ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS® is a fellowship of menand women who share their experience,strength and hope with each other that theymay solve their common problem and help oth-ers to recover from alcoholism. • The only requirement for membership is adesire to stop drinking. There are no dues orfees for A.A. membership; we are self-support-ing through our own contributions.• A.A. is not allied with any sect, denomination,politics, organization or institution; does notwish to engage in any controversy; neitherendorses nor opposes any causes.• Our primary purpose is to stay sober and helpother alcoholics to achieve sobriety.

Copyright © by A.A. Grapevine, Inc.;reprinted with permission

Copyright © 1970Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

475 Riverside DriveNew York, NY 10115

Mail address: Box 459, Grand Central Station,New York, NY 10163

www.aa.org

40M - 8/13 (RP)

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A Member’sEye View of

Alcoholics Anonymous

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This pamphlet is designed to explain to peoplein the helping professions how A.A. works.Though the A.A. program relies upon the shar-ing of experience, strength and hope amongalcoholics, the recovery process itself is highlyindividual, adapted by each member to meet hisor her needs. Therefore, the program isdescribed here as it appears to one member;but the pamphlet does reflect Fellowship think-ing since it has been approved by the A.A.General Service Conference.

The author of this paper delivered it first beforea class on alcoholism counseling at one of our large universities. A.A. World Services, Inc.wishes to thank him for his generous permis-sion to reprint and distribute this talk.

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I SHOULD LIKE TO SPEAK to you tonight froma prepared text — for this reason: Heretofore inmy association with Alcoholics Anonymous, Ihave spoken in A.A. or to one of its derivativeorganizations, Al-Anon or Alateen. I have beenparticipating in a therapy, and I have been thesubject. Therefore, the more subjective the talk,the better. Tonight I have been asked to talkabout that therapy, and the difference becomesimmediately apparent. It seems to me that Ishould try to be as objective as possible, and thisseemed to me to call for advance thought andpreparation. How objective a member can beabout an organization which he feels has helpedsave his life and his sanity is a moot question,but I can try.

My task tonight is more difficult than it wouldfirst appear, because — as those of you who aremembers of A.A. already know — there is no offi-cial interpretation which I can blithely pass alongto you. There is no “party line,” no official bodyof dogma or doctrine to which the members sub-scribe, no creed that we recite. Even if the sur-viving co-founder of A.A. himself*were standingbefore you tonight, he could tell you only how itall appears to him. I personally consider thisabsence of orthodoxy one of A.A.’s strongest andmost therapeutic principles — and I hope tocover this in more detail later — but it can be abit of a burden at a time like this. The factremains that whatever I say tonight is and mustremain a totally personal statement. In fact, whatI am about to say might very well be titled “AMember’s-Eye View of Alcoholics Anonymous.”And since I am saying it within the halls of a uni-versity all I ask is that you listen in a spirit of hon-est and open-minded inquiry.

*Bill W. died January 24, 1971.

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Why I have been asked to say it, I think youalready know. Since one of A.A.’s strongestTraditions is that “Our public relations policyis based on attraction rather than promotion,”I am not here to try to sell it to you — whetheryou are a future counselor or a present alco-holic. A.A.’s track record as compared withother methods of recovery from alcoholismspeaks for itself, and I am sure you have longsince been apprised of that record in thisclassroom.

Now, it is quite logical to assume that if onemethod of approaching a problem yields notice-ably better and more spectacular results than others, then that method must contain someunique factor or factors that set it apart andform the basis of its superiority. Is this true ofAlcoholics Anonymous? If so, what constitutesthis uniqueness?

Perhaps our search can be ended quicklywith a definition of Alcoholics Anonymous.What might be termed its “official” definitionand the one read at many A.A. meetings goes asfollows:

“Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship ofmen and women who share their experience,strength and hope with each other that theymay solve their common problem and help oth-ers to recover from alcoholism.

“The only requirement for membership is adesire to stop drinking. There are no dues orfees for A.A. membership; we are self-support-ing through our own contributions. A.A. is notallied with any sect, denomination, politics,organization or institution; does not wish toengage in any controversy, neither endorsesnor opposes any causes. Our primary purposeis to stay sober and help other alcoholics toachieve sobriety.”

Yes it is lengthy, and like most definitionsabroad in the world today, it rather successfullyevades telling you what it is by emphasizingwhat it is not.

Let’s see if we can do better in A.A.’s basictextbook, the volume Alcoholics Anonymous,

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first published in 1939 and written by Bill W.,with the help and advice of the first hundredalcoholics who were able to achieve a year ofsobriety. In Chapter V, entitled “How It Works,”we find these words:

“Our description of the alcoholic, the chapterto the agnostic, and our personal adventuresbefore and after make clear three pertinentideas:

“(a) That we were alcoholic and could notmanage our own lives.

“(b) That probably no human power couldhave relieved our alcoholism.

“(c) That God could and would if He weresought.”

These so-called ideas, while more specific,are certainly not unique to AlcoholicsAnonymous. Man has been beaten to his kneesin an admission of personal helplessness sincetime began. Likewise, since time began he hasturned to the idea of a supernatural Being whowould deliver him from his fate if he performedcertain rituals and observed certain rules.There is obviously no new or different factorhere, yet the three “ideas” we have just heardare the very cornerstone of A.A.’s philosophy.So where can we turn now in our effort to iso-late A.A.’s uniqueness?

