AA MINORITY REPORT 2017 (revised)

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Tuesday 28 February 2012

Conference Questions (2012) forum discussion (contd)



Question 1:

Would the Fellowship share experience and make recommendations on how to make AA more visible to the general public, particularly by increasing awareness and understanding of how the AA programme works?"

Extract:

"Information for Professionals, Frequently Asked Questions, GSO website:

Question C: Is it a cult?

What does this mean? It means that AA public relations are beginning to go on the defensive. It means that the clarity of AA public relations efforts at a national and local level are being blurred and undermined by the behaviour of a minority of individuals and groups. It means there is now some doubt in the public mind as to the motives of AA.

As the background to this question points out: “all too often the media tend to focus on the problem rather than the solutions.” Whilst I think on the whole, AA still has a very good public image, this should never be taken for granted by the fellowship. Nor should the maintenance of good relations with national media ever be underestimated. They have the power to make or break an organisation, and they will. Individual AA members and groups need to understand this, because ultimately they are the ones who are responsible for the behaviour and direction of AA as a whole.

There have been a number of damaging national press reports in the Great Britain in recent years, including 1998, 2000, 2001, 2009. To quote from these:

Those who have been through its mill claim it is `authoritarian' and `fascistic', employs brainwashing techniques and is cult-like in its attitude to members.”

AA is bondage of another form. It is evangelical and rabid in outlook.”

"After a year with AA, you're like a Moonie and you're probably in a relationship with another AA member,"

AA only works if you're prepared to take it on as a religion.”

A number of ex-members and addiction treatment professionals have accused it of having cult-like qualities and using brainwashing and bullying methods that weak and vulnerable people are particularly susceptible to.”

A federal appeals court found two years ago that "AA is a religion" and a state court of appeal ruled: "Adherence to the AA fellowship entails engagement in religious activity and religious proselytisation."

These quotes were all taken from national press in Great Britain. Like it or not, this is the message that is going out from some AA groups in Great Britain and the USA. It has been read by millions.

Concept XI: “a single large public blunder could cost many lives and much suffering because it would turn new prospects away.” There have been at least four blunders in eleven years, that’s four too many. How many new prospects have been turned away?"




Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

Saturday 25 February 2012

AA Minority report 2012 (continued)(6)



It has to be seriously considered whether an A.A. group affiliated to a website is not in fact affiliated to an individual member’s private enterprise. Whether groups so affiliated to an outside enterprise can call themselves A.A. groups, whether GSO and intergroups ought to register groups so affiliated, unless the group and website are separately incorporated, giving no implication that the two are connected.

It has to be considered whether it is still wise for GSO to register groups without prior consultation with the local intergroup and whether certain groups which operate outside the A.A. service structure ought to be A.A. registered, when separately incorporated companies are competitively trading off the AA name and encouraging their own groups to operate both inside and outside AA:




Back to Basics AA meetings list:

Competitive public information:

Back to Basics Foundation – (Donations accepted):

Back to Basics merchandise:

It has to be considered whether it is wise to register groups that are directly or indirectly affiliated to non-AA 12 step treatment centre programs which trade off the A.A. name:

Kelly Foundation, Joe McQ’s “Recovery Dynamics”:
http://www.kellyfdn.com/about.htm (Donations accepted)

Big Book Study” A.A. Groups:

Big Book study” A.A. groups directory:

Primary Purpose group of AA (Dallas) Big Book study groups directory:


Showcasing the work of the Kelly Foundation and Serenity Park with our partners in Japan: Serenity Park Japan and Serenity Program, Inc. Carrying the message and the legacy of Joe McQ to alcoholics and addicts around the world. Please contact the Kelly Foundation for more information: www.kellyfdn.com

(Featuring the plaque of Joe McQ (Founder). Bill W, Dr, Bob. And the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (Scroll available from GSO).

Joe McQ memorials:


Charlie P memorials:


(Donations accepted)”

As Bill W. States:

That we must, at all costs, avoid the professionalization of AA; that simple Twelfth Step work is never to be paid for; that AAs going into alcohol therapy should never trade on their AA connection; that there is not, and never can be, any such thing as an ‘AA therapist’.” (Bill W; Co-founder of A.A., A.A. Grapevine, June 1946, Language of the Heart page 29)

"Our membership Tradition does contain, however, one important qualification... .....We cannot lend the AA name, even indirectly, to other activities, however worthy. If we do so we shall become hopelessly compromised and divided. We think that AA should offer its experience to the whole world for whatever use can be made of it. But not its name. Nothing can be more certain.” (Bill W. ‘Tradition Three’, AA Grapevine 1948, Language of the Heart page 79-80)

The new dynamics to A.A. have exposed a double headed executive and created a situation in which neither A.A. Traditions nor warranties of Conference are withstanding. Clearly in Today’s A.A. a group can have another purpose or affiliation, contrary to warranty six:

Finally, any two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an A.A. group provided that, as a group, they have no other purpose or affiliation.”

There appears to be no body ultimately responsible for ensuring that the provision in this warranty is upheld.

There is no clear ultimate authority of Tradition Two; neither the trustees and GSO, nor the A.A. group Conscience appear to have clear delegated and ultimate responsibility, since both the intergroup and GSO can register A.A. groups.

Paradoxically, the present authority GSO has to register groups, over and above the intergroup conscience, serves a “tyranny of very small minorities invested with absolute power” (Concept V) rather than the ultimate authority of the A.A group conscience within the intergroup. Therefore the ultimate authority in the A.A group conscience is hamstrung. There is now a strong case for the trustees and GSO to pass ultimate authority and responsibility for group registration directly to the A.A. Group conscience within the intergroups.

A.A as such ought never be organised; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.” (Tradition Ten)

A condition to be avoided at all costs is double headed business or policy management. Authority can never be divided into equal halves.” (Concept X)

The main principles of Tradition Two are crystal clear: the A.A. groups are to be the final authority; their leaders are to be trusted with delegated responsibilities only.” (Concept I)

While the A.A. Service Structure deliberates, perhaps not yet adapted to the speed of modern communication and the newfound skills of our ubiquitous and ever perennial “promoter friend” (AA comes of Age page 130), the disaffected victims of coercion and misrepresentation are leaving, A.A. Is getting the public image of being a religious cult, and intergroups are experiencing strained relationships.

Extracts from conference question and committee responses, UK General Service Conference 2011, Committee 4, Question 2:

Can Conference make suggestions on how groups and Intergroups can work better to carry the message to the still suffering alcoholic? - There is evidence that strained relationships between some Groups and Intergroups could be inhibiting the effectiveness of our primary purpose.” (AA service News 145, 2010)

This committee found that strained relations between some groups and Intergroups can inhibit the effectiveness of our primary purpose…..” (Committee 4, Question 2) (AA Service news 147, 2011)

With 30 certified facilities worldwide (Kelly Foundation website) and nearly 400 treatment centres using Recovery Dynamics materials (“Carry This Message”, Joe McQ, rear cover) indoctrinating alcoholics in Joe McQ's hybrid A.A./Recovery Dynamics program, alongside subtle indoctrination of A.A. members via “Joe and Charlie” Big Book Study audio recordings, and a global affiliation of Primary Purpose Big Book Study A.A. groups, headed by the Primary Purpose Group of A.A. (Dallas), intergroups ought to prepare a strategy for de-programming any confused, brainwashed newcomers who believe they are on a dual purpose mission to educate A.A. and the still suffering alcoholic. Moreover, Public Information committees ought to be developing a strategy for informing the general public, especially emphasising the fact A.A. is not a religious organisation or an alcoholism education program.

