctor Bob Smith. And even Doctor Bob Smith is saying, you know, I'll give the guy 5 minutes.

And what's amazing to me about this whole thing in this part of the mosaic that I love is that Akron, OH, where he is, is one of the cities that the the Oxford Group had appeared in. And they had pretty much had a preacher in every pulpit in the city prior to this to Bill showing up in town. So

Doctor Bob is well familiar with the Oxford Group Principals.

He's probably better read than Bill is at this time. But yet he's not able to stay sober. And all of a sudden Bill shows up at his door and starts talking about this. He's not preaching at him anymore. If if Bill started preaching at Doctor Bob,

we probably wouldn't be here.

But Bill laid out this miracle of identification one more time

and Doctor Bob related to him and they began this wonderful relationship

later to to sober.

You know, you think about the years that went through Doctor Bob and the fellowships mushrooming growth as we go along from 35 until the publication of the book in 39. And then, you know, this is where the literature starts to get clear is Doctor Bob Bill the other a as knew that the fundamental principle

of the fellowship's growth

came from the miracle of identification. There is there crystal clear about that every bit of growth that happened as a result of that. And that's why in the book we found, you know, we are people who normally would not miss, but there exists a fellowship and

a friendliness and an understanding which is indescribably wonderful. They talk about the X problem. Drinker has found the solution. Who is properly armed with the facts about himself can generally win the entire confidence

of another alcoholic in a few hours. Until such an understanding is reached, little or nothing can be accomplished.

I mean, these guys are crystal clear about this,

that the miracle of identification has to happen.

1946 Bill begins to develop the traditions and we start to see the traditions evolve by and Bill uses the a, a Grapevine as the mode to sell the traditions. So he's printing these little articles in the Grapevine in the 1940s

about individual traditions, and then we see them appear in 1950 at the first International Convention in their long form.

And

I think it's interesting because once again, if you read the long form of the traditions, there is very little doubt about what we're talking about. And yet today, in modern AA, we have trouble comprehending it. It seems

the long form of Tradition 3. Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism.

Hence we met may refuse none who wish to recover, nor ought a a membership ever depend upon money or conformity. Any two or three Alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an AA group, provided that as a group they have no other affiliation. Tradition 5. Each Alcoholics Anonymous group ought to be a spiritual entity

having but one primary purpose,

that of carrying its message to the alcoholic who still suffers. Spiritual entity with one purpose.

I think it's interesting when we get into singleness of purpose and we start telling stories. There are sort of two sides to this. It doesn't. When we talk about singleness of purpose, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that we still are under obligation to be principled in our behavior.

That kindness still is part of what we are,

and that honesty is part of what we are.

And I think there are two little stories there. I went to A to a speaker meeting one time with a guy sponsor and we arrived early, did the meet and greet, wandered around, and then we sat down and watched and we're kind of watching the crowd. And there was a guy who was wandering around giving the

I don't know how you say that he was, we were laughing because he was hugging all the ladies. You know, he was going out way out of his way to grab all the ladies, you know, give him a little extra pelvic hug, you know,

And

just before the meeting started, ran out and grabbed a tape recorder. So we figured he was going to chair the meeting and turned out he was the speaker. But I,

I guess he needed a tape himself. And but the lady that was chairing the meeting is an open meeting. Keep in mind, open meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous. And the meeting started and she said anybody new or here for the first time. And this little girl in the back of the room, you know, raised her head and she, you know, I'm Kimmy or whatever it was and I'm an addict. The woman chairing the meeting goes,

yes, get the hell out of here.

At which time

I'm not really sure whether to cry or, you know, laugh maniacally, but the guy I'm with is ready to come out of the skin.

I. Fortunately, the little girl just seemed undaunted by it. She stayed right where she was, I guess, you know, the woman appeared crazy enough that it just didn't, you know, I was just kind of like whatever and

and then, you know, classic, you know, so this woman really believed that she was doing the right thing, you know, that she was maintaining a singleness of purpose. I'm sure in her mind, if you hooked her up to a lie detector test, that was what you're supposed to do. And

ironically, this guy who gives up, gets up that she's asked to talk, gets up and give some sort of a sex anonymous talk. I don't know what it was. It was, it was anything but an A, a talk. It was, you know, I mean,

it was the most bizarre thing I've ever heard.

Again, you know, you probably have a group of really well meaning people here, but they are just way off track. And

another instance, a little more serious. I I have a lifelong friend who watched me.

