AA: The Magic Of Bill Wilson

Many know Bill Wilson as the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, but few realize his brilliance as it relates to healing the human condition, alcoholic or not. Aldous Huxley called him the greatest social architect of our time, and he was in the top 20 of Time's 100 heroes and icons of the 20th Century. But to make it out of his stupor Bill Wilson would have to forge a path where no one had gone before.

Bill had a dilemma once he got sober: the only place his alcoholic friends were recovering was the Oxford Group, an evangelical sect that had as their express goal to "Christianize" people. The group also believed that alcoholism was due to moral failure and that drinking was a sin. But Bill was learning from his doctor (Dr. Silkworth) that alcoholism was an illness. The news was liberating for him especially since he didn't believe that alcoholics were "sinners," per se. Bill had no problem with the concept of God. He himself had a spiritual experience that he felt struck him sober, but as he began talking with other alcoholics about getting sober, he could see that the Oxford's group's beliefs were hindering the recovery process.

Bill found himself tempted in his newfound sobriety as he walked by a bar one night so he started making phone calls to Oxford Group members to try to find alcoholics he could talk to. He found the conversations served to help his own sobriety and realized that only by "giving it away" could he keep it. One of those conversations led him to a "Dr. Bob", who would become the cofounder of AA. When talking to Bob, Bill's approach was to help him make a total surrender or as he called it, "ego deflation at depth," seeing that the end result of his alcoholism would be death or institutionalization. Eventually Bill and Bob broke away from the Oxford Group, but kept the "steps" which would later become "The Twelve Steps," of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Oxford Group would die away whereas AA and its affiliate programs dealing with gambling, sex and drugs would flourish with members into the millions worldwide. Why?

History, especially with regards to Bill Wilson shows us that it is neither helpful nor useful to look at people's compulsive behavior or depression as a moral failure or lack of willpower. It is as Dr Silkworth put it, "A physical allergy combined with mental obsession." Shining a light on the obsession in a forum without judgment is the key to recovery. It's a formula that has transformed everything from hoarders to debting.

Extrapolating this wisdom, we can see that "challenging" someone to give up smoking is like challenging someone to quit having diabetes. "C'mon" someone may say, "go on a diet, I challenge you to take off 50 pounds," which may work for a couple months only to see the weight put right back on again. Why? Because there is an illness at work here, not a matter of flipping on a switch and changing behavior. But the illness, once a light shines on the underlying reasons can be arrested.

Or how about depression? Now there's a misunderstood disease. How many articles do we read about depression being something where you can think your way into a positive outlook? For Wilson, he suffered deeply from depression after AA got on its feet and people accused him of "not working the program." But depression functions very much like addiction, as many of us in recovery can attest, in that it too is an illness, that has it's own unique recovery process.

Bill didn't just stop with AA. He would eventually get into therapy with a Jungian therapist and correspond briefly with Carl Jung. Bill wrote Jung to thank him for steering a friend of his toward a spiritual solution for his drinking problem. That in fact led Bill to his own spiritual experience. Jung wrote back confirming his belief that addiction is a "spiritual thirst for wholeness."

I was playing golf this summer and was paired up with a pastor. He lamented that he was unable to help one of his members who was an active alcoholic. I asked him if he had recommended AA to his friend. He said, "Well you know, it doesn't specifically mention who the Higher Power is, so I'm not comfortable with that." That was a real head scratcher. In contrast, Bill Wilson's attitude about spirituality is as refreshing today as it was back in the 30's. He called AA spiritual kindergarten and thought of his book, "The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions," as outlining a process to experience the essentially spiritual nature of life. In his mind it should be available to everyone.

The one thing Bill didn't do was become a megalomaniac. His letting go of leadership set AA apart from all other movements to help alcoholics. He made it a representative democracy and refused to dominate it. He also wrote into the traditions of the program that they would not proselytize but rather the public relations policy would be "attraction rather than promotion." That says a lot that a membership of millions would come solely through attraction.

I still haven't figured out how to get my local politician to understand representative democracy, but I'm working on it. I'll get back to you when I do . . .

Reference: Hartigan, Francis. Bill W. A biography of Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder Bill Wilson. New York: St. Martin's, 2000. Print.

 

Comments

[Hopemonger38]

Bill W. went to Arlington High School in Arlington, Ma.
Isabel Hickey worked with him to form the philosophy of AA. Issie was a psychic astrologer­/housewife from a neighboring town who went on the teach meditation to hundreds of Boston-area folks in the 1970's with her Friday Night Fix. I was lucky to attend the last couple of years.
Issie and Bill used the book God Calling, a daily spiritual guide I recommend today.

[BlackYowe]

AA saved both my brothers. I will be forever grateful! Thank YOu Bill Wilson!

[Alexandre Laudet]

Thank you for this article, it makes several great points. Key among them is that alcoholism-and drug dependence- are brain diseases not a choice or a show of weakness. The historical view of addiction as a moral failing continues to represent an obstacle to people seeking help today. In research studies when we ask substance users why they do/did not seek help -be it professional treatment, 12-step or anything else- or why they drop out of treatment or 12 step, one of the most frequent reasons is: "I don't need help, can do it on my own." When we probe into this we find that people feel -or are made to feel-that they got into addiction out of moral weakness and that only by pulling themselves out of it by sheer will power can they prove to themselves that they are not morally weak. This of course flies in the face of empirical evidence showing that social support and seeking help are key to recovery. And as the article states, like diabetes or high blood pressure, one is always well advised to some form of help.

