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 The
primary objective of Back to Basics is to provide
the recovery community with meeting formats that are historically
accurate and replicate those conducted in the 1940'and 1950's when
A.A. experienced a 50-75% recovery rate from alcoholism. For the most part, these formats have been lost to the
fellowship. After
many years of research and numerous old-timer interviews, it has
become clear that there was more to the "Original" A.A.
program than just Beginners' Meetings.
(And let us once again state that Open Discussion Meetings
were NOT part of the "Original" program.)
In
the 1940's Big Book Studies (Closed Discussion Meetings) and
Guidance Meetings (a carryover from the Oxford Group Meetings of
the 1930's in which Bill W., Dr. Bob and the A.A. pioneers got
sober) were an integral part of the process of obtaining and
maintaining contented sobriety.
They provided an environment in which to learn more about
A.A.'s "design for living" and to build upon the
spiritual foundation on which the entire program is based.
So,
in actuality, the Back to Basics program consists of
three meeting formats from the 1940's:
-
Beginners'
Meetings
in which newcomers take all Twelve Steps in four one-hour
sessions.
-
Big
Book Studies in
which attendees discuss, in detail, the passages from the Big
Book that are used to conduct the Beginners' Meetings. These meetings are designed for Home Group members who have a
solid, working knowledge of the Steps and the process used to
guide the newcomer toward the spiritual solution to alcoholism.
-
Eleventh
Step "Guidance" Meetings
in which attendees practices prayer and meditation by getting
quiet, writing down the guidance that comes, and sharing that
guidance with the group.
In
the near future (May 2002), we will provide examples of the
formats used for the Big Book Studies and the Eleventh
Step "Guidance" Meetings
Read
more about the Evolution of the A.A. Beginners' Meetings here.
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