by Fr. Bill W.

When A.A. co-founder Bill Wilson first approached John D. Rockefeller, Jr. asking his financial help for the fledgling fellowship, the wise, old philanthropist dispatched his trusted assistant Frank Amos to travel to Akron, Ohio and report back to him on what he found. Rockefeller wanted to know why A.A. was proving so successful while so many other attempts to sober up “hopeless alcoholics” had always ended in failure. The information Amos compiled in February 1938 sheds important light on the central value A.A. pioneers attached to what was soon to become the last three steps of their A.A. Program.

Among other points highlighted in his report* were the following three:

First, the alcoholic’s need to remove from his life “...sins such as hatred, adultery, and others which frequently accompany alcoholism.” (Read that as Step 10).

Second, “He must have devotions every morning – a ‘quiet time’ of prayer and some reading from the Bible and other religious literature. Unless this is faithfully followed, there is grave danger of backsliding.” (Read that as Step 11.)

And finally, “He must be willing to help other alcoholics get straightened out.” (Read that: Step 12).

While the 12-Steps had yet to be written at the time of his 1938 report, Amos makes clear the vital need Dr. Bob and other Akron pioneers saw for continuous inventory, daily prayer and meditation, as well as their need to be of maximal, unselfish service to those that still suffered. Interestingly, Amos reported that while “meetings” among these first recovered alcoholics were viewed as “helpful,” they were “not vital” – but morning devotion and quiet times were considered “musts!” In most of today’s 12-Step fellowships this view might well border on heresy.

Now while this bit of A.A. history may be interesting to some, what should be far more interesting to all is the fact that recovery rates among the pioneers adopting the daily practice of what were to become the “last three steps” far exceeded the recovery rates we are seeing today. Also interesting is the fact that, around the country now, we are starting to see a growing number of innovative attempts to explore and return to A.A.’s deeper spiritual roots without losing some of the gains and insights made since those early days. One of the more interesting models to emerge is a group begun about 5 years ago south of Houston, Texas.

Known as After Nine, it was started by a small band from A.A. who had themselves reaped the benefits of long-term recovery but saw the need to deepen their spiritual lives through an enhanced practice of the last three steps. The fact that their meeting began in one of the few clubhouses open and welcoming to members of any-and-all 12-Step fellowships led them to organize in a way that invited men and women to come to their meetings generally after they had worked through the first nine Steps in the rooms of their own fellowship. The average length of sobriety of the originators exceeded twenty years, but newer members are now starting to come long before that. The group has spread to Houston and sister groups are popping up in Arizona and around the country.

While After Nine is still in its infancy, with no central office and little by way of literature (http://www.after9groups.org/), one of its members has developed an informative web site and written a number of fascinating essays that speak to the transformational power loaded within the Last Three Steps. Perhaps most interesting is the light these essays cast on Step 10.

The author stresses that Step 10 needs to be done “continuously.” He notes the repeated use of that word in the few, short paragraphs the Big Book devotes to this Step. He makes the further observation that while the first nine Steps are generally best practiced once – and gone through fairly rapidly as they were done by the pioneers - the remaining three Steps are the work of a lifetime and contain nearly all of the actions and principles found in the previous nine. Plumbing the depths of 10, 11, and 12 reap deeper and more transformative rewards for the addict than repeatedly cycling through Steps one to nine while labeling the last three steps simply as “maintenance steps” and often spending insufficient time in their practice. His arguments ring true with both the Buddha’s insistence on our need for “continuous mindfulness” and St. Paul’s’ command “to pray without ceasing.”

The essays rest on the premise that Step 10 is the most effective means to resolve the recovering addict’s core problem which the author sees as “selfishness and self- centeredness.” He counsels that a deeper practice of Step 10 is absolutely critical if Step 11 is to come alive and be effective. The ability of our EGOs to obscure the TRUTH, to lie to us through repression, projection, denial and other distortions is nothing short of phenomenal. It is this DISHONESTY inherent in the human Ego that keeps us addicts from achieving the “spiritual awakening” of Step 12 that we need to experience for lasting recovery.

It’s interesting that in the gospels, Jesus repeatedly says to his disciples “watch and pray.” Christian readers tend to skip over and ignore the watching command and go right into their praying. This Ego error is what the essays help to address. Step 10 is watching – watching ourselves, with God’s help and in God’s presence, and it is an absolute prerequisite for whatever praying we will then do in Step 11. In other words, if we don’t watch, then we’ll probably pray for the wrong thing. Been there and done that!

You can find these essays at (http:// www.10-11-12.org/Studies). I think you’ll find them helpful and maybe they’ll deepen your own understanding of why Frank Amos’ report was so insistent on the power and place of honest inventory and prayer among the pioneers. Go watch them – and then stay to pray!

*(See Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, New York, N.Y., pp. 122-136.