The first sentence of the first definition Iread to you contains the only “is” statement Ihave ever been able to find in all of A.A.’s litera-ture. Let’s listen to it again:

“Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship ofmen and women who share their experience,strength and hope with each other that theymay solve their common problem and help oth-ers to recover from alcoholism.”

Once again, is there anything totally newhere? The experiences of alcoholics are essen-tially the same. While they may differ in cir-cumstances, the theme is always the same: aprogressive deterioration of the human per-sonality. And the levels of strength and hopethese men and women possess vary from day

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to day, in both degree and substance. Whatthen is the constant factor? What is A.A.’sunique difference?

Could our answer lie in the manner in whichthis experience, strength and hope are shared,and — much more important — who is sharingthem? Is the secret contained, as most secretsare, in how it all began?

Long before there was a definition of A.A.,before there was a book or Steps or Traditionsor a program of recovery, there was a night inAkron, Ohio, only a short 33 years* ago. Anight when a man named Bill W., alone in astrange city, shaken and frightened, concludedthat his only hope of maintaining his presenthard-won sobriety was to talk to and try to helpanother alcoholic. So far as I know, that is thefirst recorded instance where one alcoholic con-sciously and deliberately turned to another alco-holic, not to drink with, but to stay sober with.

In the fateful meeting of Bill W. and DoctorBob the next evening was an answer finallygiven to that rhetorical question which Christasked two thousand years ago? “If the blindlead the blind, shall they not both fall into thepit?” And in 1935 was the answer, strangelyenough, “No”? But perhaps what occurred thatevening was not a contradiction of Christ’smaxim. Perhaps one who was a little less blind,one who was at last able to discern vagueshapes and forms, described what he saw toone who still lived in total darkness.

Much more important than what was saidthat evening was who was saying it. Long beforethe average alcoholic walks through the doorsof his first A.A. meeting, he has sought helpfrom others or help has been offered to him, insome instances even forced upon him. Butthese helpers are always superior beings: spous-es, parents, physicians, employers, priests, min-isters, rabbis, swamis, judges, policemen, evenbartenders. The moral culpability of the alco-holic and the moral superiority of the helper,

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*At the time this paper was written. The year referred to is 1935.

even though unstated, are always clearlyunderstood. The overtone of parental disap-proval and discipline in these authority figuresis always present. For the first time, 33 yearsago an alcoholic suddenly heard a differentdrummer. Instead of the constant and menac-ing rat-a-tat-tat of “This is what you should do,”he heard an instantly recognizable voice saying,“This is what I did.”

I am personally convinced that the basicsearch of every human being, from the cradleto the grave, is to find at least one other humanbeing before whom he can stand completelynaked, stripped of all pretense or defense, andtrust that person not to hurt him, because thatother person has stripped himself naked, too.This lifelong search can begin to end with thefirst A.A. encounter.

One of A.A.’s early differences — the ideathat alcoholism is a disease — is now no longerunique. While discussion of the exact nature ofthis disease and its possible cure may well goon forever, no reasonably intelligent personseems any longer to quarrel with this conclu-sion. However, the impact of the alcoholic’s dis-covery of this fact from the lips of another alco-holic remains undiminished. To alcoholicsswamped with guilt and shame, the words “Ifound I had a disease, and I found a way toarrest it” constitute immediate absolution formany, and for others at least a ray of hope thatthey might one day earn absolution.

It seems to me that what happens to an alco-holic on his first encounter with A.A. is that herealizes he has been invited to share in theexperience of recovery. And the key word inthat sentence is the word “share.” Whether heresponds to it immediately or ever is not at thatmoment important. What is important is thatthe invitation has been extended and remains,and that he has been invited to share as anequal and not as a mendicant. No matter whathis initial reaction, even the sickest alcoholic ishard put to deny to himself that he has beenoffered understanding, equality, and an

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already-proved way out. And he is made to feelthat he is, in fact, entitled to all this; indeed, hehas already earned it, simply because he is analcoholic.

If the alcoholic responds to this invitation,he then encounters what I believe is A.A.’s sec-ond unique factor: A.A. treats the symptom first.It may come as a surprise to some that, from ashort 30 years ago, when the idea was fairlyrevolutionary, Alcoholics Anonymous has con-sistently emphasized its conviction that alco-holism is, to use its own phrase, “the symptomof deeper troubles.” However, A.A. alsobelieves that the cleverest diagnosis of thesetroubles is of little benefit if the patient dies.Autopsies do not benefit the person uponwhom they are performed. Sometimes sooner,sometimes later, A.A. seems to be able to getover to its neophytes that total abstinence isthe name of the game. In A.A., the cart doescome before the horse. The first step is still theFirst Step. No newcomer to A.A. is ever left inany real doubt that recovery can begin onlywith a decision to “stay away from the firstdrink.” And he soon learns that no one can orwill make that decision for him. In fact, he soonfurther learns that if he makes the decision, noone can or will force him to implement it. InA.A., the choice begins and always remainswith the alcoholic himself.

The desire, as well as the ability, to make thisdecision often results, I believe, from whatappears to be A.A.’s third unique quality: Theintuitive understanding the alcoholic receives,while compassionate, is not indulgent. The“therapists” in A.A. already have their doctor-ates in the four fields where the alcoholic reignssupreme: phoniness, self-deception, evasion,and self-pity. He is not asked what he is thinking.He is told what he is thinking. No one waits totrap him in a lie. He is told what lies he is get-ting ready to tell. In the end, he begins toachieve honesty by default. There’s not muchpoint in trying to fool people who may haveinvented the game you’re playing.