Of highest importance would be our relations with medicine and religion. Under no circumstances must we get into competition with either. If we appeared to be a new religious sect, we’d be done for. (AA Grapevine June 1955, Language of the Heart page 150)

Education will not only pay off in numbers treated; it can pay off even more handsomely in prevention… … Now who is going to do all this education? Obviously, it is both a community job and a job for specialists. Individually, we AAs can help, but AA as such cannot, and should not, get directly into this field.” (Bill W. AA Grapevine March 1958. Language of the Heart page 186-187)

Nothing however, could be so unfortunate for A.A.’s future as an attempt to incorporate any of our personal theological views into A.A. teaching, practice or tradition.” (Bill W. AA Comes of Age page 232)

Beyond a Higher Power, as each of us may vision him, A.A. must never, as a society, enter the field of dogma or theology….. Lest we kill our usefulness by being bogged down in theological contention” (Bill W. Letter 1954, As Bill sees It page 116)

If we recognise religion is the province of the clergy and the practice of medicine is for doctors, we can helpfully cooperate with both” (Concept 12, warranty 5)

We have no doctrine that has to be maintained, no membership that has to be enlarged, We have no authority that has to be supported, no prestige, power, or pride that has to be satisfied” (Concept 12, warranty five)

Comment:

The problem of 'outside affiliation' has been clearly identified here - specifically the “Back to Basics” and “Primary Purpose” franchises (among others). Moreover the 'blurring' of the lines between AA proper and the various enterprises (in some cases clearly commercial) utilising the 12 Step method has led to widespread accusations that AA itself is profiting from the recovery “industry”. In most cases this is untrue - with the exception of literature sales. Income from this source is utilised to subsidise the activities of the service structure (in clear contravention of our own traditions ie. Tradition 7). Since a proportion of these sales go to outside agencies eg. treatment centres etc then effectively the fellowship is being subsidised by these (again a clear breach of the traditions). This problem has twice been acknowledged by the AA Conference in Great Britain and on both occasions our delegates have ducked their responsibilities. Third time lucky perhaps? Thus far the leadership, which should have been forthcoming, is more often than not entirely absent. It is time therefore for the groups (and members) – and quite rightly - to take direct responsibility (and be accountable) for the conduct of the fellowship. Inclusion in the AA directory should be administered solely by the relevant intergroups (ie. local Where to Finds). These local lists (and only with the approval of the local groups) should then be submitted to GSO for inclusion in the national register. (In this connection it may be that the intergroup itself is compromised eg. West Kent, Plymouth, 'Wessex Intergroup' et al, and steps may need to be taken to ensure that these elements of the service structure are similarly 'quarantined'). Any group which has an outside affiliation should be “delisted” and its members (qua group members) refused participation in the AA service structure. Groups which run websites (as argued above) should also be considered as having an outside affiliation and treated accordingly (eg. Road to Recovery, Design for Living etc). Additionally the service structure at every level should take care to ensure that ALL interested parties are notified of the “delisting” and therefore that these groups (and their representatives) may no longer be considered as being associated in any way with AA. All parts of the service hierarchy need to adopt a much more active role in ensuring that AA principles, programme, history etc (as outlined in AA conference approved literature) are communicated clearly not only within the fellowship but also to those agencies with which we cooperate. At the moment the message we are sending out is mixed, and frequently communicated by people who have little or nothing to do with AA. All of this boils down to a single important principle

WE ARE RESPONSIBLE …. OR ARE WE NOT!

Cheerio

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

Thursday 23 February 2012

Some background on the Midtown and Into Action cult groups (US)



There are two cult-like groups that I have come across . . . Midtown and “Into Action”. …...

At first glance, they all appear exactly the same. Incredible overzealousness, “in your face” greeting, lots of young members, and the sense of great social community. With Into Action, there is strict adherence to rules and format (which I saw a lot of in the Vision). I understand why these groups are attractive, but oddly, the longer you are around it is almost impossible to feel attracted to it. With that in mind, I really haven’t explored the structure much because my interest in the groups is tainted with contempt prior to investigation . . . so I just stay away. With the Into Action groups, I can confirm the exact same stuff I felt at the Vision for You. Adulation of sponsorship, a clear sense of being different from “mainstream AA” and an undercurrent of arrogance.

.. many AA women ….. have been abused by the Midtown group’s sexual predators. Abuse of new women is institutionalized and tragic. Most of the women who come to their senses and leave are almost impossible to convert to basic AA. Their esteem seems totally destroyed . . . this is one thing I never saw at the Vision or the Into Action groups. I'd characterize it this way . . . Vision was uptight about sex, Into Action seem laissez faire and Midtown is positively sinister.

There is solid evidence that Midtown and Into Action are both involved heavily in the ICYPAA organization. I remember them coming to the Vision lobbying for support back in the mid 90’s and their representatives were all from DC. ICYPAA is not surprisingly very active in our area, I don’t attend though because I consider the “cut off” for young as somewhere around 30 . . .

That is about all I can think of the might be of interest.”

(our edits)

Comment: See US “Cult: Where to Find” for Into Action meeting directory

Cheerio

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

PS (our usual thanks to our reporter)

Tuesday 21 February 2012

AA Minority report 2012 (continued)(5)


The assertive leadership in protection of “our common welfare” was well demonstrated by Bill W, the “trusted servants” involved with Chuck D. in 1958 and recently by those in the Toronto intergroup in Canada:

Toronto’s A.A. Intergroup Bounces Atheists after Spirited Battle” by Dirk Hanson, The Fix, 06/06/11, issue 141:

Is There A Place For Atheists in Alcoholics Anonymous? – A long-simmering feud is spreading around the world, after one AA establishment voted to expel two atheist/agnostic groups in Canada” by Jesse Beach, The Fix 14/06/11: http://www.alternet.org/story/151294/is_there_a_place_for_atheists_in_alcoholics_anonymous?akid=7112.275856.JI6Ij2&rd=1&t=5

No doubt the courageous Toronto “trusted servants” have received plenty of “accusations…… gobs of rumour, gossip and general scuttle-butt” (Concept IX), perhaps attempts to twist warranty five “incitement to public controversy,” to try and throw them off beam. However, although it is unfortunate this matter has gone public, when compared to the incitement to public controversy caused by the behaviour in cult groups described in the Washington Post and The Independent, and the potential incitement to public controversy to be caused by A.A groups re-writing the A.A. program, each according to their dictator’s own sundry ideas, personal beliefs and prejudices, the article does show A.A. (In Canada at least) to have a legitimate organised structure with a duly elected responsibility and authority, rather than a headless anarchy.

Salute to Canada – Our congratulations and thanks to Canada; no finer AA exists.” (Bill W. May 1951, Language of the Heart page 191)

For an A.A. group to re-write the Twelve Steps is to violate Tradition 4 (Long Form).

For instance no group or intergroup could feel free to initiate, without consultation, any publicity that might affect AA as a whole. Nor could it assume to represent the whole of Alcoholics Anonymous by printing and distributing anything purporting to be AA standard literature” (Bill W. A.A. Grapevine March 1948,  Language of the Heart page 81).

Our literature is a principle means by which A.A. recovery, unity, and service are facilitated” (Concept XI).

And again, “Some [of the Washingtonian local groups] dipped into their treasuries to finance their own publications. There was no overall editorial policy……We are sure that if the original Washingtonians could return to this planet they would be glad to see us learning from their mistakes…… Had we lived in their day we might have made the same errors. Perhaps we are beginning to make some of them now.” (Bill W. AA Grapevine August 1945. Language of the Heart page 5) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washingtonian_movement

However, the principle applied to the atheist-agnostic groups in Toronto ought to be applied to any dual purpose group presenting itself as an “on your knees pray to God” Christian “early AA” - neo Oxford Group, or any other religion:

Some years ago, numbers of AAs formed themselves into “retreat groups” having a religious purpose. At first they wanted to call themselves AA groups of various descriptions. But they soon realized this could not be done because their groups had a dual purpose: both AA and religion”. (Bill W. AA Grapevine February 1958; Language
of the Heart page 222).