It was a roommate in college and

literally he packed his car and left in the middle of the night one night because he just couldn't stand, you know, what was going on around me. And he married. And his wife called me one afternoon and asked me about not drinking. And we talked for a while and I invited her to meet me downtown Pensacola and go to a meeting.

And we went to a meeting and I thought, you know, it's that's if somebody asked me about sobriety, I'm going to bring them to you. I'm going to bring them to Alcoholics Anonymous because this is not about John. It's a lot bigger than I am. And I brought her to a meeting and subsequently this meeting, open meeting, this woman got up and

I don't know what she's talking about. I mean, I

she, she talked about her addiction, she talked about being a drug dealer. She talked about, you know, doing this and doing that. She didn't talk about drinking.

I don't even know. She made a reference to it

and I walked out of the meeting with this lady who's alcoholic and I've probably got one shot at,

and she looks at me and says, what the hell was that

and what am I supposed to say? I don't know.

It wasn't AAI hope you'll try somewhere else and try it again. And that's all I can say. And I never got another shot, I can tell you that. And unfortunately for us, I don't know about you, but I know what it took to get me to my first a a meeting.

And you didn't have a second shot.

You didn't have a second shot until it got really ugly.

We are under this incredible obligation to make sure that when an alcoholic walks into a meeting, they hear our message. They hear the message, not my message, the message of Alcoholics Anonymous.

That begins with this miracle of identification. Until that happens, you got nothing. We are just a bunch of drunks who you may as well be in a church meeting or a Kiwanis meeting.

And that's the truth. And I've been to meetings where we've been talking about a whole bunch of other things other than what we should have been talking about. And you know, we have this incredible group of principals that we live by. And I hate it to see when something goes sour like that.

You know what I said that I was going to talk a little bit about our obligations with the professional community. And

you know, it's interesting in the Home group, if you look at a Home group and what what

a a single as a purpose at the Home group level, Bill says in Tradition 5, each group has one primary purpose to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers. And today what we have is we have a lot of people who come day A with other issues.

How many people here have other issues?

Yeah, no kidding.

There are those who predict that A A may well become a spearhead for a spiritual awakening throughout the world. When our friends say these things, they are both genuine and sincere. But we of A A must reflect that such tribute and such a prophecy could well prove to be a heady drink for most of us.

That is, if we really came to believe this to be the real purpose of a A and if we commenced to behave accordingly.

Terry, how am I doing on time?

Our society, therefore, will prudently cleave to its single purpose, the caring of its message to the alcoholic who still suffers. Let us resist the proud assumption that since God has enabled us to do well in one area, we are destined to be a channel of saving grace for everybody.

If you want to see this principal live now,

pull up to an A a meeting and open the hood of your car.

You'll get about 15 mechanics, not one of them's cars running.

We're like that, aren't we?

Bill

created a little pamphlet and it's called Problems Other Than Alcohol. This is a General Service Conference approved piece of literature, and it's a wonderful, wonderful pamphlet.

There is an abridged version which looks like this.

There's a stack of them right here. If you'd like some, please take them.

I'm going to read

this little abridged version because I think that Bill's words, these are not John's words, These are the founder, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous Words. This is what he said, not what I said.

The problem of drug addiction in its several forms lies close to us all. It stirs our deepest interest and sympathy. Many a as, especially those who have suffered these particular addictions, are now asking what can we do about drugs within our fellowship and without

specifically. Here is a list of questions we are often asked.

Can a non alcoholic pill or drug addict become an A A member?

Bill's answer No

to Can such a person be brought as a visitor to an open a a meeting for help and inspiration? Yes. If so, should these non alcoholic pill or drug users be led to believe that they have become a A members? No. Can a pill or drug taker who also has a genuine alcoholic history become a member of a A? Yes.

Now there are certain things that AA cannot do for anybody. Regardless of what our desires or sympathies may be, our first duty is a fellowship is to ensure our own survival. Therefore, we have to avoid distractions and multi-purpose activity. Sobriety freedom from alcohol through the teaching and practice of the 12 steps is the sole purpose of an A A group.

Groups have repeatedly tried other activities

and they have always failed. It has also been learned that there is no possible way to make non Alcoholics into a A members. We have to confine our membership to Alcoholics and we have to confine our a A groups to a single purpose. If we don't stick to these principles, we shall almost surely collapse. And if we collapse we cannot help anyone.

I see no way of making non alcoholic addicts and a A members

experience says loudly that we can admit no exceptions, even though drug users and Alcoholics happen to be first cousins of a sort. If we persist in trying this, I'm afraid it will be hard on the drug user himself as well as on a A. We must accept the fact that no non alcoholic, whatever is affliction can be converted into an alcoholic and an A A member.

