The Big Book Message Bill W. Intended
for His First Edition
The Evidence We Have Seen
Dick B. and Ken B.
© 2012 Anonymous. All
rights reserved
The Beginning
Robert Thomsen undertook the writing of Bill W.’s biography.
And the book began with this Author Note:
Bill W. told his own story many
times; he also wrote about it. Possibly because of New England reticence, the
emphasis ws always on the second half of his life. He gave few details of his
childhood, his youth, or the early years of his marriage. However, it was my
privilege—my blessing, if you will—to have known and worked beside Bill during
the last twelve years of his life, when he had begun to understand that his
biography would be written one day, and he made many attempts in notes, in letters,
and on tape recordings “to set the record somewhere near straight.”[1]
Thomsen wrote further:
Ever since his night at Towns, Bill
had no argument with God, and the impact of this sudden change had been far
more profound than even he understood.[2]
A professional writer would have
run from such an assignment, but Bill sat down at his desk in Newark each
morning and talked simply, honestly, unashamedly, using the language of
religion where it applied. With no hesitation, he described the surrender at Towns
Hospital and the miraculous communion he’d sensed with Bob, as well as the
tools they’d tried to use in their new life. . . . In no time he had the first
two chapters finished and Ruth typed them up.[3]
As chapters were completed, copies
were made and passed along for comment by the trustees and members of the
group—and everyone had a comment
Fitz [John Henry Fitzhugh M.] felt
that since the movement was based on Christian doctrine they should say so flat
out.[4]
First was the idea that they should
label their steps a Suggested Program
of Recovery. Bill called this one a ten strike. They all agreed that no drunk
should rebel at a mere suggestion.[5]
Each week, Bill would read what he had written to those who
gathered at his home on Tuesday evenings. While he was working his way through
the explanatory chapters, New York and Akron members were submitting their
personal stories. . . . By the end of January, 1939, the manuscript was ready
for preliminary distribution; 400 copies were Multilithed and circulated to
members, friends, and other allies for comments and evaluation.[6]
But Fitz was a minister’s son and deeply religious. Fitz
fell at once into hot argument with Henry [Parkhurst] about the religious
content of the coming volume. Fitz wanted a powerfully religious document. Fitz
made trip after trip to New York from his Maryland home to insist on raising
the spiritual pitch of the A.A. book.[7]
The pros and cons were mostly about the tone of the book.
Some wanted it slanted more toward the Christian religion, others, less.[8]
In New York, the hot debate about the Twelve Steps and the book’s
contents was doubled and redoubled. There were conservatives, liberal, and
radical viewpoints. Fitz M, the Episcopal minister’s son from Maryland and the
second man to recover at Towns Hospital, made constant journeys to New York in
order to reinforce the conservative position. Fitz thought that the book ought
to be Christian in the doctrinal sense of the word and that it should say so.
He was in favor of using Biblical terms and expressions to make this clear.
Another early New York A.A., Paul K., was even more emphatic about.[9]
Alcoholics who had tried the missions were forever
complaining about this very thing. The alcoholic’s un-reasoning rebellion
against the spiritually religious approach had severely handicapped the
missions. It was true that we could not agree on a religious basis for our
fellowship and that the straight religious approach had worked in relatively
few cases.[10]
We were still arguing about the Twelve Steps. All this time
I had refused to budge on these steps. I would not change a word of the
original draft, in which, you will remember, I had consistently used the word
“God,” and in one place the expression “on our knees.”[11]
And What Did Bill’s Original Manuscript Say? There’s the Rub!
“Pass It On” states:
“The very first draft of the Twelve Steps, as Bill wrote them, has been lost,”
(p. 198). One historian wrote in an endnote: “Here also the original draft has
been lost. Insofar as I have been able with the help of NW [Nell Wing, A.A.’s
First Archivist] to reconstruct from the earliest available drafts and
comments, the original form of the
Twelve Steps, there were slight differences in the following six.”[12]
If you were looking for the original draft manuscript in order to find out what Bill had really
written in the midst of all this blackout, where would you start?