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There is yet a fourth factor in A.A. which Ifeel can be found nowhere else, and that is therecovered alcoholic’s omnipresent, bottomless,enthusiastic willingness to talk about alco-holism — its ins and its outs, its whys and itswherefores, its becauses and begats. Withoutthe newcomer’s ever becoming fully aware of it,his fascination with alcohol, his thirst, hisdesire, yea, even his need for a drink is literallytalked to death. It has always seemed exquisite-ly fitting to me that people who once used theirmouths to get sick now use them to get well.

Finally, there is the reversal of form whichA.A.’s educational process takes. The newcom-er to A.A. is asked, not so much to learn newvalues, as to unlearn those he comes in with;not so much to adopt new goals, as to abandonold ones. To my mind, one of the most signifi-cant sentences in the entire book AlcoholicsAnonymous is this: “Some of us have tried tohold on to our old ideas and the result was niluntil we let go absolutely.” The rigidity withwhich even some nondrinking alcoholics willcling to the opinions, beliefs, and convictionsthey had upon entering A.A. is well-nigh incred-ible. One of the major objectives of A.A. therapyis to help the alcoholic finally recognize theseideas and become willing to relinquish hisdeath grip on them.

Now then, you ask, where can these uniquefactors be found? Where are they at work?Where do they occur? Is the answer alwayssuch and such a meeting at such and such anaddress at such and such a time? No. The realanswer is that this unique therapy occurs wher-ever two alcoholics meet: at home, at lunch, ina street, in a car, on the sidewalk, on a porch,and oh God, on the telephone. There is only onerequirement: One of them should be sober. Buteven this is not absolutely necessary. I am livingproof that two drunken alcoholics, once havingbeen exposed to A.A., can talk each other intoreturning.

At this point you may very well ask: Out of allthis uniqueness, what finally happens? Well, I’ll

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admit that’s the heart of the matter, all right,and I only wish the answer was as easy as thequestion. On second thought, there is an easyanswer. I could echo a saying that has longwinged its way down the corridors of A.A.: “Themiracle of A.A. occurs.” There’s no doubt thatthose words would get me out from under —poetically and beautifully. But I don’t thinkeither of us would know very much more thanwe did before the question was posed.

There is a widely held belief in A.A. that if anewcomer will simply continue to attend meet-ings, “Something will finally rub off on you.”And the implication, of course, is that the some-thing which rubs off will be this so-called mira-cle of A.A. Now, there is no doubt in my mindthat many people in A.A. accept this statementquite literally. I have observed them over theyears. They faithfully attend meetings, faithfullywaiting for “something to rub off.” The funnypart about it is that “something” is rubbing offon them. Death. They sit there — week aftermonth after year — while mental, spiritual, andphysical rigor mortis slowly sets in.

I believe the real “miracle of A.A.,” the“something” that will rub off, we hope, is simplythe alcoholic’s willingness to act. Why he finallybecomes willing, I hope to touch on later. Rightnow, let’s turn our attention to what it is hebecomes willing to do.

A.A. has been happily called “a program ofaction.” In fact, one of our most-quoted apho-risms is “Action is the magic word.” When thenewcomer hears this, he invariably gets a men-tal picture of his attending meetings, makingwhat are known as “Twelfth Step calls” on otheralcoholics, speaking at meetings, joining com-mittees — in general, a kind of constant rush-ing to and from. Let’s see whether this is whatit really is.

Quoting from Chapter V of the book Alcohol-ics Anonymous:

“Here are the steps we took, which are sug-gested as a program of recovery:

“1. We admitted we were powerless over

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alcohol — that our lives had become unman-ageable.

“2. Came to believe that a Power greater thanourselves could restore us to sanity.

“3. Made a decision to turn our will and ourlives over to the care of God as we understoodHim.

“4. Made a searching and fearless moralinventory of ourselves.

“5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and toanother human being the exact nature of ourwrongs.

“6. Were entirely ready to have God removeall these defects of character.

“7. Humbly asked Him to remove our short-comings.

“8. Made a list of all persons we had harmedand became willing to make amends to them all.

“9. Made direct amends to such people wher-ever possible, except when to do so wouldinjure them or others.

“10. Continued to take personal inventoryand when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

“11. Sought through prayer and meditation toimprove our conscious contact with God as weunderstood Him, praying only for knowledge ofHis will for us and the power to carry that out.

“12. Having had a spiritual awakening as theresult of these steps, we tried to carry this mes-sage to alcoholics and to practice these princi-ples in all our affairs.”

What you have just heard are A.A.’s famedTwelve Steps. They have been described byvarious members at various times in variousphrases, ranging from “The Golden Stairs toHappiness” to “all that God stuff.”

Now I shall try to pose some questions whichmay help us understand the impact the TwelveSteps have had upon the lives of thousands ofalcoholics, and their already-demonstrated effi-cacy in dealing with the problem of alcoholism.

