*new* Plain Language Big Book from AA?
AA is changing the Big Book!?
Not quite. But yeah sorta.
We have an article up about The Big Book talking about how it was written forever ago. (Yes FOREVER ago. I did the math.) Sometimes when you’re reading it’s hard to keep focus because it doesn’t always use language we use today. For a lot of people, like me, it’s hard to stay focus. Yeah, I can read through it, but what did I actually wrap my head around? Especially those of us who are neurodivergent. So AA has decided to update the language but with the same message. They aren’t getting rid of The Big Book but, I think what they’re trying to do is get the same message across except with out talking about “whoopie parties” and talking like men are the only ones with Alcohol Use Disorder.
But I don’t know. I haven’t read it yet. There’ll be another post about it once someone here reads it, maybe me, and has some thoughts on it.
I think the idea of it would probably have been helpful to me when I first came in trying to read this stuff. I could definitely imagine how this would work for others too. Even though there are probably millions of AAers in the world banging their fists on a table in business meetings because… hey… “This text worked for me, it should work for everyone.” People, even in recovery, like to be mad. But this might be helpful to sponsors who are struggling with sponsees who get caught up on some of the language.
Again, it depends on how well it’s done. There are a lot of ways it could go wrong. But it also might be a godsend for some people who just would not connect with the old style language and writing in the original 164 pages of “The Big Book”. There are also a lot of ways this could go right and breath new life into AA.
So is AA changing The Big Book? Nahhh. There is nothing from AA talking about getting rid of it. They’ll probably still be selling it when humons are drinking too much ethanol on Mars. So the people who have used it to get sober don’t have to change anything. To me, it just seems like a new “entry point” for people to do the same things the rest of us have been doing to change our lives.
For now, this post is a heads up that it actually exists and you can pick it up from the links below. Come in to our DISCORD AA Channel and let us know what you’re thinking about it. Don’t go ranting, just if you think it will be helpful to new people or yourself.
We are leaving two links here. AA Grapevine is a non-profit. The money goes to AA. PLEASE buy this book directly from AA or your local AA meeting. If you must… we are providing an affiliate link to Amazon. Amazon always takes a huge cut from all products. If you use our affiliate link then Amazon gives a small amount back to Recovery RAWKstars, but we always prefer that the entire retail cut go directly to Alcoholics Anonymous by buying it from them directly.
The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
“Although the first 164 pages of this book were written over 85 years ago, it has been able to help countless millions of people. The issue is that we need to translate some of the old-timey white men speech, to a newer generation. One born in this century. It is quite literally older than boomers. This is one of the many ways a good sponsor comes into play. ”
Alcoholics Anonymous (Plain Language Big Book)
