By Ken B., M.A. (“Dick B.’s son Ken”)
© 2021 Anonymous. All rights reserved
[To view this article in PDF format: https://bit.ly/KenBTheVisionAndMissionOfBillW ]
The following information about the vision and mission of Bill W. comes from:
[1.] A.A. General Service Conference-approved literature;
[2.] A.A. Grapevine literature;
[3.] A.A. cofounder Bill W.’s autobiography, “My First 40 Years;”
[4.] The newsletter of Stepping Stones in Katonah, New York;
[5.] Bill W.’s testimony before the United States Senate.
Bill W.’s Vision
The setting for the events discussed below was the 50-bed institution at 293 Central Park West in Manhattan known as The Charles B. Towns Hospital for Drug and Alcoholics Addictions. The timeframe was the week of December 11-18, 1934.
[1.] “One morning [while Bill was at Towns Hospital], the fourteenth of December [1934], I think, . . .” [Bill thought:] “But what of the Great Physician? . . . I remember saying to myself, ‘I’ll do anything, anything at all. If there be a Great Physician, I’ll call on him.’ Then, with neither faith nor hope I cried out, ‘If there be a God, let him show himself.’ The effect was instant, electric. Suddenly my room blazed with an indescribably white light. I was seized with an ecstasy beyond description. I have no words for this. Every joy I had known was pale by comparison. The light, the ecstasy. I was conscious of nothing else for a time. . . . Then came the blazing thought, ‘You’re a free man.’ I know not at all how long I remained in this state, but finally the light and the ecstasy subsided. . . . I became acutely conscious of a presence which seemed like a veritable sea of living spirit. . . . ‘This,’ I thought, ‘must be the great reality. The God of the preachers.”
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[Source: Bill W., “My First 40 Years” (Center City, Minn.: Hazelden, 2000), pp. 145-46. This book contains a transcript of Bill’s dictation onto reel-to-reel tapes of his autobiography in September 1954 at the Hotel Bedford, with Ed Bierstadt present.]
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“So Ebby finally took his leave [from Bill’s hospital room at Towns Hospital]. . . . And I found myself as a child, utterly alone in complete darkness. And I cried out as a child, expecting little—indeed, expecting nothing. I simply said: “If there is a God, will he show himself?’ Then I was granted one of those instantaneous illuminations. The sort of thing that really defies description. I was seized with great joy and ecstasy beyond all possible expression. . . . Then the great thought burst upon me: ‘Bill, you are a free man! This is the God of the Scriptures.’ And then I was filled with a consciousness of a presence. And a great peace fell over me, and I was with this I don’t know how long.”
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[Source: Bill W., “Dr. Jung, Dr. Silkworth, and AA” (January 1968); reprinted in “The Language of the Heart: Bill W.’s Grapevine Writings” (New York: The AA Grapevine, Inc., 1988), p. 284.]
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“. . . [M]y own spiritual experience . . . had included the vision of a chain reaction among alcoholics, one alcoholic talking to the next.”
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[Source: Bill W., “After Twenty-Five Years” in the “A.A. Grapevine” (March 1960); reprinted in “The Language of the Heart: Bill W.’s Grapevine Writings” (New York, NY: The AA Grapevine, Inc., 1988), p. 298.]
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“With this illumination [i.e., his religious experience at Towns Hospital in December 1934] came the vision of a possible chain reaction, one alcoholic working with the next.”
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[Source: Bill W., “The Language of the Heart” in the “A.A. Grapevine” (July 1960); reprinted in “The Language of the Heart: Bill W.’s Grapevine Writings” (New York, NY: The AA Grapevine, Inc., 1988), p. 246.]
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“In the wake of my spiritual experience [at Towns Hospital] there came a vision of a society of alcoholics, each identifying with and transmitting his experience to the next—chain style.”
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[Source: Bill W., “The Bill W.-Carl Jung Letters” in the “A.A. Grapevine” (January 1963); reprinted in “The Language of the Heart: Bill W.’s Grapevine Writings” (New York, NY: The AA Grapevine, Inc., 1988), p. 279.]
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“. . . I envisioned a chain reaction among alcoholics, one carrying this message and these principles to the next. More than I could ever want anything else, I now knew that I wanted to work with other alcoholics.”.
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[Source: “Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age” (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1957, 1985), p. 65.]
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Bill W.’s Mission
In conjunction with the vision Bill W. experienced at Towns Hospital in December 1934, he also received a mission.
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“At the mission [Calvary Mission, located at 346 East 23rd Street in the Gramercy Park neighborhood in Manhattan], a somewhat remote subsidiary fringing on the Oxford Group, we could of course find alcoholics in all states, mostly persistent disrepair. I . . . spotted these [alcoholics] at once as the possible nucleus of my dreamed-of project for sobering all the drunks in the world.”
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[Source: Bill W., “My First 40 Years” (Center City, Minn.: Hazelden, 2000), p. 159. This book contains a transcript of Bill’s dictation onto reel-to-reel tapes of his autobiography in September 1954 at the Hotel Bedford, with Ed Bierstadt present.]
