Experiences That Produced the Alcoholics Anonymous Program of Recovery -- From a recorded talk by Bill Wilson

Bill said, “I realized I was utterly powerless to go on living. I was in the grip of a power greater than myself; alcohol. I knew it; [my wife] Lois learned about it from Dr. Silkworth. He said my habit of drinking had become an obsession, almost an insanity. Dr. Silkworth explained the obsession condemned me to drink; the progressive allergy would lead to madness or death. Fear sobered me for a bit, but the obsession caught me once more on November 11, 1934, Armistice day” [Veterans Day].

“Ebby realized I needed help; he called and came to visit me. He was sober for the first time in years. I offered Ebby a drink; he refused it; ‘no, I'm just not drinking today’. Very curious...I asked, ‘What’s got into you, my friend?’ Looking at me, he said simply and smilingly, 'I've got religion.' Ah, what a jarring thought that was. I fancied that he had exchanged alcoholic insanity for religious insanity."

“Well, one had to be polite; I said; ‘what brand of religion have you got?’ He said ‘I wouldn't call it a religion at all… the religion of common sense, perhaps. I met up with a group of people and I drew from them certain central ideas...about a way of life that did the job for me’."

[Those people, from the Oxford Group, were led by Rowland Hazard, the “certain American businessman” whose experience with Dr. Jung is well described on p. 26-27. Rowland Hazard told Ebby about his quest for a “vital spiritual experience” that would give him the power he needed to recover from chronic alcoholism. Rowland had been successful in his quest. He shared his solution with Ebby in the fall of 1934.]

“Ebby said, ‘Here is what I did.

•I got honest with myself as never before.

•I talked over my personality defects with another in confidence.

•I visited the people I had harmed and made restitution, thereby sweeping away the debris of the past.

•I learned a new kind of giving... a kind of giving that demands no reward, either of money or prestige.’

•And he said 'Bill I know you're a very skeptical one. This may jar you, but I found that I couldn't make that simple program of living work until I asked God--as I understood God--to help me'."

“The impact on me was terrific. Why? Well, you all know: one alcoholic was talking to another, carrying this message where no other person on earth could.”

“But, like many of you since, I rebelled at his concept of God. He left me to think it over. Afterward, I couldn't get it out of my mind. Drinking on a couple weeks, I finally said to myself ‘who are beggars to be choosers? -- Who am I to say there is no God? -- And if there is a Great Physician, perhaps I had better seek him out.” Bill said to himself “I will try my friend's simple formula.”

Bill then went to detox at Town’s hospital. After checking in, he said, "so, three or four days later, I'm not in bad shape... but I'm depressed, terribly depressed"...about Ebby's solution, "for you see, I still rebelled a little."

“Then one morning, something happened.” Ebby came to the hospital. My friend stood in the door. Bill asked, "What, my friend, is that neat little formula by which you got released, as you say, from your alcohol? He said, ‘It’s very simple.
• You just get honest with yourself;
• Talk it out with another;
• Make amends to people you've harmed.
• Try to help somebody without any demand for reward,
• And pray to whatever God there is.”
“For me, it was as simple as that, and when I had done these things wholeheartedly, I was relieved of my obsession. It seemed to me that it was taken away from me.’ Soon after repeating that simple tale, he left me.”

“Then came to me the great realization of my life. Rebelling a little still, I sank into a deeper and deeper depression, then I said ‘I will do anything to get well...anything’ With no hope, no faith at all, I cried out ‘if there is a God, will he show himself’?"

Bill then had the well-known spiritual experience described on p. 14. Afterward, beginning to wonder if it really happened, he said to himself “‘maybe it isn't so...better call in the doctor’. At length, Doctor Silkworth said ‘no my boy, you're not crazy. There is some subtle difference in you. I can't put my finger on it. Some great psychic event has happened here... I have never witnessed one...but I've read about them in the books...and whatever it is you found, you'd better hang onto it’."

Bill not only managed to hang onto it for the rest of his life, he shared it with others. His first success involved Dr. Robert Smith – Doctor Bob – in June, 1935. Together, they founded Alcoholics Anonymous.

Years later, Bill scribbled a note to a fellow describing the early steps that led to his spiritual experience. The note says:
1. Admitted hopeless
2. Got honest with self
3. Got honest with another
4. Made amends
5. Helped others without demand
6. Prayed to God as you understand Him

Step 11 now reads: “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.”

AA’s “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. 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.” (p.25)