What Is Alcoholics Anonymous?

What Is Alcoholics Anonymous?

What Is the Oxford Group?Practice These Principles

Practice these Principles: Our Fellowship

• “Our Fellowship has no official membership list, subscriptions, badge, or rules, nor owns vast amounts of property. It is a name for a group of people who from every rank, profession, and trade, in many countries, have surrendered their lives to the God of their understanding. They are endeavoring to lead spiritual lives under the guidance of the Spirit of the Universe.”1

The HistoryAkron, Ohio, June 1935, …talk between a New Work stockbroker and an Akron

physician.

“Six months earlier, the broker had been relieved of his drink obsession by a sudden spiritual experience, following a meeting with an alcoholic friend who had been in contact with the Oxford Groups of that day. He had also been greatly helped by the late Dr. William D. Silkworth, a New York specialist in alcoholism who is now accounted no less than a medical saint by A.A. members, whose story of the early days of our Society appears in the next pages. From this doctor, the broker had learned the grave nature of alcoholism. Though he could not accept all the tenets of the Oxford Groups, he was convinced of the need for moral inventory, confession of personality defects, restitution to those harmed, helpfulness to others, and the necessity of belief in and dependence upon God.”2

The HistoryAkron, Ohio, June 1935, …talk between a New Work stockbroker and an Akron

physician.

“Six months earlier, the broker had been relieved of his drink obsession by a sudden spiritual experience, following a meeting with an alcoholic friend who had been in contact with the Oxford Groups of that day. He had also been greatly helped by the late Dr. William D. Silkworth, a New York specialist in alcoholism who is now accounted no less than a medical saint by A.A. members, whose story of the early days of our Society appears in the next pages. From this doctor, the broker had learned the grave nature of alcoholism. Though he could not accept all the tenets of the Oxford Groups, he was convinced of the need for moral inventory, confession of personality defects, restitution to those harmed, helpfulness to others, and the necessity of belief in and dependence upon God.”3

Points

1. Cognitive - obsessive thinking2. Medical cause – a disease:

Progressive and fatal that is linked with genetic predispositions (nature)

3. Personality Disorder or defects4. Religion: the need for confession,

restitution, belief in God and a spiritual experience.

Points





• Imaging and Alcoholism: A Window on the Brain

• The processes that initiate and maintain alcoholism are regulated by interactions among nerve cells (i.e., neurons) in the brain. These mechanisms interact with emotional, cognitive, and social factors to determine an individual's response to alcohol consumption.4

• Cognitive Impairment and Recovery From Alcoholism

• “Brain damage is a common and potentially severe consequence of long-term, heavy alcohol consumption. Even mild-to-moderate drinking can adversely affect cognitive functioning (i.e., mental activities that involve acquiring, storing, retrieving, and using information). Persistent cognitive impairment can contribute to poor job performance in adult alcoholics, and can interfere with learning and academic achievement in adolescents with an established pattern of chronic heavy drinking. A small but significant proportion of the heaviest drinkers may develop devastating, irreversible brain-damage syndromes, such as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, a disorder in which the patient is incapable of remembering new information for more than a few seconds.”5

Alcohol, Cocaine, MethamphetamineMost drugs of abuse directly or indirectly target the brain’s reward

system by flooding the circuit with dopamine. The result is significant changes in the brain.

Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction. NIDA, U.S. Department

Brain Disease and Recovery

Alcoholics Anonymous and the Mind

“. . .the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, rather than in his body.”6

“. . .the actual or potential alcoholic, with hardly an exception, will be absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge.”7

Biology + Environment + Drug Effects and Brain changes =

Addiction

A. A. Points





Scientific Research and the (2) Medical – the Genetic Link

“Scientists estimate that genetic factors account for between 40 and 60 percent of a person’s vulnerability to addiction, including the effects of environment on gene expression and function.”8

Alcoholics Anonymous and Biology

“Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic.”9

“If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic.”10

A. A. Points





Scientific research on (3) Personality Disorders and

Addiction• Research indicates that there is a high

correlation of substance use disorders with personality disorders, however, they also indicate that there is no single “addictive personality.”

• Persons with a wide variety of personality traits and types become addicted to drugs. The common personality traits associated with addiction may be the result of the addiction, rather than a prior risk factor.

Alcoholics Anonymous and Personality

Step 6: “Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.”Defects:•Self-centeredness•Intolerance•Fear•Anger and Resentments

Step 7

“Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.”Transforming change that demands:•Humility•Service•Love“We had lacked the perspective to see that character-building and spiritual values had to come first, and that material satisfactions were not the purpose of living.”11

Points



3. Personality Disorder or defects4. Religion: the need for

confession, restitution, belief in God and a spiritual experience.

