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[00:00:00.200 – 00:00:00.700] Conscious.

[00:00:00.700 – 00:00:10.900] This wonderful conference of ours, this new instrument of AA, is no longer.

[00:00:10.900 – 00:00:15.800] It is a magnificent reality.

[00:00:15.800 – 00:00:26.100] It is a high adventure into the realm of the spirit that already

[00:00:26.100 – 00:00:28.300] promises great success.

[00:00:28.300 – 00:00:38.800] Though few realize it yet, I think that we who are gathered here have become

[00:00:38.800 – 00:00:45.900] the keepers of the conscience for all of this fellowship.

[00:00:45.900 – 00:00:56.900] Despite our preoccupation with facts, figures, and funds, this

[00:00:56.900 – 00:01:00.000] is no business operation.

[00:01:00.000 – 00:01:10.100] That can be simply illustrated when you and I hear of

[00:01:10.100 – 00:01:20.100] a suffering brother or sister, and we get into the family automobile, having to drive perhaps

[00:01:20.100 – 00:01:22.000] fifty miles to pay a call.

[00:01:22.000 – 00:01:31.200] We look at the needle on the dashboard and see whether there is any gas in the tank.

[00:01:31.200 – 00:01:41.800] And if there isn’t, we go to a garage, and we get it filled, and we pay money and put

[00:01:41.800 – 00:01:43.100] gas into that tank.

[00:01:43.100 – 00:01:53.100] Not with the idea of giving our fellow sufferer a drink of gasoline, but with the idea of propelling us

[00:01:53.100 – 00:01:54.400] to where he is.

[00:01:54.400 – 00:02:03.100] Thereby, the material and money side of this thing serves a spiritual purpose.

[00:02:03.100 – 00:02:13.100] When we arrive, we offer our friend love, and we offer

[00:02:13.100 – 00:02:19.600] him understanding, and that is the cup of which he drinks.

[00:02:19.600 – 00:02:28.400] Neither is this conference, in any sense, a political body.

[00:02:28.400 – 00:02:39.100] None of us have come here with any idea of gaining personal prestige or

[00:02:39.100 – 00:02:39.600] of money.

[00:02:39.600 – 00:02:49.900] We have come here not to govern, but to ensure that these services of ours move

[00:02:49.900 – 00:02:54.700] on and fill their appointed tasks.

[00:02:54.700 – 00:03:05.700] I’m sure that in a few years, everybody will realize that

[00:03:05.700 – 00:03:18.100] this yearly gathering of ours is, in reality, the true voice of Alcoholics Anonymous, the

[00:03:18.100 – 00:03:28.800] sure conscience of our society, and its beating heart, bringing new life to

[00:03:28.800 – 00:03:31.800] all those who don’t yet know.

[00:03:31.800 – 00:03:45.200] In the early days, the conscience of this society resided

[00:03:45.200 – 00:03:54.300] among a few scattered individuals, at first not known to each other at all.

[00:03:54.300 – 00:04:05.800] And in them, this divine spark caused them to

[00:04:05.800 – 00:04:10.200] think the right thought and to do the right thing.

[00:04:10.200 – 00:04:20.600] Very few of us know that this spark, which was to become Alcoholics Anonymous,

[00:04:20.600 – 00:04:29.100] was first struck in the soul of a psychiatrist, the noted Carl Jung.

[00:04:29.100 – 00:04:33.100] He had a patient, treated him for a year.

[00:04:33.100 – 00:04:36.300] There was no result.

[00:04:36.300 – 00:04:41.200] And then that very great man put aside his professional pride.

[00:04:41.200 – 00:04:45.200] He said to the patient, “It’s of no use.

[00:04:45.200 – 00:04:47.800] My art cannot help you.

[00:04:47.800 – 00:04:57.900] You’re an alcoholic of such hopelessness that only a spiritual awakening can

[00:04:57.900 – 00:05:08.000] expel your obsession.” So that man, who I shall call Rowan, went out to seek such an awakening.

[00:05:08.000 – 00:05:13.500] He found it in the Oxford Group of that time.

[00:05:13.500 – 00:05:23.500] And this was a body of people full of goodwill, trying to get the right

[00:05:23.500 – 00:05:28.000] thought and trying to take the right action.

[00:05:28.000 – 00:05:34.800] And he found there the experience that Dr.

[00:05:34.800 – 00:05:36.300] Jung hoped he would get.

[00:05:36.300 – 00:05:39.700] He became sober.

[00:05:39.700 – 00:05:47.400] He and another alcoholic came to an old friend of mine, the one we so affectionately know as Ebby.

[00:05:47.400 – 00:05:52.800] And temporarily, Ebby sobered up.

[00:05:52.800 – 00:06:02.900] And then the spark was struck in Ebby, and he came to me, as each of us have since come, one

[00:06:02.900 – 00:06:13.300] to another, and he set the flame going in me.

[00:06:13.300 – 00:06:23.700] Then appeared another individual, a veritable founder of this movement, and he was non-alcoholic,

[00:06:23.700 – 00:06:25.200] Dr.

[00:06:25.200 – 00:06:28.400] Silkworth at Towns Hospital.

[00:06:28.400 – 00:06:37.700] And I can never forget that day, so critical for Alcoholics Anonymous, when the doctor

[00:06:37.800 – 00:06:48.100] Came into my room after I’d had this, my spiritual awakening, and I asked him in great anxiety, “Doctor,

[00:06:48.100 – 00:06:58.300] have I gone crazy?” Well, as a professional man, he might have said, “Yes, you’re hallucinating.”

[00:06:58.300 – 00:07:00.400] But he didn’t.

[00:07:00.400 – 00:07:10.500] That little man with the healing art in his hands and the love of drunks in his heart said to me, “No,

[00:07:10.500 – 00:07:14.400] Bill, you have got hold of something.

[00:07:14.400 – 00:07:18.700] I don’t know just what it is, but it’s real.

[00:07:18.700 – 00:07:28.800] You’d better hang on to it.” Another man with a conscience who got the right

[00:07:28.800 – 00:07:33.900] thought and did the right thing at just the right time.

[00:07:33.900 – 00:07:45.000] And with that assurance, I went out to work with alcohol wherever

[00:07:45.000 – 00:07:45.900] they could be found.

[00:07:45.900 – 00:07:52.700] And the little doctor, at risk to his reputation, let me come back to that hospital and work there.

[00:07:52.700 – 00:08:02.900] Well, I guess my conscience wasn’t in very good working order as spelled like that, because for six months,

[00:08:02.900 – 00:08:04.900] nobody got sober.

[00:08:04.900 – 00:08:15.100] But during that time, I discovered that working with these others had a great bearing on keeping me sober.

[00:08:15.100 – 00:08:24.300] Then came my journey to Akron, where I thought my business career might be revived.

[00:08:24.300 – 00:08:27.600] You remember how that flopped.

[00:08:27.600 – 00:08:37.200] How discouraged I was, how frightened I became when for the first time it seemed as though I might get drunk.

