Wednesday, April 18, 2012

A Much Appreciated Article About Dick B.'s Writing and Work by Rev. Bill Wigmore

Recovery Today / December 2011

Dick B. /
A Christmas Gift that Keeps on Giving

by Father Bill W.

Nobody

knows

the

real

date

of

Jesus’

birth.

It

could

have

been

in

the

spring

when

the

flowers

first

bloom
;

or

in

the

fall,

when

it’s

harvest

time

and

everything’s

ripe

and

bountiful.

The

truth

is

nobody

knows.

But,

long

about

the

fifth

century,

the

Church

decided

it

needed

to

agree

on

a

date,

so

they

sat

down

and

chose

what

might

seem

like

a

very

odd

choice

for

the

Savior’s

birth.

They

chose

the

day

of

the

year

when

(at

least

in

the

northern

hemisphere)

the

earth’s

axis

is

tilted

farthest

from

the

sun

so

the

world

turns

coldest

and

daylight

hours

are

at

their

shortest.

Maybe

they

had

in

mind

the

words

from

Isaiah

the

prophet:

“Those

who

dwelt

in

a

land

of

deep

darkness,


on

them

a

Light

has

shined.”

As

alcoholics

and

addicts,

I

think

we

can

probably

all

relate

to

living

“in

a

land

of

deep

darkness.”

Nearly

forty

years

ago,

just

after

Christmas

Day,

my

own

darkness

brought

me

crawling

through

the

doors

of

Alcoholics

Anonymous.

I

found

a

home

there

and

enjoyed

20

years

of

uninterrupted

sobriety

before

the

darkness

began

descending

on

me

once

again.

This

time

I

was

sober,

but

I

still

hadn’t

found

that

needed

“conscious

contact”

or

“spiritual

awakening”


at

least,

I

hadn’t

found

it

in

a

form

deep

enough

to

carry

me

through

another

twenty

years.

Another

trip

through

the

12

Steps

or

another

round

of

ninety

meetings

in

ninety

days

simply

wasn’t

going

to

cut

it

for

this

addict.

I

needed

a

personal

relationship

with

a

God

who

could

light

my

way

home.

One

of

the

men

who

helped

me

find

that

Light

is

a

man

named

Dick

B.

I

first

met

Dick

at

Bill

Wilson’s

own

birthplace

in

East

Dorsett,

Vermont.

It

wasn’t

exactly

like

going

to

Bethlehem

and

running

into

one

of

the

wise

men,

but

it

came

fairly

close!

Dick

was

presenting

some

of

his

earliest

research.

The

gift

he

gave

to

me

proved

more

valuable

than

frankincense

and

myrrh.

It

led

me

into

a

new

and

more

personal

relationship

with

God

because,

at

that

time,

I

was

badly

in

need

of

some

spiritual

grounding

and

enlightenment.

Dick’s

words

struck

the

right

chord.

His

research

brought

the

Steps

and

the

Program

into

that

new

Light

for

which

I

was

searching.

He

did

it,

not

by

preaching

but

by

presenting

solid

history

and

scholarship

on

the

origins

of

our

Program.

God

had

prepared

him

well

for

the

work

assigned.

Dick

came

to

recovery

in

as

bad

a

shape

as

any

and

worse

than

most.

He

suffered

three

grand

mal

seizures

during

his

first

week

off

the

booze.

Once

a

hotshot

lawyer

with

a

degree

from

Stanford,

Dick

landed

in

the

psych

ward

of

a

VA

Hospital

in

San

Francisco

where

he

remained

for

2

months.

But

there,

in

the

depth

of

his

own

personal

darkness,

he

found

God

and

began

a

recovery

that

now

numbers

over

25

years.

Dick

took

full

responsibility

for

his

past

wrongs,

pleaded

guilty

to

three

felony

charges

that

were

later

turned

to

misdemeanors.

He

went

to

prison

for

30

days.

But

while

he

was

there,

he

helped

guide

as

many

fellow

prisoners

as

he

could

and

vowed

to

be

of

maximal

service

when

he

was

released.

Dick

turned

his

talents

learned

as

a

research

lawyer

into

the

service

of

God.

He

began

studying

the

real

heart

of

the

1939

program

of

Alcoholics

Anonymous.

That

original

program

had

produced

an

astounding

recovery

rate

of

75%

--‐

far

and

above

the

diminishing

results

he

was

seeing

in

the

A.A.

of

his

time.

