A little more lengthy than "Part 1," this post ends with the bibliography of parts 1 and 2.
Secret 6
There is nothing moral or spiritual about trying to shove the funny Buchmanite religious beliefs of Bill Wilson on everyone else.
It is not moral or spiritual to tell people that:
"It isn't a religion, it's just an easy-going, spiritually-oriented quit-drinking program."
It's a religion.
That's called "deceptive recruiting". It's also called "lying". There is nothing moral or spiritual about it.
It is not moral or spiritual to keep making up screwy "spiritual diseases" like compulsive shopping or being a diabetic, or being an abused child of an alcoholic, or being a victim of incest, and then declaring that only a life spent doing the Twelve Steps will save the sufferer from a life of sin. Likewise, it is not moral or spiritual to tell sick people who are having troubles that their problems are of their own making, and that all that they need to do is Work The Steps and Work A Strong Program harder, rather than seek help from a doctor or psychiatrist.
And it is not moral or spiritual to tell sick people that the answer to all such problems is "Work The Twelve Steps, Get A Sponsor, And Read The Big Book".
It is not moral or spiritual to shove an ineffective "spiritual" treatment program on people who are seeking medical treatment for a deadly illness.
In fact, it is hard to understand how people who are otherwise pretty okay, nice, honest people can actually do it. They rationalize their actions by saying that the A.A. program saves lives, but they cannot help but see
the huge failure rate of A.A. if they have been around A.A. for very long. So that rationalization doesn't really wash. They are in denial about what A.A. really is, and they are in denial about
the immense A.A. failure rate, and they are in denial about what they are really doing.
It is not moral or spiritual to use judges and parole officers — the criminal justice system — to coerce people into the Alcoholics Anonymous organization. But they do it all of the time.
Foisting quack medicine on critically-ill people is criminal fraud and manslaughter.
Secret 7
The A.A. formula for "spirituality" is broken, and doesn't work.
Doing the Twelve Steps and forcing people to wallow in guilt and shame for years does not:
enlighten them,
or make them spiritual,
or "liberate them from ego",
or fill them with "Serenity and Gratitude".
You cannot get rid of your ego, or the "bondage of self", just by saying or praying that you wish to be rid of your ego. You might as well pray for your left foot to disappear.
"Stuffing your feelings" for years leads to neurosis and mental illness, not spirituality. Real live feeling human beings cannot feel only "Serenity and Gratitude" for years and years... When members then condemn themselves and feel guilty and inadequate for not having the proper "Serene and Grateful" attitude, it just makes matters worse. Then they can feel guilty about feeling guilty.
Secret 8
People are not "powerless" over their desires to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, take drugs, or eat too much. Being sick, and having a messed-up life from too much drinking, is just that — being sick. It isn't "powerlessness." Having difficulties quitting is not "powerlessness", it's having difficulties quitting. Saying that your drinking has really gotten out of control doesn't mean that you are powerless over it.
The "powerless" doctrine of Alcoholics Anonymous is one of their most central religious beliefs. It is one of those points where A.A. radically departs from Christianity or any other mainstream religion of the world, and enters the realm of bizarre cult religion. Christianity teaches people to be responsible for their actions. So do all of the other major religions of the world.
A.A., on the other hand, teaches that people are incapable of running their own lives and must surrender control of their lives to the A.A. group [cult] and a "Higher Power" who will control them, and do the quitting for them. Thus A.A. is teaching the doctrine that is common to so many cults — that you cannot make it without the cult. Bill Wilson wrote:
"Remember that we deal with alcohol — cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power — that One is God. May you find Him now!" (The Big Book, 3rd Edition, William Wilson, pages 58-59.)
Thus the real purpose of Step One is to prepare the new members for Steps Two and Three, where they will confess that they are insane, and then surrender their wills and lives to "God as they understand Him" and Alcoholics Anonymous. That is the standard cult demand that members surrender to the cult, pure and simple.
Bill Wilson declared that he was "powerless" over every urge or craving he ever had, no matter whether it was a thirst for alcohol, cravings for cigarettes, greed for money, or the urge to cheat on his wife Lois by having sex with all of the pretty young women who came to the A.A. meetings. That's one of the more novel and creative excuses for cheating on your wife, but it doesn't wash.
Secret 9
A.A. flat-out lies when it says it is a program of rigorous honesty; it is just the opposite — a program of rigorous dishonesty:
A.A. begins every meeting by reciting a list of Bill Wilson's lies that declare that the Twelve Steps work great, and that failures only happen because alcoholics are bad people, "constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves" (Big Book, page 58):
"RARELY HAVE we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path."
"Fake It Until You Make It."
"Act As If..."
When A.A. says "Keep An Open Mind," what they really mean is "Keep A Closed Mind", and blindly refuse to see anything wrong with "The Program", A.A. beliefs, or the crazy teachings of Bill Wilson.
