Dick B.
What’s the A.A. Attraction
What’s our attraction in A.A.? Think of all the things to which
people are attracted–some good and some bad. They are attracted by the millions
to sports events, airlines, theme parks, cars and bikes, diets, fitness and
nutrition programs, movies, TV, videos, Costco, and their personal computers.
For many, the attraction is simply to be entertained. For some, avoiding boredom
and loneliness. For some, to feel better.
But that’s not A.A. as it was intended to be. For sure, many today
do come to A.A. to be entertained by relationships, meetings, roundups, huge
conferences, dances, camp-outs, and the like. I’ve certainly enjoyed most of
these myself. For sure, some–often called rim-runners by old-timers–come in
because they’re lonely, bored, or want a cup of java. Some are attracted only by
the orders of a judge or a probation officer or the comfort of a treatment
center van. Those attractions, however, were not what the early A.A. fellowship,
its Big Book, or its Steps were really about. A.A. offered a spiritual
recovery program. It was a Christian Fellowship program that sought and received help by turning to Almighty God,
Unfortunately, lots of us saddled up in A.A. at a time when its simple kit
of spiritual tools seems to have become far less important to many than were its
other attractions. Early A.A. had astonishing success rates. It had acceptable
growth rates–some quite remarkable in places like Cleveland. Finally, A.A. in
America hit the million mark. About a million members. About two million in the
world. About forty million text books. Perhaps even millions of repeaters who just
never clicked with the spiritual attraction though it was solidly underlined in
the Big Book.
Early A.A. relied on the power of God Almighty. Bill Wilson
correctly called Him our Creator, our Maker, and God–all words that were
capitalized because Bill knew of Whom he was speaking. He wasn’t talking about
just any god. He wasn’t telling people that A.A. was about not god. Dr. Bob kept
it real simple and told AAs: Your Heavenly Father will never let you down! (Big
Book, 3rd ed., p. 181). And I’ve never seen it recorded that Bill
Wilson or Dr. Bob Smith told people our God–the Creator–was, or could be, a
radiator. But such self-made nonsense gods hav become a standard part of today’s publication and meeting
jargon. They tell us in all sincerity: Your (not necessarily ‘my’) ‘higher
power’ can be anything you want ‘it’ to be. Then we frequently hear or are told
that our higher power can be a lightbulb, a chair, a table, an It, Ralph, the Big Dipper, Gertrude, or,
yes, even a radiator (Want to see the news article that quotes the radiator
bit?). I’ve documented these absurd names for God (as Rev. Sam Shoemaker called
them) many many times in my forty-six published books (See Dick B., titles,
http://www.dickb.com/titles.shtml).
What’s the attraction of these man-made, self-help nonsense gods? Do you find any attraction in a radiator?
Who wants to rely on Gertrude to beat alcoholism? Who would invite a group to
pray to a lightbulb? Who would advocate that you turn your will and life over to
the care of a chair or an it? Yet for at least thirty years–perhaps even since
1950–the revisionist writers, therapists, treatment people, and even many AAs
themselves have created a new god. A god from whom no intelligent person would
seek guidance, to whom no desperate alcoholic would go for healing, and through
whom no one would expect to receive forgiveness, deliverance, power, or a solution to
the myriad problems we face as we enter A.A.’s doors.
Someone in A.A. sent me an email saying he didn’t think
many AAs had any significant interest in A.A. history. The millions of visits on my
website don’t bear that out. But I said to him: If AAs don’t have an
interest in their history, it’s because they’ve seen so little of it. Their
meetings focus on sharing, whining, fear, gratitude, or discussions either of
the Big Book or the Twelve and Twelve. None of which provide history in any
informative way. People inside and outside of A.A. today are calling it a
self-help movement. Some in the religious community label A.A. a spiritual
program, but not a religious one, hoping perhaps to bring people to the church
and religion. Others use the same language to make A.A. inclusive, not
exclusive. Some think A.A. is so religious that it is offensive to atheists,
agnostics, scientists, and those who believe in other religions or none at all.
What’s the attraction in that situation?
The answer is that the attraction today is lessening. A.A. has
stopped growing. A.A.’s success rate is far from astonishing today. But the most
regrettable fact concerns the large numbers who are leaving A.A., avoiding A.A.,
or rejecting it in favor of secular or rational recovery or for counseling or for Christian groups
or for religiously supported Twelve Step Groups. I’ve not yet seen statistics
that convince me that any of these splinter activities is growing in geometric
proportions or achieving the astonishing success rates that were produced by
pioneer A.A.. In fact, our government agencies seem to be putting billions into
drug wars and drug czars and scientific research of substance abuse for the
precise reason that they don’t think any solution has been found. The
relapse rates seem to confirm their views. Regrettably, however, most of these
agencies haven’t a clue that A.A. doesn’t lend itself very well to scientific
research. It’s anonymous today. Its attendance is vacilating. It is not homogenous. It’s one-on-one assistance. Success is often measured
one to a customer, as the venerable Geraldine Delaney often said (See Dick B.,
Hope!: The Story of Geraldine Owen Delaney, Alina Lodge, and
Recovery) And, as A.A. said in one of its earlier articles in the Grapevine:
The AAs’ medicine is God and God alone (Volume II, Best of the Grapevine,
pp. 202-03).
For me, that’s the attraction. You can read more in my title By
the Power of God and find that title and other references on my website at
http://www.dickb.com/powerofgod.shtml Meanwhile,
there’ll be an article following that tells you how the revisionists
ignored history and converted "as we understood Him," "power greater than
ourselves," and "higher power" into new, unintended, any gods, expedient gods, not-gods, and radiators. They seem to have lost God our Creator–the One A.A.’s Big
Book urged us all to find. Now! That’s the One mentioned on the dollar bill, our
other currency, and our coins. They all say: In God we trust. Why not be
attracted to that when nothing else works. Which was the case for most of us who have attained long-term sobriety.
Gloria Deo
No comments:
Post a Comment