exhaustively, and with much clarity and force. The first half of the
and precisely the steps he may follow to effect his own recovery. He
alcoholics. Two chapters are devoted to family relations and one to
employers for the guidance of those who surround the sick man. There is
present members were of that description. Of particular interest to the
phenomena, as these men see it.
By contacting personally those who are getting results from the
book these ex-alcoholics expect to establish new centers. Experience has
feels he must work with other alcoholics or perhaps perish himself.
Will the movement spread? Will many of these recoveries be
permanent? No one can say. Yet, we at this hospital, from our
a strong "Yes" to both questions.
From: Billlwhite@AOL.COM . . . . . . . . . . . . 10/5/2006 8:52:00 AM
> I know that Dr. Bob used the disease model in relation
> and what it was like. But, I do not know if he pushed
> the disease model as it is today.
From: John Lee . . . . . . . . . . . . 10/5/2006 1:43:00 PM
of AA and the disease concept. It's called " Alcoholics
and in some of the newer pamphlets of AA. The term
disease". Newcomers from treatment centers are usually
transfixed by the term "disease".
wrote:
I have a question, well probably a few of them.
What is the history of the use of the term disease
in relation to alcoholism in AA?
When did alcoholism become classified as a disease?
I know that Dr. Bob used the disease model in relation
to alcoholism in order to emphasize what alcoholism was
and what it was like. But, I do not know if he pushed
the disease model as it is today.
Can anyone help here?
tmd
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++++Message 3773. . . . . . . . . . . . Question about AA''s link to Science
of Mind
From: mama.duck . . . . . . . . . . . . 9/30/2006 2:25:00 AM
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Hi everyone! I'm hoping to learn more about the
history of AA.
I have a sister-in-law who is big into Science of Mind.
My husband is in Al-Anon and the three of us often have
conversations that find phrases and wording to be so similar
that I once spoke up about it.
She told me that, and I can't remember exactly what she
said, but in a nutshell she credits Science of Mind for
the start of AA.
I have limited knowledge of the history of AA but I've
never heard any connection to Science of Mind. Does
anyone know what I'm talking about or have any info
about this?
Thanks a bunch! mama duck
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++++Message 3774. . . . . . . . . . . . Science of Mind, New Thought, and AA
From: Glenn Chesnut . . . . . . . . . . . . 10/6/2006 6:22:00 PM
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Religious Science (also known as Science of Mind),
founded in 1927 by Ernest Holmes (1887-1960), was one
version of the NEW THOUGHT movement.
It was the New Thought movement as a whole (and not
just this one version) which had a major effect on
early AA. New Thought was a religious movement originally
stemming from the ideas of Phineas Parkhurst "Park" Quimby
(1802-1866). From his study of hypnotism and the effect
of placebos on disease, he came to the conclusion that
the way we think can have a profound effect both on creating
physical illness and healing physical illness.
The NEW THOUGHT movement which developed out of Quimby's
ideas pointed to the way our ideas and attitudes actually
created the world we lived in. If I view the world as
a hostile place full of people trying to do me harm,
I will eventually live in a world filled with people
who are trying to do me harm. If I view the world with
seething resentments, I will create a world around me
where I will increasingly find more and more things to
resent. But if I view the world around me as filled with
mostly good people, and if I regard the world with love
and forgiveness towards all, I will increasingly find
myself living in a world filled with good and loving
people who treat me with kindness and tolerance.
(1) Religious Science (Science of Mind), the group your
sister-in-law is involved with, was one of the New
Thought churches which developed out of Quimby's ideas.
See their web site at http://www.religiousscience.org/
(2) Unity Church is the largest New Thought group at
present, with over two million members in over fifteen
different countries. See their web site at http://www.unity.org/
(3) Divine Science is another New Thought group. See
their web site at http://divinescience.com/
EMMET FOX (1886-1951) was a famous Divine Science
minister. Early AA members went to hear him preach
at New York's Church of the Healing Christ. Fox's
book "The Sermon on the Mount" was especially
influential in early AA and widely recommended
reading for newcomers.