Speaking for Dr. Bob and myself I would like to say that there has never been the slightest intent, on his part or mine, of trying to found a new religious denomination. Dr. Bob held certain religious convictions, and so do I. This is, of course, the personal privilege of every A.A. member. Nothing however, could be so unfortunate for A.A.’s future as an attempt to incorporate any of our personal theological views into A.A. teaching, practice or tradition.” (Bill W. AA Comes of Age page 232)

Beyond a Higher Power, as each of us may vision him, A.A. must never, as a society, enter the field of dogma or theology….. Lest we kill our usefulness by being bogged down in theological contention” (Bill W. Letter 1954, As Bill sees It page 116)

This was the great contribution of our atheists and agnostics. They had widened our gateway so that all who suffer might pass through, regardless of their belief or lack of belief.” (Bill W. A.A. Comes of Age page 167)

The atheist may stand up in an A.A. meeting denying God, yet reporting how he has been helped in other ways”….. we make no religious requirement of anyone…..In this atmosphere the orthodox, unorthodox, and the unbeliever mix happily and usefully together” (Bill W. “Pass it On page 172-173)

We wonder if the motivation behind the Toronto atheist group’s actions is out of a sense of insecurity arising from the influence of Traditions 4, 6 and 12 violations; the missionaries of the dishonest rendering of AA’s history by fundamentalist Christian authors emanating from the USA; Dick B. Joe McQ and Wally P.

Extracts from “By the Power Of God, A Guide to Early A.A. Groups & forming similar Groups Today” by Dick B:

Of course the A.A. of yesteryear is truly gone forever. There is no Dr. Bob – physician, Bible student, ‘Prince of Twelve-Steppers,’ ambassador for Christ. There is no loving Anne Smith,- ‘Mother of A.A.’ ‘Founder’ nurse, evangelist, employment agent, and dispenser of ‘spiritual pablum’[sic] … …There is no quiet time…. where the Bible is studied,…prayer is made to God……. “(page xiii)

There is a Good Big Book/Bible study group in California……There is also a ‘Safe to Talk about Jesus meeting’…….There is a Big Book/Bible study meeting in Florida. There are spiritual retreats for AAs and their families in at least seven locations in the United States and one in England.” (Page xiii)

So also ‘Absolute purity.’…. And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out…. (Page 42)

And – ‘Absolute unselfishness’….So likewise who ever he be of you that forsaketh not all….” (Page 42)

And ‘Absolute Love’ A new commandment that I give unto you that ye love one another …” (Page 42)

Carrying the Message…As part of AAs Twelfe [sic] Step…And he[Jesus] said unto them….”(Page 189)

Possible Approaches in Meetings 1. Listening to the readings of scripture. Perhaps segments of the Oxford Group book, How to read the Bible [Roger Hicks, How to read the Bible (London: Moral re- Armament, 1940)]” (Page 215)

Alcoholism can be cured. Today’s people have just changed the language to satisfy the unbelievers” (page 233)

Dick B’s Alcoholics Anonymous History website: http://www.dickb.com/index.html

Extracts from “Back to Basics Alcoholics Anonymous Beginners meetings” by Wally P:

In order for the process to work, newcomers need to be matched up with A.A. members who are willing to guide them through the four one hour sessions……..Newcomers do not attend beginners’ meetings alone, they are accompanied by their sponsors/sharing partners…..

For the Newcomer: 1.Your primary obligation is to attend all four sessions…. 2. We will read the appropriate parts of the ‘Big Book’ to you…. (Page 38)

It is time to assign sponsors or sharing partners to those who need them. Will the newcomers please stand. These are the people who are about to take the Twelve Steps” (Page 39)

Next the author instructs us to check what we have put on paper. Here the sponsor or sharing partner can be very helpful: Check…When in doubt and when it is important, what does another person who is working two way prayer think about this thought or action? .... Talk over together what you have written…Tell each other what guidance has come. This is the secret of unity….Then the author explains, to what many of us, is the most difficult part of all …Obey... Carry out the thoughts that have come. You will only be sure of guidance as you go through with it… [How to listen to God, p3]” (page 120)

It is time to make a commitment to working with others…please stand. This is the Twelfe [sic] Step question ‘Will you carry the message to other alcoholics?’ please answer, one at a time, ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ After you have answered, please be seated. [Have each newcomer answer the question]” (page 146)

The following are some early A.A. definitions of God and prayer, by what some of today’s Back to Basics, “original A.A”., “On your knees” missionaries might call the “Original AA members” or “The first One Hundred”, “Big Book Authors,” “founders”:

Most of us in Akron didn’t like all this praying…….We’d had enough of it in the Oxford Group. I still don’t like praying in A.A. I don’t like the Serenity Prayer. New York brought it in, and we resented it. We thought they were bringing back the Oxford Group” (1942, Oscar W. Early Akron A.A. group member) (Dr. Bob and the Good Old Timers, page 271)

1937: “And their concept of a Higher Power was different from that of the groupers, who were not prepared to accept light bulbs and Third Avenue buses as examples of “God as I understand Him .………… This, too, was an attitude that represented a fundamental difference between the A.A.s and the Oxford Groupers. A.A.s were more and more inclined to allow newer members to arrive at a concept of a Higher Power in their own time and manner.” (Pass It On, page 161)

Try to find your own God – As you understand Him.” (Quote of Dr. Bob) ( Dr. Bob and the Good Old Timers, page 281)

1940: “ At his time – January – 1940 he wasn’t making you get out of bed to pray on your knees, to pray with you, I’m not sure that would have worked too well with me.” A recollection of Dr. Bob by John S. (Dr. Bob and the Good Old Timers, page 276)

1941:”Any concept of the Higher Power is acceptable. A sceptic or an agnostic may choose to think of his inner self, the miracle of growth, a tree, man’s wonderment at the physical universe, the structure of an atom, or mere mathematical infinity. Whatever form is visualized, the neophyte is taught that he must rely on it, in his own way, to pray to the power for strength.” (Jack Alexander article about AA , page 19)”

Comment: Toronto AA is an example of a pro-active service structure rather than a moribund one; this is what is meant by “leadership”. Here also is illustrated the necessity of a “canonical” literature within AA (ie. conference approved) which establishes the foundation both for our programme of recovery and the constitution of our society. Without these we are simply directionless and clueless – or as it might be put - just another bunch of drunks! Similarly the formation of “dual purpose” groups (of whatever denomination or type) by definition creates an “outside affiliation” and therefore (under Tradition 3) excludes these from further participation within the AA service structure (which will necessarily entail de-listing of the group and removal of its members (qua “group” membership) from service structure participation (and where necessary appropriate notification to outside agencies to that effect under Warranty Five, Concept 12) etc – but which does not affect in any way the right of each individual to be a member of AA as such ie. the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking).

Finally – and very very briefly:

Dick B – a revisionist (and flawed) perspective of AA history with a Christian agenda.

Wally B – yet another version of doing the programme by “rote”. No thinking required here!

'Nuff said

Cheerio

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

Sunday 19 February 2012

Vetted sharing! Are you qualified? Probably not!


Extract from a Big Book Step Study website:

1. Who Can Share.
Only people who have completed their 4th step and are on 9-12 may share during the meeting. Most people who have been through the process qualify by introducing themselves, and saying that they have done the 12 steps as they are laid out in the Big Book with a BBSS sponsor, and have done the steps this way, or something to that effect. This differentiates them from those AA's who are not familiar with the BBSS process. Each person shares their experience with the step for up to 5 minutes. The chair keeps track of time and usually holds up a hand when time is up.