First, does it come as a surprise to you, as itdid to me, that there is nothing physical in this

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program — no leafy, green vegetables, no vita-mins, no daily calisthenics? I think this isbecause, from the very beginning, the alcoholicin A.A. has believed that the physical aspects ofour disease would have little import if they werenot accompanied by an equally progressive spiri-tual deterioration. If the major thing we had toworry about was the physical allergy to alcohol,then I believe A.A. would never have happened,because it would never have been needed. At var-ious times I have been strongly allergic to variousfoods: to strawberries, but I have never had tojoin Strawberries Anonymous; to pork but I didn’thave to change my religion to abstain from it.

If, then, alcoholism is largely a spiritual dis-ease requiring a spiritual healing, does it comeas a surprise to you, as it did to me, that there isnothing new in a spiritual sense, nothing star-tlingly different or unique in this program?Most of these ideas have been around sinceman crawled out of the cave. Many of themexisted in even primitive societies, and everyalcoholic — no matter how irreligious or uneth-ical he may have succeeded in keeping himself— at some time must have used some or all ofthem as a set of values by which to measurehimself. To believe that the alcoholic whoapproaches A.A. is an unprincipled, untaughtbarbarian, suddenly transformed by the previ-ously unavailable spiritual illumination of theTwelve Steps, is, to me, utter foolishness.

Once again, we are confronted with anaspect of A.A.’s therapy which has had a totallynew impact without, apparently, any accompa-nying newness of substance. Where, then,could the difference be?

I believe it lies in the way the Steps are pre-sented, rather than what they contain: They arereports of action taken, rather than rules not tobe broken under pain of drunkenness.

I have often wondered what the course ofmankind might have been if the Ten Command-ments had been presented in this same manner,rather than as blunt commandments negativelyexpressed: “We honored our father and our

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mother.” “We remembered to keep holy theSabbath.” “We honored the name of the Lordour God and took it not in vain.” “We bore nofalse witness against our neighbor.”

In A.A., the reporting is clear and unmistake-able. “Here are the steps we took,” say thosewho have gone before. The newcomer finallysees that he, too, must take these Steps beforehe is entitled to report on them. And in anatmosphere where the constant subject is“What I did” and “What I think,” no neuroticcan long resist the temptation to get in on theaction. In an organization whose members arealways secretly convinced that they are unique,no neurotic is long going to be contented with areport of what others are doing. Whether byaccident or design or supernatural guidance,the Twelve Steps are so framed and presentedthat the alcoholic can either ignore them com-pletely, take them cafeteria-style, or embracethem wholeheartedly. In any case, he canreport only on what he has done. Till he does,he knows that he is more a guest of A.A. than amember, and this is a situation that is finallyintolerable to the alcoholic. He must take atleast some of the Steps, or go away. In my opin-ion, this is the answer to what finally rubs off onthe waiting, inactive, often hostile A.A. member,and also the answer as to why it happens.

The presentation of the Twelve Steps asreports of action taken, rather than as com-mandments to be followed, also forms the basisof A.A.’s conspicuous absence of any formalizedbody of dogma or doctrine. No member is evertold that he must perform these Steps or returnto a life of drunkenness. A person who says heis a member of A.A. is a member of A.A., nomatter how sparingly or wholeheartedly hetakes the Steps. Members range from thosewho loudly and untiringly proclaim, “I’ve stayedsober for x-number of years on the First andTwelfth Steps,” to those who just as untiringlyexhort, “Utilize, don’t analyze.” The first groupseems to be able to blithely ignore the qualify-ing cause of the Twelfth Step, “Having had a

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spiritual awakening as the result of theseSteps,” and is apparently content with what toothers may be a sadly circumscribed andimpoverished sobriety. The latter group seemsequally able to ignore the fact that the veryexhortation not to analyze is the result of thesemembers’ own analysis.

Since I am speaking to you as present andfuture counselors, rather than as alcoholics, Ido not wish to dwell on the Steps at length. Butthere are some aspects of these Steps which Ifeel must not be overlooked, since I am surethey will come up again and again in yourfuture work.

The first is what is sometimes called, crude-ly if aptly, “the God bit.” As A.A. becomes moreand more international, as it moves abroadfrom the Judeo-Christian ethic of the Americansociety in which it was founded, while it is evennow being tested more and more here at home,this basic principle of A.A.’s recovery programis bound to come under more and more scruti-ny and be held more and more in question.

The founders of A.A., it is obvious, felt thatalcoholics need the help of a Power greaterthan themselves. But again, whether by acci-dent, design, or divine guidance, they havewisely refrained from strictly defining thisPower. While A.A. literature has used and con-tinues to use the personal pronoun whichdescribes the concept of a personal deity, abelief in this concept is by no means required.In fact, I am convinced that the greater a mem-ber’s years in A.A., the less important thenature of this Power becomes. I and most of themembers I know seem to progress over theyears from a search for a God we can under-stand to a belief in a God who understands us.

The founders of A.A. also hastened to clarifytheir original use of the terms “spiritual experi-ence” and “spiritual awakening” to describe thepersonality change they believed to be indis-pensable to permanent recovery. In theAppendix to the book Alcoholics Anonymous, wefind these words:

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“Among our rapidly growing membership ofthousands of alcoholics, such transformations[i.e., sudden, spectacular upheavals of a reli-gious nature], though frequent, are by nomeans the rule. Most of our experiences arewhat the psychologist William James calls the‘educational variety’ because they develop slow-ly over a period of time . . . . He [the newcomer]finally realizes that he has undergone a pro-found alteration in his reaction to life; that sucha change could hardly have been brought aboutby himself alone.”