[00:08:37.200 – 00:08:47.800] Then you remember how I realized that now I needed another alcoholic

[00:08:47.800 – 00:08:50.800] as much as he needed me.

[00:08:50.800 – 00:09:01.100] So in seeking out this other alcoholic in a strange town, I called

[00:09:01.100 – 00:09:12.900] up a number of people who might put me in touch with such a person, but they were all busy with their own affairs, excepting

[00:09:12.900 – 00:09:14.900] one at the end of the list of ten.

[00:09:14.900 – 00:09:25.100] She was a non-alcoholic, but she had time, and she cared enough.

[00:09:25.100 – 00:09:36.100] And she said, “I think I know the man you want to meet.” Well, that lady was Henrietta Seibert of

[00:09:36.100 – 00:09:38.600] Akron, and it was she who brought Dr.

[00:09:38.600 – 00:09:41.400] Bob and me together.

[00:09:41.400 – 00:09:51.900] Another person whose conscience gave her the right thought and

[00:09:51.900 – 00:09:52.600] the right action.

[00:09:52.600 – 00:09:54.500] Then Dr.

[00:09:54.500 – 00:10:01.900] Bob and I went to work in Akron, and the spark was passed from us to the very few others.

[00:10:01.900 – 00:10:12.600] Returning to New York, more humble, realizing now that I needed drunks

[00:10:12.600 – 00:10:17.500] just as much as they needed me, another group began to take shape.

[00:10:17.500 – 00:10:24.600] The spark that was to become Alcoholics Anonymous had been struck.

[00:10:24.600 – 00:10:33.200] Well, in those days, we were very anonymous indeed.

[00:10:33.200 – 00:10:43.600] You see, the good old Oxford groupers had given us certain principles that we could use, but many of their attitudes

[00:10:43.600 – 00:10:48.900] were unsuitable to the nature of the alcoholic.

[00:10:48.900 – 00:10:54.600] Thereby, I can testify that we owe them a double debt.

[00:10:54.600 – 00:10:57.800] They taught us both what and what not to do.

[00:10:57.800 – 00:11:04.700] We were obliged to withdraw from their company and go it alone.

[00:11:04.700 – 00:11:12.100] Three years passed, years of terrific uncertainty.

[00:11:12.100 – 00:11:26.000] A slip in those days was a terrible thing because we all looked at each other and said, “Who will be next?” Then

[00:11:26.000 – 00:11:28.100] comes a- another great turning point.

[00:11:28.100 – 00:11:29.000] Dr.

[00:11:29.000 – 00:11:32.400] Bob and I sit in his living room in Akron at the end of three years.

[00:11:32.400 – 00:11:34.500] We commenced to count noses.

[00:11:34.500 – 00:11:44.900] And lo and behold, here are a couple score people, terrible drunks indeed,

[00:11:44.900 – 00:11:48.000] for in those days we could only deal with the very worst.

[00:11:48.000 – 00:11:50.600] Only they would admit they were licked.

[00:11:50.600 – 00:12:02.300] And looking over this list, we suddenly realized that enough time had lapsed on enough cases so

[00:12:02.300 – 00:12:08.200] that something new had come into our dark world.

[00:12:08.200 – 00:12:16.100] No new ideas, to be sure, just a new assembly of old ideas.

[00:12:16.100 – 00:12:27.600] And these had come into us through the several channels I have named and others as

[00:12:27.600 – 00:12:32.500] the grace of God, setting His blessing on what was to happen.

[00:12:32.500 – 00:12:42.600] Following this realization, we at once began to consider

[00:12:42.600 – 00:12:44.500] how this message could be spread.

[00:12:44.500 – 00:12:54.700] For the first time, in reality, we began to think in terms of function and of service and of an outgoing

[00:12:54.700 – 00:13:03.000] love that could place this message before all the drunks in the world, so we ambitiously said, even back then.

[00:13:03.000 – 00:13:05.300] How could that be done?

[00:13:05.300 – 00:13:15.300] Well, at this point, we began to see the group conscience manifest itself.

[00:13:17.200 – 00:13:19.300] There was a little meeting at T.

[00:13:19.300 – 00:13:24.100] Henry Williams’ house in Akron, one of our great non-alcoholic friends out there.

[00:13:24.100 – 00:13:30.600] And the meeting was called to consider ways and means of spreading this message.

[00:13:30.600 – 00:13:35.300] The meeting divided itself into two parts.

[00:13:35.300 – 00:13:39.200] One said, “Let’s keep it simple.

[00:13:39.200 – 00:13:50.000] If we complicate it with money, paraphernalia like hospitals, paid people, we

[00:13:50.000 – 00:14:00.100] shall be ruined.” And then there was another part of the meeting which said, “But if we don’t do some of these

[00:14:00.100 – 00:14:05.700] things, people will die because the message will not reach them in time.

[00:14:05.700 – 00:14:09.500] Our story may get horribly garbled.

[00:14:09.500 – 00:14:19.700] Perhaps something ought to be done.” So the group conscience as such spoke, or perhaps

[00:14:19.700 – 00:14:20.500] for the first time.

[00:14:20.500 – 00:14:30.800] And it directed me, who had only begun to sense that I was its servant rather than its

[00:14:30.800 – 00:14:40.900] master, to go back to New York and get ahold of a lot of money to set up a chain of hospitals, to get quite

[00:14:40.900 – 00:14:50.900] a lot of people on the payroll, because the going had been so tough that we thought we ought to send our experienced members to other

[00:14:50.900 – 00:14:53.400] cities.

[00:14:53.400 – 00:15:05.400] And above all, we thought that an instrument of propagation would be necessary in the shape of a book which

[00:15:05.400 – 00:15:08.900] would state our experience in recovery.

[00:15:08.900 – 00:15:15.000] So a book, some missionaries, some hospitals we must have.

[00:15:15.000 – 00:15:25.200] I came back to New York full of these ideas, convinced that we should have all of these

[00:15:25.200 – 00:15:28.700] things, and right away, the quicker the better.

[00:15:28.700 – 00:15:38.900] I did a good deal of solicitation of people for money, but everybody,

[00:15:38.900 – 00:15:42.200] fortunately, looked the other way.

[00:15:42.200 – 00:15:45.900] One day, I was in my brother-in-law’s office.

[00:15:45.900 – 00:15:47.300] He’s a doctor.

[00:15:47.300 – 00:15:54.900] And I was grousing about the stinginess of the rich when it came to fixing drunks.

[00:15:54.900 – 00:16:05.500] And he said, “You know, I remember a man by

[00:16:05.500 – 00:16:06.700] the name of Willard S.

[00:16:06.700 – 00:16:07.600] Richardson.

[00:16:07.600 – 00:16:17.400] I believe he was very close to the Rockefeller family, had something to do with their charities.

[00:16:17.400 – 00:16:19.100] I’m not sure he’s even alive.

[00:16:19.100 – 00:16:28.000] But supposing I call up over there at the Rockefeller offices and find out.” Again, a critical turning point in our affair.

[00:16:28.000 – 00:16:33.900] Somebody with the right thought and the right action.