The only idea that they really want you to be open to is the idea that A.A. is right about everything — the idea that the "spiritual" A.A. program with its Twelve Steps is a really good cure for alcoholism, one that actually works.
A.A. practices deceptive recruiting. It hides its extreme religiosity from new prospects, the "babies" and "pigeons". The Big Book recruiting manual, chapter seven, specifically instructs recruiters not to emphasize the religious element of the program. Bill Wilson's other writings tell recruiters to reveal the truth to the prospects and newcomers only a little bit at a time, doling out the truth by "Teaspoons, Not Buckets."
Like most cult religions, A.A. practices "Group-Think", and forbids any criticism of "the program." That is just the opposite of rigorous honesty. Like most cults, A.A. believes that it has unquestionable truths, even God-given truths, so it considers any criticism of its founders, their teachings, or the organization to be invalid — automatically invalid and untrue, because their truths are God-given.
Thus, A.A. calls its critics "AA-bashers" (ad hominem), and imagines that everything "AA-bashers" say is always wrong, and can be dismissed out-of-hand, because they are just AA-bashers. By this circular logic, A.A. can never be wrong, and criticism of A.A. can never be correct. And the true believers can avoid having to think, or take any criticism of A.A. seriously.
A.A. also enforces the Group-Think in another way: they will delist any group whose meetings do not conform to the standard formula to the satisfaction of the central-office elders. That means that the non-conforming group gets no referrals from the central office hot-line, and it isn't listed on the lists of meetings, and it doesn't get found by visitors or prospective new members, and it is just generally shunned. The group just gets cast into limbo. That threat is generally enough to enforce conformity.
I shouldn't have to be writing all of this stuff, these "Orange Papers". If A.A. were really "a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty" like they brag (in the Big Book, page 58), then they would have written and printed all of this information themselves, many, many years ago, just so that everyone would know what the real truth is. Instead, the A.A. headquarters keeps the archives of old documents and records sealed, locked up, so that no investigative journalists or snoopy scholars can learn the truth. They wouldn't even let the NBC News or ABC News teams take a look in the archives.
“I’m not the only one who has noticed this contradiction.” Heavy Drinking, Herbert Fingarette, page 74.
Secret 10
Alcoholics Anonymous founder William Griffith Wilson was insane, really insane, clinically diagnosable, as well as being grossly, feloniously, dishonest, coldly exploitive of others, and a grandiose, habitual liar. He was not a wise counselor who helped other alcoholics, not at all.
Bill's behavior, both before and after sobriety, leaves even less doubt.
And A.A. cofounder Dr. Robert Smith — "Doctor Bob" — was also a mental disaster. He was a cruel petty tyrant who abused his children and who tried to drink himself to death for most of his adult life. He even operated on patients while under the influence of alcohol and other drugs. The word in Akron, Ohio, was "When you let the proctologist Dr. Robert Smith operate on you, you're really betting your ass."
Secret 11
The A.A. stereotype of alcoholics is untrue.
Alcoholics especially should be able to see that instinct run wild in themselves is the underlying cause of their destructive drinking. ... This perverse soul-sickness is not pleasant to look upon.
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, William Wilson, page 44.
Since most of us are born with an abundance of natural desires, it isn't strange that we often let these far exceed their intended purpose.
(Whose intended purpose? God's? Mother Nature's? The Force of Evolution's?)
What happened to "A.A. requires no beliefs?"
When they drive us blindly, or we willfully demand that they supply us with more satisfactions or pleasures than are possible or due us, that is the point at which we depart from the degree of perfection that God wishes for us here on earth. That is the measure of our character defects, or, if you wish, of our sins.
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, William Wilson, page 65.
"Instinct run wild? Natural desires exceeding their intended purpose? Pleasures due us?"
Pleasures due us from whom? And due us, according to whose ledger book? God's?
Also notice how Bill Wilson just redefined "character defects" to mean the same thing as "sins":
That is the measure of our character defects, or, if you wish, of our sins.
That noticeably changes the meaning of Step Six --
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character
— by adding a burden of guilt to the Step, making it into a begging session where we beg God to remove sins. Bill Wilson gradually morphed alcoholism from a disease to be cured, into a sin that must be removed by God. That is another Bait-and-Switch trick.
Since defective relations with other human beings have nearly always been the immediate cause of our woes, including our alcoholism, no field of investigation could yield more satisfying and valuable rewards than this one.
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, William Wilson, page 81.
So now alcoholism is caused by "defective relations"? Earlier, Bill Wilson declared that our self-destructive drinking was caused by our sins, moral shortcomings, defects of character, resentments, instincts run wild, instinct gone astray, self-will run riot, self-seeking, selfishness, desires that far exceed their intended purpose, and failure to practice religious precepts properly. What will it be next?
