Post by Sharx335Post by Pluted PupSo the Plain Language Big Book I saw and bought
did not deliver what was promised: a dual text
version containing side by side comparisons
of the original text and the revised.
It is a slim book, a mere 185 pages.
It contains a dual text of The Doctor's Opinion,
and a dual text of the short and long versions
of the Twelve Traditions. All else contains
only revision.
There is no excuse to not have a dual text
of the Big Book itself, or anywhere there
is revision.
It gives a half true explanation in a footnote
it transcribes "small beer" as "beer" when
small beer was actually a low strength beer
like in the 1 - 3 percent range, noticeably
lower than normal beer and was marketed by
the liquor industry as a "temperance" beer.
It also ignored that Bill's Story itself is
"Drink it strong or not at all", a Temperance
Slogan against Moderate Drinking.
Here's an emphasis in the revised text to the
first page from More About Alcoholism: "As
alcoholics, we have lost our ability to control
our drinking. We have lost this ability permanently."
I like this emphasis, though it is redundant.
Agreed. I, too, would like to see the "before and after" of the first
164 pages AND the various appendices.
Here’s a taste for you….
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Plain Language Big Book
“HOW IT WORKS” (plain language)
It’s very rare for someone to completely commit to the A.A. program and
still fail. People who do not recover are the ones who can’t or won’t
follow this simple program. They are usually people who simply cannot be
honest with themselves. We don’t meet a lot of people like this, but they
do exist. It is not their fault. They seem to have been born that way. But
because they cannot be honest with themselves, they are unlikely to succeed
in their recovery.
There are also people who suffer from emotional and mental disorders, and
join A.A. to address their alcoholism. Many of them do recover if they are
able to be honest along their journey.
Many of the stories we share in this book describe experiences that we have
had ourselves. We share stories about what we used to be like, what
happened to us, and what our lives are like now. If you feel like we did
and want to stop drinking, then you are ready to get started. You are ready
to take these steps toward recovery.
When we started, some of those first steps scared us. We thought we could
find an easier way. But we could not. Since we know this now from our own
experiences, we’re asking you to be fearless and thorough from the start.
Some of us tried to keep our old ideas, and they just held us back. Until
we let go of those ideas, we were unable to make progress.
Remember that we are dealing with a disease. Alcoholism is a confusing and
powerful condition that is unlike anything else in the world. Alcohol is
extremely complicated, tricky, and difficult. It seems to control and
punish people who are addicted to it. Without help, beating alcoholism is
too much for one person to handle. We all need guidance from God, support
from a Higher Power. And we need to ask for that support with full and open
hearts. We stand at a turning point. We ask for God’s protection and care
with all the honesty we have.
“The Twelve Steps
Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become
unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to
sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God
as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact
nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make
amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do
so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly
admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact
with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for
us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried
to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in
all our affairs.
If this is your first time reading through these steps, they may seem
difficult … or even impossible.
Do not be discouraged. No one has ever followed these principles perfectly.
We are not saints. We are simply people who are trying to grow, both
spiritually and personally. These ideas are here to guide our progress. And
our goal is spiritual progress, not spiritual perfection.
In Chapter 4 we shared a description of alcoholics who do not believe in
God. Combined with that, we believe the stories of our experiences as A.A.
members all boil down to three simple ideas:
A. That we were alcoholics and could not manage our own lives.
B. That no human power could have stopped or changed our alcoholism.
C. That God could and would help us if we tried to find God.
Plain Language Big Book: A Tool for Reading Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.