2. What to Do When Unqualified People Try to Share:
It is the responsibility of the chairperson to determine whether a person is qualified. The chairperson must listen carefully to what the person is saying about the step and try to determine whether the person's experience is consistent with the directions in the text. Some warning signs are that someone is at a BBSS meeting for the first time; mentions other methods, other 12 step literature, talks around the step and won't get to the point; is unfamiliar to the group and is not familiar with BBSS meetings; is visiting from another group; is a popular and well respected oldtimer, but speaks very little of their own step experience, or how exactly they did the steps.

As described earlier, the chair must interrupt a person and ask them if they have "done this step the way it is laid out on these specific pages in the book Alcoholics Anonymous?" There are many approaches to this. Most successful approaches are direct, but always courteous and polite, and start with "Excuse me..." If the person says they have done it this way, or if there is still some doubt, the next step is to ask them if they would mind answering a few questions to satisfy the group. If they have done the steps, especially the 4th step the way it is laid out, they shouldn't mind too much if they are asked some questions related directly to the basic instructions for the 4th step, such as, "Can you please tell me what the main parts of the 4th step are?" and "What are the 4 main defects in the 1st part of the inventory? " or "How did you do your turnarounds?" and "How did you do your sex inventory?" These are not meant to embarrass the person, but to see if they are qualified to share. It is not fair to ask other people to pass and listen who are writing their 4th steps for months on end, and let people with questionable experience get by and water down the meeting. This weakens the group, and will frustrate qualified people who have had the experience, and do not want to hear (or for their sponsees to hear) about other methods .

If the chairperson fails to do this at meeting level, a qualified person should go up to the person in question directly after the meeting to explain the format, and ask some of those same questions. This is all done in an attitude of genuine concern, helpfulness, and loving service.

What happens if the person becomes angry and insists on sharing? It is wise to give them their 5 minutes and let them have their say. But, at a later time, they still need to demonstrate that they have had the experience, if they want to participate on a sharing level. Our inventories have shown us that outbursts of anger are often self-seeking strategies to protect our security, self esteem, personal relations, ambition, and pride are designed to get us the things that we want.”

Comment: We'd be really curious to know which part(s) of the Big Book (that these individuals claim to be so expert on) sanctions any of the above. Ooops! We forgot! They've got a different version! No doubt their defence of this draconian conduct will be based on the usual misrepresentations of the Traditions (specifically Tradition Four) with respect to group autonomy. (Do try reading the second part of the Tradition – it really might help!) Or then we have the “fall back” position ie. “these are only 'guidelines' and therefore may safely be disregarded”! But remember this is the same crowd that have so mangled the term “suggestion” that it's been transformed into “direction”. Can't have it both ways can you? “Guidelines” or “directions”? Which is it? The website also carries a list of “approved” meetings but since it is itself not affiliated with AA (ie. it has adopted a different preamble which varies significantly from that of AA in that it indicates a further qualification to our primary purpose) then any AA group which has submitted its details for listing has thereby (and according to Tradition 3) formed another affiliation itself (ie. with an outside organisation) and may no longer be recognised as an AA group. In this instance these groups should be de-listed from AA directories (where they appear) and their members either resign or be removed from participation within the AA service structure (ie. as members acting for an outside organisation), and where necessary other “outside” agencies (eg. probation, health etc) should be notified accordingly ie. to preserve the integrity of the fellowship and ensure that their “referrals” are not put at risk by contact with these extremist groups.

We have added their directory of meetings to our Cult: Where to Find (US)

Cheerio

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

(our usual thanks for the information supplied)

Friday 17 February 2012

THE FELLOWSHIP OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS By W.W.


As Given at the Yale School of Alcohol Studies, June 1944


This is a transcribed talk that Bill Wilson gave back in 1944. It can be found in a book called "Alcohol, Science and Society" that came out in 1945 which contains 29 lectures with discussions as given at the Yale Summer School of Alcohol Studies.


My first task is a joyous one; it is to voice the sincere gratitude that every member of Alcoholics Anonymous present feels tonight that we can stand in the midst of such an assembly. I know that in this assembly there are many different points of view, that we have social workers, ministers, doctors and others - people we once thought did not understand us, because we did not understand them. I think right away of one of our clergyman friends. He helped start our group in St. Louis, and when Pearl Harbor came he thought to himself, "Well this will be a hard day for the AA's." He expected to see us go off like firecrackers. Well, nothing much happened and the good man was rather joyously disappointed, you might say. But he was puzzled. And then he noticed with still more wonder that the AA's seemed rather less excited about Pearl Harbor than the normal people. In fact, quite a number of the so-called normal people seemed to be getting drunk and very distressed. So he went up to one of the AA's and said, "Tell me, how is it that you folks hold up so well under this stress, I mean this Pearl Harbor?" The A.A. looked at him, smiled, but quite seriously said, "You know, each of us has had his own private Pearl Harbor, each of us has known the utmost of humiliation, of despair, and of defeat. So why should we, who have known the resurrection, fear another Pearl Harbor?"

So you can see how grateful we are that we have found this resurrection and that so many people, not alcoholics, with so many points of view, have joined to make it a reality. I guess all of you know Marty Mann by this time. I shall always remember her story about her first A.A. meeting. She had been in a sanatorium under the care of a wonderful doctor, but how very lonely she felt! Somehow, there was a gap between that very good man and herself that could not quite be bridged. Then she went to her first A.A. meeting, wondering what she would find; and her words, when she returned to the sanatorium, in talking to her friend, another alcoholic, were: "Grenny, we are no longer alone. " So we are a people who have known loneliness, but now stand here in the midst of many friends. Now I am sure you can see how very grateful for all this we must be.

I am sure that in this course you have heard that alcoholism is a malady; that something is dead wrong with us physically; that our reaction to alcohol has changed; that something has been very wrong with us emotionally; and that our alcoholic habit has become an obsession, an obsession which can no longer reckon even with death itself. Once firmly set, one is not able to turn it aside. In other words, a sort of allergy of the body that guarantees that we shall die if we drink, an obsession of the mind that guarantees that we shall go on drinking. Such has been the alcoholics dilemma time out of mind, and it is altogether probable that even those alcoholics who did not wish to go on drinking, not more than 5 out of 100 have ever been able to stop, before A.A.

That statement always takes me back to a summer night at a drying out place in New York where I lay upstairs at the end of a long trail. My wife was downstairs talking with the doctor, asking him, "Bill wants so badly to stop this thing, doctor, why can't he? He was always considered a person of enormous persistence, even obstinacy, in those things that he wished to achieve. Why can't his will power work now? It does work even yet in other areas of life, but why not in this?" And then the doctor went on to tell her something of my childhood, showing that I had grown up a rather awkward kid, how that had thrown upon me a kind of inferiority and had inspired in me a fierce desire to show other people that I could be like them; how I had become a person who abnormally craved approval, applause. He showed her the seed, planted so early, that had created me an inferiority-driven neurotic. On the surface, to be sure, very self confident, with a certain amount of worldly success in Wall Street. But along with it this habit of getting release from myself through alcohol.

You know, as strange as it may seem to some of the clergy here who are not alcoholic, the drinking of alcohol is a sort of spiritual release. Is it not true that the great fault of all individuals is abnormal self-concern? And how well alcohol seems temporarily to expel those feelings of inferiority in us, to transport us temporarily to a better world. Yes, I was one of those people to whom drink became a necessity and then an addiction. So it was 10 years ago this summer that the good doctor told my wife I could not go on much longer; that my habit of adjusting my neurosis with alcohol had now become an obsession; how that obsession of my mind condemned me to go on drinking, and how my physical sensitivity guaranteed that I would go crazy or die, perhaps within a year. Yes, that was my dilemma. It has been the dilemma of millions of us, and still is.

Some of you wonder, "Well, he had been instructed by a good physician, he had been told about his maladjustment, he understood himself, he knew that his increasing physical sensitivity meant that he would go out into the dark and join the endless procession. Why couldn't he stop? Why wouldn't fear hold such a man in check?"

