The terms "spiritual experience" and "spiritual awakening" appear many times in this book. Upon careful reading, we see that a personality change sufficient to bring about recovery has occurred in many forms.
Many readers mistakenly believed these spiritual experiences must be sudden and spectacular upheavals. This is not the case.
The first few chapters describe sudden revolutionary changes, but most of us experience gradual transformation. Many newcomers think recovery requires an instantaneous God-consciousness followed by a massive shift. This misconception has caused confusion.
In reality, most of our experiences follow a gradual process.
William James called these experiences "the educational variety" because they develop slowly over time. Friends often notice changes in us long before we do.
Eventually, we realize that we have undergone a profound change in our reaction to life— a change we could never have accomplished on our own.
Most of us believe that this awareness of a Power greater than ourselves is the essence of spiritual experience. Our more religious members call it "God-consciousness."
We firmly believe that any alcoholic who is willing to honestly face his problems can recover.
The only things that can defeat us are intolerance and refusal to be open-minded.
WILLINGNESS, HONESTY, AND OPEN-MINDEDNESS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR RECOVERY. THESE PRINCIPLES ARE INDISPENSABLE.
“There is a principle which is a bar against all information,
which is proof against all arguments,
and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—
that principle is contempt prior to investigation.”
– HERBERT SPENCER
Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Appendix II, Pages 567-568