Need help from Big Book experts
Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Upstate New York
Posts: 1,636
....hmmmm.... I think perhaps it needs to be stated that the requirements for membership and the requirements for actually recovering are not necessarily the same.....
I mean, let's face it, the requirement for my joining a gym is that I be willing to pay the fees, but paying the fees is not going to do diddly-squat to improve my physical health (Unless, of course, the fees are huge and I pay them all up-front in gold coin that I personally carry, on foot, all the way from my home to the gym.)...If I want to improve my physical health, I actually have to have a workout plan and I actually have to follow that plan. And, in my own case, it really would be best if that plan was not one I had come up with myself (instead maybe like one that had been developed carefully by "experts" and used successfully by many millions of people over, say, 70-80 years) and if I had some kind of trainer (like a sponsor maybe) around to help keep me on-track.
Also, I've got to say that it strikes me as more than a bit odd that you say in your original post that, if you join AA, then you want to work a purist BB program, but later on you admit that you haven't read and don't want to have to read the BB, at least not in its entirety. I guess I'm not understanding how you can possibly know that you would want to work a purist BB program when it clearly is not possible that you have any personal understanding, let alone experience, with what that actually means.
For me, based on my personal understanding of the BB, which I have read many times, the first few chapters are pretty much devoted to raising my awareness of and emphasizing my powerlessness and the unmanageability of my life when I insist on being the manager of me and to convincing me that, therefore, the only possible path to recovery is for me to totally surrender and give the management of my life over to a HP.
So, basically, complete surrender and the total openness and willingness that accompanies that surrender are pretty much prerequisite for any kind of recovery the path to which is going to be found in the BB....
The fact that you obviously still have so many terms and conditions around what you are willing and not willing to do makes it difficult for me to imagine how you might be able to work any BB-based path to recovery, let alone one that might, in any honest sense, be referred to as "purist."
It seems that perhaps you are still looking to manage your own recovery and come up with your own path -- and that, of course, is your right. I would suggest, however, that you not waste a lot of time trying to support, justify, or defend such a path out of the BB, because I can say with a far amount of certainty that it really does not easily lend itself in any way to supporting or justifying ego-driven, force-of-my-own-will, I'll-be-my-own-sponsor-and-HP-too recovery -- if indeed there exists such a thing.
...and, BTW, I truly do not know if such a thing exists or not, but, if you happen to find it, please come back and let me know what it looks like and how it's workin' for you.
Good luck -- freya
I mean, let's face it, the requirement for my joining a gym is that I be willing to pay the fees, but paying the fees is not going to do diddly-squat to improve my physical health (Unless, of course, the fees are huge and I pay them all up-front in gold coin that I personally carry, on foot, all the way from my home to the gym.)...If I want to improve my physical health, I actually have to have a workout plan and I actually have to follow that plan. And, in my own case, it really would be best if that plan was not one I had come up with myself (instead maybe like one that had been developed carefully by "experts" and used successfully by many millions of people over, say, 70-80 years) and if I had some kind of trainer (like a sponsor maybe) around to help keep me on-track.
Also, I've got to say that it strikes me as more than a bit odd that you say in your original post that, if you join AA, then you want to work a purist BB program, but later on you admit that you haven't read and don't want to have to read the BB, at least not in its entirety. I guess I'm not understanding how you can possibly know that you would want to work a purist BB program when it clearly is not possible that you have any personal understanding, let alone experience, with what that actually means.
For me, based on my personal understanding of the BB, which I have read many times, the first few chapters are pretty much devoted to raising my awareness of and emphasizing my powerlessness and the unmanageability of my life when I insist on being the manager of me and to convincing me that, therefore, the only possible path to recovery is for me to totally surrender and give the management of my life over to a HP.
So, basically, complete surrender and the total openness and willingness that accompanies that surrender are pretty much prerequisite for any kind of recovery the path to which is going to be found in the BB....
The fact that you obviously still have so many terms and conditions around what you are willing and not willing to do makes it difficult for me to imagine how you might be able to work any BB-based path to recovery, let alone one that might, in any honest sense, be referred to as "purist."
