"ourselves" in the Big Book

My wife and I abandoned ourselves with enthusiasm to the idea of helping other alcoholics to a solution of their problems.

If these thoughts occur, they are hazy and readily supplanted with the old threadbare idea that this time we shall handle ourselves like other people.

How often have some of us begun to drink in this nonchalant way, and after the third or fourth, pounded on the bar and said to ourselves, “For God’s sake, how did I ever get started again?’’ Only to have that thought supplanted by “Well, I’ll stop with the sixth drink.’’ Or “What’s the use anyhow?’’ When this sort of thinking is fully established in an individual with alcoholic tendencies, he has probably placed himself beyond human aid, and unless locked up, may die or go permanently insane.

He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves.

Our hope is that many alcoholic men and women, desperately in need, will see these pages, and we believe that it is only by fully disclosing ourselves and our problems that they will be persuaded to say, “Yes, I am one of them too; I must have this thing.”

Next day we would ask ourselves, in all earnestness and sincerity, how it could have happened.

In some circumstances we have gone out deliberately to get drunk, feeling ourselves justified by nervousness, anger, worry, depression, jealousy or the like.

We admit we have some of these symptoms, but we have not gone to the extremes you fellows did, nor are we likely to, for we understand ourselves so well after what you have told us that such things cannot happen again.

We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves.

with the thought that faith and dependence upon a Power beyond ourselves was somewhat weak, even cowardly.

Yet, in other moments, we found ourselves thinking, when enchanted by a starlit night, “Who, then, made all this?’’ There was a feeling of awe and wonder, but it was fleeting and soon lost.

We found that as soon as we were able to lay aside prejudice and express even a willingness to believe in a Power greater than ourselves, we commenced to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that Power, which is God.

Afterward, we found ourselves accepting many things which then seemed entirely out of reach.

We needed to ask ourselves but one short question.

we often found ourselves handicapped by obstinacy, sensitiveness, and unreasoning prejudice.

When, however, the perfectly logical assumption is suggested that underneath the material world and life as we see it, there is an All Powerful, Guiding, Creative Intelligence, right there our perverse streak comes to the surface and we laboriously set out to convince ourselves it isn’t so.

Instead of regarding ourselves as intelligent agents, spearheads of God’s ever advancing Creation, we agnostics and atheists chose to believe that our human intelligence was the last word, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and end of all.

We used to amuse ourselves by cynically dissecting spiritual beliefs and practices when we might have observed that many spiritually-minded persons of all races, colors, and creeds were demonstrating a degree of stability, happiness and usefulness which we should have sought ourselves.

We talked of intolerance, while we were intolerant ourselves.

We asked ourselves this: Are not some of us just as biased and unreasonable about the realm of the spirit as were the ancients about the realm of the material?

We had to ask ourselves why we shouldn’t apply to our human problems this same readiness to change our point of view.

Had we not variously worshipped people, sentiment, things, money, and ourselves?

We had seen spiritual release, but liked to tell ourselves it wasn’t true.

Actually we were fooling ourselves, for deep down in every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental idea of God.

For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.

Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 3.

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.

Whatever our protestations, are not most of us concerned with ourselves, our resentments, or our self-pity?

They arise out of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn’t think so.

Established on such a footing we became less and less interested in ourselves, our little plans and designs.

May I do Thy will always!’’ We thought well before taking this step making sure we were ready; that we could at last abandon ourselves utterly to Him.

Though our decision was a vital and crucial step, it could have little permanent effect unless at once followed by a strenuous effort to face, and to be rid of, the things in ourselves which had been blocking us.

We asked ourselves why we were angry.

Sometimes it was remorse and then we were sore at ourselves.

For when harboring such feelings we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit.

Though we did not like their symptoms and the way these disturbed us, they, like ourselves, were sick too.

When a person offended we said to ourselves, “This is a sick man.

But did not we, ourselves, set the ball rolling?

We asked ourselves why we had them.

If sex is very troublesome, we throw ourselves the harder into helping others.

This takes us out of ourselves.

for us what we could not do for ourselves.

This requires action on our part, which, when completed, will mean that we have admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our defects.

We think we have done well enough in admitting these things to ourselves.

We will be more reconciled to discussing ourselves with another person when we see good reasons why we should do so.

Notwithstanding the great necessity for discussing ourselves with someone, it may be one is so situated that there is no suitable person available.

If that is so, this step may be postponed, only, however, if we hold ourselves in complete readiness to go through with it at the first opportunity.

We subjected ourselves to a drastic self-appraisal.

We attempt to sweep away the debris which has accumulated out of our effort to live on self-will and run the show ourselves.

Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and the people about us.

Why lay ourselves open to being branded fanatics or religious bores?

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.

We don’t worry about them if we can honestly say to ourselves that we would right them if we could.

We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once?

Were we thinking of ourselves most of the time?

We ask especially for freedom from self-will, and are careful to make no request for ourselves only.

We may ask for ourselves, however, if others will be helped.

We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer

running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day “Thy will be done.’’ We are then in much less danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-pity, or foolish decisions.

We do not tire so easily, for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we did when we were trying to arrange life to suit ourselves.

When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God’s hands were better than anything we could have planned.

In desperation, we have even got tight ourselves—the drunk to end all drunks.

We finally sought employment ourselves as destitution faced us and our families.

As we say among ourselves, “He wants to want to stop.”

We have enjoyed such evenings ourselves; we had a good time.

If that is so we are sorry, for we ourselves don’t always care for people who lecture us.