[00:16:33.900 – 00:16:43.900] Immediately, Bill Willard Richardson, one of the greatest friends this society will ever have, came on the

[00:16:43.900 – 00:16:52.800] wire, and he said to my brother-in-law, “Leonard, where have you been all these years?” Soon we were in his office.

[00:16:52.800 – 00:16:54.300] I was telling his story.

[00:16:54.300 – 00:16:57.600] He listened with great attention.

[00:16:57.600 – 00:17:03.400] He said, “Let me call together a group of friends.

[00:17:03.400 – 00:17:14.400] I think they’ll want to hear this story.” Well, for a fellow who needed a lot of money, or thought he did, this

[00:17:14.400 – 00:17:15.300] all looked pretty good.

[00:17:15.300 – 00:17:21.600] So on a winter’s night in 1937, we all sat down in Mr.

[00:17:21.600 – 00:17:22.000] John D.

[00:17:22.000 – 00:17:23.600] Rockefeller’s boardroom.

[00:17:23.600 – 00:17:30.500] We all, meaning a few of us alcoholics, Willard S.

[00:17:30.500 – 00:17:41.900] Richardson, my brother-in-law, Frank Amos, and Leroy Chipman, who are still with us on our board, Mr.

[00:17:41.900 – 00:17:45.400] Scott, chairman of the Riverside Church, Dr.

[00:17:45.400 – 00:17:48.300] Silkworth, perhaps a few others.

[00:17:48.300 – 00:17:58.900] Well, we alcoholics were rather stunned by this turn of events, and

[00:17:58.900 – 00:18:04.400] in a rather halting fashion, each one of us told his story of recovery.

[00:18:04.400 – 00:18:08.600] And then the chairman of the meeting, Mr.

[00:18:08.600 – 00:18:18.600] Scott, said, “Well, how can we help you?” And by this time, I got in good voice again and began to

[00:18:18.600 – 00:18:28.600] enlarge on our great need for lots of money for hospitals, missionaries, and particularly a sum needed to publish a

[00:18:28.600 – 00:18:30.000] book of experience.

[00:18:30.000 – 00:18:33.600] Right there, Mr.

[00:18:33.600 – 00:18:43.700] Scott said, “Well, isn’t it a fact, Bill, that the great power in this thing

[00:18:43.700 – 00:18:50.500] to sober up drunks is dependent upon the non-professional character of your work?

[00:18:50.500 – 00:18:58.400] Isn’t it this goodwill message carried from person to person without any demand for reward that really counts?

[00:18:58.400 – 00:19:05.200] I’m powerfully attracted to this because it’s like the original Christian story.

[00:19:05.200 – 00:19:15.600] Aren’t you afraid that the responsibility of plant, property, management, and all that sort of thing goes forward?” Well, we rejoined

[00:19:15.600 – 00:19:16.800] that we were scared.

[00:19:16.800 – 00:19:23.500] On the other hand, we were scared to do nothing and let this thing run from by word of mouth.

[00:19:23.500 – 00:19:33.500] The upshot of that meeting was that one of those present, Frank Amos, who

[00:19:33.500 – 00:19:42.700] was sitting right over there, at his own expense, went out to Akron to look over the situation.

[00:19:42.700 – 00:19:48.000] We directed him toward Akron because the first group had really started there.

[00:19:48.000 – 00:19:50.100] It was a typical community.

[00:19:50.100 – 00:19:53.100] And also, we-

[00:19:53.200 – 00:19:56.300] Know that Smithy was a little bit harder up than I was.

[00:19:56.300 – 00:19:57.700] He was about to lose his house.

[00:19:57.700 – 00:20:04.000] Frank went out there and came back with a glowing report.

[00:20:04.000 – 00:20:09.700] It was the spirit of the thing that had moved him.

[00:20:09.700 – 00:20:13.700] He made out a report of what he saw.

[00:20:13.700 – 00:20:20.400] I believe he recommended that some sort of a restaurant be set up out there, and Dr.

[00:20:20.400 – 00:20:26.100] Smith could be put in charge as a doctor rather than as a professional therapist for alcoholics.

[00:20:26.100 – 00:20:36.000] He recommended a sum of money, uh, that wasn’t large, but large enough to make us poor drunks kind of gasp.

[00:20:36.000 – 00:20:39.400] The recommendation was carried to Mr.

[00:20:39.400 – 00:20:39.900] John D.

[00:20:39.900 – 00:20:41.400] Rockefeller.

[00:20:41.400 – 00:20:49.700] So here comes another man with a right thought and the right idea at the right time.

[00:20:49.700 – 00:20:58.100] And the thought was totally unexpected and at first very disappointing to us.

[00:20:58.100 – 00:21:00.700] Mr.

[00:21:00.700 – 00:21:06.800] Rockefeller, it is said, looked up to his friend Dick, who had brought him the report.

[00:21:06.800 – 00:21:11.400] He said, “Dick, don’t you think that money will spoil us?

[00:21:11.400 – 00:21:16.300] There’s something about this that is deeply moving.

[00:21:16.300 – 00:21:27.800] We mustn’t spoil it with money, Dick.” Well, Mr.

[00:21:27.800 – 00:21:30.300] Richardson wasn’t entirely sure, but Mr.

[00:21:30.300 – 00:21:37.800] Rockefeller, for some strange reason, was very sure and maintained that attitude ever since.

[00:21:37.800 – 00:21:47.900] And he has since told me that nothing more affecting has ever crossed his life than the contract with this

[00:21:47.900 – 00:21:49.000] society of ours.

[00:21:49.000 – 00:21:57.200] At any rate, he put a little money in the Riverside Church treasury, and that enabled Smithy and me to wiggle along.

[00:21:57.200 – 00:22:07.300] Then we went out among the alcoholics here and got money to publish our book, and then we

[00:22:07.300 – 00:22:08.400] set about its writing.

[00:22:08.400 – 00:22:18.500] Well, the hassles and difficulties we experienced in getting that book together are simply

[00:22:18.500 – 00:22:19.600] beyond description.

[00:22:19.600 – 00:22:28.000] At that point, I was sure that this group of drunks had no conscience whatever because they quarreled so much.

[00:22:28.000 – 00:22:37.700] But nevertheless, a series of right actions and right thoughts at the right time brought the AA book into being.

[00:22:37.700 – 00:22:47.700] Although it seemed, in 1939 after it came out, that we would soon lose it to the printer because, again, we

[00:22:47.700 – 00:22:48.300] were broke.

[00:22:48.300 – 00:22:54.700] But here was our first great instrument of service.

[00:22:54.700 – 00:23:05.200] This was something that could reach out over plains, mountains, and perchance the seas to

[00:23:05.200 – 00:23:15.400] the distant alcoholic, and it was our hopeful dream that he might, through the pages of that book, recover

[00:23:15.400 – 00:23:17.400] and bring recovery to those about him.

[00:23:17.400 – 00:23:25.300] In the very next year, 1940, Mr.