After I left that place, fear did keep me in check for 2 or 3 months. Then came a day when I drank again. And then came a time when an old friend, a former alcoholic, called me on the phone and said that he was coming over. It was perhaps right there on that very day that the Alcoholics Anonymous commenced to take shape. I remember his coming into my kitchen, where I was half drunk. I was afraid that perhaps he had come to reform me. You know, curiously enough, we alcoholics are very sensitive on this subject of reform. I could not quite make out my friend. I could see something different about him but I could not put my finger on it. So finally I said, "Ebby, what's got into you?" And he said, "Well, I've got religion." That shocked me terribly, for I was one of those people with a dandy modern education which had taught me that self-sufficiency would be enough to carry me through life, and here was a man talking a point of view which collided with mine.

Ebby did not go on colliding with me. He knew, as a former agnostic, what my prejudices were, so he said to me, blandly enough, "Well, Bill, I don't know that I'd call it religion exactly, but call it what you may, it works." I said, "What is it? What do you mean? Tell me more about this thing?" He said, "Some people came and got hold of me. They said, "Ebby, you've tried medicine, you've tried religion, you've tried change of environment, I guess you've tried love, and none of these things has been able to cure you of your liquor. Now, here is an idea for you." And then he went on to tell me how they explained, they said, "First of all, Ebby, why don't you make a thorough appraisal of yourself? Stop finding fault with other people. Make a thoroughgoing moral appraisal of yourself. When have you been selfish, dishonest? And, especially, where have you been intolerant? Perhaps those are the things that underlie this alcoholism. And after you have made such an appraisal of yourself, why don't you sit down and talk it out with someone in full and quit this accursed business of living alone? Put an end to this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situation into which you have fallen. And then, why don't you continue this policy of abating the disturbance in yourself? Why don't you take stock of all the people among your acquaintances that you have hurt - all of the people who annoy you, who disturb you. Why don't you go out to them and make amends; set things right and talk things out, and get down these strains that exist between you and them? Then, Ebby, we have still another proposal. Why don't you try the kind of giving that demands no reward? We don't mean the mere giving of money, though you once had plenty of that. No, we mean the giving of yourself to someone who is in need. Why don't you try that? Seek out someone in need and forget your own troubles by becoming interested in his." Ebby said, "Where does religion come in?" And his friends went on to say, "Ebby, it is our experience that no one can carry out such a program with enough thoroughness and enough continuity on pure self-sufficiency. One must have help. Now we are willing to help you, as individuals, but we think you ought to call upon a power greater than yourself, for your dilemma is well nigh insurmountable. So, call on God, as you understand God. Try prayer." Well, in effect, that was the explanation my friend made to me. Those of you who know a little of the A.A. are already able to see a little of the basic idea.

You see, here was my friend talking to me, one alcoholic talking to another. I could no longer say, "He doesn't understand me." Sure he understood me. We had done a lot of drinking together, and gone the route of humiliation, despair and defeat. Yes, he could understand. But now he had something. He did not shock me by calling it the resurrection, but that's what it was. He had something I did not have, and those were the terms upon which it could be obtained.

Honesty with oneself and other people, the kind of giving that demands no return, and prayer. Those were the essentials. My friend then got up and went away, but he had been very careful not to force any of his views upon me. In no sense could I have the feeling that he was moralizing with me or preaching, because I knew it was not long ago that he was no better than I. He merely said that he was leaving these ideas with me, hoping that they would help.

Even so, I was irritated, because he had struck a blow at my pet philosophy of self-sufficiency, and was talking about dependence upon some power greater than myself. "Ah yes," I thought, as I went on drinking, "yes it's this preacher stuff. Yes, I remember, up in the old home town where my grandfather raised me, how the deacon, who was so good, treated Ed MacDonald, the local drunk - as dirt under his feet; and more than that, the old son of a gun short weighted my good old grandfather in his grocery store. If that's religion, I don't want any of it." Such were my prejudices. But the whole point of this was that my friend had got onto my level. He had penetrated my prejudices, although he had not swept them all away.

I drank on but I kept turning this thing over in my mind, and finally asked myself, "Well, how much better off am I than a cancer patient." But a small percentage of those people recover, and the same is true with alcoholics, for by this time I knew quite a good deal about alcoholism. I knew that my chances were very, very slim. I knew that, in spite of all the vigilance in the world, this obsession would pursue me, even if I dried up temporarily. Yes, how much better off was I than a cancer patient? Then I began to say to myself, "Well, who are beggars to be choosers? Why should a man be talking about self-sufficiency when an obsession has condemned him to have none of it? Then I became utterly willing to do anything, to try to accept any point of view, to make any sacrifice, yes, even to try to love my enemies, if I could get rid of this obsession. First, I went up to a hospital to ask the doctor to clear me up so I could think things through clearly. And again, came my friend, the second day that I was there. Again I was afraid, knowing that he had religion, that he was going to reform me. I cannot express the unreasonable prejudice that the alcoholics have against reform. That is one reason that it has been so hard to reach them. We should not be that way, but we are. And here was my friend, trying to do his best for me, but the first thought that flashed across my mind was, "I guess this is the day that he is going to save me. Look out! He'll bring in that high powered sweetness and light, he'll be talking about a lot of this prayer business." But Ebby was a good general, and it's a good thing for me he was.

No, he did not collide with those prejudices of mine. He just paid me a friendly visit, and he came up there quite early in the morning. I kept waiting and waiting for him to start his reform talk, but no, he didn't. So finally I had to ask for some of it myself. I said, "Ebby, tell me once more about how you dried up." And he reviewed it again for me.

Honesty with oneself, of a kind I had never had before. Complete honesty with someone else. Straightening out all my twisted relationships as best I could. Giving of myself to help someone else in need. And prayer.

When he had gone away, I fell into a very deep depression, the blackest that I had ever known. And in that desperation, I cried out, "If there is a God, will He show Himself?" Then came a sudden experience in which it seemed the room lit up. It felt as though I stood on the top of a mountain, that a great clean wind blew, that I was free. The sublime paradox of strength coming out of weakness.

So I called in the doctor and tried to tell him, as best I could, what had happened. And he said, "Yes, I have read of such experiences but I have never seen one." I said, "Well doctor, examine me, have I gone crazy?" And he did examine me and said, "No, my boy, you're not crazy. Whatever it is, you'd better hold onto it. It's so much better than what had you just a few hours ago." Well, along with thousands of other alcoholics, I have been holding on to it ever since.

But that was only the beginning. And at the time, I actually thought that it was the end, you might say, of all my troubles. I began there, out of this sudden illumination, not only to get benefits, but also to draw some serious liabilities. One of those that came immediately was one that you might call Divine Appointment. I actually thought, I had the conceit really to believe, that God had selected me, by this sudden flash of Presence, to dry up all the drunks in the world. I really believed it. I also got another liability out of the experience, and that was that it had to happen in some particular way just like mine or else it would be of no use. In other words, I conceived myself as going out, getting hold of these drunks, and producing in them just the same kind of experience that I had had. Down in New York, where they knew me pretty well in the A.A., they facetiously call these sudden experiences that we sometimes have a "W.W. hot flash." I really thought that I had been endowed with the power to go out and produce a "hot flash" just like mine in every drunk.

Well, I started off; I was inspired; I knew just how to do it, as I thought then. Well, I worked like thunder for 6 months and not one alcoholic got dried up. What were the natural reactions then? I suppose some of you here, who have worked with alcoholics, have a pretty good idea. The first reaction was one of great self-pity; the other was a kind of martyrdom. I began to say, "Well, I suppose that this is the kind of stuff that martyrs are made of, but I will keep on at all costs." I kept on, and I kept on, until I finally got so full of self-pity and intolerance (our two greatest enemies in the A.A.) that I nearly got drunk myself. So I began to reconsider. I began to say, "Yes, I found my relief in this particular way, and glorious it was and is, for it is still the central experience of my whole life. But who am I to suppose that every other human being ought to think, act and react just as I do? Maybe we're all very much alike in a great many respects but, as individuals, we're different too."

