Daily Reflections: A Book of Reflections by A.A. Members for A.A. Members

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I credit this book with much of the fundamentalism that has taken root since its publication. Many places where I find myself in meetings it is read at the beginning, and its overwhelmingly god-laden material sets the tone for the whole meeting. I even sometimes go to a Living Sober meeting where the first half, or more, is taken up with discussing the daily reflection, as are all the other meetings there during the week. Results in an awful lot of god talk before we can get to the Living Sober part. Finally, in 1990, the General Service Conference approved a daily reflections book… (and) the first printing of Daily Reflections was completed in September 1990.

I live in a big city; a privilege that is easy to take for granted. I have dozens of meeting to choose from every day. Now, in Toronto, if I don’t mind driving, I have choices of agnostic AA groups to go to on some days. I have to remember that this isn’t every AA member’s experience. In many AA towns there is one meeting a day – take it or leave it.

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People who want to find the reflections do not have to look very far. They can find the original hard copy book: This truly is a fact in my life today, and a real miracle. I always believed in God, but could never put that belief meaningfully into my life. Today, because of Alcoholics Anonymous, I now trust and rely on God, as I understand Him; I am sober today because of that! Learning to trust and rely on God was something I could never have done alone. I now believe in miracles because I am one! JANUARY 2 Take May 19, “Giving Without Strings”. A bit naïve like much in this book is, but otherwise much in tune with the strong core aspects of the program – until they throw in “my life is full of a loving god of my understanding…” – a piece which could just as well have been left out, and the reflection would have said exactly the same with respect to its applicability to the real world. All in all, the book is offensive. All the more since it was not put together in the 1930s or 40s, but in more modern times. Offensive in light of the requests non-believers have made for material to support our recovery better, starting more than a decade before publication of this book. Not possible, apparently. But more of this religious stuff? No problem, it seems. Hopefully the times will be changing.

They do give you a five day break without god after this one so you can recover a bit, but this is how the Daily Reflections start on January 1st. It sets the general tone.I came to Alcoholics Anonymous because I was no longer able to control my drinking. It was either my wife’s complaining about my drinking, or maybe the sheriff forced me to go to A.A. meetings, or perhaps I knew, deep down inside, that I couldn’t drink like others, but I was unwilling to admit it because the alternative terrified me. Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women united against a common, fatal disease. Each one of our lives is linked to every other, much like the survivors on a life raft at sea. If we all work together, we can get safely to shore. JANUARY 11 This is an audiobook of reflections by AA members for AA members. It was first published in 1990 to fulfill a long-felt need within the Fellowship for a collection of reflections that moves through the calendar year - one day at a time. Each chapter contains a reflection on a quotation from AA. Conference-approved literature, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, As Bill Sees It, and other books. Of late, however, I’ve been gifted with an ability to be more compassionate towards those who believe so differently from me and must, perhaps fearfully, cling to their ardent beliefs in an external deity to save them not only from eternal damnation after they pass, but from the ravishes of their addiction while still enclosed within their mortal coil. Why all this insistence that every A.A. must hit bottom first? The answer is that few people will sincerely try to practice the A.A. program unless they have hit bottom. For practicing A.A.’s remaining eleven Steps means the adoption of attitudes and actions that almost no alcoholic who is still drinking can dream of taking.

Only an alcoholic can understand the exact meaning of a statement like this one. The double standard that held me captive as an active alcoholic also filled me with terror and confusion: If I don’t get a drink I’m going to die, competed with If I continue drinking it’s going to kill me. Both compulsive thoughts pushed me ever closer to the bottom. That bottom produced a total acceptance of my alcoholism—with no reservations whatsoever—and one that was absolutely essential for my recovery. It was a dilemma unlike anything I had ever faced, but as I found out later on, a necessary one if I was to succeed in this program. JANUARY 6

Table of Contents

Had there been no Oxford Group in those early days, would God have come to be so central to the AA we know today? From my first days in A.A., as I struggled for sobriety, I found hope in these words from our founders. I often pondered the phrase: they have tapped an unsuspected inner resource. How, I asked myself, can I find the Power within myself, since I am so powerless? In time, as the founders promised, it came to me: I have always had the choice between goodness and evil, between unselfishness and selfishness, between serenity and fear. That Power greater than myself is an original gift that I did not recognize until I achieved daily sobriety through living A.A.’s Twelve Steps. JANUARY 16 People who have already gone through recovery can also use an AA reflection of the day to strengthen their resolve and inspire them to help others struggling. The passages can even serve those who are not, or have never been, in recovery as they are general enough to provide a positive and uplifting message to anyone. Are AA Daily Reflections Effective?

In the years before the publication of the book “Alcoholics Anonymous,” we had no name. By a narrow majority the verdict was for naming our book “The Way Out.” One of our early lone members … found exactly twelve books already titled “The Way Out.” So “Alcoholics Anonymous” became first choice. That’s how we got a name for our book of experience, a name for our movement and, as we are now beginning to see, a tradition of the greatest spiritual import. I believe very strongly, Bob K., that what we secular AA members are doing in General Service work within AA is exactly what Jim Burwell and other agnostic/atheist voices did in early New York AA. They successfully widened the door just a wee bit in opposition to the predominant Christian cant of Oxford-Group-influenced Akron AA with the insertion of the phrase “as we understand Him” in the steps and the Big Book. Our very first problem is to accept our present circumstances as they are, ourselves as we are, and the people about us as they are. This is to adopt a realistic humility without which no genuine advance can even begin. Again and again, we shall need to return to that unflattering point of departure. This is an exercise in acceptance that we can profitably practice every day of our lives. So, a piece of conference-approved AA literature mentions God, and a LOT? Wow!! Forgive me for not seeing that as “MAN BITES DOG!!!” breaking news.The DR Text Is Meant to Act as a Complement to the “Big Book,” as It Focuses on Other Areas of Recovery Like: