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| Rick Swaney 4-01-1987
Wapakoneta, Ohio ______________________________
THE CONFERENCE-PUBLISHED BIOGRAPHY OF BILL W. http://www.walkindryplaces.com/ He is also the author of: **New Wine: The Spiritual roots of the Twelve Step Miracle (1991) **Ebby: The Man Who Sponsored Bill W. (1998) **My Search for Bill W. (2000) **Walk in Dry Places (1996) And the author (along with Bill P.) of: **The 7 Key Principles of Successful Recovery (1999) IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6432. . . . . . . . . . . . Upper Room From: Charlie C . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/7/2010 7:23:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Although I don't use it so much these days, I still enjoy the Upper Room devotional, and looking at one recently in a Methodist church where I attend a meeting I noticed that this is their 75th year, the same as AA! It can help to understand the popularity of the Upper Room in early AA to know
that such daily devotionals are not that many in number, and this is one of the
earliest and longest running. The Daily GuidePost, a similar title, was not started until 1977 for example. The Methodist church too was then, as it is now, quite large, and very widespread geographically, so undoubtedly many meetings were housed in Methodist churches, thus perhaps giving some exposure to the Upper Room, copies of which are often set out for the taking.
heart of
its ministry. During the 1930s, a group of women in San Antonio, Texas discerned through prayer that families needed a time of worship and Bible study to sustain
them through the stress of the economic depression. They asked their church for
a devotional guide -- a request that inspired the Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, to "publish a quarterly devotional booklet to be sold in the local church." Dr. Grover Carlton Emmons, the first editor of the guide, determined the one-page meditation format and decided that the devotions would be written by various Christians, both lay and clergy, from around the world. The final decision, the name of the guide, came to him as he heard a speaker describe the
outpouring of spiritual power among Jesus' disciples gathered in an upper room
on the day of Pentecost. He quickly telegraphed those who were typesetting the
first issue, and in April 1935, the first issue of The Upper Room daily devotional guide rolled off the presses. In the decades since the guide was "prayed into existence," The Upper Room has
grown into a global ministry and touched millions of lives. The Upper Room continues to expand in response to the spiritual needs of persons and communities of faith."
IM = route20guy IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6433. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Modern AA success rate From: Kimball ROWE . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/8/2010 4:29:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII THE 75% / 25% RULE-OF-THUMB STILL WORKS TODAY, FOR ALL WHO CAME TO A.A. AND "REALLY TRIED" Of alcoholics who came to A.A. and really tried, 50% got sober at once and remained that way; 25% sobered up after some relapses, and among the remainder, those who stayed on with A.A. showed improvement. (Foreword to the Second Edition, pg xx)
had
to "Really Try." How many got sober at once, how many sobered up after some relapses, and what happened to the remainder. Our criteria for "Really Tried" is as follows: 1. Did you thoroughly follow the path? 2. Did you completely give yourself to this simple program? 3. Did you grasp and develop a manner of living that demands rigorous honesty?
4. Did you have the capacity to be honest? 5. Did you have the willingness to go to any length? 6. Did you take certain steps? 7. Were you fearless and thorough from the very start? 8. Did you let go of your old ideas absolutely? 9. Did you find a Power greater than yourself? 10. Did you ask this Higher Power for help? 11. Did you take the steps? 12. Were you willing to grow along spiritual lines?
our
home group, 50% got sober at once and remained that way; 25% sobered up after
some relapses, and among the remainder, those who stayed on with A.A. showed improvement. For my home group, the numbers haven't changed since 1939. That said, the Foreword to the Second Edition continues, "Other thousands came
to a few A.A. meetings and at first decided they didn't want the program. But
great numbers of these about two out of three began to return as time passed."
They were not counted with those that tried. They are sometimes referred to as the "passing parade" or "visitors" but rarely take the time to become members. Kim IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6434. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Upper Room From: M.J. Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/9/2010 5:03:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I'm very interested in finding archived issues of The Upper Room from the 30's
and 40's - ideally electronically... does anyone know where I might find them?
