Edward A Webster - Stools and Bottles: Daily Thoughts and Meditations for A.A. Members

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STOOLS AND BOTTLES

A STUDY OF CHARACTER DEFECTS

31 DAILY MEDITATIONS

BY

THE AUTHOR OF THE LITTLE RED BOOK

Contents

This book is humbly dedicated to the members of Alcoholics Anonymous. Its purpose is to stimulate interest in the daily application of the A.A. program by which we arrest our alcoholism. May it help each member and render a special service to the newcomer to whom we are ever obligated to carry the message of the Twelve Steps.

Some years ago the author of The Little Red Book worked out a novel presentation of the first four steps of the A.A. program. Visual aids, consisting of a three-legged stool and eight empty whiskey bottles, were used to portray the intangible factors of these fundamental steps.

The three legs of the stool illustrated Steps 1-2-3. The bottles graphically depicted the character defects revealed by Step 4. Later this became known as the Stool and Bottle Talk.

This talk proved so helpful to alcoholics in all stages of recovery that many groups asked that it be presented to their membership at special meetings. These requests were frequently granted, but it was impossible to meet most of them. Lack of time and money curtailed them to a great extent.

Members claimed cumulative benefits from these meetings. Visually impressed with the principles of Steps 1-2-3-4, they improved upon their daily use.

Invariably, duplicate sets of bottles and reprints of the talk were requested. Because the talk was extemporaneous, and the bottles too costly, all of these requests could not be met.

But now it is possible to give the highlights of the talk, and to present the Stools and Bottles in this book which bears their name. Study groups may find the matter helpful.

To meet our need for quiet periods of thought and prayer, the book provides thirty-one daily reminders. They deal with A.A. problems commonly encountered by alcoholics who try to make A.A. their way of life.

We strongly urge every new member to own and study the books Alcoholics Anonymous and the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions . In them we find the answers to our many alcoholic problems. They can be secured from A.A. World Services, Inc., P.O. Box 459, Grand Central Station, New York, N. Y. 10017.

Members who wish to complete their study of the mechanics of the 12 Steps, started in this book, will find them discussed in The Little Red Book .

It explains the working principles of each step in greater detail than we have attempted to interpret them, with little duplication of the matter presented here. Copies are available from Hazelden, Center City, Minnesota 55012.

The issues in Stools and Bottles could not have been presented without the helpful guidance and constructive criticism of many A.A. members during its preparation.

These people are in no way responsible for errors in judgment and interpretation of the matters discussed in this book. Where error exists it reflects upon the judgment and fallibility of the author only.

Special thanks and appreciation go to Alcoholics Anonymous Publishing, Inc., for their approval to quote from the 12 Steps of A.A. Grateful acknowledgment is also made for their permission to reprint the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions in the text of this book.

Full appreciation is expressed to Mr. Bennett Cerf for the story of the lumberjack taken from his Bantam book, Anything for a Laugh . Its analogy has helped us to accentuate the alcoholics inability to profit from past experience.

E. A. W.

The Creators natural laws are put to such common use these days that we accept them without question. Beyond expecting them to work, we give them but little thought or appreciation.

It was under these circumstances that I stood one day watching a giant crane transfer scrap steel from a huge pile to a car which was being loaded.

The crane lifted the steel by means of a large electric magnet. Trip after trip was made from the pile to the car, never varying in its procedure. Every time the current was applied the steel nearest the magnet jumped into contact with it. Other nearby pieces were attracted, but being insecurely attached rose up, dangled momentarily in midair, and then fell back onto the pile. The magnet often caught them upon its return trip, but not always. Sometimes it would be several trips later.

Finally, the scrap was deposited in the car and hauled to the foundry to be melted down and recast into new castings. Observing that a small pile of metal still remained on the ground, I appeased my curiosity by investigating the cause. The remaining pieces were of non-ferrous metal which is immune to the power of magnetic force.

Meditating upon mans willing acceptance of laws governing the powers of nature, I marveled at his reluctance to more fully utilize the forces of spiritual power and energy.

In pensive mood, my thoughts turned to A.A. and how a Higher Power seemed to work through it, like a great spiritual magnet ; how some members with good spiritual contacts are returned to health and sanity; how others, insulated with reservation, finally slide back into their old drinking habits, but how later they make their contact and are recovered, too.

In a moment of real appreciation, I thanked God for A.A. and the miracles performed through it. I asked His help to carry the message to those who were ready and to be more tolerant of those who had refused it.

It is in this humble spirit of service that the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions are quoted, for they are the principles under which the groups live and by which they operate.

STEP ONE We admitted we were powerless over alcoholthat our lives had become unmanageable.

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

STEP THREE Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

STEP FOUR Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

STEP FIVE Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

STEP SIX Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

STEP SEVEN Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

STEP EIGHT Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all .

STEP NINE Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.