Good morning everyone!

Let's go to page 100, last paragraph:

"Assuming we are spiritually fit, we can do all sorts of things
alcoholics are not supposed to do. People have said that we must not
go where liquor is served; we must not have it in our homes; we must
shun friends who drink; we must avoid moving pictures which show
drinking scenes; we must not go into bars; our friends must hide
their bottles if we go to their house; we mustn't think or be
reminded about alcohol at all. Our experience shows this isn't
necessarily so."

"We meet these conditions every day. An alcoholic who cannot meet
them, still has an alcoholic mind; there is something the matter
with his spiritual status."

These are some very important lines in the Big Book. Having an
alcoholic mind means we haven't had a spiritual awakening, we
haven't changed sufficiently to have recovered from this disease.
If, when confronted with circumstances where we obsess on the
alcohol in a given setting, we should be taking our own inventories
to reveal why this is so. Let's go back for a moment to page 84, at
the bottom. The third sentance in the paragraph at the bottom
says: "We will seldom be interested in liquor." Reviewing these 10th
step promises we see that we have an entirely new state of mind when
it comes to alcohol.

Returning to page 101 it is easy to see why we are on dangerous
ground when we continue to obsess about alcohol when in such
situations. Remember, we cannot defeat this obsession on our own, it
can only be vanquished through a spiritual awakening that is THE
RESULT of the 12 Steps.

So, to summarize: if we have had a spiritual awakening and are in
fit spiritual condition we are able to go anywhere if our motives
are thoroughly good. Does that mean someone can go to a strip club
and drink cokes all night while indulging in a favorite defect of
character? Probably not, because his motives are spiritually flawed.
But can he go to a family gathering where there will be people who
can drink with impunity? Most definitely, assuming he is in fit
spiritual condition.

Let's turn to page 102 paragraph 2 - "Your job now is to be at the
place where you may be of maximum helpfulness to others, so never
hesitate to go anywhere if you can be helpful. You should not
hesitate to visit the most sordid spot on earth on such an errand.
Keep on the firing line of life with these motives and God will keep
you unharmed."

What does this mean? Sometimes we may find ourselves in situations
where there is alcohol involved. If we are not in fit spiritual
condition our ability to be of maximum helpfulness to others is
compromised. In fact our ability to seek and do God's will is
hampered. You will also notice that this is the second place in
the Big Book where "the firing line" is mentioned. Go back to The
Doctor's Opinion, you'll see it there also (third paragraph on page
xxviii). "The firing line" is another way of saying we must remain
familiar with our alcoholism - "keep the memory green" so to speak.
If we aren't carrying this message we may forget where we came from.
We may even begin to think that we were just connoissuers of fine
wines and beers. If we stay on the firing line of life we will never
forget the type of drinkers we were.

"After all, our problems were of our own maning. Bottles were only a
symbol. Besides, we have stopped fighting anybody or anything. We
have to!"

Alcoholism comes in people, not bottles and we have created most, if
not all, of our own problems. This is the second place where we have
stopped fighting - again, review pages 84 and 85.

With our next post, we'll move on to Chapter 8 - To Wives.

Jim