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AA Basic Text

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 101Bullets (talk | contribs) at 09:19, 31 May 2010. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The AA Basic Text also known as 'The Big Book' refers to the book first published in 1939 called 'Alcoholics Anonymous'. The book describes how the co-founders of AA came to meet each other and develop a basic program of recovery based on the four principles of

  1. (ego) deflation
  2. admission (of wrongdoings)
  3. restitution (to those harmed) and
  4. maintenance (of a spiritually more aware state of mind through ongoing prayer and meditation).

There have been four revisions of the Alcoholics Anonymous book and each time a new 'forward to the Nth addition' has been added, and the stories section at the back of the book has seen new stories added and some old ones removed. However the actual 'Basic Text' which is the first 164 pages of the book has remained unchanged since 1939, and would require the agreement of at least 3/4 of the world wide membership of AA to effect any change.

This leads to a somewhat 'quaint' reading at times, although the book is essentially a manual covering a certain belief about the nature of alcoholism and a way to recover. These two basic ideas have remained unchanged since 1939 and so no revision has been deemed necessary. The book also has something of an 'untouchable' aspect to its many users.

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