JAMES ALLEN, "As a Man Thinketh"
(see http://hindsfoot.org/kML3rc1.html for Mel B.'s
edition of this little book) was another important
New Thought book which was widely recommended reading
for AA newcomers during the early period.
Emmet Fox's book and James Allen's book both appeared
on the recommended reading list for AA newcomers used
in early Akron AA. This is important, because it
makes it clear that the New Thought movement was just
as influential on early Akron (midwestern) AA as it
was on early New York (east coast) AA.
______________________________
NEW THOUGHT and SWEDENBORGIANISM
Warren Felt Evans was one of the first individuals
who wrote seriously on the teachings of Phineas Quimby.
Evans was also the one who took the important step of
integrating the philosophies of Quimby and Swedenborg.
The presence of certain Swedenborgian elements in New
Thought may have been one of the things which made
New Thought so congenial to Bill and Lois Wilson (Lois
had been brought up as a Swedenborgian).
______________________________
OTHER RELATED IDEAS
(a) Norman Vincent Peale (author of "The Power of
Positive Thinking") openly admitted the deep influence
of New Thought on his ideas.
(b) Dale Carnegie (author of "How to Win Friends and
Influence People") presented a sort of secularized
version of New Thought principles.
(c) "A Course in Miracles" is based heavily on the
sort of ideas which appear in New Thought.
(d) The Canadian psychiatrist Dr. Richard Maurice
Bucke (1837-1902), published a book called
"COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS" in 1901, just a year before
his death. There are ideas in his book which are very
similar to New Thought concepts. Mel B. told me that
when he spoke with Bill Wilson in 1956, Bill
recommended that he read Bucke's book, and told him
how important an influence it had been on his ideas.
______________________________
You said that your sister-in-law "credits Science of
Mind for the start of AA." That would be overdoing it
a little. AA started out as part of the Oxford Group,
not as part of a New Thought group.
From the Oxford Group, early AA got its understanding
that only acts of divine grace can produce real psychic
change. AA also got the substance of a good many of the
twelve steps from the Oxford Group, including the ideas
of confession and restitution (making amends). The
Oxford Group was the most important source of ideas
for early AA.
But early AA got important ideas from the New Thought
movement also. A good many of Bill W.'s statements
about the nature of God in the Big Book are cast in
New Thought terminology. The same thing could be said
about the second most published AA author, Richmond
Walker, in "Twenty-Four Hours a Day."
The focus in the Big Book on removing resentment and
fear from our lives (in the fourth through seventh
steps) is very much a kind of New Thought approach
to spirituality. By removing the disturbances in our
thoughts, we will heal our lives at every level.
Glenn C. (South Bend, Indiana)
______________________________
APPENDIX 1: UNITY CHURCH BELIEFS
Five basic Unity Church principles:
1. There is only one Presence and one Power active
as the universe and as my life, God the Good.
2. Our essence is of God; therefore, we are inherently
good. This God essence was fully expressed in Jesus,
the Christ.
3. We are co-creators with God, creating reality
through thoughts held in mind.
4. Through prayer and meditation, we align our
heart-mind with God. Denials and affirmations are
tools we use.
5. Through thoughts, words and actions, we live the
Truth we know.
What are the basic tenets of the Unity teachings?
1. God, Divine Mind, is the Source and Creator of
all. There is no other enduring power. The nature of
God is absolute good; therefore, all manifestations
partake of good. What is called "evil" is a limited or
incomplete expression of God or good. Evil's origin
is ignorance.
2. We are spiritual beings, ideas in the Mind of God,
created in God's image and likeness. The ideal expression
for every human being is the pattern every person is
seeking to bring forth. Each individual manifests the
Christ in his or her own unique fashion. The perfect
expression of the Christ is, therefore, different for
each person.
3. Jesus was a special person in history who expressed
perfection and thereby became the Christ, or Jesus Christ.
He was a Teacher who demonstrated the importance of
thoughts, words, and deeds in shaping the life and world
of the individual.