It seems that perhaps you are still looking to manage your own recovery and come up with your own path -- and that, of course, is your right. I would suggest, however, that you not waste a lot of time trying to support, justify, or defend such a path out of the BB, because I can say with a far amount of certainty that it really does not easily lend itself in any way to supporting or justifying ego-driven, force-of-my-own-will, I'll-be-my-own-sponsor-and-HP-too recovery -- if indeed there exists such a thing.
...and, BTW, I truly do not know if such a thing exists or not, but, if you happen to find it, please come back and let me know what it looks like and how it's workin' for you.
Good luck -- freya
Laozi Old Man
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Detroit, MI
Posts: 6,665
Originally Posted by NLOL 
...I don't like conflict or pressure or people thinking they know me better than I know me and have enough on my plate as things stand. I don't think it is a good fit for me after all and I don't want any more problems than I have. Just being honest and just sayin'.
Member of SMART Recovery
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,722
NLOL,
I'm not currently a member of AA although I did belong to the fellowship for several years. I thought my perspective might be useful.
AA, like anything else, is what you make of it. If you feel that you can best benefit from the program by simplifying it down to the first 164, then by all means, do so. Your sobriety is your business, and you are entitled to approach it in whatever way feels right to you.
You are also fully entitled to examine the program and decide it isn't right for you. It is not "delusional" to conclude that a different path would be more appropriate for you. There are other programs (for example, SMART Recovery) and a goodly number of people simply come here and to other venues for support, using no "program" at all.
I will also, at the risk of raising the ire of some here, note that there is a bit of a unique danger in AA for those who are dually diagnosed and take psychiatric medication. There is a small, but vocal, contingent in AA which is adamantly against people taking these medications. I read a study recently suggesting that approximately 18% of AA members fall into this category and 12% would order their sponsees off the meds. You will find few, if any, of these people on SR, but meetings and some other internet venues do have them. I tell you this not to try to scare you away from AA if you do chose that path, but simply to make you aware that you may run into this.
Best of luck whatever you decide,
OTT
I'm not currently a member of AA although I did belong to the fellowship for several years. I thought my perspective might be useful.
AA, like anything else, is what you make of it. If you feel that you can best benefit from the program by simplifying it down to the first 164, then by all means, do so. Your sobriety is your business, and you are entitled to approach it in whatever way feels right to you.
You are also fully entitled to examine the program and decide it isn't right for you. It is not "delusional" to conclude that a different path would be more appropriate for you. There are other programs (for example, SMART Recovery) and a goodly number of people simply come here and to other venues for support, using no "program" at all.
I will also, at the risk of raising the ire of some here, note that there is a bit of a unique danger in AA for those who are dually diagnosed and take psychiatric medication. There is a small, but vocal, contingent in AA which is adamantly against people taking these medications. I read a study recently suggesting that approximately 18% of AA members fall into this category and 12% would order their sponsees off the meds. You will find few, if any, of these people on SR, but meetings and some other internet venues do have them. I tell you this not to try to scare you away from AA if you do chose that path, but simply to make you aware that you may run into this.
Best of luck whatever you decide,
OTT
Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: WI
Posts: 228
Originally Posted by NLOL
Thanks for all your thoughts and the time you took to type them out. I understand you all have your own opinions and I have mine too.
My primary concern is to not drink so as to not mess up my liver and let the meds work. Secondary to this, I want to not isolate. That is really my agenda. If this isn't what others want, that is ok. They can do things their way and I won't try to change what they do.
I pay a very high priced shrink and will follow his direction. And I have a therapist who has gone through a terrible depression herself and come out on the other side. I guess you could say these are my version of a higher power. I am not big on the God thing and, quite frankly, think if there is one he or she has far better things to do than intervene in my life - like taking on the big issues on the planet and in the galaxy (or is it galaxies?)
After reading so many comments that I should follow other people's directions in the group, I think I may not attend AA after all. I don't like conflict or pressure or people thinking they know me better than I know me and have enough on my plate as things stand. I don't think it is a good fit for me after all and I don't want any more problems than I have. Just being honest and just sayin'.
My primary concern is to not drink so as to not mess up my liver and let the meds work. Secondary to this, I want to not isolate. That is really my agenda. If this isn't what others want, that is ok. They can do things their way and I won't try to change what they do.
