In episode #130, Luis shares his experience, strength, and hope with Chapter 11: A Vision for You.
"You are going to meet these new friends in your own community. Near you, alcoholics are dying helplessly like people in a sinking ship. If you live in a large place, there are hundreds. High and low, rich and poor, these are future fellows of Alcoholics Anonymous. Among them you will make lifelong friends. You will be bound to them with new and wonderful ties, for you will escape disaster together and you will commence shoulder to shoulder your common journey. Then you will know what it means to give of yourself that others may survive and rediscover life. You will learn the full meaning of “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”
In episode #129, Michael continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading from Chapter 5, How It Works, pages 63-65.
"Next we launched out on a course of vigorous action, the first step of which is a personal housecleaning, which many of us had never attempted. 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. Our liquor was but a symptom. So we had to get down to causes and conditions." –Alcoholics Anonymous (p. 63)
In episode #128, Michael continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading from Chapter 5, How It Works, pages 61-63.
"Selfishness—self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt."
In episode #127, Luis continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading Chapter 5, How It Works, pages 58-61.
"RARELY HAVE we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest." – Alcoholics Anonymous, Page 58
In episode #125, Joshua continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading from Chapter 4, We Agnostics, page 49 (paragraph 2) through page 57. "We, who have traveled this dubious path, beg you to lay aside prejudice, even against organized religion. We have learned that whatever the human frailties of various faiths may be, those faiths have given purpose and direction to millions."
In episode #125, Oliver continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading from Chapter 4, We Agnostics, page 48, "The prosaic steel girder is a mass of electrons whirling around each other at incredible speed. These tiny bodies are governed by precise laws, and these laws hold true throughout the material world. Science tells us so. We have no reason to doubt it. 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."
In episode #124, Joshua continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading from Chapter 4, We Agnostics. "IN THE PRECEDING chapters you have learned something of alcoholism. We hope we have made clear the distinction between the alcoholic and the non-alcoholic. If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic. If that be the case, you may be suffering from an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer."
In episode #123, Patty continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading Chapter 3, More About Alcoholism, page 42, top paragraph. "They had said that though I did raise a defense, it would one day give way before some trivial reason for having a drink."
In episode #122, Jesse continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading Chapter 3, More About Alcoholism, pages 41, paragraphs 1 and 2. “I went to my hotel and leisurely dressed for dinner. As I crossed the threshold of the dining room, the thought came to mind that it would be nice to have a couple of cocktails with dinner. That was all. Nothing more. I ordered a cocktail and my meal. Then I ordered another cocktail. After dinner I decided to take a walk. When I returned to the hotel it struck me a highball would be fine before going to bed, so I stepped into the bar and had one."
In episode #121, Mary continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading Chapter 3, More About Alcoholism, pages 33-35. "Young people may be encouraged by this man’s experience to think that they can stop, as he did, on their own will power."
In episode #120, Luis continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading Chapter 3, More About Alcoholism. “We are like men who have lost their legs; they never grow new ones. Neither does there appear to be any kind of treatment which will make alcoholics of our kind like other men. We have tried every imaginable remedy. In some instances there has been brief recovery, followed always by a still worse relapse.."
In episode #119, Pastor Jose continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading Chapter 3, More About Alcoholism.
"MOST OF US have been unwilling to admit we were real alcoholics. No person likes to think he is bodily and mentally different from his fellows. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death."
In episode #118, Sal continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading Chapter 2, There is a Solution, from pages 25 - 29.
"There is a solution. Almost none of us liked the self-searching, the leveling of our pride, the confession of shortcomings which the process requires for its successful consummation. But we saw that it really worked in others, and we had come to believe in the hopelessness and futility of life as we had been living it. When, therefore, we were approached by those in whom the problem had been solved, there was nothing left for us but to pick up the simple kit of spiritual tools laid at our feet."
In episode #117, Pat B. continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading Chapter 2, There is a Solution, from pages 20 to 25. “You may already have asked yourself why it is that all of us became so very ill from drinking. Doubtless you are curious to discover how and why, in the face of expert opinion to the contrary, we have recovered from a hopeless condition of mind and body. If you are an alcoholic who wants to get over it, you may already be asking—“What do I have to do?”
In episode #116, Luis shares how, before hitting bottom, he was looking for a solution in self-help books. "I had no system for defeating alcoholism. I wanted to do things differently but lacked the power to make it through the night." Big Book Awakening is like a map for how to journey through the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.
In episode #115, Arline continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading Chapter 2, There is a Solution, from pages 18 to 20. "Highly competent psychiatrists who have dealt with us have found it sometimes impossible to persuade an alcoholic to discuss his situation without reserve. Strangely enough, wives, parents and intimate friends usually find us even more unapproachable than do the psychiatrist and the doctor. But the ex-problem drinker who has found this solution, who is properly armed with facts about himself, can generally win the entire confidence of another alcoholic in a few hours. Until such an understanding is reached, little or nothing can be accomplished." –Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition (p. 18)
In episode #114, Oliver continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading Chapter 2 - There is a Solution, pages 17 and 18. "WE, OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, know thousands of men and women who were once just as hopeless as Bill. Nearly all have recovered. They have solved the drink problem."
In episode #113, Mary L. continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading Bill's Story from the bottom of page 14 to 16. "For if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge his spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he could not survive the certain trials and low spots ahead. If he did not work, he would surely drink again, and if he drank, he would surely die. Then faith would be dead indeed. With us it is just like that." –Alcoholics Anonymous
In Episode #112, Luis L. shares his story after reaching a new milestone of 9 years of continuous sobriety. "Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it—then you are ready to take certain steps." –Alcoholics Anonymous
In episode #111, Michael continues the Big Book Awakening series by reading Bill's Story from pages 13 to 14. "At the hospital I was separated from alcohol for the last time. Treatment seemed wise, for I showed signs of delirium tremens."