29. Ancient spiritual traditions provide backdrop for formation of AA

By Tom O'Connell

The Buddha (born 560 B.C.) had immersed himself in countless worldly pleasures, eventually became enlightened, and saw through the illusions of the world. He sought "extinction of craving" and counseled, "Cease desire." He saw attachment to the things of the world as a barrier to spiritual growth, and recommended detachment.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus the Christ told us to look within. "The kingdom of God is within you."  "The truth will set you free." For me, the truth that sets us free is that we are sons and daughters of God and need not look outside for happiness. Also, Jesus said, "I am the way." He was the model for no addictive behavior. He sought balance, he prayed, and he meditated. He suggested that we go to "the secret place," the inner temple that's inside all of us, to find peace. In "the secret place" deep within we see our addictions more clearly, and through prayer and meditation we set ourselves free from our egotism, our illusions, our addictions.

 Aurelius Augustine (354-430 a.d.), a North African who is now known as St. Augustine, was a self-acknowledged sex and food addict. Discussing his lower appetites, he said, "My invisible enemy...seduced me." "There was no rest for me." He also made what I believe is a very powerful statement about our true natures. "Lord, you made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in you."

For Augustine, the turning point was when he heard a voice that told him to pick up and read the Scriptures. And the page he flipped to at random was about "reveling, drunkenness, and debauchery." He read, "Instead, put on the Lord Jesus and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." This sounds to me like an echo of the Buddha's advice: "Cease desire."

Augustine saw that he had a perverted will, and was caught up in desires, habits, compulsive urges, bondage. He saw the need for complete surrender to God through confession, amends, and changing his behavior. And his recovery process is very similar to 12-Step addiction recovery. Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith didn't invent spirituality. It was passed down to them from previous generations. They just packaged it wisely, in a non-threatening way.

In medieval times, Francis of Assisi (1182-1225 a.d.) in his 44 years was tormented by craving, and was known to throw himself into thorn bushes to help him squelch the desires of his lower appetites. He said, "We should find no pleasure or delight in anything except in our Creator...nothing must come between us and God." Here we go again. Cease desire. Detach instead of attach. Eliminate all that separates us from our walk with God.

In modern times, William James, once known as the Father of modern psychology, explored religion in a series of 1901-1902 lectures, and his spiritual research is found in his book "The Varieties of Religious Experience," which was given to AA co-founder Bill Wilson in December 1934 to help him understand the meeting with God that he had experienced in his hospital room.

William James said that underlying all religion are two items: 1. An uneasiness.   2. Its solution. He discussed: "The divided self and the struggle." "Change of the personal centre." "Surrender of the lower self." "Appearance of a Helping Power"...and "a sense of union with it."

Carl Jung, who was influenced by William James' work, saw that "the truth was the panacea" in the work to achieve "reunion of the spirit with the body." Healing, according to Jung, was getting hold of one's story. The story, he said, was "a precious possession...clamoring to be lived." The problem with mentally disturbed people, such as addicts, was that their life story had been interrupted.

When the American alcoholic Rowland went to see Dr. Jung in 1931 he soon felt that his alcoholism was a thing of the past. But in 1932 he relapsed. Then he went back to Jung for help, and was told that his case was "hopeless" unless he had a "spiritual conversion," "a genuine conversion," "a spiritual experience." Jung saw that the Latin word "spiritus" could mean "spiritual" while also representing the "spirits" found in alcohol, and realized that the higher "spirit" had to be substituted for the lower.

Rowland joined the Oxford Groups, comprised of Christians who believed in honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love, and who followed a way of life involving self-survey, confession, restitution, and service to others. He soon became sober and passed the word on to a drunk named Ebby, who got religion and also became sober. Ebby passed the message to Bill Wilson, a former school chum, who saw the "light" in December 1934 in a New York hospital. Wilson passed his story on to Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio, in 1935. And from that time on, alcoholics have been sharing their stories, and healing each other in spiritually-based mutual help groups.

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