I pay a very high priced shrink and will follow his direction. And I have a therapist who has gone through a terrible depression herself and come out on the other side. I guess you could say these are my version of a higher power. I am not big on the God thing and, quite frankly, think if there is one he or she has far better things to do than intervene in my life - like taking on the big issues on the planet and in the galaxy (or is it galaxies?)
After reading so many comments that I should follow other people's directions in the group, I think I may not attend AA after all. I don't like conflict or pressure or people thinking they know me better than I know me and have enough on my plate as things stand. I don't think it is a good fit for me after all and I don't want any more problems than I have. Just being honest and just sayin'.
Guest
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 270
Agree with OTT, going to SMART or SOS, or WOS, or RR, or LifeRing sounds like your best bet to find what you're looking for.
And MM has an abs group to check into. Lots of alternatives other than your going to AA to check out first.
Take the time to investigate each thouroughly. Hard to know what they're all about in just the first few months.
And MM has an abs group to check into. Lots of alternatives other than your going to AA to check out first.
Take the time to investigate each thouroughly. Hard to know what they're all about in just the first few months.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 9
Originally Posted by onlythetruth
NLOL,
I'm not currently a member of AA although I did belong to the fellowship for several years. I thought my perspective might be useful.
AA, like anything else, is what you make of it. If you feel that you can best benefit from the program by simplifying it down to the first 164, then by all means, do so. Your sobriety is your business, and you are entitled to approach it in whatever way feels right to you.
You are also fully entitled to examine the program and decide it isn't right for you. It is not "delusional" to conclude that a different path would be more appropriate for you. There are other programs (for example, SMART Recovery) and a goodly number of people simply come here and to other venues for support, using no "program" at all.
I will also, at the risk of raising the ire of some here, note that there is a bit of a unique danger in AA for those who are dually diagnosed and take psychiatric medication. There is a small, but vocal, contingent in AA which is adamantly against people taking these medications. I read a study recently suggesting that approximately 18% of AA members fall into this category and 12% would order their sponsees off the meds. You will find few, if any, of these people on SR, but meetings and some other internet venues do have them. I tell you this not to try to scare you away from AA if you do chose that path, but simply to make you aware that you may run into this.
Best of luck whatever you decide,
OTT
I'm not currently a member of AA although I did belong to the fellowship for several years. I thought my perspective might be useful.
AA, like anything else, is what you make of it. If you feel that you can best benefit from the program by simplifying it down to the first 164, then by all means, do so. Your sobriety is your business, and you are entitled to approach it in whatever way feels right to you.
You are also fully entitled to examine the program and decide it isn't right for you. It is not "delusional" to conclude that a different path would be more appropriate for you. There are other programs (for example, SMART Recovery) and a goodly number of people simply come here and to other venues for support, using no "program" at all.
I will also, at the risk of raising the ire of some here, note that there is a bit of a unique danger in AA for those who are dually diagnosed and take psychiatric medication. There is a small, but vocal, contingent in AA which is adamantly against people taking these medications. I read a study recently suggesting that approximately 18% of AA members fall into this category and 12% would order their sponsees off the meds. You will find few, if any, of these people on SR, but meetings and some other internet venues do have them. I tell you this not to try to scare you away from AA if you do chose that path, but simply to make you aware that you may run into this.
Best of luck whatever you decide,
OTT
I have a confession. I am not a newcomer to AA, rather my history spans decades. Truth is, I was considering a return, and just wanted to know what was in the BB. Not having one, having thrown so many out, it was just easier to post. Now that it's confirmed I do not have to buy into all the nonsense, I can still go, but I will resist about 90% of the people I meet there or more, based on this single thread alone.
How else could someone have known to post the kind of questions I did, were it not for a history of AA? I'm also smart enough to know that the only way to get a straight answer to a straight question is to not appear as a "retread." (what a concept).
At any rate, if there is only a 5 or 10% chance I am likely to meet someone like the two of you there, those aren't great odds. So I'm still on the fence, and on the side of not going.
Your smart, thoughtful, refreshing posts were most welcome.
Member
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 700
Originally Posted by NLOL
So I'm still on the fence, and on the side of not going.
Your smart, thoughtful, refreshing posts were most welcome.