People do not drink too much because they have big puffed-up strutting-peacock egos, or because they think they are the center of the Universe, or because they think they are too big and too good to need God, like Bill Wilson said.
And people do not drink too much because they are examples of instincts run wild, or self-will run riot, or because they are sinners with moral shortcomings and character defects, like Bill Wilson said.
People usually drink too much because they feel bad and are trying to feel good. They are often miserable, and just trying to "have fun."
Just because alcoholics and drug addicts have brains that are deficient in L-dopamine or beta endorphins doesn't mean that they are all selfish, immoral, and unspiritual, like Bill Wilson said.
Forty percent of all alcoholics and drug addicts were abused children who are now just trying to cope with their mangled emotional lives, damaged personalities, and shriveled cerebellar vermises. In addition, many more alcoholics and drug addicts suffer from emotional or mental illnesses that they are trying to fix by self-medicating. And there are even more people who are sick and in pain from physical illnesses, and they are just trying to kill their pain with drugs and alcohol. And last but not least, there are alcoholics who smoke and drink to kill the pain of being very sick from having drunk too much alcohol and smoked too many cigarettes for far too long.
The numbers look like this:
Forty percent of all alcoholics and junkies were abused children. Sometimes the parents were alcoholics, sometimes dopers, sometimes just insane. Sometimes insane vicious religious nuts, or insane cruel alcoholic military sergeant fathers. Sometimes insane first, and then they used alcohol or dope to kill the pain of their insanity. Often, those abusive parents had been abused children themselves, and they were just passing it on. For whatever reason, they then abused their children, physically, or mentally, or both, and the children responded by using alcohol or dope to kill their own pain.
And, in addition, at least half of the people in prison for violent crimes were also abused children. Perhaps it's much worse than that — according to one survey, 85% of all violent prison inmates were abused in childhood.
Two-thirds of all teenage mothers were raped or sexually abused as children or teenagers.
Rape victims are ten times more likely than other women to use drugs and alcohol to excess. In the U.S., at least one in ten women have been raped, almost two-thirds before the age of eighteen. A recent survey reports that one-sixth of all rape victims reported to police are under the age of 12. (And this is the category of rape least likely to be reported.) One-fifth of these girls were raped by their fathers. They have been betrayed.
Secret 12
There is no simple one-size-fits-all cure for alcoholism.
There is no panacea. There is no magic bullet. Mere sobriety will not solve all of your problems and give you boundless happiness. It will solve one huge problem, but you will still have lots of other smaller problems, because real life isn't so simple or so easy.
Ebby Thacher caught Bill Wilson at a weak, vulnerable moment in the hospital, while Bill was detoxing and totally out of his head from alcohol withdrawal and hallucinogenic drugs, and convinced Bill that Frank Buchman's Oxford Group cult had a simple program that would be the answer to all of his problems. My friend promised when these things were done I would enter upon a new relationship with my Creator; that I would have the elements of a way of living which answered all my problems.
The Big Book, 3rd edition, William Wilson, Chapter 1, Bill's Story, page 13.
It's me now:
So there you have it. AA does more harm than good, treating people with guilt that only God can fix and that once you attend AA and adhere to its promises, all of your lifes problems will disappear. Incidentally, Bill Wilson was friends with Rockerfeller who funded Bill graciously. And Bill experienced his "spiritual awakening" in a hospital room after ingesting too much belladonna (deadly nightshade), a hallucinegenic drug. Bill beat his wife and covered his windows so he would not be tempted to jump out of one of the windows ending his life. Outside the house, he was a God to his "patients." Where is the morality that this leader insists comes from AA when he himself was far worse off than 90% of all of AA's members?
Founder and President: Anthony Baker
Let the fetus do its job of becoming your baby.
No Booze. No Drugs. Being Real.
Comment Below...
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
(written by William G. Wilson, published as 'anonymous'.)
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. New York, NY, 2000.
ISBN: 0-916856-06-2
Dewey: 362.2928 T969 1965
For the standard party line about everything, see "The Big Book", really:
· Alcoholics Anonymous, Third Edition, 1976.
(written by William G. Wilson, Henry Parkhurst, and 40 or so others; published as 'anonymous.')
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. New York, NY, 1976.
ISBN: 0-916856-00-3
Dewey: 362.29 A347 1976
· Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition, 2001, published as "anonymous", but really written by William G. Wilson, Henry Parkhurst, Joe Walsh, and many other people.
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. New York, NY, 2001.
ISBN: 1-893007-16-2
Dewey: 362.29 A347 2001
Alcoholics Anonymous Comes Of Age published as "anonymous", but really written by William G. Wilson
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (AAWS), New York, 1957, 1986.