In the Twelve Traditions, A.A. claims “butone ultimate authority . . . a loving God as Hemay express Himself in our group conscience.”However, I would remind you that thesegroups are made up of alcoholics, and by thetime it can be determined what the collectiveconscience has decided, even the most militantatheist or persistent agnostic can have stayedsober for years.

It may also appear to some of you that in theFourth and Fifth of its Twelve Steps, A.A. mightvery well be accused of talking out of both sides of its mouth at once. If you will recall, these Steps are:

“4. Made a searching and fearless moralinventory of ourselves.

“5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and toanother human being the exact nature of ourwrongs.”

Here, it would appear, is an organization thaton the one hand claims there is no moral culpa-bility involved in the disease of alcoholism, andon the other suggests to its members thatrecovery entails a searching and fearlessaccounting of this culpability to God and toanother human being. I personally feel that thisapparent paradox results from the empiricalknowledge gained by the founders of A.A. Ibelieve they found, as we all have since, that nomatter what you tell the newcomer about thedisease of alcoholism, he still feels guilty. Hecannot blind himself to the moral consequencesof his drinking: the blight he has visited upon

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those around him and the shame and degrada-tion he has inflicted on himself. This load ofconventional guilt — and I use the word “con-ventional” advisedly — as well as the alcoholic’sstubborn and perverse wish to cling to it, is theoldest of his “old ideas.” It is the oldest becauseit started first, and in most cases it will be thelast to go. But go it must if the alcoholic’s atti-tude toward himself and hence the worldaround him is to undergo any basic change.That’s why I believe the founders of A.A.learned in their own experimentation that thealcoholic must be given a conventionalmeans ofunloading this burden of conventional guilt.Hence the Fourth and Fifth Steps.

It is also apparent by now, I hope, that A.A.’sprogram of action is not the rushing to and froso often envisioned by the newcomer, nor eventhe unflagging carrying of the message toother alcoholics. Instead, its action is concen-trated for the most part on the inner man,involving his deepest sensibilities and values.Only three Steps — the Fifth, Ninth, andTwelfth — involve other people. The other nineconcern themselves with the interior life of thealcoholic. Yet in their observance the ultimateresult is to turn the alcoholic inside out — fromhimself to others.

An oft-quoted sentence from the book Alco-holics Anonymous is: “Self-centeredness . . . isthe root of our troubles.” And one of the earliestevidences of the basic change in the personali-ty of the recovering alcoholic is the slow, hesi-tant, frightened, but persistent offering of him-self to others. Alcoholics are numbered amongthe great “gimmes” of the world. “Gimme abreak . . . Gimme a chance . . . Gimme time . . .Gimme understanding . . . Gimme love.” InA.A., these self-same “gimmes” come to benumbered among the great givers, and lo, someof them even learn to want nothing in return.

The house that A.A. helps a man build forhimself is different for each occupant, becauseeach occupant is his own architect. For many,A.A. is a kind of going home — a return, like

the Prodigal Son’s, to the house and the faith ofhis fathers. To others, it is a never-ending jour-ney into lands they did not dream existed. Itdoes not matter into which group one falls.What is really important is that A.A. has morethan demonstrated that the house it builds canaccommodate the rebel as well as the conform-ist, the radical as well as the conservative, theagnostic as well as the believer. The absence offormalized dogma, the lack of rules and com-mandments, the nonspecific nature of its defini-tions, and the flexibility of its framework — allthe things we have thus far considered con-tribute to this incredible and happy end.

But what clinches the result and keeps therecovered alcoholic in A.A. forever self-deter-mining is, I believe, one of the most importantif seldom-noticed principles at work within it.The very factors which I have just enumeratedmean that any alcoholic on any given day atany given time can find someone in A.A. whowill in all good faith agree with what he hasalready decided to do. Conversely, on anygiven day at any given time, the same alcoholiccan find someone in A. A. who in all good faithwill disagree with what he has already decidedto do. Thus, sooner or later, the recoveringalcoholic in A.A. is literally forced to think forhimself. Sooner or later, he finds himself akinto the turtle, that lowly creature who makesprogress only when his neck is stuck out. Theformless flexibility of A.A.’s principles as inter-preted by their different adherents finallypushes our alcoholic into a stance where hemust use only himself as a frame of referencefor his actions, and this in turn means he mustbe willing to accept the consequences of thoseactions. In my book, that is the definition ofemotional maturity.

It would be wonderful if I could now closemy book and depart in a glow of sweetness andlight, leaving my beautifully established premis-es to fend for themselves. But if I did, I wouldbe doing you, as future counselors, a grave dis-service. To every member of A.A., there comes

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a day — admitted by some, kept secret by oth-ers — when he begins to ask himself a gnaw-ing, troubled question. Sometimes, the wordsare: “Is A.A. enough?” Other times, the ques-tion takes a more fatalistic overtone: “Is A.A. allthere is going to be?” And in still otherinstances, it comes out simply as “What now, lit-tle man, what now?”

There may come a day when one of thesetroubled souls reaches your desk or your office,and the reasons he gives you will be foundamong these:

“A.A. is an organization of sick people, and Ifeel it is a handicap for me to be around themany longer.”

“A.A. is always oriented to the newcomer.There is no way for the oldtimer to continuegrowing in it.”

“A.A. is really a kind of subculture, and it canserve to shut you off from the mainstream oflife.”

