Let’s Ask Bill W. – Welcome to Silkworth.net

Q1. The Disease Concept – How do you justify calling alcoholism an illness, and not a moral responsibility?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 1 How do you justify calling alcoholism an illness, and not a moral responsibility? Answer Early in...

Q2. Mental Obsession – What is meant by mental obsession and the obsessional character of alcoholism?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 2 What is meant by mental obsession and the obsessional character of alcoholism? Answer Well, as I...

Q3. How Does AA Work?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 3 Just how does A.A. work? Answer I cannot fully answer that question. Many A.A. techniques have...

Q4. A Continued Existence – How can A.A. best assure its continued existence?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 4 How can A.A. best assure its continued existence? Answer Since the beginning of recorded time, many...

Q5. Early AA 12th Step – When you first sobered up how did you approach alcoholics and did you change that approach?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 5 When you first sobered up how did you approach alcoholics and did you change that approach?...

Q6. What Happened To Ebby? – What happened to your sponsor, Ebby?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 6 What happened to your sponsor, Ebby? Answer It was Ebby who brought me the message that...

Q7. Oxford Group Info – What did A.A. learn from the Oxford Group and why did they leave them?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 7 What did A.A. learn from the Oxford Group and why did they leave them? Answer AA’s...

Q8. Agnostics And God – What about the alcoholic who says that he cannot possibly believe in God?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 8 What about the alcoholic who says that he cannot possibly believe in God? Answer A great...

Q9. Medicine, Religion & AA – How do medicine and religion differ in their approach to the alcoholic?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 9 How do medicine and religion differ in their approach to the alcoholic? Answer They differ in...

Q10. Origins Of The Traditions – What were the conditions that led to the twelve traditions?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 10 What were the conditions that led to the Twelve Traditions? Answer After the Jack Alexander article...

Q11. Still More Traditions Info – Have the Traditions been widely accepted?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 11 Have the Traditions been widely accepted? Answer When they were first written in early 1946 as...

Q12. General Service Conference – What will the General Service Conference do?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 12 What will the General Service Conference do? Answer It will hear the annual reports of the...

Q13. AA & Other Agencies – Could you explain AA’s tradition concerning other agencies in the field of alcoholism.

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 13 Could you explain AA’s tradition concerning other agencies in the field of alcoholism? Answer I remember...

Q14. The 12 Concepts – What purposes do the twelve concepts for world services serve?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 14 What purposes do the Twelve Concepts for World Services serve? Answer “The Concepts to be discussed...

Q15. Remembering AA’s Early Friends – Bill never tired of telling the story of A.A.s’ beginning and giving thanks for our many early friends. This is how he told it to the General Service Conference in 1952.

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 15 (Remembering AA’s Early Friends) Bill never tired of telling the story of A.A.s’ beginning and giving...

Q16. Are Alcoholics “Different?” – Do alcoholics as a class differ from other people?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 16 Do alcoholics as a class differ from other people? Answer Some years ago the doctors began...

Q17. Is It All Bill W’s Experience? – Is A.A. based totally on your own experiences?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 17 Is A.A. based totally on your own experiences? Answer Let’s look. Dr. Bob recovered. Then we...

Q18. “A Rapid Growth Problem?” – Wouldn’t too rapid growth be bad, both for the new alcoholics and for Alcoholics Anonymous itself?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 18 Wouldn’t too rapid growth be bad, both for the new alcoholics and for Alcoholics Anonymous itself?...

Q19. Bill W’s Spiritual Experience – Could you describe your spiritual experience for us and your understanding of what happened?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 19 Could you describe your spiritual experience for us and your understanding of what happened? Answer In...

Q20. Early AA – Could you tell us about the early days and the meetings in your home on Clinton Street?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 20 Could you tell us about the early days and the meetings in your home on Clinton...

Q21. Meet AA #3 – How did you meet A.A. No.3, Bill D.?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 21 How did you meet A.A. No.3, Bill D? Answer I was living at Dr. Bob’s place...

Q22. More Big Book Info – Was the writing of the Big Book a difficult job?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 22 Was the writing of the Big Book a difficult job? Answer As the chapters were done,...

Q23. St. Ignatius & The Steps – Can the twelve steps be compared to the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 23 Can the Twelve Steps be compared to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius? Answer In 1941,...

Q24. Father Dowling’s Influence – How did you meet Father Ed Dowling?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 24 How did you meet Father Ed Dowling? Answer My first unforgettable contact with Father Ed came...

Q25. More On The Traditions – What are the ideas embodied in the Twelve Traditions?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 25 What are the ideas embodied in the Twelve Traditions? Answer That, touching all matters affecting A.A....

Q26. GSO Financing – How will the proposed General Service Conference be financed?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 26 How will the proposed General Service Conference be financed? Answer How best to finance our Conference...

Q27. AA Government? – Why shouldn’t the General Service Conference be a government for Alcoholics Anonymous?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 27 Why shouldn’t the General Service Conference be a government for Alcoholics Anonymous? Answer Each A.A. Group...

Q28. Drug Addicts & AA – How many drug addicts are there in A.A. and in the organization similar to A.A. which operates among drug addicts?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 28 How many drug addicts are there in A.A. and in the organization similar to A.A. which...

Q29. Right of Appeal – What purpose does the right of appeal serve?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 29 What purpose does the right of appeal serve? Answer There came to this country some hundred...

Q30. Are Alcoholics “Neurotic?” – Are alcoholics neurotic?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 30 Are alcoholics neurotic? Answer It is possible that about half our members, had they not been...

Q31. What is Alcoholism?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 31 What is alcoholism? Answer Alcoholism is a malady; that something is dead wrong with us physically;...

Q32. Is AA a Religion? – Is Alcoholics Anonymous a new religion? A competitor of the Church?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 32 Is Alcoholics Anonymous a new religion? A competitor of the Church? Answer If these misgivings had...

Q33. What Is AA’s Success Rate? – What is the success rate of Alcoholics Anonymous?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 33 What is the success rate of Alcoholics Anonymous? Answer Of those sincerely willing to stop drinking...

Q34. Carl Jung’s Contribution – What contribution did Dr. Carl Jung make to A.A.?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 34 What contribution did Dr. Carl Jung make to A.A.? Answer Few people know that the first...

Q35. Ebby’s Message to Bill – What effect did Ebby’s message have on you?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 35 What effect did Ebby’s message have on you? Answer Well, by this time I knew how...

Q36. Clergy & AA – Why do clergymen so often fail with alcoholics, when A.A. so often succeeds? Is it possible that the grace of A.A. is superior to that of the Church?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 36a&b Why do clergymen so often fail with alcoholics, when A.A. so often succeeds? Is it possible...

Q41. Drunks in AA Meetings? – If an alcoholic comes to an A.A. meeting under the influence of alcohol, how do you treat him or handle him during the meeting?

Lets Ask Bill W. Question & Answer # 41 If an alcoholic comes to an A.A. meeting under the influence of alcohol, how do you...

Let's Ask Bill W.