Harper, New York, 1957.
ISBN: 0-91-685602-X
LC: HV5278 .A78A4
Dewey: 178.1 A1c
This is Bill Wilson's version of the history of Alcoholics Anonymous. It suspiciously differs
'PASS IT ON'; The story of Bill Wilson and how the A.A. message reached the world 'anonymous'
Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (AAWS), New York, 1984.
ISBN: 0-916856-12-7
LC: HV5032 .W19P37x 1984
LCCN: 84-072766
Dewey: 362.29/286/O92
This is the official, council-approved version of the history of A.A.. Strangely enough, there is some very interesting stuff in here, including chapter 16, which describes Bill's spook sessions and séances, talking with the spirits of the dead, and communicating with spirits through spirit rapping and the Ouija board. See pages 275 to 285.
Language Of The Heart William G. Wilson
A.A. Grapevine, New York, 1988.
ISBN: 0-933-68516-5
LC: HV5278 .W15 1988
LCCN: 88-71930
This is a collection of Bill's writings, speeches, and letters, assembled after his death.
Bill W. A Biography of Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder Bill Wilson Francis Hartigan
Thomas Dunne Books, An imprint of St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, 2000.
ISBN: 0-312-20056-0
Dewey: B W11h 2000
This biography was written by Lois Wilson's private secretary, Francis Hartigan.
Bill W. Robert Thomsen
Harper & Rowe, New York, 1975.
ISBN: 0-06-014267-7
Dewey call number 362.29 W112t
This is a good biography of William G. Wilson, even if it is very positively slanted towards Mr. Wilson, because the author knew Mr. Wilson and worked beside him for the last 12 years of Mr. Wilson's life. And rumor has it that this book was prepared from autobiographical tapes that Bill Wilson made before he died. So expect it to praise Mr. Wilson a lot. Still, this book will also tell you about some of Bill Wilson's warts, his fat ego, his publicity-hound behavior, and his years-long "dry drunks"...
Bill W. My First 40 Years 'An Autobiography By The Cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous'
(This is Bill Wilson's alleged 'autobiography', supposedly published anonymously.)
Hazelden, Center City, Minnesota 55012-0176, 2000.
ISBN: 1-56838-373-8
Dewey call number B W11w 2000
This book was reputedly assembled by ghost writers at Hazelden from the same set of autobiographical tapes of Bill Wilson that Robert Thomsen used for his book.
Bill W. and Mr. Wilson — The Legend and Life of A.A.'s Cofounder Matthew J. Raphael
University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, Mass., 2000.
ISBN: 1-55849-245-3
Dewey: B W11r 2000
This book was written by another stepper — the name 'Matthew Raphael' is a pen name — and it generally praises Bill Wilson and recites the party line about most things, but it also contains a bunch of surprises, like detailing Bill's sexual infidelities, his and Bob's spook sessions — talking to the 'spirits' in séances through the use of Ouija boards, spirit rapping, clairvoyance, and channeling, LSD use, and publicity-hound megalomania.
Not-God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous Ernest Kurtz
Hazelden Educational Foundation, Center City, MN, 1979.
ISBN: 0-899-486065-8 or ISBN: 0-89486-065-8 (pbk.)
LC: HV5278
LCCN: 79-88264
Dewey: 362.2/9286 or 362.29286 K87 1979
This is a very pro-A.A., toe-the-party-line history of Alcoholics Anonymous, but it is still a valuable resource for a wealth of historical facts and details.
Getting Better Inside Alcoholics Anonymous Nan Robertson
William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York, 1988.
ISBN: 0-688-06869-3
LC: HV5278.R59 1988
LCCN: 87-31153
Dewey: 362.2'9286--dc19 or 362.2928 R651g
Another very standard, sanitized, history of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Heavy Drinking: The Myth of Alcoholism as a Disease Herbert Fingarette
University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 1988.
ISBN: 0-520-06290-6
LC: HV5292 .F56 1988
Alcoholics Anonymous: Cult or Cure? Charles Bufe, 1998.
See Sharp Press, PO Box 1731, Tucson AZ 85702-1731
ISBN: 1-884365-12-4
Dewey: 362.29286 B929a 1998
(This is the second edition; it has noticeably more information than the first edition. The first edition is: ISBN: 0-9613289-3-2, printed in 1991.)
The Recovery Book Al J. Mooney, M.D., Arlene Eisenberg, Howard Eisenberg
Workman Publishing, New York, 1992.
ISBN: 1-56305-084-6 (pbk.)
LC: HV5275.M56 1992
LCCN: 92-50284
Dewey: 613.81 M00
The book is a veiled AA-pusher. It purports to be a fair, balanced, general-purpose recovery book, but it keeps coming back to saying that A.A., Al-Anon, and the Twelve Steps are the answer.