Why do these statements come so readily tomy lips? Because I first said them to myself, andover the years both those who preceded me andthose who have come after have also echoedthem in my ears.

If, as, and when you hear any or all of them,do not — I beg of you — brush them lightlyaside. The very reason they are so persistent isthat there is more than a grain of truth in them.

The guilt, fear, and worry that these thoughtsarouse in the A.A. member are due in the main,I believe, to this simple fact: Long before wedare admit these thoughts to our consciousness,we have been exhorted by many defenders ofthe A.A. faith that “A.A. is all you need.” It neverseems to occur to them — nor to their listeners,for that matter — that just a simple change ofthe pronoun in that exhortation would make itcompletely accurate. “A.A. is all I need” is anindividual statement that can strengthen manyand trouble no one.

In all of A.A.’s literature, I can find no sub-stantiation for the sometimes assumed and

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sometimes advocated precept that A.A. therapyis all the recovering or recovered alcoholicshould ever be interested in. In fact, the storiesof thousands of A.A. members reveal quite theopposite. I myself have been a lifelong Catholic,of varying degrees of intensity and varying lev-els of virtue. I also had several years of psycho-analysis after being sober in A.A. for 11 years. Ihave yet to find any of these interests or endeav-ors to be mutually exclusive of the others. Itseems to me that it always comes back to theBiblical injunction “There is a time and a placefor all things.” If tonight any of you would askmy help with your drinking problem, I most cer-tainly would not ask you, “Would you like to goto Mass with me next Sunday?” Nor would I askwhether you wanted an appointment with myformer analyst. But I would unhesitatingly askyou, “Would you like to attend an A.A. meetingwith me?”. . . “There is a time and a place for allthings.” The real danger lies, in my opinion, inthe recovered alcoholic’s assumption that if hewishes to move to another time and anotherplace he must perforce leave A.A. behind.Nothing could be more untrue; nothing couldbe more unnecessary.

The oft-heard cry “A.A. is all you need” hasthe hollow ring of fear — fear that if any mem-ber dissents from the belief that A.A. is the oneand only, the total and complete answer to allthe alcoholic’s ills, then all the other memberswill perish with him. I once clung to this self-same attitude about my religion. Indeed, I cameinto A.A. stubbornly clutching it to my breast.How sad it would have been if I had learned tolet go of one “old idea,” only to substitute anoth-er for it.

This search for perfection, for the onePerfect Answer, is the hallmark of the neurotic.Ever since Eden, man has cried out: “Give me aritual; give me some word; give me a prayer;give me a chant; give me a cross, a relic or astring of beads; give me a mantra; give me aconundrum; give me something; give me any-thing, just so long as it’s a magical, mechanical

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formula I can touch or hold or say or do — andall will be well.”

To apply this same unrealistic yardstick toA.A. is as unfair to the Fellowship as it wouldbe, or has been, to any other human institution.True freedom lies in the realization and calmacceptance of the fact that there may very wellbe no perfect answer. It remains then for eachman to discover and to share whatever worksfor him.

In the final analysis, I am convinced that I, aswell as so many others, have elected to remainin A.A. because only there can we actually relivethe original experience of recovery. Only therecan we be an active part of the daily striving onthe part of all the members — a striving that issometimes better, sometimes worse, some-times strong, sometimes weak — but alwaysthe striving to be human beings a little betterthan we were the day before. If you are a nonal-coholic or not a member of A.A., I can almosthear you saying, “Surely, that man must realizethat this daily striving goes on in other groupsand in other organizations.” Of course, I realizethis. I have been, and still am, a member ofsome of those groups and organizations. Butonly in A.A. can I share in this striving to theextent and the intensity that have given my lifenew meaning. More and more with each pass-ing year in A.A., everywhere I turn and every-where I look, the key word, the activatingagent, the supreme catalyst seems to be thatsimple word “share.”

However, like all great blessings, this intensi-ty of sharing, this feeling of one alcoholic foranother carries with it a corresponding danger.In some subtle way, it also serves the alco-holic’s omnipresent, ever-lurking need to with-draw from the mainstream and turn in uponhimself. Learning to substitute a group, no mat-ter how large, for one’s own self-centeredness isonly partial recovery.

A.A. will probably always number amongits ranks those who, in their fear and theiranger, would make of A.A. a kind of spiritual

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ghetto, a sort of co-ed monastery; where alco-holics hide and lick their wounds, coiningchildish and defensive words like “normsie”and “alky,” and pointing accusing fingers atthe tigers “out there.”

There must come a day, it seems to me,when every alcoholic, in or out of A.A., finallysits down in the presence of his enemies. Whenhe does, he will be amazed to discover that heis attending a meeting of one — himself. Theday the alcoholic in A.A. realizes that his enemyis within, that the tigers are largely creatures ofhis own design and lurk in his own uncon-scious, that is the day when for him A.A.becomes what I believe its founders meant it tobe: a flight into reality.

I happened to be in San Francisco not longafter I had attended my meeting with my ene-mies, and I took a ride on one of those wonder-ful little cable cars, down Powell Street, toFisherman’s Wharf. It was then I saw some-thing strange and wonderful happen. All thepassengers who had ridden the car down thehill with me piled out, and, not waiting for thecrew, proceeded to turn it around themselvesand head it back up the long, steep hill it hadjust come down. And I rode it all the way backup with them, all the way back up to that breath-taking view of the Golden Gate.