We cannot give a a membership to non alcoholic addicts,

but like anyone else they should be able to attend open AA meetings, provided of course that the groups themselves are willing.

It's pretty direct,

very little ambiguity there.

A A members who are so inclined should be encouraged to band together in groups to deal with sedative and drug problems, but they ought to refrain from calling themselves a A groups.

There seems to be no reason why several A As cannot join if they wish, with a group of straight addicts to solve the alcohol and drug problem together. But obviously such a dual purpose group should not insist that it be called an A A group, nor should it use the A A name in its title. Neither should it straight addict contingent be led to believe that they have become a A members by reason

such an association. Certainly there is every good reason for interested a as to join with outside groups working on the narcotics problem, provided the traditions of anonymity and of no endorsements are respected.

I have a open letter that was published by the trustees of Narcotics Anonymous.

We've got some copies of it if you'd like it. I'm just going to read a couple of little excerpts from it.

Bill W one of the this is from this letter. Bill W one of the Co founders often said that one of a as greatest strengths is it single minded focus on one thing and one thing only. By limiting its primary purpose to carry, carrying the message to Alcoholics, avoiding all other activities, A A is able to do that one thing supremely well.

The atmosphere of identification is preserved

by that purity of focus. An alcoholic gets help.

The simple fact that both fellowships have a 6th tradition for a reason, to keep from being diverted from our primary purpose. Because of the inherent need of a 12 step fellowship to focus on one thing and one thing only, so that it can do that one thing supremely well. Each 12 step fellowship must stand alone,

unaffiliated with everything else. It is our nature to be separate, to feel separate and use separate set of recovery terms because we each have separate unique primary purpose. The focus of A A is one of the alcoholic, and we ought to respect their perfect right to adhere to their own traditions and protect that focus.

If we cannot use language

consistent with that, we ought not go to their meetings and undermine that atmosphere. In the same way, NA members ought to respect our own primary purpose and identify ourselves at NA meetings simply as addicts, and share in a way that keeps our fundamentals clear.

Let's let us put together our energies now and unify behind these powerful principles. Let's put these energies into our personal spiritual development through our own 12 steps. Let's carry our own message. Clearly, there's a lot of work to be done, and we need each other if we are to do it effectively. Let's go out, go on with it in a spirit of NA unity.

It's a beautiful letter.

You can see that they're real clear about what singleness of purpose is, just as we should be.

You know, it's interesting.

There are there are a lot of

meetings now inside of institutions, treatment centers, correction facilities, etcetera. And our literature is really had to

hold out the information. We've added some primary purpose statements to some of the pamphlets at the bottom of one directed to Correctional Facility people. CPC, by the way, CPC is cooperation with a professional community.

We had in recent years an instance where we had a CPC committee that thought that that meant confronting the professional community. And I had some folks go out and confront some

administrators or some treatment facilities and I think feel like a A was damaged by that,

some well meaning, again, members with

poor understanding of our principles of love and tolerance.

So be cautious and make sure that you're you've done your research and read what we do and what we don't do before you go make those visits and interact with the administrators of these facilities, which is a crucial part of what we do.

Anyhow. The single is a purpose statement that's pretty much been added to many of those CPC. Some professionals refer to alcoholism

and drug addiction as substance abuse or chemical dependency. Non Alcoholics are therefore sometimes introduced to A and encouraged to attend a A meetings. Anyone may attend open a A meetings, but only those with a drinking problem may attend closed meetings. And that's in most of the CPC pamphlets. Now the recent addition.

The other topic that I just wanted to dabble in is

the question of AAA members, medication and other drugs. And I think that this is important because

we all have instances where we have illnesses that we have to deal with. And I would encourage you to read, I'd encourage everybody to read this pamphlet. I think it's a, it's a, a great read and there's some information here that's pretty vital. I'm going to read just a little bit of it. Again, I apologize to reading to you, but again,

I think that it's the literature that needs to be held out and that you need to put your hands on and touch and not listen to other people's opinions because unfortunately I've got opinions that are probably just flat out wrong.

A report from a group of physicians in a A because the subject is one which goes deeply into the field of medicine. A group of physicians who are members of A. A was asked to help prepare this pamphlet. The experience of some A A members reveals that drug misuse

can threaten the achievement and maintenance of sobriety. Yet some A A members must take prescribed medication in order to treat certain serious medical problems. Experience has shown that this problem can be minimized if the following suggestions are carefully heated. One remember that a recovering alcoholic,

your automatic response will be to turn to chemical relief for uncomfortable feelings

and to take more than the usual prescribed amount.