He

read

more

than

500

books

and

pamphlets,

interviewed

dozens

of

living

members

of

the

Oxford

Group,

and

traveled

to

AA

archives

throughout

the

country.

He

came

away

convinced

that

the

original

spiritual

program

of

recovery

that

was

practiced

especially

in

Akron,

Ohio

was

being

watered

down

to

the

point

where

fewer

and

fewer

alcoholics

were

being

offered

the

in--‐depth

spiritual

change

sufficient

to

overcome

addiction.

Dick

then

set

about

publishing

his

research

(along

with

more

than

a

few

of

his

strongly

held

opinions)

in

a

parade

of

books

that

now

numbers

over

30.

He’

also

gotten

with

the

times

and

produces

a

blog

along

with

scholarly

articles

that

have

grown

into

the

hundreds.

Get

yourself

onto

his

massive

e--‐mail

list

and

you’l

never

lack

for

material

to

keep

you

growing

along

spiritual

lines!

In

the

course

of

his

work,

Dick

unearthed

a

number

of

surprises

as

he

dug

ever

deeper

into

AA’

early

history.

He

discovered

the

key

role

that

Anne

Smith,

Dr.

Bob’s

wife,

had

played

in

helping

Bill

and

Bob,

along

with

so

many

Akron

families,

find

their

way

into

a

personal

relationship

with

God

through

Bible

study

and

the

practice

of

Quiet

Time.

He

published

the

first

excerpts

from

Anne’s

personal

journal

that

spanned

the

years

1933

through

’39.

In

it,

she

covered

a

great

many

aspects

of

the

First

Century

Christian

Fellowship

that

she

credited

with

saving

both

her

husband

and

her

soul.

Additionally,

Dick

and

his

son

Ken

traced

the

early

and

overlooked

spiritual

links

both

Bill

Wilson

and

Dr.

Bob

shared

through

their

years

of

growing

up

in

Vermont.

His

book

The

Conversion

of

Bill

W

helps

readers

gain

a

deeper

insight

into

Bill’s

own

darkness

as

well

as

the

factors

that

contributed

to

his

famous

white

light

experience

in

Towns’

Hospital.

Readers

will

also

learn

about

an

event

that

is

far

less

well

known

--‐

the

altar

call

to

which

Bill

responded

at

Calvary

Mission

where

he

gave

his

life

to

Christ.

Most

recently,

Dick

researched

the

400

pages

cut

from

the

original

manuscript

of

the

Big

Book

only

to

discover

the

many

Christian

references

that

had

been

deleted.

Today,

there

are

a

growing

number

of

splinter

groups

that

“take

what

they

like

from

AA

and

leave

the

rest.”

Running

the

gamut

from

Celebrate

Recovery

to

Atheists

Anonymous,

the

12

Steps

in

various

forms

are

now

being

co--‐opted

by

our

secular

and

materialistic

American

culture.

It’

to

be

expected

and

nobody,

not

even

Dick,

is

whining.

It’

not

unlike

what

occurred

in

the

early

church

when

Christianity

was

uprooted

and

transplanted

into

the

state

religion.

The

original

message

–not

unlike

the

original

manuscript

–lost

much

in

the

process.

Dick

B.

has

made

a

tremendous

contribution

to

all

of

us

who

owe

our

lives

to

the

12–teps

and

to

our

Fellowships.

He’

painstakingly

documented

the

principles,

players,

and

events

that

turned

our

once

“hopeless

condition

of

mind

and

body”

into

what

is

now

recognized

by

most

experts

in

the

field

as

an

illness

that

is

mental

and

physical,

but

recognized

by

far

too

few

that

its

successful

treatment

is

necessarily

achieved

only

through

working

a

strong

spiritual

program,

much

as

they

did

in

early

A.A.

This

Christmas

do

yourself

a

real

favor.

Go

to

www.DickB.com

and

order

a

copy

of

The

Good

Book

and

the

Big

Book

or

The

Oxford

Group

and

Alcoholics

Anonymous
.

Either

one

will

surely

brighten

your

Christmas

and

shine

some

of

God’s

light

into

your

darkness.

1 comment:

  1. Published in a very readable form by Rev. Bill Wigmore in Austin Recovery. Thanks Bill.
    God Bless you, Dick B. www.dickb.com

    ReplyDelete