In 1934, Bill W., cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous, got
a call from a former drinking buddy,
Ebby T. "Rumor had
it that he'd been committed for alcoholic insanity," Bill
recalled. "I wondered how he had escaped."
In reality, Ebby was two months sober. This disappointed
Bill, who wanted to recapture the spirit of their earlier
drinking escapades. When Ebby came to visit, Bill pushed
a drink across the table. Ebby refused it.
"The door opened, and he stood there, fresh-skinned and
glowing," Bill recalled. "He was inexplicably different.
What had happened?" The answer to that question eventually
brought Bill to sobriety, and to the Twelve Steps of AA.
Before Bill could formulate the Twelve Steps of AA, he had
to make two discoveries. He had already gained the first
one from
Dr. William Silkworth, the attending physician
during Bills first "detox." Silkworth said that Bill had
a disease with both physical and mental dimensions. The
physical part was an abnormal craving for alcohol, and the
mental dimension was a delusion. It was Bills belief that,
someday, he'd be able to control his drinking like nonalcoholics.
Bill desperately clung to that belief, despite the contrary
evidence: No matter how often he vowed never to drink again,
every time he touched a drink, he ended up drunk.
Now Bill had a grasp of the problem. Like other alcoholics,
he got drunk not because he was weak-willed or sinful. Instead,
Bills body and mind worked differently from other peoples.
This idea suggested the next question: How could they give
up their delusion of controlled drinking? And how could
they avoid taking that first drink?
Ebby had an answer. One of Ebby's friends, also an alcoholic,
had seen Carl Jung, the famous Swiss psychiatrist. Jung
pointed out that since early times, some alcoholics had
recovered through what he called a "vital spiritual experience",
a complete change in thought and action. Short of such an
experience, said Jung, the prognosis for alcoholics like
Bill was death or insanity.
This "God talk" was tough for Bill to swallow. After his
experiences as a soldier in World War I, Bill said that
he "doubted whether the religions of mankind had done any
good. Judging from what Id seen in Europe and since, the
power of God in human affairs was negligible, the Brotherhood
of Man a grim jest."
Again, Ebby had a reply: Just choose your own concept of
a higher power. That power can be anything that prompts
a fundamental change in your thinking and action. For some,
that might be a traditional concept of God. But for others,
it could be a friend, a book, or even a breathtaking sunset.
This second discovery shook Bill to the core. "It was only
a matter of being willing to believe in a power greater
than myself," he wrote later in "Alcoholics Anonymous". "Nothing more was required of me
to make my beginning." In short, the next step was a simple
desire to change, a willingness to accept help from someone
or something else. After Bill accepted these ideas, he never
took another drink.
Silkworth, who'd diagnosed Bill as an incurable alcoholic,
was dumbfounded by Bill's transformation. "Something has
happened to you that I don't understand," Silkworth told
Bill. "But you had better hang on to it."
In effect, Bill had discovered two core principles of recovery.
First, admit the problem, powerlessness over alcohol (or
other drugs). Second, open up to a solution, a "Higher Power,"
any source of help outside yourself. These principles are,
in essence, the first three steps of AA: We admitted we
were powerless over alcohol, that our lives had become unmanageable.
to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore
us to sanity. a decision to turn our will and our lives
over to the care of God as we understood Him.
Bill longed to carry this message to other alcoholics. But
that presented another problem: Spiritual experiences can
hardly be produced at will. How could he help other alcoholics
clear a space in their minds and hearts for such change?
Steps four through nine of AA, addressed in our next column,
help provide an answer.
--Published May 24, 1999
"Copyright © 2003 Hazelden Foundation.
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