At that juncture I was in Akron on a trip, and I got a very severe business setback. I was walking along in the corridor of the hotel, wondering how God could be so mean. After all the good I had done Him - why, I had worked here with drunks for six months and nothing had happened - and now here was a situation that was going to set me up in business and I had been thrown out of it by dishonest people. Then I began to think, "That spiritual experience - was it real?" I began to have doubts. Then I suddenly realized that I might get drunk. But I also realized that those other times when I had had self-pity, those other times when I had had resentment and intolerance, those other times when there was that feeling of insecurity, that worry as to where the next meal would come from; yes, to talk with another alcoholic even though I failed with him, was better than to do nothing. But notice how my motivation was shifting all this time. No longer was I preaching from any moral hilltop or from the vantage point of a wonderful spiritual experience. No, this time I was looking for another alcoholic, because I felt that I needed him twice as much as he needed me. And that's when I came across Dr. "Bob" S. out in Akron. That was just nine years ago this summer.

And Bob S. recovered. Then we two frantically set to work on alcoholics in Akron. Well, again came this tendency to preach, again this feeling that it has to be done in some particular way, again discouragement, so our progress was very slow. But little by little we were forced to analyze our experiences and say, "This approach didn't work very well with that fellow. Why not? Let's try to put ourselves in his shoes and stop this preaching. See how we might be approached if we were he." That began to lead us to the idea that A.A. should be no set of fixed ideas, but should be a growing thing, growing out of experience. After a while, we began to reflect: "This wonderful blessing that has come to us, from what does it get its origin?" It was a spiritual awakening growing out of painful adversity. So then we began to look the harder for our mistakes, to correct them, to capitalize upon our errors. And little by little we began to grow so that there were 5 of us at the end of that first year; at the end of the second year, 15; at the end of the third year, 40; at the end of the fourth year, 100.

During those first 4 years most of us had another bad form of intolerance. As we commenced to have a little success, I am afraid our pride got the better of us and it was our tendency to forget about our friends. We were very likely to say, "Well, those doctors didn't do anything for us, and as for these sky pilots, well, they just don't know the score." And we became snobbish and patronizing.

Then we read a book by Dr. Carrel. From that book came an argument that is now a part of our system. (How much we may agree with the book in general, I don't know, but in this respect the AA's think he had something.) Dr. Carrel wrote, in effect; the world is full of analysts. We have tons of ore in the mines and we have all kinds of building materials above ground. Here is a man specializing in this, there is a man specializing in that, and another one in something else. The modern world is full of wonderful analysts and diggers, but there are very few who deliberately synthesize, who bring together different materials, who assemble new things. We are much too shy on synthetic thinking - the kind of thinking that's willing to reach out now here and now there to see if something new cannot be evolved.

On reading that book some of us realized that was just what we had been groping toward. We had been trying to build out of our own experiences. At this point we thought, "Let's reach into other people's experiences. Let's go back to our friends the doctors, let's go back to our friends the preachers, the social workers, all those who have been concerned with us, and again review what they have got above ground and bring that into the synthesis. And let us, where we can, bring them in where they will fit." So our process of trial and error began and, at the end of 4 years, the material was cast in the form of a book known as Alcoholics Anonymous. And then our friends of the press came in and they began to say nice things about us. That was not too hard for them to do because by that time we had gotten hold of the idea of not fighting anything or anyone. We began to say, "Our only motive as an organization is to help the alcoholic. And to help him we've got to reach him. Therefore, we can't collide with his prejudices. So we aren't going to get mixed up with controversial questions, no matter what we, as individuals, think of them. We can't get concerned with prohibition, or whether to drink or not to drink. We can't get concerned with doctrine and dogma in a religious sense. We can't get into politics, because that will arouse prejudice which might keep away alcoholics who will go off and die when they might have recovered."

We began, then, to have a good press, because after all we were just a lot of very sick people trying to help those who wanted to be helped. And I am very happy to say that in all the years since, not a syllable of ridicule, or criticism, has ever been printed about us. For this we are very grateful.

That experience led us to examine some of the obscure phrases that we sometimes see in the Bible. It could not have been presented at first, but sooner or later in his second, third, or fourth year, the A.A. will be found reading his Bible quite as often - or more - as he will a standard psychological work. And you know, there we found a phrase that began to stick in the minds of some of us. It was this:

"Resist not evil." Well, after all, what is one going to think? In this modern world, where everybody is fighting, here came someone saying, "Resist not evil." What did that mean? Did it mean anything? Was there anything in that phrase for the AA's?

Well, we began to have some cases on which we could try out that principle. I remember one case, out of which some will get a kick, and I imagine some others here may be a little shocked, but I think there is a lesson in it, at least there was for us, a lesson in tolerance. One time, after A.A. had been going for 3 or 4 years, an alcoholic was brought into our house over in Brooklyn where we were holding a meeting. He is the type that some of us now call the blockbuster variety. He often tells the story himself. His name is Jimmy. Well, Jimmy came in and he was a man who had some very, very fixed points of view. As a class, we alcoholics are the worst possible people in this respect. I had many, many fixed points of view myself, but Jimmy eclipsed us all. Jimmy came into our little group - I guess there were then 30 or 40 of us meeting - and said, "I think you've got a pretty good idea here. This idea of straightening things out with other people is fine. Going over your own defects is all right. Working with other drunks, that's swell. But I don't like this God business." He got very emphatic about it and we thought that he would quiet down or else he would get drunk. He did neither. Time went on and Jimmy did not quiet down; he began to tell the other people in the group, "You don't need this God business. Look, I'm staying sober." Finally, he got up in the meeting at our house, the first time he was invited to speak - he had then been around for a couple of months - and he went through his usual song and dance of the desirability of being honest, straightening things out with other people, etc. Then he said, "Damn this God business." At that, people began to wince. I was deeply shocked, and we had a hurried meeting of the "elders" over in the corner. We said, "This fellow has got to be suppressed. We can't have anyone ridiculing the very idea by which we live."

We got hold of Jimmy and said, "Listen, you've got to stop this anti-God talk if you're going to be around this section." Jimmy was cocky and he said, "Is that so? Isn't it a fact that you folks have been trying to write a book called Alcoholics Anonymous, and haven't you got a typewritten introduction in that book, lying over there on that shelf, and didn't we read it here about a month ago and agree to it?" And Jimmy went over and took down the introduction to Alcoholics Anonymous and read out of it: "The only requirement for membership in Alcoholics Anonymous is an honest desire to get over drinking." Jimmy said, "Do you mean it or don't you?" He rather had us there. He said, "I've been honest. Didn't I get my wife back? Aren't I paying my bills? And I'm helping other drunks every day." There was nothing we could say. Then we began secretly to hope. Our intolerance caused us to hope that he would get drunk. Well, he confounded us; he did not get drunk, and louder and louder did he get with his anti-God talk. Then we used to console ourselves and say, "Well, after all, this is a very good practice in tolerance for us, trying to accommodate ourselves to Jimmy." But we never did really get accommodated.