Your smart, thoughtful, refreshing posts were most welcome.
A work in progress
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: South Jersey
Posts: 16,633
Originally Posted by cabledude
And MM has an abs group to check into.
I don't think you would get more out of the MMAbsers than you would get here at SR. Not putting it down, but as a group, they tend to be people who are coming off the idea of moderation as a workable goal. If you've already concluded that, I don't know that it would be particularly helpful.
Member of SMART Recovery
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,722
Originally Posted by NLOL
OTT and CableDude, the two of you have made the most sense in this whole thread.
I have a confession. I am not a newcomer to AA, rather my history spans decades. Truth is, I was considering a return, and just wanted to know what was in the BB. Not having one, having thrown so many out, it was just easier to post. Now that it's confirmed I do not have to buy into all the nonsense, I can still go, but I will resist about 90% of the people I meet there or more, based on this single thread alone.
How else could someone have known to post the kind of questions I did, were it not for a history of AA? I'm also smart enough to know that the only way to get a straight answer to a straight question is to not appear as a "retread." (what a concept).
At any rate, if there is only a 5 or 10% chance I am likely to meet someone like the two of you there, those aren't great odds. So I'm still on the fence, and on the side of not going.
Your smart, thoughtful, refreshing posts were most welcome.
I have a confession. I am not a newcomer to AA, rather my history spans decades. Truth is, I was considering a return, and just wanted to know what was in the BB. Not having one, having thrown so many out, it was just easier to post. Now that it's confirmed I do not have to buy into all the nonsense, I can still go, but I will resist about 90% of the people I meet there or more, based on this single thread alone.
How else could someone have known to post the kind of questions I did, were it not for a history of AA? I'm also smart enough to know that the only way to get a straight answer to a straight question is to not appear as a "retread." (what a concept).
At any rate, if there is only a 5 or 10% chance I am likely to meet someone like the two of you there, those aren't great odds. So I'm still on the fence, and on the side of not going.
Your smart, thoughtful, refreshing posts were most welcome.
One of the things I like about SR is its openness to different recovery paths. I feel that for the most part, I can be honest here about my recovery experiences. There are other threads on SR where you can connect with people who utilize secular or non-12-step paths.
I should make clear that I respect AA and all it has done and continues to do for some people; I am not in the business of talking people out of it if it is "their thing". On the other hand, AA simply is not a good fit for everyone and I do get a bit riled up when I see people pressured towards that program or accused of being somehow "less than" for choosing a different path.
I guess what I'm wondering though is what you will do if you decide against AA. Many people do quit without utilizing any program at all, and that is fine, but from your previous posts it sounds like you do have a desire to use a program of some sort to provide structure. Have you checked out SMART Recovery, LifeRing and SOS? Those programs may have what you are looking for. For myself, I am a fan of SMART because I feel it offers a good, understandable set of tools geared toward where you are in your recovery. It also has a decent number of face to face meetings in some areas and online voice or chat meetings every day. SMART was not really up and running when I quit drinking so I can't claim to have used the program myself to quit drinking, but I am truly impressed with the program and what I have seen it do for others.
OTT
Forward we go...side by side-Rest In Peace
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Serene In Dixie
Posts: 36,740
Hi everyone....
As this thread has drifted away from the AA program
and it was in our Alcoholism 12 Step Support Forum
I have moved it to a more suitable forum ....
where others may share whatever worked for them.
Once again...there is no wrong way to recover
Hope everyone finds the joy that can be lived.
Please continue to share here...
:
As this thread has drifted away from the AA program
and it was in our Alcoholism 12 Step Support Forum
I have moved it to a more suitable forum ....
where others may share whatever worked for them.
Once again...there is no wrong way to recover
Hope everyone finds the joy that can be lived.
Please continue to share here...
:
Last edited by CarolD; 02-07-2011 at 06:14 PM.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Alicante, Spain
Posts: 11
This thread is brilliant! I love it.
NLOL you've asked some brilliant questions and it's clear you have a very logical and perhaps scientific mind. I believe your questions have been answered above by many contributors, so I won't go over old ground, as it were.
