From the books ... Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book) and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (12 & 12)
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to display the full page from the Big Book1.
... despair.
12&12 p.72,
Step Seven
It was only at the end of a long road, marked by successive defeats and humiliations, and the final crushing of our self-sufficiency, that we
began to feel humility as something more than a condition of groveling despair.
2.
... despair.
BB p.15,
Bill's Story
3.
... despair.
BB p.110,
To Wives
4.
... Despair.
BB p.151,
A Vision For You
Momentarily we did -- then would come oblivion and the awful awakening to face the hideous Four Horsemen -- Terror, Bewilderment,
Frustration, Despair.
5.
... despair.
BB p.155,
A Vision For You
His call to the clergyman
led him presently to a certain resident of the town, who, though formerly able and respected, was then nearing the nadir of alcoholic despair.
6.
... despair, and
even the death of one.
12&12 p.131,
Tradition One
And this they did find, in measure to transcend all
the defects of their frail
craft, every test of uncertainty, pain, fear, and despair, and even the death of one.
7.
... despair I
found in that bitter morass ...
BB p.8,
Bill's Story
8.
... despair, I
may bring hope -- that where ...
12&12 p.99,
Step Eleven
"Lord, make me a channel of thy peace -- that where there is hatred, I may bring love -- that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness --
that where there is discord, I may bring harmony -- that where
there is error, I may bring
truth -- that where there is doubt, I may bring faith -- that where there is despair, I may bring hope -- that where there are shadows, I may bring light -- that where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
9.
... despair, in
the face of the total ...
BB p.50,
We Agnostics
In the face of collapse
and despair, in the face of
the total failure of their
human resources, they found that a new power, peace, happiness, and sense of direction flowed into
them.
10.
... despair or
pride?
12&12 p.112,
Step Twelve
11.
... despair that
nothing but oblivion looks possible ...
12&12 p.45,
Step Four
As we morbidly pursue
this melancholy activity, we may sink to such a point of despair that nothing but oblivion looks possible as a solution.
Passages from the Big Book Alcoholics Anonymous
and the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
are reprinted with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.
The A.A. Preamble, copyright ©
The A.A. Grapevine, Inc., is reprinted with permission.
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