4. Jesus' teaching was based on prayer, which to Him
was conscious communion with God. Preparation for prayer
involves the use of the spoken word, the creative power
of God, which is made practical through denials and
affirmations. Unity teaches that repeated use of
statements of Truth (denials and affirmations)
establishes right patterns of thinking, feeling, and
acting. This is one way individuals use the creative
power of God to take dominion over mind, body, and
affairs.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
APPENDIX 2: RELIGIOUS SCIENCE (SCIENCE OF MIND) BELIEFS
The Science of Mind is built on the theory that
there is One Infinite Mind which of necessity includes
all that is, whether it be the intelligence in man,
the life in the animal, or the invisible Presence
which is God. In it we learn to have a spiritual
sense of things.
The Science of Mind is intensely practical because
it teaches us how to use the Mind Principle for
definite purposes, such as helping those who are
sick, impoverished, or unhappy. Each one of us should
learn to become a practitioner of this science, a
demonstrator of its Principle, a conscious user of
its Power. Power already exists, but the existence
of Power is of no particular value to us until we
use it. We must not only be conscious of Power, but
we must be actively conscious of it. This is one
of the first lessons we learn in the Science of Mind.
Religious Scientists believe, very simply, that
the Universe is fundamentally spiritual -- it has
intelligence, purpose, beauty and order. Whether we
call it God, spirit, energy, or Universal Intelligence,
every person, place and thing emanates from this
spiritual universe. We believe this Universal
Intelligence is within us, as well as around us,
and that we are conscious of it. The way of life
we teach and practice is learning how to live in
accordance with spiritual principles.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
APPENDIX 3: DIVINE SCIENCE BELIEFS
God is all, both invisible and visible.
One Presence, One Mind, One Power is all.
This One that is all is Perfect Life, Perfect Love,
and Perfect Substance.
Man is the individualized expression of God and
is ever one with this Perfect Life, Perfect Love,
and Perfect Substance.
Life is Continuous.
It proceeds from Divine Life, which is Good in
all its manifestations.
There is only one Power in the Universe, the
Power we call God.
There is no evil except that which is man-made.
The normal state of man is abounding health.
The Divine Purpose is to express the Joy of Life.
The foundation truth of Divine Science is that
limitless Being, God [Good], is equally present
everywhere and is the ALL of everything. God is
pure Spirit, absolute, changeless, eternal, manifesting
in all creation. "God is everywhere, therefore God
is here. What God is is everywhere, therefore what
God is is here."
If Good is omnipresent, what becomes of evil? What
happens to the darkness which fills a room when the
light is turned on? The darkness does not move out
and go somewhere else, it simply does not exist in
the presence of light. Darkness is not a reality, it
is merely the absence of light. In the same way when
the individual thought is centered upon the omnipresence
of good, evil thought does not move out and continue
to exist elsewhere; it simply becomes nonexistent. Evil
has no reality within itself; it can have existence only
so long as an individual supports it by his belief in it.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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++++Message 3775. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Science of Mind, New Thought,
and AA
From: Mel Barger . . . . . . . . . . . . 10/6/2006 9:07:00 PM
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Hi Folks,
Glenn has written an excellent summary of New
Thought here. If anybody is interested in pursuing
this subject further, I recommend "Spirits in
Rebellion," by Charles S. Braden, Southern Methodist
University Press, Dallas, 1963. It can probably be
obtained by library loan or it's possible a copy
can be purchased on the Internet. Braden, a longtime
professor of history and literature of religions at
Northwestern University, really covers the waterfront
in detailing the rise and development of New Thought.
The best New Thought book, in my opinion, is Emmet
Fox's "The Sermon on the Mount."
"As A Man Thinketh" by James Allen is a small book
that really gets to the basics of the importance of
thought. There are many others, and I've observed
that AA members can use them profitably to supplement
and reinforce what we have in AA.