[00:23:25.300 – 00:23:31.500] Rockefeller reappeared on scene again, suddenly saying that he’d like to give a dinner.

[00:23:31.500 – 00:23:36.200] He would invite his friends, many of them prominent and wealthy.

[00:23:36.200 – 00:23:38.100] He’d invite some of us.

[00:23:38.100 – 00:23:43.600] Again, our hope for large funds flared up.

[00:23:43.600 – 00:23:50.000] We said to ourselves, “This is it.” The stories were heard at the meeting.

[00:23:50.000 – 00:23:54.300] Even the bankers present were visibly impressed.

[00:23:54.300 – 00:23:57.200] Things looked good when John D.

[00:23:57.200 – 00:24:08.200] Rockefeller, or rather Nelson Rockefeller, got up and said that his father was very glad he could not– that,

[00:24:08.200 – 00:24:18.500] that his friends could hear this story, but that this was a movement which rested upon goodwill and needed little,

[00:24:18.500 – 00:24:19.300] if any, money.

[00:24:19.300 – 00:24:29.400] I never can forget the terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach as I watched about

[00:24:29.400 – 00:24:32.000] five billion dollars walk out the door.

[00:24:32.000 – 00:24:43.100] Now, that story went on the AP and the UP press wire.

[00:24:43.100 – 00:24:44.600] The story how Mr.

[00:24:44.600 – 00:24:54.600] Rockefeller had stood up before the whole world and pointed to this struggling society of drunks and had said

[00:24:54.600 – 00:24:58.100] for all men to hear, “This is good.

[00:24:58.100 – 00:25:08.200] I believe in it.” He did this at risk to himself, at personal

[00:25:08.200 – 00:25:08.600] cost.

[00:25:08.600 – 00:25:17.000] He gave of himself, but not of his money, excepting for a little bit.

[00:25:17.000 – 00:25:26.900] After the dinner, he wrote a personal letter to all those who’d been invited, as well as to those who actually came.

[00:25:26.900 – 00:25:33.000] Sent them a pamphlet describing what had happened, publishing the talk.

[00:25:33.000 – 00:25:35.300] By the way, Dr.

[00:25:35.300 – 00:25:39.600] Harry Emerson Fosdick came down and gave us a great plug.

[00:25:39.600 – 00:25:43.600] So did Foster Kennedy, the celebrated neurologist.

[00:25:43.600 – 00:25:50.700] Our friends of medicine and religion had begun to appear, you see.

[00:25:50.700 – 00:26:00.800] So this letter, uh, contained a little paragraph at the end which said, “Well, this is a movement

[00:26:00.800 – 00:26:01.900] of goodwill.

[00:26:01.900 – 00:26:05.000] Doesn’t require much money.

[00:26:05.000 – 00:26:10.100] Perhaps a little temporary aid.” And Mr.

[00:26:10.100 – 00:26:20.300] Rockefeller’s very wise idea of a little temporary aid was in his statement in which he said, “I am giving these people one

[00:26:20.300 – 00:26:30.500] thousand dollars.” Well, when the bankers received the letter, they sort of tottied it up on the cuff, you know, and said, “Well, if John D’s giving a thousand

[00:26:30.500 – 00:26:30.800] dollars-“

[00:26:30.900 – 00:26:33.400] I’ll send in ten,” which one of them really did.

[00:26:33.400 – 00:26:43.500] The result of that was three thousand dollars, and we had three thousand dollars a year from those dinner people for five years, and praise God, that’s

[00:26:43.500 – 00:26:46.200] all of the outside money this society ever had.

[00:26:46.200 – 00:26:48.700] We were thrown on our own resources.

[00:26:48.700 – 00:26:58.800] Then in the fall of 1939, another kind of person with the right thought came to our aid, a non-alcoholic

[00:26:58.800 – 00:27:04.300] in the person of Fulton Oursler, who had just taken his leave of us.

[00:27:04.300 – 00:27:06.400] He was then editor of Liberty.

[00:27:06.400 – 00:27:09.000] We were completely unknown.

[00:27:09.000 – 00:27:14.800] The Reader’s Digest had turned down, turned us down on their promise of publicity.

[00:27:14.800 – 00:27:20.400] We needed to let the world understand what this message was.

[00:27:20.400 – 00:27:30.200] So Fulton Oursler caused to be published in Liberty Magazine a piece called Alcoholics and God.

[00:27:30.200 – 00:27:35.200] And to our great joy, this brought in eight hundred scattered inquiries.

[00:27:35.200 – 00:27:45.300] And we wrote each one very carefully from our little office, which had by now been established, another step

[00:27:45.300 – 00:27:47.600] in the service picture.

[00:27:47.600 – 00:27:58.000] We also sold, uh, these alcoholics and their wives and friends a few books, and that book income

[00:27:58.000 – 00:28:04.400] sort of kept our little office going down here in Beebe Street in New York so we could answer those inquiries.

[00:28:04.400 – 00:28:14.700] So we had taken another step in service, another step in outgoing love toward all those who still

[00:28:14.700 – 00:28:15.400] didn’t know.

[00:28:15.400 – 00:28:22.100] Then came the great payoff.

[00:28:22.100 – 00:28:27.100] Attention had been attracted to us.

[00:28:27.100 – 00:28:36.200] The editors of the Saturday Post sat in conference one day trying to figure out whether they’d publish a piece about us.

[00:28:36.200 – 00:28:38.100] Mr.

[00:28:38.100 – 00:28:44.300] Curtis Bott sat there, one of the owners of the Post, I believe.

[00:28:44.300 – 00:28:49.900] The editors were very much in doubt about this obscure society.

[00:28:49.900 – 00:28:54.100] So here was another man with the right thought at the right time.

[00:28:54.100 – 00:28:59.200] And he said, “I know of several recoveries.

[00:28:59.200 – 00:29:03.700] They are nothing less than miraculous.

[00:29:03.700 – 00:29:15.000] I think we should publish a piece about this.” And that’s how in 1941, Jack Alexander published that

[00:29:15.000 – 00:29:24.900] marvelous story in the Saturday Post that brought in thousands of frantic inquiries and made us a national institution overnight.

[00:29:24.900 – 00:29:35.200] Now, that is a brief account of our pioneering time in which you see the spirit of service and the idea

[00:29:35.200 – 00:29:39.800] of spreading this message beginning to develop.

[00:29:39.800 – 00:29:49.800] You also see how we were saved from the perils of professionalism, large property ownership, and

[00:29:49.800 – 00:29:50.700] all of that.

[00:29:50.700 – 00:29:55.900] We were saved in spite of ourselves by our friends.

[00:29:55.900 – 00:30:04.100] After the Post piece, pandemonium broke loose.

[00:30:04.100 – 00:30:10.600] We wrote all these inquiries, every single one a personal letter.

[00:30:10.600 – 00:30:13.900] Some more books moved out.

[00:30:13.900 – 00:30:24.000] We began to get lists of our brother and sister alcoholics still suffering in other cities and

[00:30:24.000 – 00:30:26.400] distant places.

