Fr. Bill Wigmore
CEO of Austin Recovery

Several ago, I took a short business trip to Washington, D.C. I hadn’t been to the nation’s capitol in many years, so I tacked an extra day onto the end of my stay. The day wasn’t added to visit the tombs of dead presidents or unknown soldiers; but to visit with James Houck, a man who sobered up the day after Bill Wilson took his last drink, way back in 1934. He lived in a retirement home in nearby Maryland.

James was fast approaching 100 years old and I wanted to ask him a few questions before he passed on to that Big Meeting in the Sky. I’d met the man several times before as he traveled the country with Wally P. from Tucson, Arizona. Whenever they were nearby, I would always go to hear Jim speak, because he was nearly older than God and I’d figured this would surely be my last chance to see him before he died. Of course, then Jim would show up again next year looking even healthier than before !

All over the country, Jim told his story of getting sober in the Oxford Group and introduced alcoholics and addicts to the lost art of Listening to God or Two-Way Prayer. The Oxford Group had helped him get sober and save his marriage, just as it had helped Bill Wilson, Dr. Bob and so many before A.A. ever came into being. And like many others, Jim stayed loyal to the original Group and didn’t join the new Fellowship when it broke away in 1938 to work exclusively with alcoholics.

Although he remained sober all his life, Jim didn’t know too much about Alcoholics Anonymous; that is, not until his grandson developed a problem, landed himself in the Program, and began sharing his 12-Step journey with the old man. Houck had never heard the exact language of the steps, but he immediately knew he was hearing the principles from which they were drawn. With the exception of the words alcohol and alcoholic mentioned in Steps One and Twelve, they mirrored the Oxford Group program that had helped change his life. But that should come as no surprise; for Bill Wilson himself once wrote, “Where did we learn about meditation and prayer and all the rest of it? The spiritual substance of our remaining ten Steps came straight from Dr. Bob’s and my own earlier association with the Oxford Groups, as they were then led in America by that Episcopal rector, Dr. Samuel Shoemaker.”

Now the questions I wanted to ask Jim centered on 11th Step of A.A. because, after studying the history of the Group for some time, I was convinced that the 11th Step formed the heart and soul of the original program. They called their prayer and meditation practice Quiet Time and they believed Quiet Time was absolutely necessary to bring about the deep personality change necessary for alcoholics like Jim to live a new life of sobriety. Even an A.A. publication of its own early history attests, “The A.A. members of that time did not consider meetings necessary to maintain sobriety. They were simply ‘desirable.’ Morning devotion and ‘quiet time,’ however, were musts.” (See Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, p. 136)

So now that I had my chance, I asked Jim, “Exactly how did those old timers practice this mysterious Quiet Time?” I was looking for a clear and concise answer on the practice that seemed so elusive and mysterious. I wanted a “down and dirty” from an old timer himself - a “how to….” from one who had been there from the beginning. Hopefully this would solve the problem for me, once and for all. He said, “Start with the Four Absolutes. For me, those are the key.” I left a little disappointed.

But several years have passed since we had our conversation, and over those years Jim’s simple answer has stayed with me in the back of my mind. As I’ve attempted to practice Quiet Time as best I can and as I’ve shared this rediscovered path with others, I’ve come to appreciate the wisdom of Jim Houck’s advice, “Start with the Four Absolutes:” Honesty, Purity, Unselfishness, and Love.

The Four Absolutes, or the Four Standards as they’re sometimes called, have had a controversial history within the A.A. Program. Originally, they were drawn from the life of Jesus. In 1902, Professor Robert Speer had analyzed Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and recorded these four principles as a reflection of his message. They were a measuring stick one could use to see if one’s life was being lived in the direction Jesus had pointed. The Oxford Group had adopted them as they attempted to create a “First Century Christian Fellowship” - one that had the power to change lives and ultimately, change the world and not just alcoholics.

But Bill Wilson made no direct reference to these Four Standards when he wrote the 12-Steps. He didn’t want his new Fellowship to be so closely identified with the Oxford Group and the Absolutes were almost synonymous with it in the mind of the public. Also, he saw alcoholics as “…all or nothing people…(often) trying to get too good by Thursday.” The Absolutes scared some away and yet Wilson admitted they were to be found within Steps Six and Seven. This may well be part of the reason those two Steps receive so little space in the Big Book.

And yet, when Dr. Bob gave his final, major address to the A.A.’s gathered in Detroit in 1948 he said:

The Four Absolutes, as we called them, were the only yardsticks we had in the early days, before the Steps. I think the absolutes still hold good and can be extremely helpful. I have found at times that a question arises, and I want to do the right thing, but the answer is not obvious. Almost always, if I measure my decision carefully by the yardsticks of absolute honesty, absolute unselfishness, absolute purity, and absolute love, and if it checks up pretty well with those four, then my answer can’t be very far out of the way.

Over the next four months, in this column, I’d like to revisit the Four Absolutes and see why Dr. Bob held strongly to them to the end and why Jim Houck saw them as the key to unlocking Quiet Time. If they helped these two pioneers, they’re probably well worth our looking into.