One day Jimmy got a job that took him out on the road, out from under the old A.A. tent, you might say. And somewhere out on the road his purely psychological system of staying dry broke wide open, and sure enough he got drunk. In those days, when an alcoholic got drunk, all the brethren would come running, because we were still very afraid for ourselves and no one knew who might be next. So there was great concern about the brother who got drunk. But in Jimmy's case there was no concern at all. He lay in a little hotel over in Providence and he began to call up long distance. He wanted money, he wanted this, and he wanted that. After a while, Jimmy hitchhiked back to New York. He put up at the house of a friend of mine, where I was staying, and I came in late that night. The next morning, Jimmy came walking downstairs where my friend and I were consuming our morning gallon of coffee. Jimmy looked at us and said, "Oh, have you people had any meditation or prayer this morning?" We thought he was being very sarcastic. But no, he meant it. We could not get very much out of Jimmy about his experience, but it appeared that over in that little second-rate hotel he had nearly died from the worst seizure he had ever had, and something in him had given way. I think it is just what gave way in me. It was his prideful obstinacy. He had thought to himself, "Maybe these fellows have got something with their God-business." His hand reached out, in the darkness, and touched something on his bureau. It was a Gideon Bible. Jimmy picked it up and he read from it. I do not know just what he read, and I have always had a queer reluctance to ask him. But Jimmy has not had a drink to this day, and that was about 5 years ago.

But there were other fruits of what little tolerance and understanding we did have. Not long ago I was in Philadelphia where we have a large and strong group. I was asked to speak, and the man who asked me was Jimmy, who was chairman of the meeting. About 400 people were there. I told this story about him and added: "Supposing that we had cast Jimmy out in the dark, supposing that our intolerance of his point of view had turned him away. Not only would Jimmy be dead, but how many of us would be together here tonight so happily secure?" So we in A.A. find that we have to carry tolerance of other people's viewpoints to very great lengths. As someone well put it, "Honesty gets us sober but tolerance keeps us sober."

I would like to tell, in conclusion, one story about a man in a little southern community. You know, we used to think that perhaps A.A. was just for the big places; that in a small town the social ostracism of the alcoholic would be so great that they would be reluctant to get together as a group; that there would be so much unkind gossip that we sensitive folk just could not be brought together.

One day our central office in New York received a little letter, and it came from a narcotic addict who was just leaving the Government hospital down in Lexington. Speaking of intolerance, it is a strange fact that we alcoholics are very, very intolerant of people who take "dope," and it is just as strange that they are very intolerant of us. I remember meeting one, one day, in the corridor of a hospital. I thought he was an alcoholic, so I stopped the man and asked him for a match. He drew himself up with great hauteur and said, "Get away from me you dammed alcoholic." At any rate, here was a letter from a narcotic addict who explained that once upon a time he had been an alcoholic, but for 12 years had been a drug addict. He had got hold of the book Alcoholics Anonymous and thought the spirit of that book had got hold of him, and he wanted to go back to his own little southern town that was, Shelby, North Carolina, and start an A.A. group. We were very skeptical of the offer. The very idea of a narcotic addict starting an A.A. group, even if he had once been an alcoholic! And here he was going to try to start it in a little southern town in the midst of all this local pride and gossip.

We began to get letters from him and apparently he was doing all right. He was a medical doctor, by the way, and he told us modestly, as time went on, about getting a small crowd of alcoholics together and having his trials and tribulations. Mind you, we had never seen him all this time; he had just been writing. He said that his practice had come back somewhat. And so 3 years passed. We had a little pin on a map showing that there was an Alcoholics Anonymous group at Shelby, North Carolina. It happened that I was taking a trip south to visit one of our southern groups. By this time the movement had grown and I had gotten to be kind of a big shot, so I thought, and I wondered, "Should I stop off at Shelby? You know, after all, that's kind of a small group." It is a great thing that I did stop off at Shelby, as you will soon see. Down the station came a man, followed by two others. The two in back of him were alcoholics, all right, but one looked a little bit different. I saw, as he drew near, that his lips were badly mangled, and I realized that this was the drug addict, Dr. M. In the agony of his hangovers he had chewed his lips to pieces. Yes, it was our man, and he proved to be a wonderful person. He was really modest, and that is something you seldom see in an ex-alcoholic. He introduced me to the others, and we got into his car and went over to the town of Shelby. I soon found myself sitting at a table in one of those delightful southern ancestral homes. Here was the man's mother - and his wife. They had been married about 2 years and there was a new baby. The practice had begun to come back. Still, there was very little shoptalk at that meal; and there is no such thing as an A.A. meal without shoptalk. I said, "Indeed, this fellow is a very modest man, I never saw an alcoholic like him." He spoke very little of his accomplishments for the group. And then came the meeting that night. Here, next to the barber shop in the hotel, on the most prominent corner in Shelby, was the A.A. meeting room, with "A.A." looming big up over the door. I thought, "Well, this chap must be some persuader."

I went inside and there were 40 alcoholics and their wives and friends. We had our meeting; I talked too much as I always do, and the meeting was over. I began to reflect that this was the largest Alcoholics Anonymous in all America in proportion to the size of the town. What a wonderful accomplishment! The next morning, my telephone rang in the hotel. A man was downstairs and he said, "I'd like to come up. There are some things you ought to know about Dr. M. who got the A.A. group together in this town."

Up came this individual, and said, "You know, I too, was once an alcoholic but for 22 years I've been on dope. I used to meet our friend Dr. M. over in Lexington, and when he got out of there and came back here, I heard he'd beaten the dope game. So when I left, I started for Shelby, but on my way I got back on morphine again. He took me into his home and took me off it. Yes, I used to be a respectable citizen of this state, I helped organize a lot of banks here, but I've heard from my family only second-hand for many years. It's my guess you don't know what southern pride is, and you haven't any idea what this man faced when he came back to this town to face the music. People wouldn't speak to him for months. They'd say, "Why this fellow, the son of our leading doctor, goes away, studies medicine, comes back, and he's a drunk, and after a while, he's on the dope. The townspeople wouldn't have much to do with him when he first came, and I'm ashamed to say that the local drunks wouldn't either, because they said, we aren't going to be sobered up by a dope addict. But you see, Dr. M. himself had once been an alcoholic, so that he could get that indispensable bond of identification across. Little by little, alcoholics began to rally around him."

My visitor continued, "Well, that was the beginning. Intolerance, misunderstanding, gossip, scandal, failure, defeat, all those things faced our friend when he came into this town. And that was 3 years ago. Well, Bill, you've seen his mother, you've seen his wife, you've seen his baby, and you've seen the group. But he hasn't told you that he now has the largest medical practice in this whole town, if not in the county. And he hasn't told you hat he has been made head of our local hospital. And I know you don't know this - every year in this town the citizens have a great meeting at which they cast a ballot, and last spring, at the annual casting of the ballot, the people of this town almost unanimously declared by their ballot that Dr. M. had been the towns most useful citizen during the 12 months gone by." So I thought to myself, "So you were the big shot who planned to go straight past Shelby." I looked at my visitor and said, "Indeed, What hath God wrought!"

DISCUSSION

Potts: Mr. W., is it possible for someone who hasn't been drunk, or ever been an alcoholic, to do what an alcoholic has done? Have you found any possibility that laymen or preachers could begin to do such work? Is there anything in your experience that might lead to that possibility?

Lecturer: Yes, there is a great deal in our experience that leads to the idea that our friends of the nonalcoholic world can participate. While it's true that the core of our process is the transmission of these things from one alcoholic to another, it is a fact that very often a minister or a doctor can lay the groundwork for our approach. Then, too, there is a class of people that we alcoholics flatter by calling them "dry" alcoholics. In other words, they're neurotics of our description who don't drink, and we recognize them as more or less kindred spirits; sometimes they approach our group and are well received. On the other hand, sometimes people who, from their life experience, just couldn't get the pitch or couldn't make the identification would be regarded by some of the groups as complete outsiders. You know, one of our other faults is that of snobbishness. We AA's have become extremely snobbish, strange as that may be. But it is true that this is a synthesis and we draw upon the resources of both medicine and religion. Of course, the doctor helps us on the physical side of the treatment. He can often prepare the groundwork with the potential by pointing out that he has the symptoms of a well-nigh fatal malady. The preacher, or the friend, would do well to emphasize the idea of sickness rather than of immorality. The alcoholic knows he's a louse in most cases, even though he won't admit it, and to be told so once more by someone who never took a glass of beer seems to annoy him greatly. That is not because the other fellow is wrong; we're wrong, but we're just built that way and it's a matter of taking things as they are.