[00:30:26.400 – 00:30:36.400] And we got track of traveling businessmen and salesmen out of the few established groups, and we put this, these lists

[00:30:36.400 – 00:30:48.000] in their hands so that when they went to distant towns, they could call upon those alcoholics, and

[00:30:48.000 – 00:30:53.500] this mushrooming process began.

[00:30:53.500 – 00:30:58.800] AA began to spread just like wildfire.

[00:30:58.800 – 00:31:08.900] Thus, we entered our period of adolescence, and a very exciting and dangerous

[00:31:08.900 – 00:31:09.800] period it was.

[00:31:09.800 – 00:31:19.900] We knew that God had given us a formula by which the obsession of alcoholism

[00:31:19.900 – 00:31:21.700] could be expressed.

[00:31:21.700 – 00:31:33.600] But we didn’t know whether we could live and work together in unity and

[00:31:33.600 – 00:31:40.700] have sufficient unity to carry the message to those who still didn’t know.

[00:31:40.700 – 00:31:45.500] That was the primary problem of our adolescent period.

[00:31:45.500 – 00:31:54.100] So that the problem of this service office down here in New York was not only that of receiving inquiries from individuals.

[00:31:54.100 – 00:32:00.900] Groups frantic with problems began to write in about them.

[00:32:00.900 – 00:32:08.700] Of course, AA began to be filled up with promoters, most of us were salesmen of a sort.

[00:32:08.700 – 00:32:18.800] And again, our early temptations were, were re– were presented to us thousands upon thousands of times.

[00:32:18.800 – 00:32:23.400] Temptations to make a lot of money out of this thing.

[00:32:23.400 – 00:32:26.300] Temptations to put AA into business.

[00:32:26.300 – 00:32:33.000] Struggles for prestige among individuals.

[00:32:33.000 – 00:32:38.700] All sorts of crackpot schemes were tried.

[00:32:38.700 – 00:32:49.100] And out of this vast weller of experience, which gradually informed and instructed the group’s conscience,

[00:32:49.100 – 00:32:56.600] there began to evolve the tradition of Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:32:56.600 – 00:33:06.800] And each of us began to see that this society of ours was of immensely

[00:33:06.800 – 00:33:07.900] more importance…

[00:33:08.600 – 00:33:10.100] than any individual in it.

[00:33:10.100 – 00:33:20.300] We began to find that in certain respects, the common welfare would have to come ahead of individual welfare,

[00:33:20.300 – 00:33:22.300] and especially of individual ambition.

[00:33:22.300 – 00:33:33.500] By this time, we found that the group conscience, which had appeared so erratic, was

[00:33:33.500 – 00:33:43.500] a better guide to what we really needed in the shape of action and sound principle than the inspired wisdom of

[00:33:43.500 – 00:33:44.100] any leader.

[00:33:44.100 – 00:33:49.300] Now, that dawned very slowly upon me, I must confess.

[00:33:49.300 – 00:34:00.400] Every one of those AA traditions represents what was a great temptation to me, from

[00:34:00.400 – 00:34:10.500] which I was not saved so much through any virtue in me as I was from the wisdom that is inherent in this group where

[00:34:10.500 – 00:34:12.100] its welfare is concerned.

[00:34:12.100 – 00:34:20.900] So I conceded that the welfare, the common welfare, had to come first.

[00:34:20.900 – 00:34:30.700] I conceded that the, reluctantly too, that the group conscience was often wiser than I was.

[00:34:30.700 – 00:34:40.700] I conceded that, uh, in m-membership matters, nobody could keep an alcoholic out of AA.

[00:34:40.700 – 00:34:50.800] I conceded, rather rebelliously, that each group ought to be autonomous, that

[00:34:50.800 – 00:35:01.000] there could be no such thing in our society as a central government to be run by me or any hierarchy, that each group

[00:35:01.000 – 00:35:04.400] would have to have liberty of action.

[00:35:04.400 – 00:35:06.000] So we had group autonomy.

[00:35:06.000 – 00:35:15.000] Then came that struggle with the idea of whether we would, after all, become professional.

[00:35:15.000 – 00:35:20.200] And at one point, I was tempted to become a professional therapist.

[00:35:20.200 – 00:35:30.700] But the drunks in the meeting in my living room over in Clinton Street, when I announced this plan, looked at me,

[00:35:30.700 – 00:35:40.800] and one of them finally said, “Bill, you can’t do this to us.” Happily, I listened

[00:35:40.800 – 00:35:48.400] to the group conscience as it spoke through this man, and I obeyed.

[00:35:48.400 – 00:35:55.000] And so the AA traditions developed one by one.

[00:35:55.000 – 00:35:59.400] And I was not the only reluctant one.

[00:35:59.400 – 00:36:07.800] Each of us went through our period of reluctance about these principles because each one of them was deflationary to us personally.

[00:36:07.800 – 00:36:11.400] They ran counter to our natures.

[00:36:11.400 – 00:36:14.200] They ran counter to our natural desires.

[00:36:14.200 – 00:36:23.100] That was especially true when we come to the non-controversy tradition.

[00:36:23.100 – 00:36:26.800] Gee, we loved to fight.

[00:36:26.800 – 00:36:36.800] But we very early saw that there were certain things that we couldn’t fight about and survive, the kind of things that the outside world

[00:36:36.800 – 00:36:41.100] quarrels about: religion, politics.

[00:36:41.100 – 00:36:43.800] No.

[00:36:43.800 – 00:36:49.800] Neither could we quarrel in public about anything or attack anybody.

[00:36:49.800 – 00:36:51.900] That became true.

[00:36:51.900 – 00:37:02.100] Neither could we give endorsement or form alliances to do even the best of good works, lest it compromise our single

[00:37:02.100 – 00:37:13.000] aim, which had settled down by then to carrying sobriety to the alcoholic who wants it.

[00:37:13.000 – 00:37:21.400] Then in that matter of anonymity, many of us have had our temptations, and no one more than I have.

[00:37:21.400 – 00:37:32.300] My temptation was to sign that AA book, but I could hear the group conscience speaking, and

[00:37:32.300 – 00:37:42.400] it said, “No, you can’t do this to us.” And then I found what each of us have found little by little with respect

[00:37:42.400 – 00:37:46.200] to AA’s 12 Steps and AA’s 12 Traditions.

[00:37:46.200 – 00:37:49.600] At first, we rebel.

[00:37:49.600 – 00:37:52.100] Then we’re reluctant.

[00:37:52.100 – 00:37:58.900] Then we intellectually accept these principles, saying, “These are good things.

[00:37:58.900 – 00:38:01.900] These are what we should have as persons.

[00:38:01.900 – 00:38:13.200] These are what we should have as a society.” And then we take one more step, and intellect

[00:38:13.200 – 00:38:23.600] is transferred into right emotion, and we say, “That is what I want for me and

[00:38:23.600 – 00:38:29.400] for AA.” And thus, we pass through the period of adolescence.

[00:38:29.400 – 00:38:33.500] Meanwhile, our friends had rallied around us.

