The Unity of Thinking That Built the Mansion – 1957 – Jim B.
About This Speaker Tape
182 Clinton Street, Brooklyn, 1934. Bill Wilson is on a final binge, his brain wet and his pockets empty, when an old friend arrives sober—a sight so jarring it hits Bill like a cold fish in the face. Jim B., an original founder and historian of the movement, recounts the gritty excavation of the fellowship mansion. He describes a raw era of "wet nursing" and "floating cramps" where the only qualification for membership was having been in a state hospital.
Jim details the trial and error of the early days: the three-legged stool of religion, medicine, and fellowship; the high-pressure sales tactics of Hank Parkers; and the absurdity of trying to finance a book via stock certificates. He strips away the polish, admitting the founders initially hoped to make a million bucks and build a string of drug farms. From the "three Ps" of wreckage—personalities, property, and politics—Jim traces how a unified thinking emerged from the chaos to build a roof over the wreckage.
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