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6435. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Modern AA Success Rate From: planternva2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/8/2010 9:46:00 AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII From James Scarpine, Tim T., and Glenn C. - - - - From: "planternva2000" (james.scarpine at verizon.net) You say that this passage in the Big Book on pages 159-160 is "talking about early Akron AA. Read Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers to see more
details about what this paragraph was actually describing. Also read the whole
first paragraph, including 'scarce an evening passed that someone's home did not
shelter a little gathering of men and women.'" Is it truly talking about early AA? Or is it talking about the Akron Oxford Group? "A year and six months later....." has to mean during the time when the alcoholics were O.G. members, since the split didn't take place till later. It's reasonable to assume that those early members needed frequent contact with one another because there was no "AA program of recovery" available. Yes, they had the O. G. `six step' program, but as we see from different examples in our literature, there were several different versions of those. If meetings were so vital in those early days I'm sure Bill would have made the point in the Big Book. Instead he stressed the importance of the 12 Steps. His comments about the
frequent gatherings in members' homes is mentioned in passing, an example of the
alcoholic's different social activities. - - - - From: pvttimt@aol.com (pvttimt at aol.com) The claim was made that "THE ONLY MENTION OF MEETINGS is on pages 159-160 in the
Big Book, which says ONLY ONE MEETING A WEEK IS NECESSARY." If you go to pagers 159-160, you'll find that the above quote is not what it says at all. The word "necessary" is never mentioned. In fact, the context of this section suggests that lots of homes had meetings lots of nights and that these folks saw a lot of one another. It's very distressing when people take quotes out of context and "spin" them to mean something else, for whatever reason, or to support whatever agenda. Over the last several years there have been individuals who belong to groups that hold themselves out to be better than the rest of us. These individuals frequently use this "straw man" argument, whereby they set up this false choice: "Meetings alone" vs. doing it their way. Obviously, in the experience of most sober, long-term AA members, a home group,
a sponsor, working the steps, surrendering to some kind of spiritual open-mindedness, reading the literature, trying to carry the message to other suffering alkies - ALL these things together produce the highest quality of life for the recovered alcholic. Having "sects" of AA that claim they are better than the rest of us; the "sects" using their own literature; the "sects" interpreting the Big Book in idiosyncratic ways; it strikes me that this only divides our fellowship and unnecessarily complicates what is a fairly straightforward process. Tim T. - - - - From: glennccc@sbcglobal.net (glennccc at sbcglobal.net) THIS IS THE KIND OF EARLY AKRON A.A. which was being referred to on pp. 159-160 of the Big Book. J. D. Holmes (A.A. No. 10) describes the Wednesday night Open Meeting (as we would call it today) at the home of T. Henry and Clarace Williams, where non-alcoholics also took part in the discussions.