Personally, I believe that the solution to my alcoholic problem did not lie solely in a scientific purist approach. As others have said before me, the answer to my alcoholic problem was in acknowledging that the answer came from a 'power greater than me'. This is not a difficult concept for me, as I can think of loads of things more powerful than me - booze was just one of them.
Doing something together rather than alone also is a 'power greater than me', for example, you and I could probably lift a table together, but alone we'd really struggle. So, by taking the Big Book, which is the experience of the first 100 members of AA, we therefore have 100 people available to help.
Everything that you see in AA today is a direct descendent of the original book. It was designed to be sent out to places where AA did not exist and therefore has been interpreted in many different ways with 'traditions' being built around the original text (like saying you're an alcoholic at meetings for example) and it continues to be interpreted in many new ways too.
If you're looking at a purist approach to recovery in AA and using the Big Book to do it, then you're doing exactly what the early guys did. As you have observed already, there are many different outcomes to this - different meetings have different styles for example. I personally like the 'Keep it Simple' approach to recovery.
What makes AA different to every other kind of recovery group (and there are many) is the 12 suggested steps of recovery. The sole purpose of these steps is to enable you to find a power greater than yourself which will solve your problem. So, it's a really good idea to have a look at these steps in order to 'solve your problem'. Once you've looked at them, you may need some help in working them - that's where someone with more experience can help (some people call this a sponsor).
Whatever you decide to do in your recovery journey NLOL, there will be decicions you have to make for yourself. Sometimes there just are no generalised 'right or wrong' answers, but what feels right for you. Whatever you decide to do and whichever route to recovery you find, be it through the 12 steps or another way, I wish you well and would love to know how you're getting along with it all.
My favourite line in the Big Book, is 'Recovery starts when one alcoholic talks to another', so I thank you for identifying to me you're an alcoholic, because you have just helped me to continue to recovery from alcoholism, one day at a time.
Best wishes
Hawksbill
NLOL you've asked some brilliant questions and it's clear you have a very logical and perhaps scientific mind. I believe your questions have been answered above by many contributors, so I won't go over old ground, as it were.
Personally, I believe that the solution to my alcoholic problem did not lie solely in a scientific purist approach. As others have said before me, the answer to my alcoholic problem was in acknowledging that the answer came from a 'power greater than me'. This is not a difficult concept for me, as I can think of loads of things more powerful than me - booze was just one of them.
Doing something together rather than alone also is a 'power greater than me', for example, you and I could probably lift a table together, but alone we'd really struggle. So, by taking the Big Book, which is the experience of the first 100 members of AA, we therefore have 100 people available to help.
Everything that you see in AA today is a direct descendent of the original book. It was designed to be sent out to places where AA did not exist and therefore has been interpreted in many different ways with 'traditions' being built around the original text (like saying you're an alcoholic at meetings for example) and it continues to be interpreted in many new ways too.
If you're looking at a purist approach to recovery in AA and using the Big Book to do it, then you're doing exactly what the early guys did. As you have observed already, there are many different outcomes to this - different meetings have different styles for example. I personally like the 'Keep it Simple' approach to recovery.
What makes AA different to every other kind of recovery group (and there are many) is the 12 suggested steps of recovery. The sole purpose of these steps is to enable you to find a power greater than yourself which will solve your problem. So, it's a really good idea to have a look at these steps in order to 'solve your problem'. Once you've looked at them, you may need some help in working them - that's where someone with more experience can help (some people call this a sponsor).
Whatever you decide to do in your recovery journey NLOL, there will be decicions you have to make for yourself. Sometimes there just are no generalised 'right or wrong' answers, but what feels right for you. Whatever you decide to do and whichever route to recovery you find, be it through the 12 steps or another way, I wish you well and would love to know how you're getting along with it all.
My favourite line in the Big Book, is 'Recovery starts when one alcoholic talks to another', so I thank you for identifying to me you're an alcoholic, because you have just helped me to continue to recovery from alcoholism, one day at a time.
Best wishes
Hawksbill
Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Colorado Prairie
Posts: 1,417
I read a study recently suggesting that approximately 18% of AA members fall into this category and 12% would order their sponsees off the meds. You will find few, if any, of these people on SR, but meetings and some other internet venues do have them
That's something we don't do in meetings as often as we should.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,243
Originally Posted by NLOL
Hello,
I have decided to go to AA but need some answers to some questions before I go. I plan to do a "purist" program only. By this I mean, if it's not in the original BB, I may or may not do it, probably will not do it. I figured this was the best place to post my questions and where I can get answers from experts well versed in the BB. So here are my questions...