A. A. and (4) Spirituality

“Our Fellowship is not a religion. It has no hierarchy, no temples, no endowments; its members have no salaries, no plans but God’s plan.”12

The Oxford Group

Keys to a spiritual life from the Oxford Group:13

1.Absolute Honesty2.Absolute Purity3.Absolute Unselfishness4.Absolute Love

The Principles“In recovery, we try to take the opposite of our character defects/shortcomings and turn them into principles. For example, we work to change….

•fear into faith fantasizing into reality•hate into love selfishness into service•egoism into humility resentment into forgiveness•anxiety-worry into serenity judgmentalism into tolerance•complacency into action, despair into hope•denial into acceptance self-hate into self-respect•jealousy into trust loneliness into fellowship”14

Where did these principles come from?

Step 1 HonestyStep 2 HopeStep 3 FaithStep 4 CourageStep 5 IntegrityStep 6 WillingnessStep 7 HumilityStep 8 Brotherly LoveStep 9 JusticeStep 10 PerseveranceStep 11 Spiritual AwarenessStep 12 Service15

Keys to a spiritual life from the Oxford Group:

1.Absolute Honesty2.Absolute Purity3.Absolute Unselfishness4.Absolute Love16

Step One

We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—That our lives had become

unmanageable.

• Powerless?

• Unmanageable?

Step Two

Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to

sanity.

•Came to believe.

•Power greater than ourselves?

•Sanity?

Step Three

Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as

we understood Him.

•Turn my will?

•God

•As we understood Him

The Third Step Prayer

How It Works in Alcoholics Anonymous explains: We were reborn. We were now at Step Three. Many of us said to our Maker, as we understood Him: “God, I offer myself to Thee—to build with me and to do with ma as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always!”

We thought well before taking this step making sure we were ready; that we could at last abandon ourselves utterly to Him.17

Step Four

Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

•Moral

•Inventory – list of

Step Five

Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the

exact nature of our wrongs.

•Admission

•Confession

•Wrongs

Step Six

Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects

of character.

•God remove?

•Defects of character?

Step Seven

Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

•Him?

•Shortcomings?

Step Eight

Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make

amends to them all.

Restitution

Willing amends

Step Nine

Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so

would injure them or others.

•Amends – restitution

•Do no harm

Step Ten

Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly

admitted it.

•Inventory?

•Wrongs?

•Admission?

Step Eleven

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

•Prayer and meditation – contact with…

•God

•Knowledge and power!

Step TwelveHaving had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message

to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

•Spiritual awakening?

•Carry the message?

•Practice these principles

The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—That our lives had become unmanageable.

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

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

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

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

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 wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

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

11.Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12.Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.18

A. A. Points





Twenty-Eight Oxford Group Principles that Influenced A.A.

In the beginning, God1.God Biblical descriptions of Him, such as Creator, Maker, Almighty God, Lord, Father, Love, Spirit, Living God.2.God has a Plan – His will for man – and provides definite, accurate information for the individual who wants the plan fulfilled.3.Man’s Chief End – To do God’s Will, thereby receiving the blessings God promises to those who align their lives with His will.4.Belief – We must start with the belief that God IS.

Continued…. Twenty-Eight Oxford Group Principles That Influenced A.A.

Sin – Estrangement from God – The Barrier of Self5.Sin is a reality – The selfishness and self-centeredness that blocks man from God and from others.Finding or Rediscovering God6.Surrender – The turning point which makes it possible for man to have a relationship with God by surrendering his will, ego, and sins to God.7.Soul-Surgery – The “art” or way which enables man through Confidence, Confession, Conviction, Conversion, and Conservation (the 5 C’s) to have the sin or spiritual disease cured.8.Life-change – The result in which man, through a spiritual experience, becomes God-centered instead of self-centered, and focuses on helping others.


The Path They Followed To Establish a Relationship With God9.Decision – The action by which man verbalizes his surrender and gives in to God, saying, essentially, “Thy will be done.”10.Self-examination – A “moral” inventory in which man takes stock of his sins and their consequences.11.Confession – sharing with God and another the inventory results.12.Conviction – Readiness to change resulting from man’s conviction that he has sinned and that Christ miraculously can cure.13.Conversion – The New Birth – Change, namely, that which occurs when man gives himself to God, is regenerated, has part of God’s nature imparted to him, and finds the barrier of sin gone.14.Restitution – Righting the wrong and enabling man to cut the cord of sin that binds him to the past.


