Can I Gag now?

So here is Dr. Bob – drunken goat of a medicine man – colorectal surgeon actually – Yeah I’ve referred to him as an “ass doctor” too - but why not afford the man the respect he deserves for a change – a man with a terrible drinking problem and he is hanging out with this group of holy roller Jesus freaks who call themselves the Oxford Group. His poor wife Anne had dragged him there – hoping to find him help. Only it was not working.

We see this type of failure to solve the problem all the time today – when real alcoholics leave AA to “Go to church”. The can go to church all they want but unless there is a personality change sufficient to bring about recovery from alcoholism or a “spiritual awakening” as it is used in AA parlance – nothing happens except that we now have a drunken alcoholic churchman. Maybe you know a few. Hell, maybe you know a few clergy who have not yet found the spiritual solution to their problems. I have met several.

Bob does eventually ‘get it’ and recover from alcoholism but not doing only this. Something had to change and it was Bill W and what Bill brought with him to add to Bobs spiritual pursuits that kicked Bob over the fence to permanent sobriety

When we take a historical perspective of the events that came to pass back in the day – back in Akron – we tend to focus on Bill’s actions with regard to Doctor Bob – what Bill did to carry the this message to him and that is well and good and of extreme import – but just for moment let’s see if we can also examine not Bills action but Bob’s REaction to Bill’s action. What were the results of Bills actions and how did it directly affect Dr. Bob?

If you will recall, Bob was going to give Bill only fifteen minutes of his precious time at Henrietta’s place _{^{(See photo below)}} – time he probably would have preferred to spend getting rid of his hangover gotten from his last drunken escapade when he somehow manages to sprawled himself under the Smith’s kitchen table – and after coming home from shopping for Mothers Day potted plant for Anne. Yeah right Bob. You’re e as potted as the plant pal.

Bob has planted himself into the midst of a serious group of spiritually minded folk who have a way of life that will later be the very base formation of the Twelve Steps – yet the solution still eludes him. What could be wrong? Why isn’t there a spiritual solution for ol’ Bob Smith?

Simple. He never cleaned house. He had not inventoried analyzed and come to grips with his resentment, fears and harms to to other and completed making his amends to all he owed. He had not made it his life’s ambition to be of maximum service to God and his fellows.

If he had been in an AA Group – which he was not at the time – there weren’t any yet – he would have been quite the dead weight there – being absolutely useless in maintaining his Group’s Primary Purpose. All he did was “Go to (Oxford) meetings” , and “suit up and show up.” It failed him. Bob is no ordinary EtOH abusing fool. He’s a real, true alcoholic. Dyed in the wool.

At Henrietta’s when he heard Bill speak from the perspective of someone who shared his exact same problem – the message that Bill carried – THEN the Oxford message could begin to take on depth and weight. Bob could truly identify with Bill, so much so that the fifteen-minute meeting which began at 5PM did not end till 11:15.

Do not forget these were two Oxfords Groupers who were meeting for the first time. Not two AAs. There was no AA yet. One man, Bill, was working the Oxford Program. The other man (Bob) was “Just showing up” – not placing those six Oxford tenets into his life.

Although he had the Oxford Group for several years BEFORE Bill had ever even HEARD of them, it was working for Bill and not Bob because Bill was actually working the Oxford tenets. Sounds like the varied results we see in AA today, does it not?

The groundwork for the Twelve Stepping procedure that we find detailed in the Big Book, “Alcoholics Anonymous” was being created — a process which far too many of us do not know enough about. Bill did not talk to Bob about his drinking escapades. Bill came to Bob with the allergy theory and the obsession of the mind theory and tied these into Bobs already existing spiritual knowledge.

Bill combined what he knew of alcoholism with the God solution of the Oxfords. But he would never have been able to do it unless Bill knew of alcoholism and used that hook.

I cannot even begin to be helpful to other sick and suffering alkies in a way that brings them to the common solution without all of these tools — the same tools with which that Bill worked on Bob.

” . . . the ex-problem drinker who has found this solution, who is properly armed with facts about himself, can generally win the entire confidence of another alcoholic in a few hours. Until such an understanding is reached, little or nothing can be accomplished”. (18:2)

Little or nothing! The ex- problem drinker who is yet un-recovered, or still recovering – who has no idea what it is about him that makes him fit “our description of the alcoholic” (60:3) cannot win the entire confidence of another alcoholic – not in a few hours – not in a few years – not ever. Nothing will be accomplished except perhaps to confuse the poor son of a bitch and maybe even kill him.

So why on earth would anyone want to say something as stupid to newcomers as “I don’t know how this works all I know is that it does”? Gag me with a spoon!

Peace,

Danny S