Let there be no misunderstanding that our primary purpose is to stay sober and to help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety. The degree that the individual carries out these two goals is not mandated by the AA body and the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking.

The AA program offers suggestions on how to overcome the difficulties brought about by the disease of alcoholism and not simply the act of drinking. These difficulties come in the form of spiritual damage and material wreckage.

It seems that our spiritual damage lies in the unseen part of our makeup such as, our thinking, our motive, our fears, our conscience, our ego, guilt, shame, self esteem, and like. Our material wreckage often comes as the result of our spiritual damage and is the residue of our spiritual condition.

The outside world cannot visually see the spiritual part of our makeup and can only judge us on the actions that we take and the wreckage brought about by those actions thus rendering the consequences of that judgment, such as, loss of jobs, jail, divorce, loss of family ... Continue reading »