Guest guest Posted July 25, 1998 Report Share Posted July 25, 1998 Hi, everybody, I think it will be interesting to you, Ken, and I hope for the rest of the group as well to know that in my neck of the woods (central Ohio) not only is it firmly established oral tradition in AA groups that AA is based on the Oxford Group, but there is also one meeting in my neighborhood (or used to be, I haven't been for a while) that is devoted to the four absolutes, concentrating on one every four weeks. There's even a pamphlet somewhere about the four absolutes, though I'm not sure who publishes it. It was a surprise to me to learn from reading a different list that this could possibly be a source of disagreement. I knew this long before I read Ken's book. Kayleigh ---- Read this list on the Web at http://www.FindMail.com/list/12-step-free/ To unsubscribe, email to 12-step-free-unsubscribe@... To subscribe, email to 12-step-free-subscribe@... -- Start a FREE E-Mail List at http://makelist.com ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 1998 Report Share Posted July 25, 1998 At 05:23 PM 7/25/98 -0000, Kayleigh wrote: >Hi, everybody, > >I think it will be interesting to you, Ken, and I hope for the rest of the group as well to know that in my neck of the woods (central Ohio) not only is it firmly established oral tradition in AA groups that AA is based on the Oxford Group, but there is also one meeting in my neighborhood (or used to be, I haven't been for a while) that is devoted to the four absolutes, concentrating on one every four weeks. There's even a pamphlet somewhere about the four absolutes, though I'm not sure who publishes it. I remember the four absolutes as being more of 'a part of AA' even though some may have acknowledged that they came from the Oxford Group. I have, sonewhere in a box, if I haven't lost it, my aluminum chip for 30 days without drinking - if I recall, on one side is 'the time to call is before, not after', and the other is the letters AA and about five words, four of them being the four abolutes: I likely have one or two of these wrong, but I remember them being " Love Tolerance Honesty Humility " . In more recent years I recall reading in cult literature (that probably didn't mention AA at all) that having one or more 'absolutes' is a strong sign of a cult. There was a phamplet I heard/read about probably in Bufe's book, titled something like 'why we were chosen'. It talks about how God chose (recovering) drunks to work with other drunks. Does anyone have a copy of this, or know of the text available online? I remember some oldtimers talking about why God 'chose' us when I was new to AA 10 years ago. > >It was a surprise to me to learn from reading a different list that this could possibly be a source of disagreement. I knew this long before I read Ken's book. I think when one gets into beliefs, almost anything can be a source of disagreement. This is often what starts of new meetings - as they said, it only takes a coffee pot and a resentment (and possibly a big book) to start a new AA meeting. And of course, some have more 'correct' beliefs, or are more 'fundamentalist' than others. ----- http://www.mindspring.com/~benbradley ---- Read this list on the Web at http://www.FindMail.com/list/12-step-free/ To unsubscribe, email to 12-step-free-unsubscribe@... To subscribe, email to 12-step-free-subscribe@... -- Start a FREE E-Mail List at http://makelist.com ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 1998 Report Share Posted July 25, 1998 Kayleigh is absolutely right about the Oxford Group part - Bill and Dr. Bob felt the basic Oxford principles to be OK but too limiting in the sense that they seemed to exclude those who were unwilling to be Protestant or something. (I am uncertain of all the details here.) Robin s ---- Read this list on the Web at http://www.FindMail.com/list/12-step-free/ To unsubscribe, email to 12-step-free-unsubscribe@... To subscribe, email to 12-step-free-subscribe@... -- Start a FREE E-Mail List at http://makelist.com ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 1998 Report Share Posted July 25, 1998 >I likely have one or two of these wrong, but > I remember them being " Love Tolerance Honesty Humility " . I think they are honesty, purity, love and selflessness. I am sure Ken must know. I remember that purity was always a tough one for the meeting to grapple with, because once sober, it was not something anyone had to work on on a daily basis. Sometimes if you weren't sober, as well. Kayleigh ----- Original Message: http://www.findmail.com/list/12-step-free/?start=393 Start a FREE email list at http://www.FindMail.com/ ---- Read this list on the Web at http://www.FindMail.com/list/12-step-free/ To unsubscribe, email to 12-step-free-unsubscribe@... To subscribe, email to 12-step-free-subscribe@... -- Start a FREE E-Mail List at http://makelist.com ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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