When I identify myself at a meeting as a "recovered alcoholic," I sometimes see a look of confusion, surprise - or even disdain. After all, we never cease to have the disease of alcoholism, right? Hold on - what does the Big Book say about this?
What I have recovered from is a "hopeless state of mind and body" (see the Forward to the First Edition, Fourth Edition p. XIII). In fact, Bill W. used the term "recovered" - not "recovering" - almost exclusively. Moreover, Bill used the term "recovered" in Big Book 20 times. In contrast, he used the term "recovering" only twice, a ten-fold reduction - and one of these two instances (50%) is relegated to a footnote (see p. 104). Both instances of the term refer to the early period of sobriety which infers, in my mind, to the transitional state in which one initially embarks upon the path. As a side note, the term "path" is used in more instances than just the familiar throughly-traveled one mentioned in "How It Works." The steps being referenced as a path actually occurs ten different times (another ten-fold increase).
Do we want to give newcomers an impression they can never recover?
That does not seem to be the message Bill W. was trying to convey.
In fact, it appears he was trying to communicate that there just might be... a solution. One that is based - of course - on a daily reprieve (see p. 85).
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