From the books ...
Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book) and
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (12 & 12)
EXPERIENCE occurs
115 times
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Definition from Merriam-Webster Online)
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1.
... experience.
12&12 p.104,
Step Eleven
They are
matters of
knowledge and
experience.
2.
... experience.
12&12 p.131,
Tradition One
By
faith and by
works we
have been able to
build upon the
lessons of an
incredible
experience.
3.
... experience.
12&12 p.139,
Tradition Three
4.
... experience.
12&12 p.149,
Tradition Four
He said he
wished he'd
paid
some
attention to
A.A.
experience.
5.
... experience.
12&12 p.158,
Tradition Six
Soon they'd
spotted their
man, an
A.A. with the
necessary experience.
6.
... experience.
12&12 p.167,
Tradition Eight
But when we had
declared that our
Fellowship couldn't
hire service workers nor could
any
A.A. member carry our
knowledge into
other
fields, we were
taking the
counsel of
fear,
fear which
today has been
largely dispelled in the
light of
experience.
7.
... experience.
BB p.27,
There Is A Solution
This
hope, however, was
destroyed by the
doctor's
telling him that while his
religious convictions
were very
good, in his
case
they did not
spell the
necessary vital spiritual experience.
8.
... experience.
BB p.29,
There Is A Solution
9.
... experience.
BB p.39,
More About Alcoholism
This is a
point we
wish to
emphasize and
re-
emphasize, to
smash home upon our
alcoholic readers as it has been
revealed to us out of
bitter experience.
10.
... experience.
BB p.56,
We Agnostics
One
night, when
confined
in a
hospital, he was
approached by an
alcoholic who had
known a
spiritual experience.
11.
... Experience."
BB p.47,
We Agnostics (Note)
12.
... experience.
BB p.70,
How It Works
These are
facts out of our
experience.
13.
... experience.
BB p.75,
Into Action
We may have had
certain spiritual beliefs, but
now we
begin to have a
spiritual experience.
14.
... experience.
BB p.85,
Into Action
That is our experience.
15.
... experience.
BB p.92,
Working With Others
16.
... experience.
BB p.119,
To Wives
Your
husband will be the
first to say it was your
devotion and
care which
brought him to the
point where he could have a
spiritual experience.
17.
... experience.
BB p.128,
The Family Afterward
Assume on the other
hand
that
father has, at the
outset, a
stirring spiritual experience.
18.
... experience.
BB p.158,
A Vision For You
He had
begun to have a
spiritual experience.
19.
... experience.
BB p.568(570),
Appendix II, Spiritual Experience
Most of us
think this
awareness of a
Power greater than ourselves is the
essence of
spiritual
experience.
20.
... experience a
man was brought in to ...
BB xxxi(xxix),
The Doctor's Opinion
About one
year prior to this
experience a
man was brought in
to be
treated for
chronic alcoholism.
21.
... experience: A
woman's voice came faintly over ...
BB p.137,
To Employers
Still another
experience: A
woman's
voice came faintly over
long distance from
Virginia.
22.
... experience after
another clinched this determination until ...
12&12 p.141,
Tradition Three
One
dramatic experience
after another
clinched this
determination until it
became our
universal tradition.
23.
... experience along
to me -- if I cared ...
BB p.9,
Bill's Story
He had
come to
pass his
experience along to me -- if I
cared to have it.
24.
... experience an
entire psychic change there is ...
BB xxix(xxvii),
The Doctor's Opinion
This is
repeated over and over, and
unless this
person can
experience an
entire psychic change there is very
little hope of his
recovery.
25.
... experience and
a life of sane and ...
BB p.130,
The Family Afterward
26.
... experience and
knowledge.
BB p.19,
There Is A Solution
We shall bring to the
task our
combined experience and
knowledge.
27.
... experience and
learn.
12&12 p.100,
Step Eleven
We
rest quietly with the
thoughts of someone who
knows, so that we may
experience
and
learn.
28.
... experience" and
"spiritual awakening" are used many ...
