The Historical and Spiritual Foundations of the Twelve Steps:

Personal Significance and a Pathway for Development

Jeffrey Rediger, MD, MDivMedical and Clinical Director

McLean Hospital SE and Community ProgramsHarvard Medical School

ConsultantGood Samaritan Medical Center

FounderCenter for Psychological and Spiritual Development

SpiritualitySpirituality is the “eternal flame of life and love that burns in the heart;” the realization that there is something magnificent within us; an expansive “YES” to life and oneself and others

Religion is an effort to box that flame

Is about becoming human rather than “godly”

Transcendence comes through attaining the universally human

Whatever increases our capacity to know and experience love

“Love is God”

Spirituality

One’s “ultimate concern” (Paul Tillich)

Whatever it is that opens the heart and helps one feel more alive and connected

Whatever it is that is genuinely restorative of life and energy: nature, self-care, time with good friends, activities that promote self-knowledge, awaken hope and awareness of latent potentials within oneself and others

Historical and Spiritual Foundations of the Twelve Steps

• Letter from Bill W. to Dr. Carl Jung on January 23, 1961

• Letter from Dr. Carl Jung to Bill W. on January 30, 1961

• Carl Jung

• Oxford Group

• William James

• Belief in the goodness and magnificence of the individual

“Hi, my name is Barry and I check my email two to three hundred times per day”

Alcoholics Anonymous• Began in 1935 with a conversation between Bill

W., a stockbroker, and Dr. Bob, a physician who also suffered from alcoholism

• Today: AA is in over 200 countries, with 114,070 groups

• 2 million members in the United States alone

• NA numbers over 58,000 meetings in 131 countries

• Alcoholics Anonymous has sold over 30 million copies and has been translated into 67 languages

Carl Jung and the Twelve Steps

• Spiritus contra spiritum: Addiction is ultimately about a search for something higher

• One of the early forces distinguishing spirituality from religion

• Explored the deeper relationship of psychology and spirituality in the psyche

Individuation in Carl Jung• Individuation: the process by which the

individual Self develops out of an undifferentiated matrix such as the family or peer group, etc.

• For example, instead of not being genuinely happy until the loved one has stopped drinking, individuation suggests that each individual should develop his or her own capacities and follow his or her own highest aspirations. This is best for the person and also best for the addict.

The Oxford Group• Founded in 1921 by Frank Buchman

• Not a religion or a denomination; was also one of the early efforts to distinguish religion from spirituality

• Represents a step away from organized religion and the belief that the individual must be taught, guided or controlled

• People helping people: one of the first successful examples of a mutual-help group

The Oxford Group

• “…one man talking to another or one woman discussing her problems with another woman was the order of the day”

• Good Housekeeping (1936): described the Group as having no membership, no dues, no paid leaders, no new theological creed, nor regular meetings. “A fellowship of people who desire to follow a way of life, a determination, not a denomination.”

The Oxford Group’s Four Spiritual Practices1. The sharing of errors and temptations with

another person

2. Surrender of one’s life - past, present and future - to God, as one understands God to be

3. Restitution to all whom one has wronged directly or indirectly

4. The use of an early morning “quiet time”, where the person reads spiritual literature and then with pen and paper seeks direction for the day ahead.

Bill W. on the Oxford Group

• "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 from nowhere else.”

Carl Jung on the Oxford Group

“…when a member of the Oxford Group comes to me in order to get treatment, I say, "You are in the Oxford Group; so long as you are there, you settle your affair with the Oxford Group. I can't do it better...."

Dr. Silkworth• Was Bill W.’s physician

• Advised Bill W. to change his approach and tell the alcoholics they suffered from a disease - that could kill them - and then apply the Oxford Practices

• Alcoholism as a disease and not a moral failing was different from the Oxford concept that drinking was a sin

• This is what Bill W. brought to Dr. Bob on their first meeting

• Dr. Bob was the first alcoholic Bill W. helped to sobriety.