Jesus Christ15.Jesus Christ – The source of power as the Divine Redeemer and Way-Shower by whose transforming power man can be changed. Spiritual Growth-Continuance16.Conservation – Continuance as an idea, by which man maintains and grows in his life of grace.17.Daily surrender – A process in which man engages in daily self-examination and surrender to get rid of newly accumulated sin and selfishness.18.Guidance – The walk by faith in which the Holy Spirit gives Divine Guidance to a life that is changed from sin to God.19.The Four Absolutes – Christ’s standards, the standards of absolute honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love by which man’s life can be tested for harmony with God’s will.


20.Quiet Time – a period in which man can receive Divine Guidance and be sensitive to the sway of the Spirit.

21.Bible Study – Meditation which enables man daily to feed his soul on God’s revelation of His Will in the written Word.

22.Prayer – Talking to God.23.Listening to God for Leading Thoughts and

Writing Down Guidance Received – The means of receiving revelation of God’s particular will.

24.Checking – Testing thoughts to be sure they represent God’s Guidance and not just self-deception.

Continued…. Twenty-Eight Oxford Group Principles That

Influenced A.A.The Spiritual Experience or Awakening25.Knowledge of God’s will – Attaining, with the Guidance of the Holy Spirit, a knowledge of God’s Universal Will as revealed in the Bible, and receiving knowledge of His particular Will through obedience to His Universal Will.26.God-consciousness – The total changes resulting from the experience of God when His will is know, lived, and witnessed. Fellowship with God and Believers, and Witness by Life and Word27.Fellowship – The fellowship of the Holy Spirit in which believers maintain fellowship with God and mutually sacrifice to win others to the fellowship of the love of God revealed by Jesus Christ.28.Witness by Life and Word – Sharing with others by personal evangelism the fruits of the life changed and the proof of God’s forgiveness and power.19

Oxford Group Principles Reflected in the 12 Steps

Step 1 AdmissionStep 2 Belief Step 3 Decision and Daily SurrenderStep 4 Self-examinationStep 5 ConfessionStep 6 RegenerationStep 7 Soul-Surgery (Confidence, Confession, Conviction, Conversion, and Conservation).

Step 8 ConvictionStep 9 RestitutionStep 10 PerseveranceStep 11 Study, Meditation, Prayer, ListeningStep 12 Spiritual Experience, Conversion, Fellowship and Witness

Spirituality and A.A.

“The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences which have revolutionized our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God’s universe.”20

How It Works presents:“Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent ideas:

a)That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives.

b)That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.

c)God could and would if He were sought.”21

A.A. and Transformation

“The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous. He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves.”22

Where did they come from?

The Principle

Step 1 Honesty

Step 2 Hope

Step 3 Faith

Step 4 Courage

Step 5 Integrity

Step 6 Willingness

Step 7 Humility

Step 8 Brotherly Love

Step 9 Justice

Step 10

Perseverance

Step 11

Spiritual Awareness

Step 12 Service

The Step

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—That our lives had become unmanageable.

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

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to god, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

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

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

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 wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

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

11.Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12.Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.23

Where did they come from?• The origins of AA's principles, and of the AA program

itself, can be traced back to the Oxford Group, a nondenominational spiritual movement. The cofounders of AA, Bill Wilsonand Dr. Bob Smith, were both associated with the Oxford Group prior to their meeting in 1935. (Bill attended meetings for five months and Dr. Bob for two and a half years.) The Oxford Group's influence on the development of AA was substantial. As Bill Wilson wrote in A1coholics Anonymous Comes of Age, The important thing is this: the early A.A. got its ideas of self-examination, acknowledgment of character defects, restitution for harm done, and working with others straight from the Oxford Groups.

Principles of the 12 Steps: The Steps are printed on pages 59 and 60 of the Big Book

1. Surrender. (Capitulation to hopelessness.) 2. Hope. (Step 2 is the mirror image or opposite of step 1. In step 1 we admit that alcohol is our higher power, and that our lives are unmanageable. In step 2, we find a different Higher Power who we hope will bring about a return to sanity in management of our lives.) 3. Commitment. (The key word in step 3 is decision.) 4. Honesty. (An inventory of self.) 5. Truth. (Candid confession to God and another human being.) 6. Willingness. (Choosing to abandon defects of character.) 7. Humility. (Standing naked before God, with nothing to hide, and asking that our flaws in His eyes be removed.) 8. Reflection. (Who have we harmed? Are we ready to amend?) 9. Amendment. (Making direct amends/restitution/correction, etc..) 10. Vigilance. (Exercising self-discovery, honesty, abandonment, humility, reflection and amendment on a momentary, daily, and periodic basis.) 11. Attunement. (Becoming as one with our Father.) 12. Service. (Awakening into sober usefulness.) •The origins of AA's principles, and of the AA program itself, can be traced back to the Oxford Group, a nondenominational spiritual movement. The cofounders of AA, Bill Wilsonand Dr. Bob Smith, were both associated with the Oxford Group prior to their meeting in 1935. (Bill attended meetings for five months and Dr. Bob for two and a half years.) The Oxford Group's influence on the development of AA was substantial. As Bill Wilson wrote in A1coholics Anonymous Comes of Age, The important thing is this: the early A.A. got its ideas of self-examination, acknowledgment of character defects, restitution for harm done, and working with others straight from the Oxford Groups.

