When we read the BB, especially the chapter There is a Solution, it contains the story of the young man, who went to Switzerland for treatment of his alcoholism by the famous psychiatrist, Dr. Carl Jung. As I read that story, over and over again, I could see that the outcome of the two men’s association was what inevitabley led to the founding of AA. Jung’s suggestion to the young man, when all treatment had failed, was for him to seek a spiritual experience. The man did have such an experience through his contact with the Oxford Movement, and he passed the message along to Ebby T., who took it to Bill W. Bill in turn had a spiritual experience and the rest is history.
Many years later, when Carl Jung was near the end of his life, Bill wrote the good doctor, relating to him what happened to the young man and crediting the doctor with the foundation of AA. Jung wrote back some very striking information to Bill, not the least of which was why he told the young man what he did.
Jung said he believed that in his drinking the alcoholic was really seeking God, though he had no idea that was what was going on. But the experience of AA bears out his theory. First of all, from my own experiences and that of the many I have talked to and listened to over the years, alcohol was a transforming experience for me. Almost a “spiritual experience”. In my first real drinking bout, I had a “super physical” experience, something a couple of doctors pointed out to me, which is only experienced by the alcoholic and doesn’t occur in normal drinkers. After that, what need did I have of a God?
Jung also pointed out that the word for alcohol in Latin is “spiritus”. That same word “spiritus” describes the soul, what we call the spirit or spiritual, and thus our relationship with God. He wrote a formula for Bill: Spiritus contra spiritum, which literally means the battle between alcohol and our spirit or soul.
In the letter he said that the alcoholic really desires to be whole. Only with the help of a higher power can he become whole again, as the Second Step describes, when it says, Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Anyway, I was thinking about this last night and today.