[bluidkiti]

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.

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.

END