Stoneburner: What can ministers do to cooperate with A.A.?

Lecturer: Of course the approach to the alcoholic is everything. I think the preacher could do well if he does as we do. First find out all you can about the case, how the man reacts, whether he wants to get over his drinking or not. You see, it is very difficult to make any impressions upon a man who still wants to drink. At some point in their drinking career, most alcoholics get punished enough so that they want to stop, but then it's far too late to do it alone. Sometimes, if the alcoholic can be impressed with the fact that he is a sick man, or a potentially sick man, then, in effect, you raise the bottom up to him instead of allowing him to drop down those extra hard years to reach it. I don't know any substitute for sympathy and understanding, as much as the outsider can have. No preaching, no moralizing, but the emphasis on the idea that the alcoholic is a sick man.

In other words, the minister might first say to the alcoholic, "Well, all my life I've misunderstood you people, I've taken you people to be immoral by choice and perverse and weak, but now I realize that even if there have been such factors, they really no longer count, now you're a sick man." You might win the patient by not placing yourself up on a hilltop and looking down on him, but by getting down to some level of understanding that he gets, or partially gets. Then, if you can present this thing as a fatal and progressive malady, and you can present our group as a group of people who are not seeking to do anything against his will - we merely want to help if he wants to be helped - then sometimes you've laid the groundwork.

I think the clergyman can often do a great deal with the family. You see, we alcoholics are prone to talk too much about ourselves without sufficiently considering the collateral effects. For example, any family, wife and children, who have had to live with an alcoholic 10 or 15 years, are bound to be rather neurotic and distorted themselves. They just can't help it. After all, when you expect the old gent to come home on a shutter every night, it's wearing. Children get a very distorted point of view; so does the wife. Well, if they constantly hear it emphasized that this fellow is a terrible sinner, that he's a rotter, that he's in disgrace, and all that sort of thing, you're not improving the condition of the family at all because, as they become persuaded of it, they get highly intolerant of the alcoholic and that merely generates more intolerance in him. Therefore, the gulf that must be bridged is widened, and that is why moralizing pushes people, who might have something to offer, further away from the alcoholic. You may say that it shouldn't be so, but it's one of those things that is so.

Robinson: Would local A.A. groups be interested in preventing the development of alcoholics by giving cooperation to local option movements or other programs to that end?

Lecturer: I don't think so. That may be a very hard thing to explain. I'm sure that many people who are in the reform movement are very, very much disappointed with AA's because they don't seem to want to cooperate. Now I make haste to say right away that on this question of reform, this question of prohibition or moderation or what have you, there are just as many points of view among the AA's and their families as there are among the next thousand people who walk by this place. Therefore, no A.A. group can very well say, "We have a particular view about prohibition, or this or that degree of prohibition, or about any educational program that involves controversial issues." You see we AA's are of particular and unique use to other alcoholics, therefore we have to be very careful about anything that is going to get between them and us. In other words, we can't do anything that is going to arouse prejudice. For example, if I were to make the statement here that I believe in prohibition, or that I don't believe in prohibition, and either of those points of view were quoted publicly, I would inevitably arouse prejudice. If I said, "Well I don't believe in prohibition and that's my personal view," then a great many good people who do believe in prohibition would get annoyed; they might go out and say to the alcoholic's wife, 'Well, I don't like that crowd of AA's because they don't believe in prohibition and look what liquor has done to your husband." So she doesn't suggest A.A. to her husband and he eventually dies because we have been foolish enough to arouse prejudice in somebody's mind.

Likewise, if we said, "Well, we believe in prohibition," and that were quoted, every alcoholic, almost without exception, reading that in the newspapers, would say, "Why, that's a bunch of reformers! And none of that for me." He shouldn't react that way, but he does. Since ours is a life and death job, you can understand why, as a group, we are very careful not to express any opinions on controversial questions. As a group we have no opinion on any kind of controversy regardless of the merit of either side, because if we show such an interest, as a group, then we cut down our own peculiar usefulness.

It isn't that there aren't bonds of sympathy between us and a great many points of view. It isn't that individuals among us don't have points of view. But I wouldn't for the world, in a place like this, express my personal views about any controversial question lest my opinion be imputed publicly to the group, to A.A. Then we would be thrown into a controversy that could only prejudice our efforts and not help anybody very much. It isn't a lack of understanding or lack of sympathy; it's a matter of policy about which we have to be unusually careful.

Question: How many drug addicts are there in the A.A. and in the organization similar to A.A., which operates among drug addicts?

Lecturer: We have quite a number of drug addicts who were once alcoholics. So far, I don't know of any case of pure drug addiction that we have been able to approach. In other words, we can no more approach a simon-pure addict than the outsider can usually approach us. We are in exactly the same position with them that the doctor and the clergyman have been in respect to the alcoholic. We just don't talk that fellow's language. He always looks at us and says, "Well, those alcoholics are the scum of the earth and besides, what do they know about addiction?" Now, however, since we have a good number of addicts who were once alcoholics, those addicts in their turn are making an effort, here and there, to transfer the thing over to the straight addict. In that way we hope the bridge is going to be crossed. There may be a case here and there that has been helped. But in all, I suppose, there may be around 50 cases of real morphine addiction in former alcoholics who have been helped by A.A. Of course we have a great many barbital users, but we don't consider those people particularly difficult if they really want to do something about it, and particularly if it's associated with liquor. They seem to get out of it after a while. But where you have morphine, or some of those derivatives, then it gets very tough. Then you have to have a "dope" talk to a "dope," and I hope that we can find, some day, a bridge to the addict.

Rogers: How many members do you have in A.A.? How many A.A. groups are there?

Lecturer: I might have made that point, although, I suppose that the A.A. 's here would have advertised it from the housetops. We have, I think, about 15,000 members, and A.A. groups are in about 367 places. A.A. is showing a capacity to spread by way of literature and correspondence even outside of the United States. We have a very successful group now in Honolulu and until recently they had had no contacts with us except by mail.

Question: If an alcoholic comes to an A.A. meeting under the influence of alcohol, how do you treat him or handle him during the meeting itself?

Lecturer: Groups will run usually run amuck on that sort of question. At first we are likely to say that we're going to be supermen and save every drunk in town. The fact is that a great many of them just don't want to stop. They come, but they interfere very greatly with the meeting. Then, being still rather intolerant, the group will swing way over in the other direction and say, "No drunks around these meetings." We get forcible with them and put them out of the meeting, saying, "You're welcome here if your sober." But the general rule in most places is that if a person comes for the first or second time and can sit quietly in the meeting, without creating an uproar, nobody bothers him. On the other hand, if he's a chronic "slipper" and interferes with the meetings, we lead him out gently, or maybe not so gently, on the theory that one man cannot be permitted to hold up the recovery of others. The theory is "the greatest good for the greatest number."”

(our emphases)

Comment: Note the lack of dogma, and the inclusivity of this approach, the recognition that alcoholics are not 'rolled out' of some kind of 'template' but should be treated rather as individuals and not as chattels to be directed merely at the whim of some control freak. Moreover we work with the medical profession and indeed are much indebted to them for their contribution to our “synthesis”, and we do not presume therefore to lecture these professionals on the proper course of treatment (by interfering in that process). Finally the frequent repetition of the word “intolerance” (and its variants) throughout the address should be noted, that this is something rather to be avoided than indulged in to excess. These principles represent AA at its best; and their converse - the cult at its very worst!

Cheerio

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)