Addiction as Moral Failing vs. Disease• Western Christianity evolved away from its original

roots when it adopted Roman legal concepts

• Sin became condemnation, rather than an error or “missing the mark”

• Law became more important than the person; no more did law exist only in order to nurture individual life and well-being

• Basic goodness was lost; guilt, shame and “not measuring up” permeated the western psyche (but not in Eastern Christianity)

• Disease concept: an effort to off-set condemnation of self and others, and to bring addiction into the fold of common rationality

“Our psychopharmacologist is a genius!”‘

William James and the Twelve Steps

The Varieties of Religious Experience “…indicates a multitude of ways in which men have discovered God. We have no desire to convince anyone that there is only one way by which faith can be acquired….all of us, whatever our race, creed, or color are the children of a living Creator with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try. Those having religious affiliations will find here nothing disturbing to their beliefs or ceremonies…. “

The Big Book

William James and the Twelve Steps

• “…the sway of alcohol over mankind is unquestionably due to its powers to stimulate the mystical faculties of human nature, usually crushed to the earth by the cold facts and dry criticisms of the sober hour. Sobriety diminishes, discriminates, and says no; drunkenness expands, unites, and says yes.””

• “The drunken consciousness is one bit of the mystic consciousness, and our total opinion of it must find its place in our opinion of that larger whole.”

The Mystic Consciousness of the Addict

Two World-views

Ancient Spiritualities

Person is perfect

Whole and complete; possesses all that is needed

Asleep

Treatment is to awaken

Disease Model

Person is flawed

Needs external knowledge or technology to be added

Deficit

Treatment is external: medicine, procedure, or external knowledge

Two World-viewsAncient Spiritualities

Divinity is within (both immanent and beyond)

Emphasis is on connection and wholeness

Illness begins in the Soul

Whole is greater than the sum of the parts

Western Thought

Divinity is external or non-existent

Emphasis is on individual expression

Illness begins in the Body

Emphasis is on the parts and the individual

Two World-views

Ancient Spiritualities

Underlying perfection Immortal Indestructible Power with others Invisible world is primary

Western Thought

Original sin is primaryEmphasizes this lifeDestructiblePower over othersVisible world is primary

Reflection: Two World-views

Ancient Spiritualities

Person is perfect

Whole and complete; possesses all that is needed

Asleep

Treatment is to awaken

Disease Model

Person is flawed

Needs external knowledge or technology to be added

Deficit

Treatment is external: medicine, procedure, or external knowledge

Thought ExperimentGiven that spontaneous remissions may follow discernible principles, the place of consciousness in modern science and the better spiritual writings, what helps people heal? What most motivates people to help themselves and help each other?

It has taken hundreds of years to define the physical laws of the universe

Is it possible that there are laws or principles of the mind and heart that are more powerful than we realize?

Ambulances vs. Guideposts

Mask vs. the Person

Examples of masks: degrees, jobs, incomes, illnesses, age, appearances, roles we play

Masks are roles that we play: daughters, sons, lovers, spouses, employees, therapists, patients, clients, etc.

Masks are also illnesses and diagnoses: addictions, medical and psychological illnesses

Parts vs. the Whole

In the West, we focus on parts to the exclusion of the whole:

a psychological problem is sent to the therapist

a medical problem is sent to the physician

a spiritual problem is sent to the priest, rabbi or minister

New Model of the PersonSo far:

The person is not his or her diagnosis or addiction

The person is more than the sum of biological, psychological and spiritual “parts”

It is a person who stands behind and orders all the “parts” and “masks” into a coherent whole

PersonhoodOur concept of personhood is evolving over the centuries.

A new conception was the basis for the Declaration of Independence

Benjamin Franklin suggested the use of “self-evident” as a way to base the new political system on common rationality rather than sectarian religion

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...”