Bob's
home, where the door was never locked, and groups of recovering alcoholics could
be found there literally every hour of the day or night. It was not a get-together-once-a-week program, but a program in which people got
together seven days a week. http://hindsfoot.org/nfirst.html J. D. Holmes and the First A.A. Group in Indiana Evansville, April 23, 1940 ______________________________ Based on a talk given by Glenn C. (South Bend) at the archives workshop held at the Courthouse Annex in Peru, Indiana on March 25, 2000, assembled from his notes and Frank Nyikos’ transcription of the tape recordings which Frank made of
the speakers. James D. "J. D." Holmes got sober in Akron, Ohio in September 1936, where he was
A.A. No. 10. After the newspaper J. D. worked for in Akron was sold, he moved to
Evansville, Indiana, on May 30, 1938, and got a job selling advertising for a newspaper there. He started the first A.A. meeting in Indiana in Evansville on April 23, 1940.Around 1951, J. D. returned to Akron, where he was a writer for the Akron Beacon-Journal. He died at his home in Akron at the age of 66 on Saturday, May 27, 1961, with 24 years of sobriety. ______________________________ There's a lot of stuff about J. D. in Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, the official A.A. history of those early Akron years when A.A. was first beginning .... J. D. was one of the few early A.A. members who were not hospitalized first .... But in J.D.'s case, they decided he didn't need that kind of hospitalization, so they just invited him to attend the regular Wednesday evening meeting of the "alcoholic squad" (as it was later jokingly referred to) at the home of Oxford Groupers T. Henry and Clarace Williams. "I met seven other men there who had a drinking problem," J. D. said, "together with Dr. Bob and Bill Wilson. They all told me their stories, and I decided there might be hope for me." They conducted it a little bit like they used to do when they gave you the third degree at a police station -- you know, the bright light shining in your eyes, everything except beating you with a rubber hose -- the old timers weren't kidding around when they did a twelfth step on you! During this period, J. D. recalled, he saw Dr. Bob every day of the week, either
at his office or in his home. "I was over there four or five times a week in the daytime, and then I'd wind up
there at night. I've gone to their home on a morning, opened it up, and gone in," J. D. said. "No one up. I'd just go ahead and start the pot of coffee going. Somebody would holler out, 'Who's down there?' -- thinking maybe it would
be a drunk who had stayed overnight. Anne never knew who would be on her davenport when she got up in the morning." The early A.A.'s in Akron [stuck together constantly]. This was somewhere around
early 1938 by now. J. D. told how "Ernie's mother used to throw a party every two weeks during this
period. She'd make the doughnuts, and though everybody was broke, we all brought
something. It was nothing unusual to see 25 or 30 people over there drinking coffee and eating doughnuts." "I've been at those parties when there were calls from Cleveland from people who
wanted to come down," he said. "Two men would hop in a car, go to Cleveland, and
bring the man down to Akron." IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6436. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Modern AA success rate From: James Bliss . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/7/2010 7:38:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII From Jim Bliss, Steven Calderbank, Dave G., and Bill McIntire - - - - From: James Bliss (james.bliss at comcast.net) First Sentence, Chapter 7, "Working with Others," Big Book page 89: /Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other activities fail./
without continued work. Work with another alcoholic, at least my reading from
the Big Book, is working the steps with them. Note the term 'with'. This does
not mean that they alone are working the steps but that I also am working the
steps over and over when I work with other alcoholics. I agree, going to meetings does not keep me sober, although it may keep me dry
(which my wife and family do not want to see). For me to stay sober I must continue to work the program, and this is best done by working with another alcoholic, through the steps.
perhaps
they have worked the steps. But they have not 'practiced these principles in all
of our affairs' which, in my reading, is continuing to work the steps. They also
have not continued to (or at all) work with other alcoholics. As Bill says in the 12 and 12 in his discussion of step six, '/Only Step One,
where we made the 100 percent admission we were powerless over alcohol, can be practiced with absolute perfection./' The plain reading of this is that I am supposed to continue to 'practice' the steps. In my opinion, I need to continue
to work them, striving for perfection, although I know that I will not be able