[00:38:33.500 – 00:38:41.200] They’d helped form this thing that we call the Alcoholic Foundation, which acted as a custodial board.

[00:38:41.200 – 00:38:47.000] Our little office, which once just got out the book, expanded into the service office.

[00:38:47.000 – 00:38:51.400] The title of the book was transferred to the board of trustees.

[00:38:51.400 – 00:38:57.700] Our public, overall public relations were given into their custody.

[00:38:57.700 – 00:39:03.400] The grapevine fell under their direction.

[00:39:03.400 – 00:39:13.500] And so it was this cluster of services here in the center that enabled AA to function as a

[00:39:13.500 – 00:39:13.900] whole.

[00:39:13.900 – 00:39:24.000] But several years back, some of us began to be very concerned because we felt there was still a missing link

[00:39:24.000 – 00:39:25.300] in this picture.

[00:39:25.300 – 00:39:37.000] We realized that this foundation and its central activity was still very remote from the group, that

[00:39:37.000 – 00:39:39.200] there wasn’t too much knowledge of it.

[00:39:39.200 – 00:39:44.600] We couldn’t talk too much about it, lest that talk defeat itself.

[00:39:47.000 – 00:39:48.800] It would look like it was self-serving.

[00:39:48.800 – 00:39:59.000] Smithy and I awoke with a start to discover that we were the main links between these services and those served.

[00:39:59.000 – 00:40:09.000] So after the hottest kind of debate, I assure you, and after a lot of real dissension,

[00:40:09.000 – 00:40:19.000] in which I often acquitted myself ignobly, the conscience of this group

[00:40:19.000 – 00:40:25.200] finally came up with this basic idea.

[00:40:25.200 – 00:40:31.400] Our central services must be made the function of the whole movement.

[00:40:31.400 – 00:40:40.300] We must build many links from these services out to you.

[00:40:40.300 – 00:40:46.000] Well, we are now on the threshold of maturity.

[00:40:46.000 – 00:40:49.900] The principles of recovery are established.

[00:40:49.900 – 00:40:53.600] The principles of unity are established.

[00:40:53.600 – 00:41:03.800] Now you must come and take your third legacy, this legacy of overall service

[00:41:03.800 – 00:41:07.700] to this movement and to all who haven’t arrived in it yet.

[00:41:07.700 – 00:41:18.400] And that idea began to germinate, began to grow, and

[00:41:18.400 – 00:41:28.500] became fulfilled three sessions back, when in nineteen fifty-one we held the

[00:41:28.500 – 00:41:35.900] first general service conference of Alcoholics Anonymous.

[00:41:35.900 – 00:41:41.200] That leads us where we are this morning.

[00:41:41.200 – 00:41:51.200] We are standing on the threshold of maturity, although no one could say

[00:41:51.200 – 00:41:55.700] in truth that we are really mature yet.

[00:41:55.700 – 00:42:03.700] This process of maturing, of course, will go on as long as we live.

[00:42:03.700 – 00:42:13.900] Now, I have been asked to speak on the milestones ahead, and I have dwelled at length on the milestones

[00:42:13.900 – 00:42:21.000] we have already passed because I dislike the role of a prophet.

[00:42:21.000 – 00:42:24.100] For I certainly am not that.

[00:42:24.100 – 00:42:28.400] I have been mistaken too often.

[00:42:28.400 – 00:42:33.100] But I think that we can take a look ahead to this extent.

[00:42:33.100 – 00:42:43.700] We can look at the problems that occupy our immediate foreground.

[00:42:43.700 – 00:42:54.500] Now, it is plain to all of us that unless this society can develop enough brotherhood and

[00:42:54.500 – 00:42:59.800] partnership among its members, we shall someday fall into disunity.

[00:42:59.800 – 00:43:10.000] And the basis of partnership and brotherhood has to be greatly improved personal relations.

[00:43:10.000 – 00:43:18.600] Now, it is true that the love of one drunk for another is a wonderful thing to behold.

[00:43:18.600 – 00:43:28.700] When the stranger is on the doorstep and we carry this message to him, we don’t think of personal

[00:43:28.700 – 00:43:32.200] reward in any ordinary sense.

[00:43:32.200 – 00:43:34.800] He isn’t going to pay us.

[00:43:34.800 – 00:43:37.800] He may not even love us.

[00:43:37.800 – 00:43:48.300] We don’t expect a thing except the inner glow which one gets from

[00:43:48.300 – 00:43:58.700] having love and from offering the right kind of love to a fellow human being, in our case, another drunk

[00:43:58.700 – 00:43:59.300] especially.

[00:43:59.300 – 00:44:01.600] So we make him the offer.

[00:44:01.600 – 00:44:06.300] If he turns us down, well, we say there are plenty more drunks.

[00:44:06.300 – 00:44:16.800] If he carries it on and we see no more of him, we say, “Isn’t that wonderful?” If he returns to become our bosom, bosom friend,

[00:44:16.800 – 00:44:18.200] well, then we’re really joyous.

[00:44:18.200 – 00:44:29.100] But we realize that that joy, that gladness, that satisfaction is the extra dividend of

[00:44:29.100 – 00:44:29.900] AA life.

[00:44:29.900 – 00:44:40.300] The really sustaining thing is that we receive God’s love just in proportion as we have love for others

[00:44:40.300 – 00:44:41.500] and try to give that away.

[00:44:41.500 – 00:44:52.200] So that in our twelfth step, there is an expression of almost pure love, the

[00:44:52.200 – 00:44:54.000] kind of love that has no price tag on it.

[00:44:54.000 – 00:45:04.200] Now then, what happens, though, when we move away from the twelfth step and our relations with people

[00:45:04.200 – 00:45:05.200] become closer?

[00:45:05.200 – 00:45:10.800] There we tend to revert to type again.

[00:45:10.800 – 00:45:15.000] Take this whole subject of domestic relations.

[00:45:15.000 – 00:45:25.700] How many of us are there now who can go home with

[00:45:25.700 – 00:45:36.300] the same kind of love for a faithful and long-suffering wife that we have had down

[00:45:36.300 – 00:45:38.700] at the clubhouse for our alcoholic buddies?

[00:45:38.700 – 00:45:43.800] Well, lots of us can, but lots of us can’t.

[00:45:43.800 – 00:45:46.500] Not yet.

[00:45:46.500 – 00:45:52.700] Because there has been a profound distortion in family life due to our drinking.

[00:45:52.700 – 00:45:54.700] This is one of the overhangs.

[00:45:54.700 – 00:46:04.600] So there is a whole area of personal relationships which has to do not only with sobriety, but it has to do with emotional sobriety.

[00:46:04.600 – 00:46:07.100] It has to do with the joy of living.

[00:46:07.100 – 00:46:09.400] And there is an area…

[00:46:09.400 – 00:46:19.700] I think I ought to refer

[00:46:19.700 – 00:46:23.900] to these family groups where our wives and husbands

[00:46:24.100 – 00:46:34.100] The wives and husband, husbands of alcoholics are realizing that they too have become distorted and are now forming themselves into groups to find out what the matter is

[00:46:34.100 – 00:46:41.500] with them and how the twelve steps can hel-help them to be better partners.

