AA Conference Questions 2014 (contd)

AA Conference 2014 Committee No. 1 Q 2

(See the new aacultwatch forum)

“In the William White interview with Mark Gilman, William White describes the emergence of "recovery" as a "new organizing paradigm." http://www.williamwhitepapers.com/pr/2011%20England,%20Mark%20Gilman%20Interview.pdf I think the pressure of this new organising paradigm was first felt in AA around 1968, ten years after Chuck Dederich founded the Synanon cult.  Besides pervading the US addiction treatment industry in the decades since, Synanon infiltration of AA was also widespread in the late 60s and early 70s. For those interested, I have posted a number of AA Grapevine articles 1968-1979 relating to Synanon in the ‘General’ section of this forum under the thread title “Synanon AA cult groups.” The following are extracts from 1968. They and the other articles can be read in full on the other thread or in the AA Grapevine Archive http://da.aagrapevine.org/

AA Grapevine Editorial, March 1968: “The Winds of Change” “New kinds of AA meetings .... there is within AA growing pressure to discover new ways to resolve those emotional and spiritual problems… ….Three articles in this issue, on the next eight pages, illustrate that pressure. We predict that there will be more such articles in future Grapevines. There is exciting ferment today in the fields of psychology and psychiatry…”

“40-hour Marathon Meetings” (AA Grapevine, March 1968) “. . .The long hours in marathon bid fair to open the heart. . IT'S EASY to assume that we aren't going to see much change in the AA way of doing business in years to come. There are signs this is much too easy an assumption. From the East Coast and the West Coast come separate reports[1] of a new kind of small, intense AA meeting, not confined to AA members, but including anyone who will abide by the rules of the meeting… …The quintessence of the new kind of meetings is the "marathon." Evidently the idea for these comes most directly and recently from the programs for narcotics addicts called Synanon and Daytop… …. The climate of Synanon and Daytop, as best one can tell from reports and from minimal direct exposure, is much closer to the tone and intention of the fifth chapter of AA's Big Book than are most AA meetings today. While AA has waxed genteel, and eager to avoid discussion of unpleasant truths, drug addicts are willing--indeed obliged--to go to any lengths of honesty to be rid of their sociopathic or psychopathic behavior patterns….….Thus the marathon--forty hours of continuous meeting with a five-hour sleep-break halfway through…. ….thirty-five hours has proved barely sufficient for the "Fifth Steps" of some sixteen people assembled for the adventure…..”

“Tenth/twelfth Step Meetings” (AA Grapevine March 1968) “We are not here to talk about. . .inventory; we're here to do the taking. SEVEN people, five men and two women, sit in a circle in a living room behind closed doors. The leader speaks: "Since Joe is here for the first time, let me explain how this meeting runs. This is basically a Tenth and Twelfth Step meeting. Each of us is here to do three things: first, take an inventory of how he is doing in his practice of the program; second, invite the rest of the group to help him with the inventory by pulling him up in areas where he is off the beam but doesn't see it; and third, tell the group what he is going to do, with God's help, to put right what he has been doing wrong. "There is no limitation on rough language. We say what is to be said the best way we can, whether four-letter words are involved or not. Just one caution--don't use this freedom to show off or make the ladies blush. No one is going to be impressed."

The leader continues, "The one basic rule of this meeting is that we stick to the principle of rigorous honesty with ourselves and with each other. There are twenty-three hours in the day for being nice. In this hour, we drop that… …"A couple of final points: There are no observers in this meeting; everyone here is here to participate. What is said in this room stays here; some of it will be rough. We are not here to talk about how to take inventory; we're here to do the taking... … The circle is completed in an hour and twenty minutes. The meeting is closed with the Lord's Prayer… ….First, they are not, I repeat not, group therapy. They are God and group (in that order) therapy--and, believe me, that's a far different kind of animal. Second, there is really nothing new about them. They hark back directly to the practice of the first AA members. In that sense, they represent a renewal of the early spirit of the movement….””

Note: Conference Questions can be downloaded in pdf from the GSO (GB) website. They are on pages 5-11, AA Service News, Issue 157, Winter 2013 http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/download/1/Library/Documents/AA%20Service%20News/157%20Winter%202013.pdf

Conference 2014 background material can be found on the GSO (GB) website. Follow the “Background Material for Conference 2014” link in the Document Library. http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/Members/Document-Library

Cheers

The Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)

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