Page 65 - The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

Chapter 4

WE AGNOSTICS

n the preceding chapters you have learned
Isomething of alcoholism. We hope we have
made clear the distinction between the alcoholic and
the non-alcoholic. If, when you honestly want to, you
find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you
have little control over the amount you take, you are
probably alcoholic. If that be the case, you may be
suffering from an illness which only a spiritual experi-
ence will conquer.
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. To be doomed to an alcoholic death
or to live on a spiritual basis are not always easy
alternatives to face.
But it isn’t so difficult. About half our original
fellowship were of exactly that type. At first some of
us tried to avoid the issue, hoping against hope we
were not true alcoholics. But after a while we had to
face the fact that we must find a spiritual basis of life
—or else. Perhaps it is going to be that way with you.
But cheer up, something like half of us thought we
were atheists or agnostics. Our experience shows that
you need not be disconcerted.
If a mere code of morals or a better philosophy of
life were sufficient to overcome alcoholism, many of us
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