In 1991.when Dick B. first began researching at Bill’s home
at Stepping Stones in Bedford Hills, New York, he arrived there for his two
different trips with the blessing and encouragement of A.A. archivist Frank
Mauser [Nell Wing’s successor] who even let him stay in his apartment during
one of the periods. Dick also had the blessing and encouragement of the then
Stepping Stones archivist, Paul Lange, who gave him free range of the
materials, even the materials at Bill’s office (Wit’s End). Dick was astonished
at the large number of draft materials which had preceded the ultimate Big Book
form. These were located in the basement of Lois Wilson’s actual home; and that
basement room—with its files, manuscripts, correspondence, and memorabilia—was
completely open to Dick on both visits. So were the nearby copy machines in the
area that enabled Dick to copy and take with him, with the archivist’s
permission, all the materials he listed in writing for the archivist on
10/2/91: (1) Handwritten Pages—Hank Parkhurst ideas for Book. (2) Pages by
Bill—Names of people for stories. (3) Outline of Chapters and Chapter 1 –
“There is a Solution. (4) 36 pages of Bill’s Original Story—lines numbered,
later pages missing. (5) Letters Bill to Lois. (6) Amos 5 page report. (7)
Pages Clarace Williams to Bill and Lois Sept/35 (8) Pages T. Henry to Bill
3/37. (9) Pages Dr. Bob to Bill 2/17/38
Here in outline are the items Dick B. found and partial
excerpts from them:
(1)
An 11 page hand-written outline of proposed “ideas for
the Book, “contents prepared by Hank Parkhurst. Page 3 asked: How do I know
this will work with me? Why is this method any better than any other religious
method? (It is not—This is only a step toward a religious experience which
should be carried forward in Christian fellowship no matter what your church.”
(2)
The typed “Original Story” with hand-written notations
and titled “Bill Wilson’s Original Story.” It consists of 36 pages. There is a
number for every line. The numbered items run from 1 to 1180, and end there.
Among the comments by Bill: (a) Where now was the God of the preachers? (b)
“Old memories of Sunday School” (c) The temperance pledge which I never signed.
(d) the sound of the preacher’s voice which could be heard on still Sunday
mornings. (e) This is what my friend suggested I do: Turn my face to God as I
understand Him. I should prepare myself for God’s company. Ask what attitudes
and actions I still have whichwere not completely honest wi9th God. Humbly ask God that he take these handicaps away. I
was to keep myself free in the future of those things which shut out God’s
power. Frequently asking God for help. Taking a simple childlike attitude
toward God.
(3)
The typed “W.G. Wilson Reflections” with handwritten
additional portion stating “of his early life to the spiritual awakening.”
(4)
“Main Events – Alcoholics Anonymous Fact Sheet by Bill”
On return to New York began to go to more Oxford Group meetings. First work at
the Mission and the Towns Hospital very hard. The second success which also
occurred at Towns Hospital was John Henry Fitzhugh Mayo. He was author of the
classic phrase, “Who am I to say there is no God.” At length Mr. Scott said:
This is like first century Christianity, one person carrying the message to the
next. I probably got down to serious writing about September 15, 1938.
Meanwhile the chapters of the book were sent to Dr. Bob. He never passed them
around very much, merely writing me sayng he thought they were all right. I had
referred very frequently to God through the Steps. Fitz mayo thought the book
didn’t have enough God in it.
(5)
Typed copies of the first two chapters that were
written – in reverse order.
Final editing of the book was done by Tom Uzzell, member of
the faculty at New York University. Uzzell cut the book by at least a third,
some say half—from 800 to 400 pages.[13]
I contacted Bill Pittman, Hazelden’s Director of Historical
Information. Bill said he had interviewed Ruth Hock and specifically asked her
what had been deleted. Ruth told Bill Pittman that the deleted content
consisted largely of Christian and biblical materials.
In a July, 1953 isssue of the AA Grapevine, Bill specifically said that A.A.’s “southern friend”
Fitz M. “wanted a fairly religious book infused with some of the dogma we had
picked up from the churches and missions which had tried to help us.”
