Page 151 - The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

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130 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
some of his manifestations are alarming and disagree­
able, we think dad will be on a firmer foundation than
the man who is placing business or professional suc­
cess ahead of spiritual development. He will be less
likely to drink again, and anything is preferable to
that.
Those of us who have spent much time in the world
of spiritual make-believe have eventually seen the
childishness of it. This dream world has been replaced
by a great sense of purpose, accompanied by a grow­
ing consciousness of the power of God in our lives.
We have come to believe He would like us to keep our
heads in the clouds with Him, but that our feet ought
to be firmly planted on earth. That is where our fel­
low travelers are, and that is where our work must be
done. These are the realities for us. We have found
nothing incompatible between a powerful spiritual
experience and a life of sane and happy usefulness.
One more suggestion: Whether the family has spiri­
tual convictions or not, they may do well to examine the
principles by which the alcoholic member is trying to
live. They can hardly fail to approve these simple
principles, though the head of the house still fails
somewhat in practicing them. Nothing will help the
man who is off on a spiritual tangent so much as the
wife who adopts a sane spiritual program, making a
better practical use of it.
There will be other profound changes in the house­
hold. Liquor incapacitated father for so many years
that mother became head of the house. She met these
responsibilities gallantly. By force of circumstances,
she was often obliged to treat father as a sick or way­
ward child. Even when he wanted to assert himself