Trojan Horse

“But there was always the curious mental phenomenon that parallel with our sound reasoning there inevitably ran some insanely trivial excuse for taking the first drink.” (Page 37, Big Book)

In Greek mythology, the Trojan Horse was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. After a fruitless 10-year siege, the Greeks constructed a huge wooden horse at the behest of Odysseus and hid a select force of men inside, including Odysseus himself. The Greeks pretended to sail away, and the Trojans pulled the horse into their city as a victory trophy. That night, the Greek force crept out of the horse and opened the gates for the rest of the Greek army, which had sailed back under the cover of darkness. The Greeks entered and destroyed the city, ending the war.

The Trojan Horse looked innocent. But inside were concealed the seeds of Troy’s doom.

The first drink looks innocent. This is the mental obsession: not preoccupation with alcohol but a false idea about alcohol on which I act.

But once I take the first drink, the gates are opened, and the city is overrun. That’s the physical craving. Once the city is full of enemy troops, I’m done for.

Those enemy troops seek the destruction of Troy.

Every action I take drunk seeks my destruction.

It is not my will. It is the will of the enemy.