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Why does the Big Book mention William James?

In short:

  • William James was an American psychologist and philosopher whose book The Varieties of Religious Experience Bill W. read in Towns Hospital right after his own spiritual experience in December 1934. It helped him understand what had happened to him.
  • The 1939 Big Book cites James once, in Chapter 2, to make a point about tolerance: James shows "a multitude of ways in which men have discovered God," and the authors have no wish to convince anyone there is only one way (p. 28).
  • Appendix II, added after the first printing, cites James again: most members' spiritual experiences are what James called "the educational variety," which develop slowly (p. 567).
  • In Bill's later accounts, James supplied the idea that a transforming experience usually comes out of calamity and "deflation at depth." Bill named James, with the Oxford Group and Dr. Silkworth, as a main source of the early program.

What the Big Book says

Chapter 2, "There Is a Solution" (1939). Right after the story of the man treated by Dr. Jung, the chapter says: "The distinguished American psychologist, William James, in his book 'Varieties of Religious Experience,' indicates a multitude of ways in which men have discovered God." (p. 28). It draws the conclusion: "We have no desire to convince anyone that there is only one way by which faith can be acquired." (p. 28). It adds that people of any religion will find nothing disturbing to their beliefs, and that what religious body a member joins "should be an entirely personal affair" (p. 28).

Appendix II, "Spiritual Experience" (added after the first printing). The appendix says the first printing left many readers thinking a spiritual experience had to be sudden and spectacular (p. 567). Not so: "Most of our experiences are what the psychologist William James calls the 'educational variety' because they develop slowly over a period of time." (p. 567). See What is the "spiritual awakening" in Step 12?

Those are the only two places the Big Book names him.

How James reached Bill (later accounts)

A.A. Comes of Age (1957). The day after his experience at Towns, "It was Ebby, I think, who brought me a copy" of James's book (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). Bill read it cover to cover. James held that such experiences could be real and transforming, some sudden and some gradual, but nearly all came out of pain and calamity: "Complete hopelessness and deflation at depth were almost always required to make the recipient ready." (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). "Deflation at depth—yes, that was it." (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957).

James's idea then shaped how A.A. carried its message. After six months of failure with drunks, Dr. Silkworth reminded Bill of James's observation that "truly transforming spiritual experiences are nearly always founded on calamity and collapse" (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957), and told him to give prospects the hard medical facts first to deflate them (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). That is what Bill did with Dr. Bob; and of what reached Dr. Bob, Bill writes: "It was Dr. Silkworth's idea, confirmed by William James, that struck him at great depth." (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). Bill also names James, with the Oxford Groups and Dr. Silkworth, as the source of most of the basic ideas in the early word-of-mouth program (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). At the 1955 convention the Rev. Sam Shoemaker listed "William James' great wisdom" among A.A.'s strands (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957).

Pass It On (1984) says Ebby brought the book when he came "on the third day" (Pass It On, 1984), though "Ebby had not read the book" (Pass It On, 1984); it had been recommended by Oxford Group members (Pass It On, 1984). It names three common denominators Bill drew from James's cases: calamity, admission of defeat, and an appeal to a Higher Power (Pass It On, 1984), and says the first three Steps were drawn from James, Shoemaker and the Oxford Group (Pass It On, 1984). It reports that Bill would later say James, "though long in his grave," "had been a founder of Alcoholics Anonymous" (Pass It On, 1984).

Where the sources differ

  • Who brought the book. Bill in 1957 wasn't sure ("It was Ebby, I think") (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957); Pass It On (1984) says it was Ebby (Pass It On, 1984).
  • When. Bill (1957) says the book came "the next day" (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957) after his experience, which itself came after three or four days in the hospital; Pass It On (1984) has Ebby bringing it when he came "on the third day" (Pass It On, 1984). Our sources don't settle the day.
  • What James is cited for. The 1939 chapter uses James for the variety of ways to God (p. 28); the later appendix uses him for the slow, "educational" kind of experience (p. 567); Bill's later accounts use him for deflation at depth (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957). These are different parts of James, not contradictions.
  • "Founder." The saying that James was a founder of A.A. is reported by Pass It On without a date or source for Bill's words (Pass It On, 1984). Our sources don't give Bill's own wording.

Read it yourself

Sources

Source Pages Date
Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 2, "There Is a Solution" 28 1939
Appendix II, "Spiritual Experience" 567 after the first printing; in the appendices since the second edition, 1955 (Preface, p. xi)
A.A. Comes of Age (including Shoemaker's 1955 talk) — 1957
Pass It On — 1984

Big Book page numbers are from the fourth edition (2001). Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book, A.A. Comes of Age and Pass It On are © A.A. World Services, 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.