1. Does it state in the BB one must get a sponsor?
2. Does it state in the BB one must acknowledge birthdays and take chips?
3. Does it state in the BB that one must say "I am an alcoholic" at every meeting?
4. Does it state in the BB that one must go to X number of meetings?
5. Does it state in the BB one MUST do the steps?
As far as I know, the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. Also, if the answer is yes to any of these questions, can you please point me in the direction as to where I might find this in the BB? I don't have one but can always go online to read it myself. I guess those are all of the questions I can think of for now. I would appreciate any input and your expertise is valued. Thanks in advance.
I have decided to go to AA but need some answers to some questions before I go. I plan to do a "purist" program only. By this I mean, if it's not in the original BB, I may or may not do it, probably will not do it. I figured this was the best place to post my questions and where I can get answers from experts well versed in the BB. So here are my questions...
1. Does it state in the BB one must get a sponsor?
2. Does it state in the BB one must acknowledge birthdays and take chips?
3. Does it state in the BB that one must say "I am an alcoholic" at every meeting?
4. Does it state in the BB that one must go to X number of meetings?
5. Does it state in the BB one MUST do the steps?
As far as I know, the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. Also, if the answer is yes to any of these questions, can you please point me in the direction as to where I might find this in the BB? I don't have one but can always go online to read it myself. I guess those are all of the questions I can think of for now. I would appreciate any input and your expertise is valued. Thanks in advance.
Thanks for visiting and bringing your question to the board! As an information junkie and history buff I have been studying up on the early roots of AA and can answer your original questions.
1. The word "sponsor" actually came from the early pioneers who actually qualified potential members by asking them questions about their drinking habits and if they determined they were not true "real" alcoholics and that they could stop drinking through some other method would not invite them into the AA group.
In early AA those who participated were considered "hopeless" in every sense of the word and most had to detox in a hospital (rehabs and the treatment industry were unknown then). While in the hospital AA members visited the suffering one and shared their stores of hope and recovery (12th step).
If the AA candidate came to agree that he was an alcoholic who was powerless over his drinking, that he was willing to turn his will and live over to God (HP wasn't in play yet ... all early members had Jesus C. as their anonymous higher power
then they got on their knees and prayed together.The new AA member was actually given a card with an actual date on it! The new member was then taken through the steps QUICKLY .... usually days or weeks. Until you completed the steps you were not allowed into meetings (they only had step meetings, speaker meetings and beginner meetings.
Beginner meetings usually were one night each week and took the new member through the steps in 4 week process. Again, once completed they became "card carrying" members of Alcoholics Anonymous.
So... to be a "purist" you would need a sponsor. The early pioneers spent a lot of time with eachother helping eachother get sober. The core of the recovery was the psychic/spiritual change from a selfish worldview to a God centered worldview and determination to change into a person that pleased God, loved others and shared what they themselves had found in sobriety.
In the earliest days many of the oldtimers were still involved in the Oxford Group (a huge worldwide movement of house meetings centered in returning to the 1st century Christianity emphasising a deep relationship with God in prayer, mediation, confessing faults to oneanother and community). Though early AA sought to distance itself from the Oxford Groups, Bill W. later acknowledged, "The early AA got its ideas of self-examination, acknowledgment of character defects, restitution for harm done and working with others straight from the Oxford Group and directly from Sam Shoemaker, their former leader in America, and from nowhere else."
So... the early AAs learned that lone rangers did not make it and that those who did make it developed relationships with others that included accountability, transparency and most importantly started growing a vibrant relationship with God.
2. Chips and Birthdays. The first tokens given for sobriety in the AA movement were given by Sister Ingatia of St. Thomas Hospital in Akron Ohio. After a 5 day dryout the newly sober man would be given a Sacred Heart medallion and she would extract a promise that if they decided to drink again they needed to find her first and return the medallion. Medallions for sobriety had been used before in temperence movements as early as 1840. Some groups starting giving various colored poker chips to acknowledge milestones in sobriety. Eventually a marketplace opportunity was seized upon and the chip industry was birthed.
