Primary Purpose

[c0n0r0]

From msag.org

Our 12th Step, carrying the message, is the basic service that the AA fellowship gives. This is our principal aim and the main reason for our existence. Therefore, AA is more than a set of principles. It is a society for alcoholics in action. We must carry the message, else we ourselves can whither and those who have not been given the truth may die"- Bill W. from "What is the Third Legacy AA Grapevine July 1955
SHARING THE GIFT

When Bill Wilson's longtime drinking companion, Ebby Thatcher, appeared in Bill's kitchen, it forged the first link in a wonderful chain of what we now refer to as 12-Step calls. It was the first time in human history we are aware of that a solution for alcoholism was passed from one alcoholic to another. This was incredibly good news. In Bill's own words:He had come to pass his experience along to me – if I cared to have it. I was shocked, but interested. Certainly I was interested. I had to be, for I was hopeless.

Later, while Bill was still in his hospital bed recovering from alcohol withdrawal, he remembered some of Ebby's words: My friend had emphasized the absolute necessity of demonstrating these [spiritual] principles in all my affairs. Particularly was it imperative to work with others as he had worked with me. ... For if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge his spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he could not survive the certain trials and low spots ahead. Here, on page 14 of the book, Alcoholics Anonymous, we find the first of what will be many references to the fact that working with others is NOT a recovery option.

Flush with his 'religious conversion' experience in the hospital, Bill set out to fulfill Ebby's edict. His attempts to 'convert' other alcoholics succeeded only in keeping himself sober. Bill failed completely with his first 64 prospects. Bill shared his discouragement with Dr. Silkworth and was told that unless he first discussed the PROBLEM in depth, the alcoholic was not likely to buy in to the SOLUTION. Bill had forgotten that Dr. Silkworth had first told him his “theory” – the disease concept of alcoholism – prior to Ebby outlining the solution and program of action. He had failed to pass on the exact nature of the malady. Once that piece of the puzzle was in place, his efforts no longer fell on deaf ears. Our book refers to that as: properly armed with the facts about himself. It is interesting to note that in the original manuscript the passage reads: …certain medical information.

When Bill reached out to Dr. Bob Smith unsolicited, it created a profound effect. In Dr. Bob's own words:He gave me information about the subject of alcoholism which was undoubtedly helpful. Of far more importance was the fact that he was the first living human with whom I had ever talked, who knew what he was talking about in regard to alcoholism from actual experience. The fire that was lit in Dr. Bob was to be carried directly to over 5,000 alcoholics through the use of the 12-Step call. Some came from requests and others were unannounced visits. Indeed, out of the 43 personal stories in the Big Book, 27 of them began their sober adventure as a direct result of an unsolicited 12-Step call.

Chapter 7, first paragraph: Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other activities fail. This is our twelfth suggestion: Carry this message TO other alcoholics! You can help when no one else can. You can secure their confidence when others fail. Remember they are very ill. Over the years, as AA has moved from a program-based spiritual entity, to a fellowship-based social entity, the fabric of this step has been frayed.

Meetings, meetings and more meetings are pushed as THE ticket to recovery, while the action of the 12 Steps, particularly working with others has been pushed into the background. As a result, the powerful spiritual enthusiasm which is a by-product of 12-Step work, particularly the 12-Step call itself, seems difficult to experience. How many of us at one time or another have asked the secret question, Is this all there is. How many of us have felt that we were getting short changed in our recovery? How many of us have dared to wonder if the experience of the first 100 wasn't indeed closed off to us? That the phrase, …we have been rocketed into a fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed were just words on a page? We believe that these are common concerns among many of us. Placing spiritual enthusiasm aside, just the relative percentage of permanent recoveries we experience today versus 30 or 40 years ago is alarming enough.

The commonly heard reasons for these realities sound like the rationalizations and justifications of the untreated alcoholic. Finger pointing to the external. It's because of the court slips, the treatment centers, the young people, the drugs, etc. ad-nauseum. In daring to follow the same directions in our group inventories as we do with our individual inventories, we believe the answer may lie with having dropped the ball when it comes to our primary purpose: Carrying the message TO the alcoholic.

As we travel around, we find there is a fresh new hunger alive and growing in Alcoholics Anonymous. "Surely you will meet some of us," is a promise that's coming true. The joy and spiritual power many of us have felt in sharing this gift with others is contagious.