Look for non chemical solutions for the aches and discomforts of everyday life.

It's been helpful. Little suggestion. Don't you think

maybe the third bottle of Nyquil was too much?

Remember that the best safeguard against drug related relapse is an active participation in the a a recovery program. No, a a member plays doctor is number 3 #4 Be completely honest with yourself and your physician regarding the use of medication

#5 If in doubt, consult the physician with demonstrated experience in the treatment of alcoholism.

Number six, be frank about your alcoholism with any physician or dentist you consult. Such confidence will be respected and is most helpful to the doctor. And it's a great way to help with a professional community. If you're a resource that they can call and say, hey, I've got somebody and I need a reference or I need to know what they can, where they can go, it's a wonderful opportunity. Don't miss it

#7 Inform the physician at once if you were experiencing side effects from prescribed drugs

#8 Consider consulting another doctor. If a personal physician refuses or fails to recognize the peculiar susceptibility of Alcoholics to sedatives, tranquilizers and stimulants,

it'll be OK to take them.

I've been taking them years.

Dear,

give your doctor, doctor copies of this pamphlet. Anyhow, I'd encourage you to read this. It's a, it's a nice, it's a nice pamphlet and some great suggestions in there.

Another opportunity is if you've ever been on the Alcoholics Anonymous website, the general service website, pretty much all of these pamphlets are available to read. They're not available to be printed,

but there's there is an article that appears it's called About a A and about a A is you can pull up past issues. It is really directed towards the media and the professional community. And in about a A, there will be workshops and topics from the past. The couple that I have here,

this one was from summer of 2001 and was actually kind of highlighting Elaine Dowell,

who was our pH D Class A non alcoholic trustee at the General Service Board and then later served as the chair of the General Service Board for Alcoholics Anonymous. And I thought her comments were interesting as a professional person and she was kind of the government's go to person on addiction. I had somebody tell me a story about being in a high level government addictions thing and they were waiting on this

person to get there to give a talk. And they said that the doors kind of burst open and couple guys came running in. And then Wayne McDowell came in and gave this presentation on addiction stuff and then was shuttled off by these guys to go to some other conference or something. So a lot of the people that serve us and Alcoholics Anonymous on our general service board

are really incredible, talented, professional folks.

But Elaine's comments,

she says that

ability to understand and adhere to its primary purpose is a a real strength, noting that the fellowship is a program of attraction rather than promotion in the spirit of its 11th tradition. She observes that for 66 years the hand of a A has been there for the alcoholic. It works to waver from its primary purpose would compromise a A principles and diminish its effectiveness and attracting and retaining Alcoholics. She goes on and on about the treatment facilities and what not.

Fantastic article.

I am probably running tight one time

and

I wanted to at least touch base on something

it we all kind of raised our hand when we said we had other issues. I came into Alcoholics Anonymous with this boatload of other issues and I felt as though I really needed to share them all in the meeting. And I was as many and does as you could possibly put together.

And thankfully there were some very loving but firm a A members

who shared with me what I was doing. You know, it's, it's interesting because over the years I've listened to a lot of inventories. And in those inventories, I've listened to a lot of people who've had all kind of sort of sexual deviancy stuff going on. And they were just as obsessed about that as they ever were about drinking. But I never once heard anybody refer himself as an alcoholic and a goat herd.

Hi,

sorry,

but

wait.

It was explained to me in early in early sobriety and I'm really thankful that every time I introduced myself as an and anything else, I was setting myself apart and separate from the core of Alcoholics Anonymous is I was saying outwardly to you, I am different from you. This sound different and whatever it didn't matter what it was.

Every time I said I'm John Shirley, I'm alcoholic and

peanut thicker. I I'm setting myself apart from the core of Alcoholics Anonymous. The very principle were founded on is a miracle of identification. It is the reason for our existence. We have no other reason to exist than that.

I'm going to read one last little thing and then I'm going to kind of move into a close here. The A a member has to informed conform the principles of recovery. His his life actually depends upon obedience,

spiritual principles. If he deviates too far, the penalty is sure and swift. He sickens and dies. At first he goes along because he must, but later he discovers a way of life he really wants to live. Moreover, he finds he cannot keep this priceless gift unless he gives it away. Neither he nor anybody else can survive unless he carries the A A message.