Glory and Money

The forces that take over an A.A. room from outside are the same four Bill W. found inside, and they always arrive looking righteous. He said early A.A. met threats worse than alcohol (A.A. Comes of Age): "These were the desires for power, for domination, for glory, and for money. They were all the more dangerous because they were invariably powered by self-righteousness, self-justification, and the destructive power of anger, usually masquerading as righteous indignation." Masquerading means wearing a disguise. Now look at a room taken over from outside. A facility gets power: its staff decide who chairs. It gets domination: the format is the program's. It gets glory: the brochure says it hosts A.A. And it gets money: the meeting is part of what a client's insurer or the government pays for. Every piece is explained as helping more alcoholics, and that explanation is the self-righteousness. The Long Form keeps the whole above any part of it (Big Book, p. 563): "Hence our common welfare comes first." A.A.'s welfare, not a facility's. A program can mean well and still want all four. Test it tonight: name who gains power, glory or money from your meeting existing, and ask whether any of them is a member of the group.