After 21 years of sobriety and about 14 devoted to the program in the book I have found out a simple fact. That there is one program, one common solution (bottom of page 17).
AA fellowship is actually not nearly as effective as it once was. Having been to many thousands of meetings over the years and continuing to attend, it is all too obvious that the message from our basic text, the book Alcoholics Anonymous, is being lost. Unfortunately the message heard these days in many meetings and groups is quite a lot different than the one that was heard in the early days. So much extra and inaccurate information is flooding the fellowship that new, real alcoholics rarely get to hear the simple message of the program found in the book. Many of these non AA ideas come from treatment centers and many are party lines that somehow got started in the fellowship over the years. Many of these one liners go against some of the fundamental ideas found in the Big Book. For instance: "we just don't drink no matter what" and "It's a selfish program" or "I just choose not to drink today". These are contradictory to the program and don't help real alcoholics recover.
AA says that real alcoholics cannot control their drinking. That was my experience. I lost control. If I could control it I would not need a program. Any idea or advice that urges self control or using ones own mind to fight the illness is really not AA. AA's say they have lost choice and will power is gone concerning booze.
For newcomers there are some good tips for not drinking found in the "Living Sober" book, but this book explicitly starts by stating it does not contain a program of recovery, it simply gives tips for not drinking; hopefully while the alcoholics is doing the steps from the AA book.
The program is simple, but you'll rarely hear it summarized like this. Here it is in a few bullet points.
1)The authors of the Big Book, who considered themselves hopeless chronic alcoholics, found they were powerless to sustain abstinence themselves. They could not quit for good and all on their own will power. Nor could they quit using the power of other people. Will power was lost for them. They lost the choice in drink. No matter what they'd drink again even after honestly trying to stop (see more about alcoholism in the AA book) No doctor or any other human being could help them stop entirely. (probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism) From the ABC's at the beginning of chapter 5.
2)Dr. Carl Yung found that once in awhile a hopeless/chronic alcoholic would “miraculously” recover and stay sober through a "pyschic change", "spiritual awakening" or a "connection with a Higher Power". He saw these happenings as a phenomenon. A kind of freak occurrence for one out of many hundreds of hopeless drunks.
So AA's solution is just that. Achieve a spiritual awakening and build a relationship with a Higher Power to recover from the illness. (Bill W. never chose to use the word disease)
3)From the Oxford groups it was found that following a set of instructions (the tenets they were called at that time) could bring about this needed psychic change or “spiritual awakening”. An alcoholic could do these things ( follow the directions) and achieve this “miracle” or "gift" of sustained abstinence and serenity from a Higher Power.
Bill W. of course got the basic idea for the steps from the tenets of the Oxford groups and thus the 12 steps were born; a way out from alcoholism. Bill W. borrowed the ideas of the tenets and "customized" them into the
12 steps. The concepts of the steps were not purely original. Bill W. got them from the Oxford group tenets.
That's it in a nutshell, and all this can be found within the first 164 pages of the AA book. Anything else that doesn’t reconcile with the literature is not the program of AA. Keep it simple and we can be free of alcoholism and live happy, joyous and free.
Thanks for reading and please leave feedback or comments. Questions are welcome!
It's a way for me to do "cyber" sponsoring or help non-alcoholics better understand AA.
