“38. Would Conference
discuss if AA UK should use or not use the term “self help group”
when referring to AA groups?
Background
On the webpage section
"Newcomer to AA ‐ Who We Are" it says:
"Through meetings
and talking with other alcoholics we are somehow able to stay sober."
This could give the
impression AA is a self help group and that talking to others
"somehow" keeps us sober. The Big Book has a chapter called
"How it Works". It does not mention going to meetings and
then "somehow" staying sober. Instead it talks about taking
certain steps and through them building a relationship with God that
works.
As much as it is
understandable that we cannot explain the whole chapter in one
sentence at the web, this description on how it works given now on
the page, may cause the impression steps have nothing to do with
recovery and that we don't know what got us sober in the first place.
In addition the flyer "To
Professionals" actually states we were self help groups. As far
as I know that is the only piece in AA literature that does so,
especially as this information is wrong. Step 2 states exactly that
"we came to believe that only a power
greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity" and hereby
refers to God, because we cannot help ourselves
Terms
of Reference No. 7 Covered by existing literature, for example our
Preamble which states AA is a “Fellowship”.”
Comment:
Oh dear! Another bloody recovery 'expert'! This is one should really
try reading the book sometime maybe starting with the above quoted
chapter – Working With Others - and the very beginning of the
section no less:
“Practical
experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from
drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other
activities fail. This is our twelfth suggestion: Carry this
message to other alcoholics! You can help when no one else can.
You can secure their confidence when others fail. Remember they are
very ill.”
(our
emphasis)
Presumably
“carry[ing] the message” might involve at some stage actually
talking with the person concerned. Or perhaps the message is somehow
transmitted via the esoteric art of telepathy? As for whether
meetings are mentioned in the literature – they are....and guess
where! …. The Big Book no less! (A Vision For You, p. 161)
“Now,
this house will hardly accommodate its weekly visitors, for
they number sixty or eighty as a rule. Alcoholics are being attracted
from far and near. From surrounding towns, families drive long
distances to be present. A community thirty miles away has fifteen
fellows of Alcoholics Anonymous. Being a large place, we think that
some day its Fellowship will number many
hundreds.”
“Then,
in this eastern city, there are informal meetings such as we have
described to you, where you may now see scores of members. There are
the same fast friendships, there is the same helpfulness to one
another as you find
among our western friends.” (p. 162)
Note:
From the above it can be seen that 'self-help' refers to one 'self'
helping another. Not fixing or curing..... but helping! Jeez! If
you're going to cite the literature maybe read it first!
See
here
for a full list of other questions that didn't quite get through the
'filter'
Cheers
The
Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
PS
How do you do a step Five by the way without talking to someone else?
Telepathy again perhaps!! Talking with other alcoholics is referred
to all the way through the book!
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