The Core

I hear in recovery circles, that people are told they have to read their manual, the Big Book, and do lots of service work and go to lots of meetings.  Hmmm.  It seems to me that the first couple of drunks that got sober in AA had no big book or service structure.  It was really two people talking fact to face, honestly about being alcoholics, its patterns, wherein were found similarities that bonded one person to another on the road to happy destiny.  Everyday that I talk to a recovering drunk about the process and shortcoming roadblocks, is a better day for me.  The other stuff is important, but one on one encounters are still central.  To sit isolated at a meeting of recovering people won't cut it. Nor will memorizing the manuals.