Post by majestyjo on Mar 22, 2015 22:34:12 GMT -5
Some Helpful Roots
You ought to learn and know some of the following basic ideas that fed directly into the Twelve Steps from their three major sources (Shoemaker, Oxford Group, Anne Smith, Dr. Bob's wife):
"Powerlessness" seems to have little to do with our beginnings. It was just an expression that fit in with Wilson's later talk about "lack of power," and the need to find a "power" (which Wilson said and which was most assuredly that of the Creator Yahweh). In the beginning, the First Step idea was just: "We admitted we were licked." And that still does it for me. Then the pioneers often said this prayer: "O God, manage me because I can't manage myself." It's from Anne Smith's Journal, Shoemaker's books, and the Oxford Group's stories about "Victor."
"Came to believe" was originally phrased: "believe that God can restore you to sanity." The "came to believe" part originated with Shoemaker's emphasis on John 7:17-"If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be or God, or whether I [Jesus] speak of myself. "Shoemaker's thesis: Do God's will, and then you'll know what God can do, said he. Good examples can be found in Shoemaker's Religion That Works and Twice Born Ministers.
The Third Step called for a "decision" to entrust your life to God's care.
It was primarily based on "Thy will be done" from the Lord's prayer (Matthew 6:10). And you can see these points in the Anne Smith, Shoemaker, and Oxford Group writings. The addition of God "As we understood Him" simply came from many of Shoemaker's writings about surrendering as much of yourself as you understand to as much of God as you understand. Good examples can be found in Children of the Second Birth by Shoemaker.
The Fourth Step originated with on the Oxford Group's Four Absolutes-honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love. Also with Matthew 7:1-5 of Jesus's sermon on the mount. You wrote the four absolutes down. You also wrote down where your life was astray. And you looked for your part in the wrongdoing. These ideas can clearly be seen in Anne's, Shoemaker's, and the Oxford Group's writings.
Our Fifth Step language can be found in the same three sources. But all state that the basic idea came from James 5:16. The pity is that, by ignoring the Bible, our historians have missed the point that you not only "confess" your faults one to another, but you call in the elders to pray for the sick person, "and the Lord shall raise him up" and his sins shall be forgiven (James 5:15). It continues that you will be healed because the "effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." That's something Wilson and A.A. Number Three (Bill Dotson) specifically claimed for themselves in the early years before 1939. See Big Book, page 191.
The Sixth and Seventh Step language leaves many bewildered today.
Two paragraphs in the Big Book say very little and omit very much. They mix up various theological ideas, and they weren't part of Akron thinking except for acceptance Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour (something totally removed from today's A.A.). The best understanding of these two Steps and two paragraphs would really come to you upon learning and knowing the "5 C's" that were mentioned by Anne, by Sam, and by the Oxford Group. These two Step ideas really come from the Five C's. They rest primarily on "Conviction" (Step 6) and "Conversion" (Step 7). You can see these explained in detail in the early Oxford Group book Soul Surgery by Walter. But the roots got lost in Bill's shuffle from his "six" word-of-mouth "steps" to the "twelve" he wrote in late 1938 and were supposed to leave no "wiggle room" as he and Lois put it. The problem is that they left little understanding either. Many somehow think they lose all faults in those two Steps and then wonder why the remainder are necessary.
Two paragraphs in the Big Book say very little and omit very much. They mix up various theological ideas, and they weren't part of Akron thinking except for acceptance Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour (something totally removed from today's A.A.). The best understanding of these two Steps and two paragraphs would really come to you upon learning and knowing the "5 C's" that were mentioned by Anne, by Sam, and by the Oxford Group. These two Step ideas really come from the Five C's. They rest primarily on "Conviction" (Step 6) and "Conversion" (Step 7). You can see these explained in detail in the early Oxford Group book Soul Surgery by Walter. But the roots got lost in Bill's shuffle from his "six" word-of-mouth "steps" to the "twelve" he wrote in late 1938 and were supposed to leave no "wiggle room" as he and Lois put it. The problem is that they left little understanding either. Many somehow think they lose all faults in those two Steps and then wonder why the remainder are necessary.
The Eighth and Ninth Step ideas of restitution have their roots in four segments of the Bible (See thingy B., The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous; The Oxford Group and Alcoholics Anonymous; By the Power of God; and The Good Book and The Big Book). This concept of life-change that involves "restoring," making "restitution," taking corrective action can be seen most vividly in the Oxford Group book For Sinners Only by A. J. Russell.
The Tenth Step derives from the "Continuance" principle of the Oxford Group' s Five C's. You continue the "surrender," the "life change," the self-examination, confession, conviction, and conversion-as well as the restitution-you learned in and undertook in the first nine Steps. To know the roots and the purpose is to understand better why there was a Step Ten. And Shoemaker wrote eloquently about continued "surrender" as did Anne Smith.
The Eleventh Step is a big deal. And the best references I can give are to the exhaustive treatment of Quiet Time, Guidance, Bible study, Prayer, Listening, Checking, Journaling, and use of devotionals and other literature that I have covered in my books Good Morning!: Quiet Time, Morning Watch, Meditation, and Early A.A.; The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous, New Light on Alcoholism; The Oxford Group and Alcoholics Anonymous; The Good Book and The Big Book; and By the Power of God. In fact, the richness of the Eleventh Step roots can best be understood by having, as a reference set, my fifteen titles which are sold as a group at a substantial discount. That way, you have the history when you want to study it, when you want to refer to it, and when you want to look at the tremendous amount of bibliography that is available in those books.
Now the Twelfth Step. The language "spiritual awakening" is from the Oxford Group (See Buchman, Remaking the World). And Shoemaker wrote a whole chapter in one of his books, explaining what a "spiritual awakening" was. He further elaborated at an A.A. Convention when he said it had four elements: (prayer, conversion, fellowship, and witness); but you sure won't find them in A.A. literature today. The topic "spiritual experience" is likewise from the Oxford Group. The problem is that neither Professor William James, nor Dr. Carl Jung, nor even Bill Wilson were originally talking about either a spiritual awakening or a spiritual experience as the Oxford Group defined them. They were talking about "religious" experiences and "conversion." But the distaste for such ideas in the Oxford Group, the Roman Catholic Church, the universalists, the revisionists, and the non-Christians has slowly but surely buried the conversion which was a sine qua non of early A.A. What was the message that 12 Steppers were to carry? You won't find Bill describing it. But the real message was carried by Ebby to Bill and found its way into the Big Book in terms of "God has done for me what I could not do for myself." To that was added the Oxford Group/Shoemaker idea of "passing it on" and "giving it away to keep it"-both of which derived from Biblical witnessing. And what were the principles 12 Steppers were to practice? That was left undiscussed by Wilson. Once he and A.A. leadership buried the Four Absolutes, they also quickly buried the simplest, earliest, clearest statements of the principles. Those principles-honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love-were the "yardsticks," as Dr. Bob called them. They were the "standards" as many Oxford Group people called them. And, since they were based on the teachings of Jesus, they can also be said to incorporate all the principles of the Ten Commandments, the two "Great Commandments" of Jesus, other commandments in the Bible, the Sermon on the Mount, and 1 Corinthians 13. And you will find that many literature items of early A.A. central office so stated.
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. I will be back looking for Lin and others.