BB p.567(569),
Appendix II, Spiritual Experience
The
terms "
spiritual
experience" and "
spiritual awakening"
are used many
times in this book which, upon
careful reading,
shows that the
personality change sufficient to bring about
recovery from
alcoholism has
manifested itself among us in many
different forms.
29.
... experience and
told him about the course ...
BB p.157,
A Vision For You
The
two friends spoke of their
spiritual
experience and told him about the
course of
action they
carried out.
30.
... experience as
Medical Director of one of ...
BB xxvii(xxv),
The Doctor's Opinion
I say this after many
years'
experience as
Medical Director of one of the
oldest hospitals in the
country treating alcoholic and
drug addiction.
31.
... experience before
the world.
BB xvii,
Foreword to Second Edition
It was now
time, the
struggling groups thought, to place their
message and
unique experience before the
world.
32.
... experience by
the dozen.
BB p.42,
More About Alcoholism
They
cited cases out of
their
own experience by the
dozen.
33.
... experience can
benefit others.
BB p.84,
Into Action
No
matter how far down the
scale we have
gone, we will see
how our
experience can
benefit others.
34.
... experience can
recover, provided he does not ...
BB p.568(570),
Appendix II, Spiritual Experience
35.
... experience closely
tallied with his own.
BB p.160,
A Vision For You
Impressed by those who
visited him at the
hospital, he
capitulated entirely
when,
later, in an
upper room of this
house, he
heard the
story of some
man whose
experience closely tallied with his
own.
36.
... experience does
provide certain answers that work ...
12&12 p.117,
Step Twelve
37.
... experience, following
a meeting with an alcoholic ...
BB xvi,
Foreword to Second Edition
38.
... experience galore.
BB p.126,
The Family Afterward
With these we have had
experience galore.
39.
... experience had
made him skeptical, he finished ...
BB p.26,
There Is A Solution
Though
experience had made him
skeptical, he
finished
his
treatment with
unusual confidence.
40.
Experience has
often warned us that nothing ...
12&12 p.191,
Tradition Seven (Long)
41.
Experience has
often warned us that nothing ...
BB p.564(566),
Appendix I, The A.A. Tradition
42.
... experience, has
stepped over the threshold of ...
BB p.160,
A Vision For You
Many a
man,
yet dazed from his
hospital
experience, has
stepped
over the
threshold of that
home into
freedom.
43.
... experience has
taught us that:
BB p.563(565),
Appendix I, The A.A. Tradition
Our
A.A. experience has
taught us that:
44.
Experience has
taught us that these are ...
BB p.50,
We Agnostics
Experience has
taught us
that these are
matters about which, for our
purpose, we
need not be
worried.
45.
... experience has
taught us we cannot live ...
12&12 p.55,
Step Five
A.A. experience has
taught us we cannot
live alone
with our
pressing problems and the
character defects which
cause or
aggravate them.
46.
... experience has
yet given to those ever-urgent ...
BB p.561(563),
Appendix I, The A.A. Tradition
The "
12 Traditions" of
Alcoholics Anonymous
are, we
A.A.'s
believe, the
best answers that our
experience has
yet given to those ever-
urgent questions, "How can
A.A. best function?" and, "How can
A.A. best stay whole and so
survive?"
47.
... experience, he
conceded, was absolutely necessary, but ...
BB p.155,
A Vision For You
48.
... experience, how
the queer mental condition surrounding ...
BB p.92,
Working With Others
49.
... experience in
a book which finally reached ...
12&12 p.17,
Foreword
Nevertheless, the
infant Society determined to
set down
its experience in a book which finally
reached the
public in
April 1939.
50.
... experience in
A.A. does seem to suggest..."
12&12 p.173,
Tradition Nine
But the
majority experience in
A.A. does
seem to
suggest..."
51.
... experience in
proof of it, still be ...
12&12 p.96,
Step Eleven
To
certain newcomers
and to those one-
time agnostics who still
cling
to the
A.A. group as their
higher power,
claims for the
power of
prayer may,
despite all the
logic and
experience in
proof of it, still be
unconvincing or quite
objectionable.
