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Made A Decision

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                          Our AA Literature 

           (And why we might consider reading some of it.)

Meetings are where we go to learn from the experience, strength and hope of others how they work our program of recovery. 

Meetings are our medicine, they are what we use to directly treat our terminal, fatal, illness.

There are also many, many good ideas for ongoing recovery that are not part of AA's teachings. We will hear them promoted in meetings, too. (Journaling being just one of them.) 

We'll hear a lot of very good stuff in meetings, in fact the majority of what we hear there can be helpful. But we can also sometimes be subjected to some very confusing ideas from some still very ill and confused people.

So how are we to know what is - or is not - the undiluted program of AA recovery?

 What can we take on board that will help us and not hurt us?

That's where our literature comes in. That's where we can know for certain what is actually the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. Reading and studying our literature is preventive medicine to keep our terminal, fatal, illness in remission.

All over the world there are Big Book Study Groups on our book Alcoholics Anonymous (known as The Big Book), and on The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. I've noticed the people who attend them usually have a very good track record in racking up long-term sobriety.

For those who have difficulty reading, all our literature can also be found in audio form, so there's really no good excuse for ducking the opportunity to know what AA is really all about.

In addition to our Big Book and "the 12&12," there are a wealth of others helpful to anyone in recovery. Some - like Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers - deal with the often hilarious history of our program. The same is true of another favorite of mine, "The Language of the Heart."

Other books, like Living Sober, can keep us on track with proven suggestions for staying sober. And then there's The Little Red Book and Our Devilish Alcoholic Personalities, two books that describe us alcoholics to a T. 

My copy of The Little Red Book came to me in one of the earliest months of my recovery. A fellow member said I might find it helpful, handed it to me, and then rightfully ran for the high ground. I was not known for my sweet disposition in those days, nor for my willingness to accept anything I might consider as criticism. 

There are also the books for our daily contemplation, like: The 24-Hour Book, Night Lights, As Bill Sees It, Daily Reflections, and many, many more. I have a large number of them and rotate them every January to give myself  "fresh" ones for my daily readings in the months ahead. 

But my personal favorite I read every single year and have done since the 1990s. It's called Believing in Myself and is written by Earnie Larsen and Carol Hegarty. I've given dozens of copies of this little life-saver to AA friends and sponsees over the years. But ... insert dramatic music here (the theme from the movie Jaws will do) ... it isn't even Conference Approved Literature!

As you gasp at that news, I will tell you that in our earliest AA groups, under the direct leadership of our founders, Dr. Bob and Bill Wilson, they read from many sources and authors, both in meetings and privately. These include the Holy Bible, the Upper Room, Oswald Chambers, Cecil Rose, Leslie Weatherhead, Sam Shoemaker, the books of Emmet Fox, Richmond Walker, Ralph Pfau, and many, many more. 

According to the General Service Office: "It (Conference Approved) does not mean the Conference disapproves of any other publications .... A.A. as a whole does not oppose these, any more than A.A. disapproves of the Bible or any other publications from any source that A.A.’s find useful." 

Each autonomous AA group can use any literature it wants to without consulting guidance from any higher authority. Factually (unlike in the Al-Anon program) there is no such thing as AA Approved Literature. But boy-oh-boy are you going to open a can of worms when you tell some AA groups that.

While study groups are helpful, offering as they do the different interpretations of other members, it is also helpful to read the Big Book and 12&12 on our own to find the passages that most resonate with us. We can then highlight and think about them until they become fixed in our minds. There is no real substitute for this kind of contemplation. 

Being a writer (and feminist), I didn't at first like what I considered the sexist word usage in the Big Book, written as it was in the language of its era. I even, for an ego-driven time, considered rewriting it, but somehow never found the time. Good thing, too. Messing around with that text could seriously screw up its message.  

The Big Book, in its now somewhat antiquated text, gives us the full exposition of the AA program. Over time I have found there is no substitute for reading the Big Book as written. It is our “Bible.” When we study it thoroughly it becomes a part of ourselves.

As for the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, it's a wonderful read and I can't begin to guess how many times I have read it. And every time we read it - because we are always evolving as a person in recovery - we bring new eyes to the text. We will continue to learn from it every single time.

I used to travel between the UK and the states at least once a year in the 1990s and I always read the 12 & 12 on those flights. It's the perfect length book to get you nicely across the Atlantic. And, because I don't much like flying, I also figured God wouldn't knock a plane out of the sky where someone inside was reading one of His books. 

Yes, I actually used to think that way.  

I'm soooooo glad I've kept on coming back.