For years now, lists and discussions have abounded about the 'myths' of
'watered-down AA', which are 'killing newcomers'.
I have absolutely loved these over the years. I have enjoyed the discourse
and the debate. But I also enjoyed the self-righteousness generated by hoisting
myself above the fellowship that had saved my life with my sarcastic
observations and only partly coherent logic, all under the banner of defending
the Big Book.
Something has always troubled me about this pastime and it is this: the
tenor of such discussions has an awful lot in common with the anti-AA websites,
one particularly prominent example of which uses similar straw-man arguments
and derision as I have engaged in with other recovered alcoholics myself.
The method is this: take the slogan out of context, purport it to be a
representation of the entire programme, and then find a line in the Big Book
that appears to contradict it, attribute the line to treatment centres and
middle-of-the-road AA, and your job is done!
Now, let me say that there are things said in AA that, by any reading, are
inconsistent with the Book, e.g. 'a step a year'. No benevolent reading can
make this particular slogan remotely consistent. Even in those
cases, however, I must be careful not to inject a spirit of scorn or derision.
Love and tolerance are what the Book teaches me, and I must manifest those
qualities. No one is helped by my calling anything an eight-letter word
beginning with 'B'.
Here is a good example: I have seen 'easy does it' written off as rubbish,
when set against 'half measures availed us nothing'and 'we urge you to be
fearless and thorough'. This is a straw-man argument, because this slogan
refers not to the speed at which one takes the steps but to relations within
the family in recovery. The slogan is actually in the Book, to boot.
To be fair, some slogans are misused, as are lines from the Book, e.g. the
'progress not perfection' idea being used to promote and justify indolence. The
problem then lies not with the slogan or quotation, but with its misuse. This
is an important distinction. Most slogans, used wisely, are very helpful
teaching mechanisms when dealing with newcomers with terrible memories.
Most slogans used in AA are also used in a specific context and were never
designed to represent the entirety of the AA programme or preclude the
remainder. They are merely devices to represent particular key elements of the
programme.
'90 meetings in 90 days' is a frequent target of attack. This is typically
used as part of a whole raft of instructions to newcomers, not as a single
silver bullet. It is often portrayed, wrongly, as an injunction only to attend
90 meetings in 90 days, ignoring all other measures.
Now, rather than trying to prove that something is inconsistent with the
Book, I can substitute positive for negative thinking and see whether it is
supported by the Book.
1. The Big Book in the UK still has the AA logo, which includes the word
'unity'. One of the ways I practise unity is by spending a lot of time with or
talking to other alcoholics. Meetings are pretty much the best way of doing
that when one is new.
2. Chapter Eleven contains this passage:
"A year and six months later these three had succeeded with seven
more. Seeing much of each other, scarcely an evening passed that someone’s home
did not shelter a little gathering of men and women, happy in their release,
and constantly thinking how they might present their discovery to some
newcomer."
Scarcely an evening? You mean they met ... almost every day?!
3. Frequent contact with each other and with newcomers is the bright spot
of our Iives, according to Chapter Seven.
One could go further, but suffice to say that the instruction to go to a
whole lot of meetings in the first ninety days of recovery seems pretty
consistent with the principles set out in the Book.
One might also observe whether, all other things being equal, newcomers
who do go to lots of meetings generally do better than those who do not. In my
observation they do.
Here would be a fun exercise: take every dismissed slogan and see if you
can see the good in it. See if you can find how the slogan does actually
reflect a principle in the Book. I have been amazed that the analytical skills
underpinning my negativity, if turned on their head, can be a positive force
for unity.