[00:46:41.500 – 00:46:50.900] The numbers of those groups have increased in the last year from two hundred to four hundred, almost like the ear-early pyramid process in AA.

[00:46:50.900 – 00:46:56.500] And I think that they will help fill this huge vacuum.

[00:46:56.500 – 00:46:60.000] But we alcoholics, too, must do our part.

[00:46:60.000 – 00:47:10.400] Well, then in AA, as I say, we sometimes

[00:47:10.400 – 00:47:15.300] quarrel a great deal, not often about things that matter to much.

[00:47:15.300 – 00:47:26.100] But there is a great deal of unnecessary anger, ambition, pride, a

[00:47:26.100 – 00:47:29.800] tendency to dominate people or a tendency to cling to people.

[00:47:29.800 – 00:47:39.800] All those problems of personal relationships which have to do with emotional sobriety, happy sobriety, are yet far from solution.

[00:47:39.800 – 00:47:51.000] And when we have moved on and made a great gash in those problems, we shall have passed another milestone.

[00:47:51.000 – 00:47:57.000] Then there is the problem of the complacent AA.

[00:47:57.000 – 00:48:01.700] He comes in and does good work.

[00:48:01.700 – 00:48:03.700] The family is reunited.

[00:48:03.700 – 00:48:05.700] Family is happy.

[00:48:05.700 – 00:48:07.900] Income is good.

[00:48:07.900 – 00:48:10.400] Kids don’t get into any trouble.

[00:48:10.400 – 00:48:14.800] And he assumes that he’s cured.

[00:48:14.800 – 00:48:18.800] He thinks he’s done his bit for AA.

[00:48:18.800 – 00:48:29.000] Well, most of us know that at some time him was a great big lump, which

[00:48:29.000 – 00:48:31.500] he is nowhere near prepared to swallow.

[00:48:31.500 – 00:48:41.600] So he and those who are coasting blissfully might take

[00:48:41.600 – 00:48:51.600] another look at our twelve steps, not just the first and the twelfth, but all those in between, and try harder to

[00:48:51.600 – 00:48:58.600] apply them in all their affairs and try harder to be more responsible about their AA obligations.

[00:48:58.600 – 00:49:02.300] Great progress can be made there.

[00:49:02.300 – 00:49:08.800] Then this matter of sponsoring new people.

[00:49:08.800 – 00:49:19.400] Since we have got large numbers, the careful attention

[00:49:19.400 – 00:49:24.500] that we used to give is sometimes denied new people.

[00:49:24.500 – 00:49:28.000] They come into our larger meetings, they wander about.

[00:49:28.000 – 00:49:31.800] Our sponsorship is still defective.

[00:49:31.800 – 00:49:37.300] We can do much about improving that.

[00:49:37.300 – 00:49:47.300] We can remember the kind of chance that somebody gave us, and the desire can again burn in every one of us to

[00:49:47.300 – 00:49:52.400] give that next fella his chance and not leave the job to Joe Doe.

[00:49:52.400 – 00:49:58.600] Now, to be prudent is not necessarily to be fearful.

[00:49:58.600 – 00:50:08.700] Curiously enough, this society as a whole is a society which has never had a problem that has cut clear

[00:50:08.700 – 00:50:11.100] across it.

[00:50:11.100 – 00:50:17.100] The individual has been cut to pieces with problems, and he has grown together.

[00:50:17.100 – 00:50:19.100] So have groups.

[00:50:19.100 – 00:50:20.500] So have areas.

[00:50:20.500 – 00:50:30.700] But AA as a whole has never been cut across by a great problem or a great

[00:50:30.700 – 00:50:31.400] calamity.

[00:50:31.400 – 00:50:41.400] Now we are living in a world seems largely filled with nothing but problems and

[00:50:41.400 – 00:50:42.000] calamities.

[00:50:42.000 – 00:50:52.000] And for all of these last seventeen or eighteen years, God

[00:50:52.000 – 00:50:57.800] has spared our society anything that looks like a big problem.

[00:50:57.800 – 00:51:07.000] In the meanwhile, this has permitted our reputation to be made secure in the public mind.

[00:51:07.000 – 00:51:13.300] We are now prepared to meet serious problems if they come.

[00:51:13.300 – 00:51:23.700] And it is not fearful to say that serious problems will still someday

[00:51:23.700 – 00:51:25.900] come to AA as a whole.

[00:51:25.900 – 00:51:34.900] Just take one not too serious, and let us try to think how we would behave if this occurred.

[00:51:34.900 – 00:51:42.600] I know of an author, for example, who is a humorist on the sarcastic side.

[00:51:42.600 – 00:51:48.400] I think he tends to imbibe a little himself.

[00:51:48.400 – 00:51:59.600] And two or three years ago, he got together material for a funny book about AA, which

[00:51:59.600 – 00:52:02.500] would have roundly ridiculed it.

[00:52:02.500 – 00:52:10.500] The book was never published because he found too many of his old writing cronies in AA, and they destroyed it.

[00:52:10.500 – 00:52:20.400] But supposing that he had published that book, you know what our first reaction would have been.

[00:52:20.400 – 00:52:25.500] It would have been a reaction of great rage.

[00:52:25.500 – 00:52:30.200] He can’t do this to us.

[00:52:30.200 – 00:52:32.800] But does that necessarily have to be our reaction?

[00:52:32.800 – 00:52:43.400] When we are unfairly criticized, loudly criticized at some time in the future or actually attacked,

[00:52:43.400 – 00:52:53.500] are we prepared to take such attacks in silence and

[00:52:53.500 – 00:52:57.400] in dignity with no thought of retaliation?

[00:52:57.400 – 00:53:01.600] And if there is any truth in the

[00:53:01.700 – 00:53:05.400] And we humbly say that our society stands corrected.

[00:53:05.400 – 00:53:16.400] To meet the larger problems of the future, we will have to think about how we would behave and act if

[00:53:16.400 – 00:53:18.200] this society were to survive.

[00:53:18.200 – 00:53:28.300] Otherwise, we can become hopelessly involved in controversies at the public level and destroy this wonderful reputation we have, which

[00:53:28.300 – 00:53:31.700] is already, I must say, a damn sight better than our character.

[00:53:31.700 – 00:53:39.700] Today, the world is full of political divisions, warring philosophies, warring nations.

[00:53:39.700 – 00:53:51.100] Supposing that those divisions cut deep in this country sometime, and our society as such starts

[00:53:51.100 – 00:53:51.800] to quarrel.

[00:53:51.800 – 00:54:00.400] Shall we find the wisdom and grace at such a time to say no?

[00:54:00.400 – 00:54:10.500] As of old, these are matters on which A.A.’s can never quarrel within

[00:54:10.500 – 00:54:12.600] the confines of this society.

[00:54:12.600 – 00:54:22.000] This is the sort of quarreling that can destroy us and the chance for sobriety and a new way of life for all who might come.