The Evolution of CultureReligion: People are fundamentally sinful, even evil creatures

Medicine: The disease model reifies disease

Psychology: Problems are reduced to deficits from childhood

Psychiatry: Problems are reduced to neuro-chemical defects

Deficit Models in ReligionReligion sometimes seeks to celebrate personhood in theory

But too often:

teaches a negative view of human life

restricts personhood to a select few

teaches the opposite in practice

seeks to control rather than liberate

Deficit Models in Psychology and Psychiatry

Reduce conflicts to deficits from childhood or neuro-chemical defects

Assume that the deficits and defects reflect something real about the person

This creates treatment resistance

“Before Prozac, she loathed company”

The Evolution of Culture

A slow movement away from negative and deficit-based models towards a positive vision of the human experience

Democracy, human rights, increased emphasis on the self-evident dignity and inborn capacities and possibilities of all human beings

A flowering of the inner life and capacities for self-knowledge and self-determination

The Evolution of CultureThe theories of William James were a proto-type

Third-force psychology (Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow) heralded a new direction

Alcoholics Anonymous, Meditation, Self-Help, Positive Psychology and Alternative Medicine represent a flowering

Flowering of consciousness and renaissance closely related to the meeting of East and West

Principles of Healing

We matter more than we have a clue about

We are more connected to others than we realize

We become what we focus on

The Primacy and Dignity of Personhood

Each person brings something unrepeatable and magnificent into the world

We suffer to the exact degree that we fail to understand the dignity and magnificence of our individual life and being

At the bottom of much of illness and disease lies a longing to be seen, loved and valued unconditionally, as one asleep but with potential

The Primacy and Dignity of Personhood

Can be described in both “spiritual” and “non-spiritual” language

Is described in the best of spiritual writing: Imago Dei, the light within, divine spark, inner light, child of God, etc.

PIIPerfect, Immortal, Indestructible

From a higher perspective, the evidence of the five senses gives rise to an illusion: we are not our masks or who we appear to be

The perfection of imperfection: liberation comes from the growing experience that we are both perfect and imperfect human beings - “good enough”

PIIbrings out the depth and genius of ourselves and each other

helps us be present to the possibilities and the beauty within our clients, and also within ourselves

revives hope and faith, which are vital forces for healing

emphasizes the unrepeatable, unique gift that each individual is; and that nothing can take this basic reality away

PIIIn spiritual language, the goal is to see the client, and ourselves, not with our physical eyes, but with the “eyes of the heart”

Seeing in this way liberates people and relationships for gratitude rather than fear

This offsets the human tendency to judge rather than seek to understand

The ubiquitous presence of judgment - of self and others - in human relationships is one of the main impediments to recovery for the addict

PII

“Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

“Well, I should tolerate the closeness of two or three caterpillars, if I want to get to know butterflies.”

-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

Principles of Healing

We matter more than we have a clue about

We are more connected to others than we realize

We become what we focus on

Connection

One of the great sources of suffering and illness is the feeling or belief that one is alone

Healing often has to do with helping people feel less alone

This is one of the great strengths of AA

Principles of Healing

We matter more than we have a clue about

We are more connected to others than we realize

We become what we focus on

The Focus

We become what we focus on: projection creates perception; and perception creates experience

Focus on the illness more illness

Focus on what’s right and healthy more of what’s right and healthy

We become what we cultivate and feed

Spiritual Principles

Build on what is right and good within the person

Fill life with love and gratitude

Look for the positive roots of negative traits and re-orient the choices and behaviors into something positive

See the addiction as an opportunity to learn

SummaryNext steps in the evolution of human life and culture will involve:

Flowering of the inner life and its capacities

More positive view of human life and the capacity for self-determination

Elucidation of the higher, less material laws of human life and culture

This will transform our models of health and illness

In ConclusionAA represents an important step forward in regards to treatment models, brings together both spirituality and the disease model, and is a model of the future

People helping people: we can only give to the souls of another what we have given to our own souls

• “Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” Carl Jung

The Magnificence Within You, by Akin Salawu