Glossaries. Worksheets & More
Big Book Glossary
In an attempt to discover the meanings of the words used in our basic text book Alcoholics Anonymous when it was written, we have used many sources for this glossary. Our primary source was Webster’s Daily Use Dictionary, published in 1934. For the historical references we used the World Book Encyclopedia and Encarta Encyclopedia. Because our language has changed much since our “Big Book” was written, and because the book’s purpose is to explain “precisely how we have recovered”, we believe it is important to understand what the words meant when they were written, not how they have been filtered by our society today. This glossary is not complete by any means, but is meant to be helpful.
When the “Big Book” was written in 1939, America was a reading society. Almost all of their daily news came from reading. Nearly all Americans read for entertainment, and letter writing and reading were much more prevalent in our society.
That is not the case in the Twenty First Century. Our society is not the reading society that it once was and therefore we, of the Twenty First Century, find it difficult to understand the written instructions for the 4th Step contained in our basic text book.These worksheets are designed as templates only, to offer a visual example of the process.
4th Step Glossary A glossary of words used in Steps 4 and 5.
Prayers:
Prayer and meditation are a vital part of the recovery process.
We open each and every one of the study sessions, tapes and CD’s with the following prayer. As stated on page 47 of the textbook Alcoholics Anonymous: “When therefore, we speak to you of God, we mean your own conception of God. This applies, too, to other spiritual expressions which you find in this book.” God, please let me set aside every thing I think I know about sobriety, life and You so that I may be open to a new experience.
Amen
There are many suggested prayers in the Big Book which will be helpful in completing the Spiritual exercises around the Steps. the following list is a partial list of the prayers accompanying each Step.
Step 3 – Page 63
Step 4 – Resentment Prayer ~ Pg 67 (top of page) two prayers.
Fear Prayer ~ Page 68 (bottom of page)
Sex Conduct ~ Pg Page 69 (middle of page)
Step 5 – Page 75 (last paragraph)
Step 6 – Page 76 (end of 1st paragraph)
Step 7 – Page 76 (second paragraph)
Step 8 – Page 76 (third paragraph)
Step 9 – Page 79 (top of page)
Step 10 – Page 85 (middle of page)
Step 11 – Night prayer ~ Page 86 (middle of page)
Morning prayer ~ Page 86 (bottom of page)
During the day prayer ~ Page 87 (second paragraph)
Step 12 – Page 164 (middle of page)
This is only a partial list of the prayers in the Big Book. There are dozens more.
We hope you will discover them as you complete your study of our basic text.
May God Bless you and keep you until then.