To be spiritually reborn and live in the state in which the four points are the suggested guides to our lives in God, they

advocate four practical spiritual activities.

Keys to a spiritual life from the Oxford Group:

1.Absolute Honesty2.Absolute Purity3.Absolute Unselfishness4.Absolute Love24

1. Sharing our moral inventory and temptations with God and with another person whose life has been given to God, and carrying the message to help others, still unchanged, to recognize and acknowledge their wrongs. (Steps 4, 5, & 12).

2. Surrender of our lives, past, present, and future, into God’s keeping and direction. (Steps 3 & 12).

3. Restitution to all whom we have wronged directly or indirectly. (Steps 8 & 9).

4. Listening to, accepting, relying on God’s and our sponsors’, spiritual advisors’, fellow members’ guidance and carrying it out in everything we do or say, great or small. (Steps 3, 11 & 12).25

The 12 Traditions of A.A.1. Our common welfare should come first: personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity. 2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority – a loving God as He may

express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.

3. The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking. 4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as

a whole. 5. Each group has but one primary purpose – to carry its message to the alcoholic who

still suffers. 6. An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related

facility of outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.

7. Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions. 8. Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers

may employ special workers. 9. A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or

committees directly responsible to those they serve. 10.Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought

never be drawn into public controversy. 11.Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need

always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films. 12.Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place

principles before personalities.26

The Slogans

• Think, Think, Think• Easy Does It ….. but do it.• One Day at a Time• Say what you mean. Mean

what you say; but don’t say it mean.

• The “We” of the program.

The “New” Assumption?

Relapse is part of recovery?

Types of Groups - Procedures

• Closed versus Open• Speaker versus Discussions• Step versus Topic• Alanon versus A.A. (Alateen and

Alatot)• The role of the facilitator (Chair)• Introductions• Donations• Sponsors

Notes1. Practice These Principles and What Is The Oxford Group? (Center City, Minnesota: Hazelden, 1997), 1.2. Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd ed. (New York: A. A. World Services, Inc., 1976), xvi.3. Ibid., xvi.4. Alcohol Alert No. 47, (Rockville, MD: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2000), 1.5. Alcohol Alert No. 53, (Rockville, MD: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2000), 1.6. Alcoholics Anonymous, 23.7. Ibid., 398. National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction,” NIDA, April 2007, http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/science-addiction.9. Alcoholics Anonymous, 33.10. Ibid., 44.11. Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (New York: A. A. World Services, Inc., 1981), 71.12. Practice These Principles, 1.13. Ibid., 4.14. Phil P., Introduction to Practice These Principles and What is the Oxford Group? (Center City, Minnesota: Hazelden, 1997), xii.15. Ibid.16. Practice These Principles, 4.17. Alcoholics Anonymous, 63.18. Ibid., 59-60.19. B. Dick, The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous. (Seattle: Glen Abbey Books, Inc., 1992), 58-62.20. Alcoholics Anonymous, 25.21. Ibid., 60.22. Ibid., 25.23. P., Introduction, xii.24. Practice These Principles, 4.25. Ibid., 5-6.26. Alcoholics Anonymous, 563-568.

BibliographyAlcohol Alert No. 47. Rockville, MD: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2000.

Alcohol Alert No. 53. Rockville, MD: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2000.

Alcoholics Anonymous, 3rd ed. New York: A. A. World Services, Inc., 1976.

Dick, B. The Akron Genesis of Alcoholics Anonymous. Seattle: Glen Abbey Books, Inc., 1992.

National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction.” NIDA, April

2007. http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/science-addiction.

P., Phil. Introduction to Practice These Principles and What Is The Oxford Group?, xi-xix. Center City,

Minnesota: Hazelden, 1997.

Practice These Principles and What Is The Oxford Group? Center City, Minnesota: Hazelden, 1997.

Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. New York: A. A. World Services, Inc., 1981.

http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/science-addiction

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What Is Alcoholics Anonymous?