Welcome to "Back to the 40's"... How Alcoholics Anonymous worked in the 1940's after the publication of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.
At that time, the recovery rate within the fellowship of AA was 75%. AA's program, as practiced then, was quite different from the program that is practiced today. In other-words, the AA program is unchanged, but the way it is Practiced has changed. To produce such an astounding recovery rate, what was done in the early days of AA?
The "Back to the 40's" recovery program takes an in-depth look at how Alcoholics Anonymous worked in the 1940's. You can download this PDF version of the Study Guide that was created from the class workbook being used by various groups in Southern New Jersey. It can be used as a handy reference to Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous 4th Edition following the instructional flow utilized in the "Back to 40's" five week program.
This program takes you through each of the Twelve Steps of AA over a five week period in discussion meetings. These meetings are held for the purpose of acquainting both old and new members with the 12 steps on which our program is based. In a little over a month, anyone can get the basis of these:
TWELVE SUGGESTED STEPS
1.) We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - -that our lives had become unmanageable.
2.) Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3.) Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4.) Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5.) Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6.) Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7.) Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8.) Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9.) Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10.) Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11.) Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12.) Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.