Where does "singleness of purpose" come from? Is it in the Big Book?
In short:
- The phrase "singleness of purpose" is not in the Big Book. It isn't in the 1946 Long Form of the Traditions or in Bill W.'s 1946–47 essays either.
- In our sources it first appears in Bill W.'s own history of how the Traditions were written, from around 1955 (A.A.'s Legacy of Service, P-44) and in A.A. Comes of Age (1957). There it names one of the subjects a code of traditions would cover: "membership, group autonomy, singleness of purpose, nonendorsement of other enterprises…" (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957).
- The idea is older than the phrase. The Long Form gives each group "but one primary purpose—that of carrying its message to the alcoholic who still suffers" (p. 564), and the 1939 text says of working with alcoholics, "To be helpful is our only aim." (p. 89).
- In our sources the phrase is about what A.A. and its groups do: carry the message to alcoholics, and not take on other causes, however good.
The search
The whole fourth-edition text of Alcoholics Anonymous, front matter, stories and appendices, was searched for "singleness," "single purpose," "sole purpose" and "one purpose." None of them appears in the program text or the Traditions. "Sole purpose" turns up twice in fourth-edition personal stories, in other senses.
The nearest early wording is in Bill's 1947 essay on government: most groups, he wrote, avoid controversy over outside issues and "stick to their single purpose of helping alcoholics to recover" (P-17, "Will A.A. Ever Have a Personal Government?", 1947).
The idea in 1939 and 1946
- The Foreword to the First Edition: "We simply wish to be helpful to those who are afflicted." (p. xiv).
- Chapter 7, on carrying the message: "To be helpful is our only aim." (p. 89).
- The Long Form of Tradition Five: "Each Alcoholics Anonymous group ought to be a spiritual entity having but one primary purpose—that of carrying its message to the alcoholic who still suffers." (p. 564). The short form keeps the core: "Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers." (p. 562).
- Tradition Six warns that money, property and authority "may easily divert us from our primary spiritual aim" (p. 563).
Where the phrase appears, and what it means there
Around 1955 and 1957. In Bill's account of where the Traditions came from, a friend suggested in late 1945 that the mass of experience in headquarters' correspondence be codified. If A.A. had become sure enough where it stood on certain matters, Bill wrote, such a set of principles could be written, and he lists the matters: membership, group autonomy, singleness of purpose, nonendorsement of other enterprises, professionalism, public controversy and anonymity (P-44; A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). The same passage is reprinted in today's A.A. Service Manual (2024–2026 edition).
What he meant by it. In A.A. Comes of Age Bill explains Tradition Five this way: A.A. should "do one thing well" (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957) instead of many things it isn't called to. His illustration: "If we had discovered a widely applicable cancer cure, we would be begged to attend to that and that only." (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). The fields A.A. stays out of, he says, are education, research, neurosis and the like, which members may help with as individuals. "A.A. has but one single purpose" (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957): carrying its message to the alcoholic who still suffers. In 1955 he put it as "We have but one purpose: to carry the A.A. message to the sick alcoholic who wants it." (P-17, "Why Alcoholics Anonymous Is Anonymous", 1955).
A warning against grandeur. Near its beginning, today's group pamphlet prints a 1955 passage of Bill's under the heading "A.A.'s Single Purpose": friends who predicted A.A. might spearhead a spiritual awakening for the world were sincere, but A.A. "will prudently cleave to its single purpose: the carrying of the message to the alcoholic who still suffers" (P-16, 2018, quoting Bill W., 1955).
Applied to meeting listings (2018). The same pamphlet reports a General Service Conference recommendation that "family," "double trouble" and "alcohol and pill" meetings not be listed in A.A. directories. The next paragraph restates that the primary purpose of any A.A. group is to carry the A.A. message to alcoholics, and that experience with alcohol is what all members have in common (P-16, 2018). See Is A.A. for people addicted to drugs or other things?
What the phrase is not used for in our sources
In every passage found, "singleness of purpose" or "single purpose" is about what A.A. as a society, or an A.A. group, sets out to do. Who may belong is a separate subject in Bill's own list ("membership" comes first), and the Traditions answer it in Tradition Three (see What is the only requirement for A.A. membership?).
Read it yourself
- Appendix I, "The A.A. Tradition" (pp. 561–566): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_appendicei.pdf
- Chapter 7, "Working With Others" (pp. 89–103): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt7.pdf
- P-17, A.A. Tradition — How It Developed: https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/assets/p-17_AATraditions.pdf
- P-16, The A.A. Group ("A.A.'s Single Purpose," p. 7): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/p-16_0723.pdf
- Related: Tradition Five: what is a group's one purpose?
Sources
| Source | Pages | First published |
|---|---|---|
| Alcoholics Anonymous (whole fourth-edition text, searched) | — | 1939 text; fourth edition 2001 |
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Foreword to the First Edition; Chapter 7 | xiv, 89 | 1939 |
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Appendix I, Traditions Five and Six | 562–564 | Long Form 1946; short form by 1950 |
| P-17, "Will A.A. Ever Have a Personal Government?" | — | 1947 |
| P-17, "Why Alcoholics Anonymous Is Anonymous" | — | 1955 |
| P-44, A.A.'s Legacy of Service (Bill W.) | 12–13 | around the 1955 St. Louis convention |
| A.A. Comes of Age | — | 1957 |
| P-16, The A.A. Group | 7, 18 | 2018 |
| The A.A. Service Manual (reprints Bill's history) | — | 2024–2026 edition |
Big Book page numbers are from the fourth edition (2001). Our copy of A.A. Comes of Age has no printed page numbers, so it's cited by book and year.
Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book, A.A. Comes of Age, P-44, P-16 and the Service Manual are © A.A. World Services, Inc.; the P-17 articles are © AA Grapevine, Inc.
These pages answer questions about A.A. from A.A.'s own published literature, read in full, with every quote checked word for word against the page it cites. Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. What we read, and when each source was written.