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“. . . I had thought my experience [on or about December 14, 1934, at Towns Hospital] was something very special. . . . I was destined to fix all the drunks in the world . . .”
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[Source: Bill W., “Dr. Jung, Dr. Silkworth, and AA” (January 1968); reprinted in “The Language of the Heart: Bill W.’s Grapevine Writings” (New York: The AA Grapevine, Inc., 1988), p. 285.]
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A.A. cofounder Bill W. stated during his testimony before the U.S. Senate on July 24, 1969: “I came out of the hospital, began [sic] to feverishly work with alcoholics. We had a house full of them. . . . I even thought I had a kind of divine appointment about all the alcoholics in the world.”
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[Source: “The Impact of Alcoholism.
Hearings Before the Special Subcommittee on Alcoholism and Narcotics of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, United States Senate, Ninety-First Congress: First Session on Examination of the Impact of Alcoholism: July 23, 24, And 25, 1969.
The Impact of Alcoholism: Thursday, July 24, 1969. [Page 107.]” (Available on http://www.Silkworth.net: http://bit.ly/2Nck6Fc; link functional as of 12/21/2020.)]
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“. . . [A]t that time [i.e., from his religious experience at Towns Hospital in December 1934 through May 12, 1935, when he first met A.A. cofounder-to-be Dr. Bob], I was laboring under the delusion I was divinely appointed to save all the rummies in the world.”
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[Source: ‘PASS IT ON’ (New York, N.Y.: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1984), p. 226.]
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Speaking about what happened right after his sudden religious experience at Towns Hospital in December 1934 and his subsequent release from the hospital on December 18, Bill W. stated: “. . . I instantly joined up with the Oxford Groups. . . . [But they didn’t] take kindly to my repeated declaration that it shouldn’t take long to sober up all the drunks in the world.”
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[Source: Bill W., “A Fragment of History: Origin of the Twelve Steps” (July 1953); reprinted in “The Language of the Heart: Bill W.’s Grapevine Writings” (New York: The AA Grapevine, Inc., 1988), p. 198.]
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A.A. cofounder Bill W., in speaking of the time immediately following his sudden religious experience in Towns Hospital on or about December 14, 1934, and his subsequent release from the hospital on December 18, stated: “I was soon heard to say that I was going to fix up all the drunks in the world . . .”
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[Source: “Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age” (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1957, 1985), p. 64.]
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“As Bill himself described it: ‘I was soon heard to say that I was going to fix up all the drunks in the world, . . .’”
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[Source: ‘PASS IT ON’ (New York, N.Y.: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1984), p. 131.]
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“[F]olks were beginning to say, ‘Is this fellow Bill [W.] going to be a missionary for life?’”
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[Source: “Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age” (New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1957, 1985), p. 65.]
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“Months after the Army’s rejection [of Bill W.’s attempt to reenlist during World War II], Bill tried again but to no avail. . . . [H]e wrote in a May 25, 1942, letter to his friend and advisor, Father Ed Dowling: ‘Still struggling to get in the Army. No luck yet. Maybe I’m supposed to be a missionary after all.’”
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[Source: “The Stepping Stones News,” Spring/Summer 2019, p. 3]
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Dick B.’s Body of Work
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If you are not familiar with the 25 years of research, writing, and speaking by my dad (pen name: “Dick B.,” JD,CDAAC—29+ years of continuous sobriety in A.A.; 45 published titles on A.A. and its history) on “the rest of the story” about what he called “the Biblical roots of A.A.,” the best place to start is with his best selling title:
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“The Good Book and the Big Book: A.A.’s Roots in the Bible” by Dick B.:
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If you have read that book, it is important to know that he wrote 40 books after the second (“Bridge Builders”) edition of “The Good Book and the Big Book” was published in 1997, 35 of which have been published. He (and I) learned some things during his 18 remaining years of research (and, for me, during my ongoing research from September 2015 to date).
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To learn more about why early A.A. succeeded and how its highly-effective principles and practices may be used to help those who still suffer today, you might enjoy obtaining:
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Introductory Foundations for Christian Recovery by Dick B. and Ken B. [four videos and accompanying guide(s)]: http://bit.ly/IntroductoryFoundationsForChristianRecovery
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The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd ed., by Dick B. and Ken B.: https://bit.ly/TheDickBChristianRecoveryGuideDickBKenB
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The 31-volume “Dick B. A.A. History Reference Set”: https://bit.ly/TheDickBAAHistoryReferenceSet
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While you’re at it, please check out the “Dick B. on Recovery Blog”:
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And join the list to receive the “Dick B. on Recovery” email newsletter in order to stay informed about: (1) my forthcoming book, “Bill W.’s Pastor;” (2) articles by Dick B. (usually lightly edited by me) and me about “the rest of the story” of what I call “the roles God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Bible played in early A.A.’s astonishing success; and can still play today for those who want God’s help through His Son Jesus Christ and the Bible;” and (3) my upcoming presentations via ZOOM.
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I welcome courteous questions about why early A.A. succeeded, and about how to apply its principles and practices today to get the same results for/with those who still suffer, please send me an email message:
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Gloria Deo
Dick B. on Recovery Blog 