Last night we were at a meeting reading from the BB. The chapter was There Is A Solution. Every time I read that and hear those words that Dr. Jung said to the young man, “You have the mind of a chronic alcoholic.”, I totally identify. Like the man, that was me.
Worse yet was that the doctor told him he had never seen anyone recover, who had that kind of mind. I never had a doctor tell me that. Probably because I would never have thought of presenting myself to such a doctor. But I didn’t have to. I already saw myself as helpless and hopeless in the face of my alcoholic drinking.
Dr. Jung offered him the solution. A spiritual experience. I came in here, knowing nothing of this, and was given a BB. When I opened it I saw the chapter There Is A Solution and was given hope that maybe I could recover too. When I read it and saw what Jung had done for the young man and learned what happened to him, I wanted what he had. He had gotten sober and stayed sober the rest of his life. How great was that?
All that happened to me. I got sober and have stayed sober all these years. Probably that story had more influence on starting me on this spiritual/sober journey than anything else. And I am grateful.
Probably not much is known about this young man, Rowland H. He came from right up the road from where I live. He, Bill W., Ebby T., and Lois, who would become Bill’s wife in time, all knew each other, when they were in their teens. They met, during the summer in New England. They were still far away from a drink.
Later, after Rowland’s meeting with Dr. Jung, Rowland joined the Oxford Movement and came back to the U.S. When Ebby T. was in trouble with booze, it was Rowland, who rescued him and passed what had happened to him onto Ebby. Ebby joined the Oxford movement and took Rowland’s message to Bill W., who was in trouble with his alcoholism. And we all know the rest.
Rowland never joined AA, but stayed with the Oxford Movement. Bill later wrote Dr. Jung and told him about Rowland and attributed much of the success of AA to the good doctor, who was near the end of his life. Dr. Jung replied just before he died and thanked Bill. Plus, he told Bill that the alcoholic, through his drinking, was searching for something. And what he was searching for, without knowing it, was God.
I was thinking about this today.