Distilled Spirits

There are many paradoxical statements in AA. "Surrender to win," "In defeat we know victory," "You have to give it away to keep it." These kinds of statements are hard to understand for those who do not attend AA meetings on a regular basis. I heard an old-timer in a meeting respond to a person who had been absent from meetings for a long time and had had a slip. The old-timer said that "We need to attend meetings to find out what happens to people who don't attend meetings."