But why shouldn't we laugh? We have recoverED, and been given the power to help others. We find there are just as many, if not more, opportunities for 12-Step calls as ever before.When placed in front of an alcoholic, who is alone and terrified, we get the strong sense that we are privileged to be at the right place at the right time doing the right thing. The illusion that we are somehow separate from our fellows is smashed. The realization that this new power we have been given can be used to help heal others comes strongly. The experience of working with suffering alcoholics draws us nearer to that profound sense of gratitude and helps provide us with a wonderful opportunity to honor that power which has restored us to sanity. We become active co-creators in our own spiritual experience.

Before we go out on a call, many of us pause to say thanks in prayer and to ask that our motives be grounded in selflessness. In addition, many of us take a few minutes to re-read Chapter 7 Working With Others. There are many great directions in this chapter coming from the experience of the first 100. In the ensuing decades, there have been 2 major shifts that were not realities when the Big Book was written. Roughly 90% of all 12-Step calls today are made to people who have been to AA previously and roughly 80% to people who are dually addicted. The dual addiction aspect can be easily surmounted with more information on drug as well as alcohol withdrawal. The detoxification process may be a little more complicated, that's all. However, the call to the person who has already been to AA provides us with a greater challenge. Virtually all the information concerning 12-Step calls found in our basic text assumes that the person we are seeing has never heard of AA before. It was written from the point of view that we are to be delivering new information. The prospect was immediately excited that there may be a way out he had never heard of before. The question now is, what do we say to the man who has already heard the usual identification pitch? For whom establishing rapport is not enough?

From one of our members:

Several months ago, I knocked on a motel door at 3 am. A shaken man fearfully asked me inside. I reached out my hand and introduced myself as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. Yeah I know, he said. I tried it before and it didn't work. After pouring the wine down the sink and getting on our knees, we began to talk.One alcoholic to Another. This man had been sober before. Sobriety wasn't enough, he said. I agreed and we began to talk about RECOVERY. We talked about alcoholism as a disease and that while we had once used alcohol as a treatment, our physical, emotional and spiritual decay rendered drinking no longer effective. We agreed that, based on sad experience, putting the plug in the jug hardly sufficed for a real alcoholic. Frothy emotional appeal seldom suffices. I related some of my own experience and that I had felt no sense of power until I had surrendered to the spiritual action inherent in the process. He related that he had attended meetings regularly and stayed sober but never felt happy or free and eventually returned to drink. This scenario is all too common. The phrase, Alcoholics Anonymous is the title of a textbook. It is not endless meetings. When we greet a man with Hey, I'll take you to a meeting, are we not sending the wrong message? Especially to a man who could not stay sober on fellowship support in the past? Perhaps we should try to find out what he did NOT try and focus on that instead.

When the new man says, I've tried AA and it doesn't work, what do we tell him? When he says, I've been sober before and it wasn't enough, how shall we respond? We believe we must try to open the window of distinction between sobriety and recovery. The something for him will be the inner feeling of peace he receives by doing the steps. The peace he never found by plug in the jug and lots of meetings instructions from the past. Alcohol is the symptom for our disease called alcoholism. Let's give the new man some fresh hope to chew on. And, let's try to insure that when we do take him to meet the members of our Home Group, he will find a safe haven from the wars that he has survived.

From Dr. Bob's Nightmare:

I spend a great deal of time passing on what I learned to others who want and need it badly. I do it for four reasons:

1. Sense of duty.

2. It is a pleasure.

3. Because in so doing I am paying my debt to the man who took time to pass it on to me.

4. Because every time I do it I take out a little more insurance for myself against a possible slip.

From page 129: It is well to let him go as far as he likes in helping other alcoholics. During those first days of convalescence, this will do more to insure his sobriety than anything else. Perhaps the greatest sense of joy of all is to be out on a 12-Step call with someone who is new to the program himself. To be there to witness such power in action is nothing short of a miraculous hair-raising opportunity. Don't miss it!

Every Step in our wonderful 12-Step process points directly to Step 12. The whole purpose of the previous 11 is to arrive at the threshold of Step 12. We are delivered to recovery so that we may share our experience with others. There are 147 promises in the Big Book. We have been given so much. The greatest gift of all is that we have been placed in a position of usefulness to others. We invite you to help us celebrate this gift!

From page 102: Your job now is to be at the place where you may be of maximum helpfulness to others, so never hesitate to go anywhere if you can be helpful. You should not hesitate to visit the most sordid spot on earth on such an errand. Keep on the firing line of life with these motives and God will keep you unharmed.

