John W. on Big Book History, Ardent Spirits, and the Oxford Group — Part 1

About This Speaker Tape

1983, Palm Aire. John W. describes a schedule so grueling he asked his sponsor, "When are we going to dance?" He was used to fellowship weekends, but this was "strictly business." This was the birth of the Big Book seminars, a dive into the wreckage and the history of the disease. John paints a gritty picture of the "ardent spirits" described by Benjamin Rush—the "odious disease" that leaves a man with a swollen nose, eyes like balls of fire, and a tendency to shit his pants before falling into a profound sleep.

He traces the line from the Washingtonians and the Oxford Group to the "entire psychic change" demanded by Dr. Silkworth. He recalls Bill Wilson as a "rum head from New York" who arrived in Akron on Mother's Day, 1935, desperate and broke. From the "white flash" of spiritual experience to the failed attempt to sell stock certificates for the Big Book, John captures the desperate, clumsy, and human machinery that built a way out.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Opening moment of silence and Serenity Prayer
• 2:14 Discussion of Wesley Parrish and the early Charlie and Joe Big Book workshops
• 13:30 Review of Benjamin Rush's 18th-century descriptions of drunkenness and disease
• 21:15 History of the Washingtonians and the requirement to bring a friend to meetings
• 28:40 Analysis of Dr. Silkworth's 'Doctor's Opinion' and the need for a psychic change
• 32:10 Carl Jung's interaction with Roland Hazard and the definition of a spiritual experience
• 43:50 The meeting between Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob on Mother's Day 1935
• 54:10 The financial struggles and the Rockefeller Foundation's decision to deny funding
• 1:03:15 The drafting process of the Big Book and the conflict between theological and psychological views
• 1:15:20 The publication of the Big Book in 1939 and the origin of its name