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08-10-2007, 06:07 PM
"The Danger of Reservations"
The majority who slip after periods of sobriety, having double-crossed themselves into thinking that somehow they can have the unopened bottle and drink it, too.
Even though they have been in A.A. and going to meetings, and following parts of the program, they have accepted it with reservations somewhere.
They actually have been one step ahead of a drink. Then they began playing around with the notion they can drink a little and still have the good things of A.A.
The outcome is an inevitable as the bottle becoming empty once it has been opened by the alcoholic."
Slips are not the fault of A.A. I have heard patients complain, when brought in for
another drying out, that A.A. failed them. The truth, of course, is that they failed A.A.
But this mental maneuvering to transfer the blame is obviously another indication of fallacious thinking. It is another symptom of the disease.
First, let's remember the cause. The A.A. who "slips" has not accepted the A.A. program in its entirety. He has a reservation, or reservations. He's tried to make a compromise.
Frequently, of course, he will say he doesn't know why he reverted to a drink. He means that sincerely and, as a matter of fact, he may not be aware of any reason.
But if his thoughts can be probed deeply enough a reason can usually be found in the form of a reservation.
The preventive, therefore, is acceptance of the A.A. program and A.A. principles without any reservations. This brings us to what I call the moral issue and to what I have always believed from the first to be the essence of A.A.
Why does this moral issue and belief in a power greater than oneself appear to be the essential principle of A.A.?
First, an important comparison is found in the fact that all other plans involving psychoanalysis, will-power, restraint and other ingenious ideas have failed in 95 per cent of the cases.
A second is that all movements of reform minus a moral issue have passed into oblivion.
By Dr. Silkworth from the Grapevine, June 1945
The majority who slip after periods of sobriety, having double-crossed themselves into thinking that somehow they can have the unopened bottle and drink it, too.
Even though they have been in A.A. and going to meetings, and following parts of the program, they have accepted it with reservations somewhere.
They actually have been one step ahead of a drink. Then they began playing around with the notion they can drink a little and still have the good things of A.A.
The outcome is an inevitable as the bottle becoming empty once it has been opened by the alcoholic."
Slips are not the fault of A.A. I have heard patients complain, when brought in for
another drying out, that A.A. failed them. The truth, of course, is that they failed A.A.
But this mental maneuvering to transfer the blame is obviously another indication of fallacious thinking. It is another symptom of the disease.
First, let's remember the cause. The A.A. who "slips" has not accepted the A.A. program in its entirety. He has a reservation, or reservations. He's tried to make a compromise.
Frequently, of course, he will say he doesn't know why he reverted to a drink. He means that sincerely and, as a matter of fact, he may not be aware of any reason.
But if his thoughts can be probed deeply enough a reason can usually be found in the form of a reservation.
The preventive, therefore, is acceptance of the A.A. program and A.A. principles without any reservations. This brings us to what I call the moral issue and to what I have always believed from the first to be the essence of A.A.
Why does this moral issue and belief in a power greater than oneself appear to be the essential principle of A.A.?
First, an important comparison is found in the fact that all other plans involving psychoanalysis, will-power, restraint and other ingenious ideas have failed in 95 per cent of the cases.
A second is that all movements of reform minus a moral issue have passed into oblivion.
By Dr. Silkworth from the Grapevine, June 1945