[Jeff Witzeman - Huffpost Blogger]

Well said . . . and it's such a trap isn't it, that whole "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" philosophy.

[Alexandre Laudet]

Unfortunately it is and that's one of the elements that makes 12 step so controversial in western societies, this idea that you don't have to pull yourself up by yourself not only. I am always amazed at all the misconceptions and qualms about 12-step I see in my research findings not only among treatment providers (who play a key role in informing clients about 12-step) but among 12-step member themselves...).

[SKonnery]

Lots of people give lipservice to the term that alcoholism is a disease. If they believed that they wouldn't tell a person with diabetes to "pull themselves up by they're boot straps". Diabetes and alcoholism are very similar diseases. Most middle and late stage alcoholics suffer from either high or low blood sugar.

[ouroborous]

Ah, AA. The only "treatment" for a non-disease with a 5% "cure" rate (yes, you read that correctly, only one in 20 xA members gets sober for life) that is regularly court-mandated as the gold standard "cure."

South Park nailed it in one; AA is -- and always has been -- a cult.

[tinrobot]

AA can work wonders for those who want to be there. Courts (and spouses and others) ordering to people to AA kind of defeats one of the central tenets of AA - which is that group should attract people, not recruit them or force them to show up. If someone is forced into a meeting against their will, they will not get much benefit, which probably contributes to the rates you quote -- without attribution, I might add.

And it doesn't really fit the definition of a cult - there's no leader to exhalt, no recruitment of new members, there's no demands for money, etc.. It's really just a group of people sharing the same condition who support each other. It's no more a cult than a cancer survivors group.

[luling]

madates do not defeat AA. AA has a symbiotic relationship with the authorities. AA needs those mandated attendees to fill the chairs.

AA is not a suport group. To equate it with cancer patient support groups is an insult to cancer patients.

[noralou]

Alcoholics Anonymous saved my life. I am not a Christian so my "higher power" is different from some, but the fact that AA doesn't require you to have a specific God kept me in the program in the early days of my sobriety. The AA Big Book says "God as you understand God". I was able to find a higher power of my understanding. "The only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking." That is one of our traditions. You can have the group of alcoholics, Mother Nature, your sponsor -- heck, whatever works - for your higher power. Spirituality is a highly personal thing. In AA you are not told whom you should choose, just that you must have a power greater than yourself.
Thank you Bill Wilson, Dr. Bob and the other pioneers of AA. You gave me the means to get and stay sober.

[WildElf]

Good stuff Jeff! I hope to see more articles here by you.

[S1m0n]

Bill's genius was the discovery that you could strip the narrative, the cosmology & the deity from religion without altering its effectiveness.

[speedy0314]

genius, indeed!

"strip the narrative, the cosmology & the deity from religion" and you've got an entity as devoid of substance & genuine scientific validity as AA.

great stuff.

[KerryW]

Gotta love the 12 steps. A safe place to share struggles, experience, strength and hope. There is magic in those rooms. Thank you, Bill W.

[BluePrideStephen]

The twelve steps were devinely inspired. Not by a diety, but by that spark of 'life' in all living things that is devine. Get a sobriety date, get a sponsor and work a program. Your life will change. The only other options are jails, institutions or death.

[tck29]

Alcohol is a killer. Fact. Alcohol is destructive. Fact. Alcohol is addictive. Fact.

Marijuana is not. Legalize it and save humanity!

[JustAThought56]

Actually, that's not true. People smoke and drive under the influence of pot all of the time and cause accidents. You can't tell they're high from a breathalyzer, so it does not get the on-the-spot identification that alcohol gets. It also distorts perception and motor skills differently than alcohol does. I have also seen people who smoke pot take incredible risks to obtain it, risking family and career, in defiance of all logic, which coupled with an inability to stop for any length of time indicates addiction to me. And I have seen people suffer from amotivational syndrome - lots of ideas and intentions and no ability to take action because they are either high or coming down from being high and not able to do much.

The reasons to legalize marijuana are not that it is harmless, or even that it is less harmful than alcohol. The reasons to legalize are the same as for alcohol - the fact that it is illegal has created an incredibly violent and well financed army, destabilizing our southern border, and people who are arrested for buying it are filling our jails instead of working and paying taxes.

Most people use marijuana responsibly, just like most people are able to drink responsibly. There are some people who are exposed to alcohol or to pot who seem to have a different physiological reaction to it, and who are not able to use these substances responsibly. That is not a reason to criminalize it.

[S1m0n]

The only study I know on this was from the seventies, when pot wasn't what it is now, but what the study determined was that of the two, people who were stoned did a much better job of assessing their ability than people who were drunk. Actually, they were the same people in this case, being test for degree of impairment. Drunks thought they were fine to drive and were more likely to go too fast and to take risks. People high on pot knew they were trashed, so they drove a lot slower. Too slow, actually, but all the same they slaughtered fewer of the orange cones.