In his biography of Bill Wilson, Francis Hartigan said:
“Bill may have included some heavily Christian wording in his early drafts of
the Big Book.”[14]
Then still another suggestion that the “original manuscript”
appears to have been lost. “Pass It On”
states at p-age 235:
On March 16, 1940, a month after
the Rockefeller dinner, Works Publishing moved its offices from Newark to 30
Vesey Street in lower Manhattan. . . .
In the move, much was thrown out—including probably the original drafts of the
Steps and the rest of the Big Book’s fifth chapter which was written there.
There is a final point about what is known to have been
changed in the Big Book manuscript. At Stepping Stones, I found the original
Chapter # 1 (which was written in the Spring of 1938). It was titled “There is
a Solution.” Beginning on page 9 of the manuscript I found, Bill wrote:
But there is a solution. . . . And
the GREAT FACT is just this and no less; that all of us have had deep and
effective religious experiences which have in every case revolutionized our
whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward God’s great universe.
We would like to see you follow
suit, for we think no one should miss THE GREAT REALITY which we have been
lucky enough to find. The central fact of our lives today is the absolute
certainty that the Creator of you and me has entered into our hearts and lives
in a way which is to us new and beautiful and has there has commenced to
accomplish those things which by no stretch of the imagination were we humanly
capable of.
After years of living on a basis
which now seems to us wholly false, you are not going to get rightly related to
your Creator in a minute. None of us has found God in six easy lessons, but He
can be found by all who are willing to put the task ahead of all else.
[Speaking of Rowland Hazard and Dr.
Carl Jung, Bill wrote:] You and I would say that the patient was on a very hot
spot that is probably what he did say and feel. So have we when it began to
look to us as thought we must have a vital religious experience or perish. Our
friend did finally have such an experience and we in our turn have sought the
same happy end. . . . What seemed at first to be a flimsy reed has proved to be
a loving and powerful hand of God.
With All This Evidence of What Was Originally Written, What was
Intentionally Deleted, and the Frequency of Former References to the Creator,
to Christianity, and to biblical materials, the reader should ask these
questions as to what Bill Wilson originally intended to say
·
What were the Christian and biblical materials
that Ruth Hock said were discarded?
·
What was the “dogma” of the churches and
missions that had helped AAs that Fitz wanted to have as a part of the book,
but which Bill rejected?
·
Why is there no mention of the fact that Rev.
Shoemaker had said that man needed to have a vital religious experience; he
needed to find God; he needed Jesus Christ; that Bill originally wrote of this
necessary “vital religious experience;” and that Bill shifted his language to a
“spiritual experience,” then a “spiritual awakening,” and finally to a
“personality change.”
·
To what did Fitz refer when he said the program
was based on “Christian doctrine?
·
To what language did Hartigan refer when he said
Bill may have included some “heavily Christian wording” in some of the earlier
drafts.
·
What caused the bogus insertion of “choose your
own conception of God” into the alleged, but non-existent remark by Ebby to
Bill?
·
What caused Bill to abandon his frequent mention
of the Creator and God and shift to
the illusory “higher power” of the
New Thought writers like William James and Fox
·
And the bottom line question: Why are all these
factual references to first century Christianity, to the contributions of the
churches and missions, to the Creator and God, to Christian wording, and
Christian and biblical materials simply missing, unknown, and veiled in attempt
to exclude them from the minds of 12 Step people today—be they Christians,
would be Christians, those with biblical and church backgrounds, those who
believe in God—whether they are Christians or not?
[1] Robert
Thomsen, BILL W.: 50th
Anniversary Edition Commemorating the 1935 Meeting Between Bill W. and Dr. Bob
that launched Alcoholics Anonymous
(NY: Harper & Row, Publishers, Perrenial Library, 1975)
[2] Robert
Thomsen, 255.
[3] Robert
Thomsen, 278.
[4] Robert
Thomsen, 282.
[5] Robert
Thomsen, 284.
[6] “Pass It On,” 200.
[7] Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 17.
[8] Lois Remembers,
[9] Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 162.
[10] Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 163.
[11] Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, 166.
[13] “Pass It On,”
[14] Francis
Hartigan, Bill W.: A Biography of
Alcoholics Anonymous Co-Founder Bill Wilson (NY: St. Martin’s Press, 2000),
123.
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