Mel Barger
melb@accesstoledo.com
(melb at accesstoledo.com)
_________________________________________
----- Original Message -----
From: "Glenn Chesnut"
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 6:22 PM
Subject: [AAHistoryLovers] Science of Mind, New Thought, and AA
Religious Science (also known as Science of Mind),
founded in 1927 by Ernest Holmes (1887-1960), was one
version of the NEW THOUGHT movement.
It was the New Thought movement as a whole (and not
just this one version) which had a major effect on
early AA. New Thought was a religious movement originally
stemming from the ideas of Phineas Parkhurst "Park" Quimby
(1802-1866). From his study of hypnotism and the effect
of placebos on disease, he came to the conclusion that
the way we think can have a profound effect both on creating
physical illness and healing physical illness.
The NEW THOUGHT movement which developed out of Quimby's
ideas pointed to the way our ideas and attitudes actually
created the world we lived in. If I view the world as
a hostile place full of people trying to do me harm,
I will eventually live in a world filled with people
who are trying to do me harm. If I view the world with
seething resentments, I will create a world around me
where I will increasingly find more and more things to
resent. But if I view the world around me as filled with
mostly good people, and if I regard the world with love
and forgiveness towards all, I will increasingly find
myself living in a world filled with good and loving
people who treat me with kindness and tolerance.
(1) Religious Science (Science of Mind), the group your
sister-in-law is involved with, was one of the New
Thought churches which developed out of Quimby's ideas.
See their web site at http://www.religiousscience.org/
(2) Unity Church is the largest New Thought group at
present, with over two million members in over fifteen
different countries. See their web site at http://www.unity.org/
(3) Divine Science is another New Thought group. See
their web site at http://divinescience.com/
EMMET FOX (1886-1951) was a famous Divine Science
minister. Early AA members went to hear him preach
at New York's Church of the Healing Christ. Fox's
book "The Sermon on the Mount" was especially
influential in early AA and widely recommended
reading for newcomers.
JAMES ALLEN, "As a Man Thinketh"
(see http://hindsfoot.org/kML3rc1.html for Mel B.'s
edition of this little book) was another important
New Thought book which was widely recommended reading
for AA newcomers during the early period.
Emmet Fox's book and James Allen's book both appeared
on the recommended reading list for AA newcomers used
in early Akron AA. This is important, because it
makes it clear that the New Thought movement was just
as influential on early Akron (midwestern) AA as it
was on early New York (east coast) AA.
______________________________
NEW THOUGHT and SWEDENBORGIANISM
Warren Felt Evans was one of the first individuals
who wrote seriously on the teachings of Phineas Quimby.
Evans was also the one who took the important step of
integrating the philosophies of Quimby and Swedenborg.
The presence of certain Swedenborgian elements in New
Thought may have been one of the things which made
New Thought so congenial to Bill and Lois Wilson (Lois
had been brought up as a Swedenborgian).
______________________________
OTHER RELATED IDEAS
(a) Norman Vincent Peale (author of "The Power of
Positive Thinking") openly admitted the deep influence
of New Thought on his ideas.
(b) Dale Carnegie (author of "How to Win Friends and
Influence People") presented a sort of secularized
version of New Thought principles.
(c) "A Course in Miracles" is based heavily on the
sort of ideas which appear in New Thought.
(d) The Canadian psychiatrist Dr. Richard Maurice
Bucke (1837-1902), published a book called
"COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS" in 1901, just a year before
his death. There are ideas in his book which are very
similar to New Thought concepts. Mel B. told me that
when he spoke with Bill Wilson in 1956, Bill
recommended that he read Bucke's book, and told him
how important an influence it had been on his ideas.
______________________________
You said that your sister-in-law "credits Science of
Mind for the start of AA." That would be overdoing it
a little. AA started out as part of the Oxford Group,
not as part of a New Thought group.
From the Oxford Group, early AA got its understanding
that only acts of divine grace can produce real psychic
change. AA also got the substance of a good many of the
twelve steps from the Oxford Group, including the ideas
of confession and restitution (making amends). The
Oxford Group was the most important source of ideas
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