52.
... experience in
the Cathedral burst upon me.
BB p.12,
Bill's Story
The
real significance
of my
experience in the
Cathedral burst upon me.
53.
... experience in
this Step has meant to ...
12&12 p.82,
Step Eight
Whenever our
pencil falters, we can
fortify and
cheer ourselves by
remembering what
A.A. experience in this
Step has
meant to others.
54.
... Experience," indicates
a multitude of ways in ...
BB p.28,
There Is A Solution
55.
... experience is
a criterion, more than half ...
BB p.163,
A Vision For You
Some of them may
sink and perhaps
never get up, but if our
experience is a
criterion, more
than
half of those
approached will
become fellows of
Alcoholics Anonymous.
56.
... experience, is
sound, and who is willing ...
12&12 p.135,
Tradition Two
57.
... experience is
the thing of supreme value ...
BB p.124,
The Family Afterward
Henry Ford once made a
wise remark to the
effect that
experience is the
thing of
supreme value in
life.
58.
... experience, it
didn't necessarily mean that we ...
12&12 p.58,
Step Five
But while this was a
humiliating experience, it didn't
necessarily mean that we
had
yet acquired much
actual humility.
59.
... experience may
come to you.
BB p.116,
To Wives
This
experience may
come to
you.
60.
... experience means
anything at all, this is ...
12&12 p.56,
Step Five
Yet if
A.A.'s
experience means anything at all,
this is not only
unwise, but is
actually a
perilous resolve.
61.
... experience of
a man who thought he ...
BB p.55,
We Agnostics
In this book you will
read the
experience of a
man who
thought he was an
atheist.
62.
... experience of
an occasional retreat from the ...
12&12 p.89,
Step Ten
Many of us also like the
experience of an
occasional retreat from
the
outside world where we
can
quiet down for an
undisturbed day or so of
self-
overhaul and
meditation.
63.
... experience of
any alcoholic will abundantly confirm ...
BB p.23,
There Is A Solution
The
experience of any
alcoholic will
abundantly confirm this.
64.
... experience, of
course.
12&12 p.27,
Step Two
"This is only one
man's
opinion based on his
own experience, of
course.
65.
... experience of
meditation and prayer across the ...
12&12 p.98,
Step Eleven
The
actual experience of
meditation and
prayer
across the
centuries is, of
course,
immense.
66.
... experience of
society and government everywhere, that ...
12&12 p.141,
Tradition Three
Why did we
dare to say,
contrary to the
experience of
society and
government everywhere, that we would neither
punish nor
deprive any
A.A. of
membership, that we
must never compel anyone to
pay anything,
believe anything, or
conform to anything?
67.
... experience of
this kind, and he was ...
BB p.39,
More About Alcoholism
It was his
first experience
of this
kind, and he was much
ashamed of it.
68.
... experience, only
to enjoy, in a few ...
BB p.134,
The Family Afterward
Some of us had this
experience, only to
enjoy, in a few
months, a
finer intimacy than ever.
69.
... experience out
of the past.
BB p.132,
The Family Afterward
Outsiders are sometimes
shocked when we
burst into
merriment over a
seemingly tragic experience out of the
past.
70.
... experience, plus
the knowledge he had acquired, ...
BB p.40,
More About Alcoholism
He was
positive that this
humiliating experience,
plus the
knowledge he had
acquired, would
keep him
sober the
rest of his
life.
71.
... experience seems
impossible, but to continue as ...
BB p.44,
We Agnostics
To one who
feels he is an
atheist or
agnostic such
an
experience seems impossible, but to
continue as he is
means disaster,
especially if
he is an
alcoholic of the
hopeless variety.
72.
... experience shows
that nothing will so much ...
BB p.89,
Working With Others
73.
Experience shows
that such an attitude is ...
BB p.103,
Working With Others
Experience shows that such an
attitude is not
helpful
to anyone.
74.
... experience shows
that this is not necessarily ...