The birthday parties came about because the oldtimers realized that many relapsed on their belly button birthdays so the idea grew to "throw a sobriety party" to hopefully offset the tendancy to party alcoholically on real birthdays.
So... survey says: No... BB does not mandate chips or birthdays and the official AA position is that it is up to each group and individual member if they wish to pick up a chip or have a party! Freedom is a very good thing!
3. Love this question! NO! In fact early oldtimers actually commited what many now consider the cardinal sin of proclaiming to be "recovered alcoholics"! My RAH has not gotten the courage to announce that he is a "recovered alcoholic" in an AA meeting yet but he truly believes that he is. Right now he just says "I am an alcoholic and my problem is Chris".
This is a whole 'nother thread and we could debate this one for 100 pages... but I answered your question.
4. Meetings. Nope. Never had a prescribed number of meetings. The people in early AA were dying and without hope. They weren't court ordered, they weren't looking for a social network. They were not problem drinkers. They were shaking, sweating people detoxing in hospitals whose lives had fallen aprart and were without a shred of hope. They didn't ask "how many meetings do I have to go to"... they clung to someone's hand who offered them a shred of hope that they could live a life of purpose and meaning and not be chained to bottle of booze that was sqeezing the very life out of them.
Like men going down for last time in an stormy ocean they reached for that lifering of hope and were WILLING to do whatever it took... including a willingness to consider that there was a higher power that could help them if sought... that were a group of men who had experienced being set free that were willing to invest their time and energy into helping someone find that freedom from addiction and death. They were willing to pray to a God that they DIDN'T necessarily believe existed but were willing to let Him reveal himself to them if he did actually exist. They were willing to take the steps and listen to others instead of themselves. Many of these men moved into homes of recovered alcoholics and lived the program 24 hours a day.
The success rate for these desperate men in those days ... the days of strong AA... 75 to 92%! Why? Because not everybody got a card... you had to be a desperate true alcoholic willing to whatever it took to get free. You had be willing to turn your will and life over to God and take direction from your new "sponsors".
When early AA started getting hopeless alkies sober the neighbors and communities took notice. Some articles got written. THe phones started ringing off the wall. There were only so many sober sponsors and they tried to concentrate on those who were truly serious about gettting sober.
Those in the new community of AA spent huge amounts of time together developing the new organization as well as socializing together, having bible studies together, 12 step calling with eachother and of course having AA meetings too.
5. In early purist AA if you were unwilling to do the steps then you were not invited to attend meetings. You didn't get a card and they moved on to the next person who was willing!
So there you go ... answers to your questions!
Now. I have a question for you. What is your deepest wish for yourself? Do you want to get sober? Do you want to get sober just to get folks off your back or just because your meds will work better?
If down deep you really do not want to give up the substances that are causing you problems you are going to balk at some of the things you are questioning in AA. Search your heart. If you want to change your life, your future and seek out a spiritual solution that in its wake will bring true, peace, happiness and meaning in your life as well as sobriety AA may be an answer for you.
But you have to want it... yes, like a drowning man reaching for a lifering... you have to want it as much as you want that drink. You really have to want it more... because it is a choice between the two.
AA was never about meetings. It was a spiritual program based on the 4 Absolutes of the Oxford Group which in turned was based on the Bible (Sermon on the Mount, Book of James and the Love Chapter Corinthinians). AA evolved into what it is today... choices... you can attend and sit in the back and not say a word, not work the steps, question everything and you might get sober.
The statistics for AA today is disputed but it ranges between 3 to 15% for long term sobriety. What I described in the early days was 75% to 92% documented long term recovery. AA gives every person the right to choose how they want to develop their own life plan for recovery... they simply provide a place where you can connect with other people who are willing to help you on whatever path you choose.
I recommend people jump on the strong AA bandwagon... find a strong sponsor who has sobriety you like (smiles not frowns) and knows the BB and go for it! What do you have to lose? If you decide it's not for you later you can always switch horses midstream.
Thats just me...you got a history lesson and a lot extra. Take what you need and leave the rest!
Good luck whatever your decision ...
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