It occurred to me then that this is what A.A.had been for me, and, I hoped, would always befor others: a ridiculously simple, jerry-built,noisy, clanking but sturdy, fiercely loved, andjoyous kind of vehicle that had asked me and allits other passengers to turn it and ourselvesaround so that all of us could head back up thehill we had come down, back up to where wecould once again see the bridge — the bridge tonormal living.

Tonight, if I could find one fault with A.A., itwould be that we have not yet begun to tap thepotential hidden in the last seven words of theTwelfth Step: “practice these principles in all our affairs.”

It occurred to me not long ago that whenev-

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er I am sitting in an A.A. meeting, I am neveraware that I am sitting next to another whiteman, another Catholic, another American, or aFrenchman, Mexican, Jew, Moslem, or Hindu,black man or brown. I am aware only that I amsitting next to another alcoholic. And it seemeddeeply significant to me that this feeling of com-mon humanity had been purchased by me atthe cost of considerable pain and suffering.

Should this hard-won understanding of, andfeeling for, others be confined to the meetinghalls and members of A.A.? Or does it remainfor me to take what I have learned and what Ihave experienced, not only in A.A., but in everyother area and endeavor of my fife, to lift up myhead, and to assume my rightful place in thefamily of man? Can I there, in the household ofGod, know that I am not sitting next to anotherwhite man, another Catholic, anotherAmerican, nor yet a Frenchman, Mexican, Jew,Moslem, Hindu, black man or brown, not evenanother alcoholic, and can I finally — at longlast, please God — come home from all thewars and say in the very depths of my soul, “Iam sitting next to another human being”?

Ladies and gentlemen, who would dare at-tempt to analyze a phenomenon, diagram awonder, or parse a miracle? The answer is: onlya fool. And I trust that tonight I have not beensuch a fool. All I have tried to do is tell youwhere I have been these past 16 years and somethings I have come to believe because of myjourneyings.

This coming Sunday, in the churches ofmany of us, there will be read that portion of theGospel of Matthew which recounts the timewhen John the Baptist was languishing in theprison of Herod, and, hearing of the works ofhis cousin Jesus, he sent two of his disciples tosay to Him, “Art thou He who is to come, orshall we look for another?” And Christ did as Heso often did. He did not answer them directly,but wanted John to decide for himself. And soHe said to the disciples: “Go and report to Johnwhat you have heard and what you have seen:

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the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers arecleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise, the poorhave the gospel preached to them.” Back in mychildhood catechism days, I was taught that the“poor” in this instance did not mean only thepoor in a material sense, but also meant the“poor in spirit,” those who burned with an innerhunger and an inner thirst; and that the word“gospel” meant quite literally “the good news. “

More than 16 years ago, four men — myboss, my physician, my pastor, and the onefriend I had left — working singly and together,maneuvered me into A.A. Tonight, if they wereto ask me, “Tell us, what did you find?” I wouldsay to them what I now say to you:

“I can tell you only what I have heard andseen: It seems the blind do see, the lame dowalk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, thedead rise, and over and over again, in the mid-dle of the longest day or the darkest night, thepoor in spirit have the good news told to them.”

God grant that it may always be so.

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THE TWELVE STEPSOF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

1. We admitted we were powerless over alco-hol—that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater thanourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and ourlives over to the care of God as we understoodHim.

4. Made a searching and fearless moralinventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and toanother human being the exact nature of ourwrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God removeall these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our short-comings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed,and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wher-ever possible, except when to do so wouldinjure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory andwhen we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation toimprove our conscious contact with God, as weunderstood Him, praying only for knowledge ofHis will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as theresult of these steps, we tried to carry this mes-sage to alcoholics, and to practice these princi-ples in all our affairs.

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THE TWELVE TRADITIONSOF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.

2. For our group purpose there is but oneultimate authority—a loving God as He mayexpress Himself in our group conscience. Ourleaders are but trusted servants; they do notgovern.

3. The only requirement for A.A. member-ship is a desire to stop drinking.

4. Each group should be autonomous exceptin matters affecting other groups or A.A. as awhole.

5. Each group has but one primary pur-pose—to carry its message to the alcoholic whostill suffers.

6. An A.A. group ought never endorse,finance, or lend the A.A. name to any relatedfacility or outside enterprise, lest problems ofmoney, property, and prestige divert us fromour primary purpose.

7. Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.

8. Alcoholics Anonymous should remain for-ever non-professional, but our service centersmay employ special workers.

9. A.A., as such, ought never be organized;but we may create service boards or commit-tees directly responsible to those they serve.

10. Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion onoutside issues; hence the A.A. name oughtnever be drawn into public controversy.

11. Our public relations policy is based onattraction rather than promotion; we needalways maintain personal anonymity at the levelof press, radio, and films.

12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation ofall our traditions, ever reminding us to placeprinciples before personalities.

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THE TWELVE CONCEPTSFOR WORLD SERVICE

1. Final responsibility and ultimate authority for A.A.world services should always reside in the collective con-science of our whole Fellowship.

2. The General Service Conference of A.A. has become,for nearly every practical purpose, the active voice and theeffective conscience for our whole Society in its world affairs.

3. To insure effective leadership, we should endow eachelement of A.A. — the Conference, the General Service Boardand its service corporations, staffs, committees, and execu-tives — with a traditional “Right of Decision.”