BB p.101,
Working With Others
Our
experience shows that
this is not
necessarily so.
75.
... experience shows
that you need not be ...
BB p.44,
We Agnostics
Our
experience shows that you
need not be
disconcerted.
76.
... experience, some
of it painful.
BB p.121,
To Wives
But what we have
related is
based upon
experience, some of
it
painful.
77.
... experience, strength,
and hope.
BB xxii,
Foreword to Third Edition
Each
day, somewhere in the
world,
recovery begins when one
alcoholic
talks with another
alcoholic,
sharing experience,
strength, and
hope.
78.
... experience, strength,
and hope with each other, ...
BB xxiv,
Foreword to Fourth Edition
In any
meeting, anywhere,
A.A.'s
share experience,
strength, and
hope with each other, in
order
to
stay sober and
help other
alcoholics.
79.
... experience, strength
and hope with each other ...
Grapevine,
Preamble
Alcoholics Anonymous is a
fellowship of
men and
women who
share their
experience,
strength and
hope with each other that they may
solve their
common problem and
help others to
recover from
alcoholism.
80.
... experience taught
us that to take away ...
12&12 p.141,
Tradition Three
At
last experience taught us that to take away any
alcoholic's
full chance was sometimes to
pronounce his
death sentence, and often to
condemn him to
endless misery.
81.
... experience tell
all these they may still ...
12&12 p.28,
Step Two
Can
A.A. experience tell all
these they may still find a
faith that
works?
82.
... experience that
A.A.'s Twelve Traditions took form ...
12&12 p.18,
Foreword
83.
... experience that
particularly in these cases we ...
12&12 p.104,
Step Eleven
It is
A.A.'s
experience that
particularly in these
cases we ought to
pray that
God's will, whatever it is, be done for others as well as
for ourselves.
84.
... experience, that
we have found nothing which ...
BB xxviii(xxvi),
The Doctor's Opinion
We
feel, after many
years of
experience, that we have
found nothing which has
contributed more to the
rehabilitation of these
men than the
altruistic movement now
growing up
among them.
85.
... experience, that
we surely must try with ...
12&12 p.73,
Step Seven
But again we are
driven on by the
inescapable conclusion which we
draw
from
A.A. experience, that we
surely must try with a will, or else
fall by
the
wayside.
86.
... experience, the
alcoholic will find he has ...
BB p.131,
The Family Afterward
Being
possessed of a
spiritual experience, the
alcoholic will find he has much in
common with these people, though he may
differ with them on many
matters.
87.
... experience the
conviction grew that A.A.'s had ...
BB xix,
Foreword to Second Edition
88.
... experience the
kind of giving that asks ...
12&12 p.106,
Step Twelve
Here we
experience the
kind of
giving that
asks no
rewards.
89.
... experience, the
man agreed that no amount ...
BB p.155,
A Vision For You
When our
friend related
his
experience, the
man agreed that no
amount of will
power he might
muster could
stop his
drinking for
long.
90.
... experience the
sense of ease and comfort ...
BB xxviii(xxvi),
The Doctor's Opinion
They are
restless,
irritable and
discontented,
unless
they can again
experience the
sense of
ease and
comfort which
comes at once
by
taking a few
drinks --
drinks which they see others
taking with
impunity.
91.
... experience, the
structure of our Society was ...
12&12 p.131,
Tradition One
On
anvils of
experience, the
structure of our
Society was
hammered out.
92.
... experience they
forgave each other and drew ...
BB p.124,
The Family Afterward
In the
first flush of
spiritual experience they
forgave each other and
drew closer together.
93.
... experience, they
have turned to easier methods.
BB p.72,
Into Action
Trying to
avoid this
humbling experience, they
have
turned to
easier methods.
94.
... experience, this
business of resentment is infinitely ...
BB p.66,
How It Works
95.
... experience, this
is one of the facts ...
12&12 p.21,
Step One
Proved beyond doubt by an
immense experience, this is one of the
facts of
A.A. life.
96.
... experience, this
prayer was his expression of ...