[00:54:22.000 – 00:54:27.000] Shall we be able to put that temptation aside when it arrives?

[00:54:27.000 – 00:54:30.900] Conceivably, we could have a religious division.

[00:54:30.900 – 00:54:37.100] I don’t believe we will, but we might.

[00:54:37.100 – 00:54:41.900] How shall we deport ourselves then?

[00:54:41.900 – 00:54:49.900] And on how we act, much will depend.

[00:54:49.900 – 00:55:00.200] Much will depend on what this body, the conscience of Alcoholics Anonymous as a whole, says

[00:55:00.200 – 00:55:03.600] and does at such a critical juncture.

[00:55:03.600 – 00:55:14.400] Not personally, praise seems to pray, those problems, because

[00:55:14.400 – 00:55:16.800] I think we are ready for them, really.

[00:55:16.800 – 00:55:25.500] I think we can manage them, and I think we can manage them because of what I see here before me.

[00:55:25.500 – 00:55:36.000] I see God speaking through the group conscience in

[00:55:36.000 – 00:55:46.100] this room, and I feel that our guidance will be true, that the voice

[00:55:46.100 – 00:55:56.100] of Alcoholics Anonymous will remain clear, that its conscience is now so experienced

[00:55:56.100 – 00:56:03.700] and well related to God that it can apprehend the right thing to do at the right time.

[00:56:03.700 – 00:56:13.900] Despite all these perils of the road, I know that you share with me an utter confidence about our future.

[00:56:13.900 – 00:56:22.400] Now, there’s just one more temptation to which this movement may be subjected.

[00:56:22.400 – 00:56:32.500] All around us, men are commencing to say, “Why,

[00:56:32.500 – 00:56:33.300] this A.A.

[00:56:33.300 – 00:56:35.700] thing is a lot more than a cure for drunks.

[00:56:35.700 – 00:56:44.100] It’s a way of life that could save civilization.” Mr.

[00:56:44.100 – 00:56:54.200] Herbert Hoover, several years ago, paused in the middle of a policy talk and pointed to this society as one whose spirit ought to animate the whole

[00:56:54.200 – 00:56:54.800] world.

[00:56:54.800 – 00:57:05.200] Since that time, we’ve had a great number of clergymen, public men, heads of the Chamber of Commerce.

[00:57:05.200 – 00:57:13.800] A fellow came in my house the other day from the United Nations, said that ideas he’d got from the A.A.

[00:57:13.800 – 00:57:18.200] tradition had transformed the whole status of relief work in Greece.

[00:57:18.200 – 00:57:29.400] The week before, a man came in who is a very noted philosopher in this country and

[00:57:29.400 – 00:57:31.800] member of one of its most respected religions.

[00:57:31.800 – 00:57:39.600] And he said to me, “Bill, I begin to sense that this A.A.

[00:57:39.600 – 00:57:44.600] thing has a deeper destiny than just sobering up drunks.

[00:57:44.600 – 00:57:56.500] It may be the spearhead of a new religious evolution.” Well, at

[00:57:56.500 – 00:58:00.700] first, that sort of thing made me feel good.

[00:58:00.700 – 00:58:04.400] It made me feel ambitious.

[00:58:04.400 – 00:58:14.500] It made me feel as though, well, now that we’re well on the way to sobering up all the drunks in the world, why not sober up

[00:58:14.500 – 00:58:16.800] all the people in the world, emotionally speaking?

[00:58:16.800 – 00:58:27.100] And then prudence intervened and said

[00:58:27.100 – 00:58:40.500] to me, as I know it must have said to you, “These are things that we should never say about ourselves.” The

[00:58:40.500 – 00:58:50.800] more we mind our own business, the more we offer with success what we have to the next alcoholic, the longer

[00:58:50.800 – 00:58:58.100] we shall last and the larger will be our usefulness, even to the world outside.

[00:58:58.100 – 00:59:08.100] So to you of this third General Service Conference, I say welcome, and may

[00:59:08.100 – 00:59:10.300] God speak in your conscience.

[00:59:10.300 – 00:59:20.500] May your voice be clear and true, and may the great service heart of Alcoholics

[00:59:20.500 – 00:59:31.500] Anonymous, which beats in the center of this gathering, continue to beat for

[00:59:31.500 – 00:59:34.200] so long as God shall need.

[00:56:22.400 – 00:56:32.500] All around us, men are commencing to say, “Why,

[00:56:32.500 – 00:56:33.300] this A.A.

[00:56:33.300 – 00:56:35.700] thing is a lot more than a cure for drunks.

[00:56:35.700 – 00:56:44.100] It’s a way of life that could save civilization.” Mr.

[00:56:44.100 – 00:56:54.200] Herbert Hoover, several years ago, paused in the middle of a policy talk and pointed to this society as one whose spirit ought to animate the whole

[00:56:54.200 – 00:56:54.800] world.

[00:56:54.800 – 00:57:05.200] Since that time, we’ve had a great number of clergymen, public men, heads of the Chamber of Commerce.

[00:57:05.200 – 00:57:13.800] A fellow came in my house the other day from the United Nations, said that ideas he’d got from the A.A.

[00:57:13.800 – 00:57:18.200] tradition had transformed the whole status of relief work in Greece.

[00:57:18.200 – 00:57:29.400] The week before, a man came in who is a very noted philosopher in this country and

[00:57:29.400 – 00:57:31.800] member of one of its most respected religions.

[00:57:31.800 – 00:57:39.600] And he said to me, “Bill, I begin to sense that this A.A.

[00:57:39.600 – 00:57:44.600] thing has a deeper destiny than just sobering up drunks.

[00:57:44.600 – 00:57:56.500] It may be the spearhead of a new religious evolution.” Well, at

[00:57:56.500 – 00:58:00.700] first, that sort of thing made me feel good.

[00:58:00.700 – 00:58:04.400] It made me feel ambitious.

[00:58:04.400 – 00:58:14.500] It made me feel as though, well, now that we’re well on the way to sobering up all the drunks in the world, why not sober up

[00:58:14.500 – 00:58:16.800] all the people in the world, emotionally speaking?

[00:58:16.800 – 00:58:27.100] And then prudence intervened and said

[00:58:27.100 – 00:58:40.500] to me, as I know it must have said to you, “These are things that we should never say about ourselves.” The

[00:58:40.500 – 00:58:50.800] more we mind our own business, the more we offer with success what we have to the next alcoholic, the longer

[00:58:50.800 – 00:58:58.100] we shall last and the larger will be our usefulness, even to the world outside.

[00:58:58.100 – 00:59:08.100] So to you of this third General Service Conference, I say welcome, and may

[00:59:08.100 – 00:59:10.300] God speak in your conscience.

[00:59:10.300 – 00:59:20.500] May your voice be clear and true, and may the great service heart of Alcoholics

[00:59:20.500 – 00:59:31.500] Anonymous, which beats in the center of this gathering, continue to beat for

[00:59:31.500 – 00:59:34.200] so long as God shall need.

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