to achieve perfection in any of them but the first. Jim - - - - From: steven.calderbank@verizon.net (steven.calderbank at verizon.net) No offense Bill, but when you said: "However, I have met only a very small handful of people over the last 23 yrs who had truthfully gone thru the steps, that went back out, and I have yet to meet ANYBODY who is current with themselves and has a current experience with the steps who has gone back out -- ever!!!" How do you quantify such a statement? It was said with such authority, but I fail to see where such a statement makes much sense. I know that the program of AA works for me 100% of the time that I use it. I have a 100% success rate. That is the only one I can honestly quantify. And even if the only mention of meetings in the Big Book is the one on pages 159-160, it is also true that the Big Book doesn't use the word sponsor in the first 164 pages. But I am sure most folks would not suggest doing without one. - - - - From: David G. (doci333 at hotmail.com) Hi Jim and Everyone, I wrestled with that 2%-3% in my head to. Years back (~15yrs), I asked an oldtimer about those percentages, and he passed
on to me that he had read that; 3-5% of all Americans were possibly alcoholic. He added that with our alcoholic minds we probably just skewed those percentages over to the Program Of AA because we like the pain and love to live in the disaster mode. It was enough to quiet the beast in my head. My side of the street shows that I have a 100% success rate. The "Oldtimer" is the only documentation that I have. Thanks to all for paving
the way. AA Love and Hugs, Dave G. Illinois
From: BILL MCINTIRE (maxbott at yahoo.com) This is really great information!!! Brings up some points I havn't considered and still follows closely to what I always felt. Meetings are very important! They provide a vital aid to recovery. I think most people's chances improve with
close and constant support and helps us to (hopefully) grow in our sobriety but
is not what keeps us sober. While early Akron was still in the forming stages of a fellowship there was scarce anybody (support) available. I do not take anything away from the importance of meetings with exception to some peoples belief that that is how one stays sober. A message stressing more importance in meetings as a way to stay sober and much less stressing of the message and the steps and the necessity of a continuously growing spiritual experience to stay sober is, I believe dangerous to our fellowship. The list of facts this group has sent me I believe supports that fear I think
perhaps I am getting a little off base from the topic of history though. For that I apologize. Occasionally I can fall off on personal experience and my history rather than learning more of "our" history of AA
From: Edward . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/8/2010 9:01:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII From Ted G. and Jim M. - - - - From: Ted G. (elg3_79 at yahoo.com) Dear ones, Recently I have been delving into the literature which might be charitably called the counterpoint to ours .. Jack Trimpey's "The Small Book", Stanton Peele's "The Diseasing of America", Marianne Gilliam's "How Alcoholics Anonymous Failed Me", "The Alcoholism and Addiction Cure" by Chris Prentiss and a couple
of others. All contain some variant of the claim that only 3-6% of people who come to A.A.
get sober, which they further claim is identical to the rate of people who simply stop drinking with no outside help when they've had enough. I believe this commonly repeated "statistic" (amongst people who have a vested interest in discrediting A.A.) to be the source of the rumors heard in meeting rooms.
won't shut off) to read at least the first three books I listed, as their insight into what to avoid saying or doing as a responsible A.A. member is invaluable. The authors' objections to A.A. are generally not against what is actually in the literature, but against what one hears in rooms nowadays, and when one examines the "alternative" programs of action they present, there are striking
similarities to the early A.A. way of doing things .... Which I am sure would
cause them great resentment if it were pointed out to them. Y'all's in service, Ted G. - - - - From: Jim M (silkworthdotnet at yahoo.com) Numbers don't lie. You can see them for yourself, that which Allen G. presented to you below - then compare them
were
much, much higher. When I lived in Columbia, SC, I had a sponsor who would sit down with me and the
Big Book and we would study every word, sentence, paragraph and chapter and discuss its historical significance and value. He was and lived like the AA'ers of the early days when the success rates were much higher. He was well loved and is missed by many AA'ers. He was known from Columbia, SC all the way up to the top - AAWS, Inc.
His primary purpose was truly to stay sober and help other alcoholics to acheive sobriety and is exactly how
he lived his life. I believe in one alcoholic helping another, I believe in AA, I believe in the 12 Steps, I believe in the 12 Traditions, I have Hope and Faith, I know there is a Power greater than myself, His name is God and His Son died for my sins.
Jim M,
http://www.silkworth.net/ IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6438. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Times and places of AA Meetings in April 1939 From: allan_gengler . . . . . . . . . . . . 4/8/2010 1:04:00 PM
be followed in 1937 with the start of a third at Cleveland. Besides these, there were scattered alcoholics who had picked up the basic ideas in Akron or New York who were trying to form groups in other cities. By late 1937, the number of Yüklə 25,47 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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