12&12 p.99,
Step Eleven
And as he
came out the other
side of that
painful experience, this
prayer was his
expression of what he could then see,
feel, and
wish to
become:
97.
... experience to
their service at G.S.O.
12&12 p.169,
Tradition Eight (Note)
These
A.A.'s bring a
wide range of
business and
professional experience
to their
service at
G.S.O.
98.
... experience to
think that they can stop, ...
BB p.33,
More About Alcoholism
Young people may be
encouraged by this
man's
experience to
think that they
can
stop, as he did, on their
own will
power.
99.
... experience top
secret.
12&12 p.171,
Tradition Eight
We cannot
declare A.A. such a
closed corporation
that we
keep our
knowledge and
experience top secret.
100.
... experience, we
are sure they will come.
BB p.153,
A Vision For You
Should you
wish them above all else, and be
willing to make use of our
experience, we are
sure they will
come.
101.
... experience, we
ask that we be given ...
BB p.79,
Into Action
Reminding ourselves that we have
decided to go to any
lengths to find a
spiritual experience, we
ask that we be
given strength and
direction
to do the
right thing, no
matter what the
personal consequences may be.
102.
... experience were
being sold for money, hence ...
12&12 p.167,
Tradition Eight
In all these
instances, and more, it was
claimed that
A.A. knowledge and
experience
were being
sold for
money,
hence these people, too, were
professionals.
103.
... experience whether
we are drinking or not.
12&12 p.88,
Step Ten
But there is another
kind of
hangover which we all
experience whether we are
drinking or not.
104.
... experience, which
as we have already told ...
BB p.28,
There Is A Solution
Here was the
terrible dilemma in which our
friend
found himself when he had the
extraordinary experience, which as we have already told you, made him a
free man.
105.
... experience which
finally produced the Twelve Traditions ...
12&12 p.18,
Foreword
106.
... experience which
has led us to the ...
12&12 p.135,
Tradition Two
This is the
experience which has
led us to the
conclusion
that our
group conscience, well-
advised
by
its elders, will be in the
long run wiser than any
single leader.
107.
... experience will
conquer.
BB p.44,
We Agnostics
If that be the
case, you may be
suffering from an
illness
which only a
spiritual experience will
conquer.
108.
... experience with
A.A., said: "The alcoholics we ...
BB p.570(572),
Appendix III, The Medical View on A.A.
Dr.
John F.
Stouffer,
Chief Psychiatrist,
Philadelphia General
Hospital,
citing his
experience with
A.A., said: "The
alcoholics we get here at
Philadelphia General
are mostly those who cannot
afford private treatment, and
A.A. is by far the
greatest
thing we have been able to
offer them.
109.
... experience with
alcoholic excuses naturally arouses suspicion.
BB p.146,
To Employers
110.
... experience with
an alcoholic, this may seem ...
BB p.101,
Working With Others
To a
person who has had
experience with an
alcoholic,
this may
seem like
tempting Providence,
but it isn't.
111.
... experience with
Step Four.
12&12 p.46,
Step Four
They can do this, for they are the
carriers of
A.A.'s
tested experience with
Step Four.
112.
... experience with
the sufferings of our members ...
BB xxv(xxiii),
The Doctor's Opinion
113.
... experience you
can be uniquely useful to ...
BB p.89,
Working With Others
Ministers and
doctors
are
competent and you can
learn much from them if you
wish, but it
happens that
because of your
own drinking experience you can
be
uniquely useful to
other
alcoholics.
114.
... experience you
must not miss.
BB p.89,
Working With Others
To
watch people
recover,
to see them
help others, to
watch loneliness vanish, to see a
fellowship grow up about
you, to have a
host of
friends -- this is an
experience you
must not
miss.
115.
... experience yourself,
you can give him much ...
BB p.96,
Working With Others
Having had the
experience yourself, you can
give him
much
practical advice.
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.
Permission to reprint does not in any way imply affiliation with or
endorsement by either Alcoholics Anonymous or The A.A. Grapevine, Inc.
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