4. At all responsible levels, we ought to maintain a tradi-tional “Right of Participation,” allowing a voting representa-tion in reasonable proportion to the responsibility that eachmust discharge.

5. Throughout our structure, a traditional “Right ofAppeal” ought to prevail, so that minority opinion will beheard and personal grievances receive careful consideration.

6. The Conference recognizes that the chief initiative andactive responsibility in most world service matters should beexercised by the trustee members of the Conference actingas the General Service Board.

7. The Charter and Bylaws of the General Service Boardare legal instruments, empowering the trustees to manageand conduct world service affairs. The Conference Charter isnot a legal document; it relies upon tradition and the A.A.purse for final effectiveness.

8. The trustees are the principal planners and administra-tors of overall policy and finance. They have custodial over-sight of the separately incorporated and constantly activeservices, exercising this through their ability to elect all thedirectors of these entities.

9. Good service leadership at all levels is indispensable forour future functioning and safety. Primary world service lead-ership, once exercised by the founders, must necessarily beassumed by the trustees.

10. Every service responsibility should be matched by anequal service authority, with the scope of such authority welldefined.

11. The trustees should always have the best possiblecommittees, corporate service directors, executives, staffs,and consultants. Composition, qualifications, induction proce-dures, and rights and duties will always be matters of seriousconcern.

12. The Conference shall observe the spirit of A.A. tradi-tion, taking care that it never becomes the seat of perilouswealth or power; that sufficient operating funds and reservebe its prudent financial principle; that it place none of its mem-bers in a position of unqualified authority over others; that itreach all important decisions by discussion, vote, and, when-ever possible, by substantial unanimity; that its actions neverbe personally punitive nor an incitement to public controver-sy; that it never perform acts of government, and that, like theSociety it serves, it will always remain democratic in thoughtand action.

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A.A. PUBLICATIONS Complete order forms available fromGeneral Service Office of ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS,Box 459, Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10163

BOOKS ___________________________________________________________________

ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS (regular, portable, large-print and abridged pocket editions) ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS COMES OF AGETWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS

(regular, soft-cover, large-print, pocket and gift editions) EXPERIENCE, STRENGTH AND HOPEAS BILL SEES IT (regular & soft cover editions)DR. BOB AND THE GOOD OLDTIMERS“PASS IT ON”DAILY REFLECTIONS

BOOKLETS ___________________________________________________________________

CAME TO BELIEVELIVING SOBERA.A. IN PRISON: INMATE TO INMATE

PAMPHLETS ___________________________________________________________________

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT A.A.A.A. TRADITION—HOW IT DEVELOPEDMEMBERS OF THE CLERGY ASK ABOUT A.A.THREE TALKS TO MEDICAL SOCIETIES BY BILL W.ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS AS A RESOURCE FORTHE HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL

A.A. IN YOUR COMMUNITYIS A.A. FOR YOU?IS A.A. FOR ME?THIS IS A.A.A NEWCOMER ASKSIS THERE AN ALCOHOLIC IN THE WORKPLACE?DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DIFFERENT?A.A. FOR THE BLACK AND AFRICAN AMERICAN ALCOHOLICQUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON SPONSORSHIPA.A. FOR THE WOMANA.A. FOR THE NATIVE NORTH AMERICANA.A. AND THE GAY/LESBIAN ALCOHOLICA.A. FOR THE OLDER ALCOHOLIC—NEVER TOO LATETHE JACK ALEXANDER ARTICLEYOUNG PEOPLE AND A.A.A.A. AND THE ARMED SERVICESTHE A.A. MEMBER—MEDICATIONS AND OTHER DRUGSIS THERE AN ALCOHOLIC IN YOUR LIFE?INSIDE A.A.THE A.A. GROUPG.S.R.MEMO TO AN INMATETWELVE STEPS ILLUSTRATEDTHE TWELVE CONCEPTS ILLUSTRATEDTHE TWELVE TRADITIONS ILLUSTRATEDLET'S BE FRIENDLY WITH OUR FRIENDSHOW A.A. MEMBERS COOPERATEA.A. IN CORRECTIONAL FACILITIESA MESSAGE TO CORRECTIONS PROFESSIONALSA.A. IN TREATMENT SETTINGSBRIDGING THE GAPIF YOU ARE A PROFESSIONALA.A. MEMBERSHIP SURVEYA MEMBER'S-EYE VIEW OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUSPROBLEMS OTHER THAN ALCOHOLUNDERSTANDING ANONYMITYTHE CO-FOUNDERS OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUSSPEAKING AT NON-A.A. MEETINGSA BRIEF GUIDE TO A.A.A NEWCOMER ASKSWHAT HAPPENED TO JOE; IT HAPPENED TO ALICE

(Two full-color, comic-book style pamphlets)TOO YOUNG? (A cartoon pamphlet for teenagers)IT SURE BEATS SITTING IN A CELL

(An Illustrated pamphlet for inmates)

VIDEOS ___________________________________________________________

A.A. VIDEOS FOR YOUNG PEOPLEHOPE: ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUSIT SURE BEATS SITTING IN A CELLCARRYING THE MESSAGE BEHIND THESE WALLSYOUR A.A. GENERAL SERVICE OFFICE,THE GRAPEVINE AND THE GENERAL SERVICE STRUCTURE

PERIODICALS__________________________________________________________

A.A. GRAPEVINE (monthly)LA VIÑA (bimonthly) Jan 11

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