Thursday, April 5, 2012

Twelve Steps for You? It Depends on whence they came and who's who

LightbulbAbout Alcoholics Anonymous 12 Steps

The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous did not come from Emmet Fox. Dr. Bob said he did not write the Twelve Steps. He did not have anything to do with the writing of them, he said. He said specifically that the basic ideas for Twelve Steps did come from the study and efforts in the Bible. Dr. Bob did not, in any way, link The Twelve Step program with Emmet Fox, with New Thought, or with other New Thought writers like Trine, William James, and Emmanuel writers. In short, Bob's emphasis was biblical--it stressed the Book of James, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 to 7), and 1 Corinthians 13.

About Alcoholics Anonymous Twelve Steps, Bill Wilson was equally specific. Wilson never mentioned Emmet Fox or a higher power as he described the sources for the Twelve Steps. He said the ideas for Step One came from Dr. William D. Silkworth (a devout Christian). Bill W. said the ideas for Steps One and Step Twelve and the "spritual experience" as a solution came from Silkworth and Professor William James (who had studied the conversion cures by a variety of experiences in the rescue missions). No mention was made of Emmet Fox or New Thought. Then Bill said the ideas for the remaining Twelve Steps--Steps 2 through 11--came directly from the teachings of Reverend Samuel M. Shoemaker, Jr.

The emerging psychoheretic arguments try to link A.A. and the Twelve Steps to Masonry, Fox, New Thought, spiritualism, and LSD. But these hostile arguments do not rest either on the history of the Twelve Steps or on the comments of the cofounders Bill W. and Dr. Bob about the 12 Step program.

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