[BP44]

Awesome post. We recently had a group inventory conducted by an member from another group. Only a handful of members had ever been through a group inventory. What most of the issues boiled down to was sponsorship. The following week, my sponsor sat down with me and the rest of his pigeons and we went over a number of issues. 1) Singleness of purpose.....We are here to discuss those problems as they relate to alcohol. Not drugs, gambling, sex, co -dependence, overeating, undereating etc. I am an alcoholic, not an alcoholic and addict or worse addict and alcoholic. This is Alcoholic's Anonymous and that should be respected. 2) Attention during meetings. Get your coffee before the meeting and relieve your bladder before the meeting and then put your butt in the chair. There is nothing more disruptive in the meeting than people getting up and down like a jack in the box. 3) profanity. While it happens and on occasion our lips will get loose, profanity is not a sign of spiritual progress. He went on to say that he was taught by his sponsor that we are in mixed company and should respect that. Of course 2 days later I was sitting next to him in a meeting and let an F bomb loose. I have work to do. 4) Projecting the image. He discussed with us how we show up. Are we projecting an attractive image of AA for the person walking in off the street holding onto hope? 5) Service work. Participating in group conscience. Chairing meetings. Coffee duties and trash duties. Helping the newcomer settle in and adjust. We went over a number of things, the bottom line is that none of us knows what it means to be an AA when we get here. And there are some who have been here for awhile that still don't know. If you're like me you have to be shown and taught. I'm very grateful to have a man in my life that takes the time to pass this on to me and his other pigeons.

[jimhere]

I've begun to question the pre-amble read at most meetings I go to. It states that our primary purpose is to stay sober and help others to recover.

I recently awakened to the fact that since I got to AA, my whole purpose has been to fit myself to be of maximum service to God and the people about me. It was never about me, nor has it been for me. I also woke up to the idea that I don't know how to stay sober, nor can I teach you how to stay sober. If I knew how to stay sober, I wouldn't be in AA to begin with. My purpose is to take an alcoholic that asks for help through the steps that lead him to God.

If I stick to my primary spiritual aim, staying sober is not an issue. I don't do this work to stay sober, I do it because I am sober.
Jim

[RufusACanal]

That sounds like that "change" that Dr Silkworth was talking about. Thank you Jim.

[GrouchoTheCat]

Originally Posted by BP44

We recently had a group inventory conducted by an member from another group. Only a handful of members had ever been through a group inventory.

Never heard of a group inventory, please tell me more!

Thanks,

Ted

[nandm]

Originally Posted by GrouchoTheCat

Never heard of a group inventory, please tell me more!

Thanks,

Ted

My home group did one in August. I had never heard of one either but it brought out some things that we could do better at and things that we are doing well at. It was really benefitial to our group. We now have a united idea of what we feel is the best way to get the message to the alcoholic who is still suffering. I would recommend any group do it.

Information on a group conscious can be found through your local general service organization. It was our group GSO that found about it and brought the idea up at our business meeting. There is also information

Here is the basic information from the A.A group pamphlet

How is a group inventory taken?

Many groups periodically take a "group inventory," using one meeting (F2F groups) for an honest and fearless discussion of the group's weaknesses-and strengths.

Many groups have written G.S.O. that a group inventory perked up their A.A. activity and made sobriety more exciting and enjoyable-besides getting the message to more and more alcoholics.

The most popular form for taking a group inventory has been the set of questions which the Three Legacies Group, Spokane, Wash., used effectively.

For groups that want to Tenth Step themselves, here is a recent version-suggestions for a program
that may bring the group new health and vitality.

1. What is the basic purpose of the group?

2. What more can the group do to carry the message?

3. Considering the number of alcoholics in our community, are we reaching enough people?

4. What has the group done lately to bring the A.A. message to the attention of physicians, judges, members of the clergy, and others who can be helpful in reaching those who need A.A.?

5. Is the group attracting only a certain kind of alcoholic, or are we getting a good cross section of our community?

6. Do new members stick with us, or does turnover seem excessive?

7. How effective is our sponsorship? How can it be improved?

8. Has everything practical been done to provide an attractive meeting place?

9. Has enough effort been made to explain to all members the need and value of kitchen and housekeeping work and other services to the group?

10. Is adequate opportunity given to all members to speak and participate in other group activities?

11. Are group officers picked with care and consideration on the basis that officership is a great responsibility and opportunity for Twelfth Step work?

12. Does the group carry its fair share of the job of helping intergroup? The Grapevine? G.S.O.? Groups in institutions?

13. Do we give all members their fair chance of keeping informed about the whole of A.A.Recovery, Unity, and Service?

You'll probably want to add questions of your own.

[GrouchoTheCat]

Thanks, I'll look into this further in my area.

Ted

[BP44]

A group inventory is basically a 4th step for the group. We had a bigger turn out for the inventory than we usually have at group conscience, which is good, but at the same time I wish more folks would show up for group conscience on a regular basis.