It is our intention in this section to discuss those people who are attracted to, and retained by, these groups. There are three main categories of individual which have been identified who seem to be drawn to this kind of group structure: the newcomer; the control freak; the "bleeding deacon". We will consider each in turn.
Newcomers
These groups target newcomers especially in order to promote their own agenda. On the face of it they can hardly be criticised for “carrying the message to the still suffering alcoholic” and a large proportion of these (though not exclusively) are individuals who are completely new to the Fellowship. It is hardly surprising that when these men and women arrive they are generally physically, emotionally and spiritually traumatised. They are scared, confused, guilt ridden, angry and at probably the lowest ebb of their painful lives – they are vulnerable. They arrive at our doors in that condition and although they may initially be reluctant to trust us (since trust is a state of mind that rapidly dissolves in alcoholism) they are struck by the friendly welcome and the sense of acceptance that they get from the fellowship. This is no different with the Visions cult. However it is from that point onwards that mainstream AA and the cult diverge.
AA
Here the hand of friendship is extended. Newcomers are welcomed into the meeting and generally invited to focus on the "similarities rather than the differences" in the speakers' accounts that they may hear at that meeting. They will hear something read from AA literature and then listen to a speaker who may have been invited to share his/her experience, strength and hope. Then other attendees at the meeting will share what they feel they need to share at that time (though if it has been brought to the attention of the group that a newcomer is present then they tend to focus more on the ravages of the disease of alcoholism than is the case if just regular members are present. This is done for the purpose of helping the new man/woman to identify with other people’s adverse experiences of the disease and hence diagnose themselves accordingly). Generally they are supplied with an introductory pack and hopefully a list of the local meetings. Individual members may choose to supply them with a phone number and invite them if they wish to ring them anytime (though frequently with the caveat “pick up the phone before you pick up a drink). At the end of the meeting they may be engaged in conversation and encouraged and supported to go to another meeting as soon as possible. All of this takes place in the context of “suggestions” rather than “directions”. Hopefully this interaction will encourage the new person to view us as friendly and supportive and they will find the encounter attractive. They will sense that the choices lie in their hands and that other members seek only to encourage their efforts. Frequently new members are informed that they are free to attend any meeting that they wish and if they do not find the present one to their tastes then they may find another that suits them better. No attempt is made to coerce or manipulate them in any way - our motivation is based purely on friendship.
Visions cult
Here the hands of friendship are extended – usually en masse and in an almost overwhelming torrent. Again the newcomer is welcomed into the meeting and the same invitation is extended – to listen for the similarities rather than the differences. They will hear a reading that bears a close resemblance to that which is expounded in the AA literature. However what they will not realise (being newcomers) is that interwoven into that account will be views and opinions that are not part of AA orthodoxy. It is not problematic for people to hold whatever views and opinions they like but they usually make it clear that this is solely their own perspective and not that of AA generally. In the case of these readings it is not stated that this material does not come solely from Conference approved literature. They will usually hear a speaker who shares their experience, strength and hope before the rest of the meeting is opened up for general sharing. They will then be presented with a choreographed performance not realising that this is the case. The hierarchy of the group is usually represented in the order of sharing as speaker after speaker will share positively on their own experience of recovery. This in itself is hardly controversial since one of the aims of the programme is indeed to be “happy, joyous and free”. However what the newcomer does not realise is that content of the sharing has been carefully slanted to convey a very one-sided message concerning the process of recovery. They will not realise this until they have been inducted into the group where newcomers are discouraged from sharing negatively at the meeting (regardless of their actual state of mind). Indeed some will have been “advised” to refrain from sharing anything but gratitude until they have done their Step 5 – a politically correct message has been decided upon by the hierarchy and all are “discouraged” from drifting away from the script. At the end of the meeting the newcomer may be invited to join in the “meeting after the meeting”. This is generally a more extravagant affair than that which takes place at mainstream AA meetings. It has been reported to extend sometimes to hot meals supplied from AA funds. On the face of it this seems to be a friendly social activity until one recalls that frequently this particular aspect of the meeting format has been known to be broadcast at other meetings in the area – a form of promotion rather than attraction – another breach of AA traditions (Tradition 4).
Additionally newcomers may be asked to supply their phone number to members of the group. Of course it could be argued that they cannot be compelled to do this but then they are vulnerable and surrounded by people who show every appearance of unselfish friendliness. They do not realise that they have become part of the cult’s “pyramid-selling” strategy and have been designated targets to be contacted daily. In some instances it has been known for a newcomer’s number to be circulated in the group so that its members can hit their “two a day” quota. This brings us on to another piece of literature circulated by these groups – the six point list.
This list is circulated to members of the Visions groups. The contents of the list are not particularly controversial except for the fact that they do not form part of our literature. An attempt was made to have it endorsed by Conference but this failed. One item on this list is the injunction to contact two newcomers each day. Again it could be argued that this surely is in line with the stated aim of AA – “to carry its message to the still suffering alcoholic”. The most worrying feature of this particular catalogue is the spirit in which that message is conveyed. It has lost any of its essential altruistic dimensions and has become simply a recruiting technique carried out almost mindlessly by most of its subscribers. The compassion behind the message has been almost entirely submerged in achieving the artificially created goal of hitting your two-a-day quota.
It is hoped that the newcomer is similarly supplied with a local meeting list. But even if this is the case the initial stages in the conditioning process will be brought into operation. In a subtle and sometimes not at all subtle way the message will be infiltrated into their consciousness that the present group is probably one of the best in the area and that they should come back to it. Again this is hardly controversial – after all you should be proud of your group (if it indeed lives up to your assessment). Unfortunately this may be accompanied by the suggestion that perhaps the other groups in the area are not so well run, do not offer the same quality of message and that maybe it would be better to secure a firm foundation in the cult group before venturing forth into wider AA. This message is gradually reinforced by more and more explicit messages – that other groups are sick and have lost their way (poor things) or they are quite good (damned with faint praise) but not quite up to the mark. As the newcomer is sucked into the cult group the message becomes even more dogmatic. They are told that the sponsorship system is fairly weak in the nearby groups and that really they should get a home group (the cult group naturally) and their sponsor should come from that same group. In this way they are successfully insulated from the ravages of “sick” mainstream AA and fully implanted into the cult group. This conditioning carries on (until they are considered safely "on message") via this incestuous sponsorship system up to Step 9. Stage by stage the newcomer’s autonomy is eroded by constant contact with the cult group and their increasingly influential sponsor. The latter exerts a more and more intrusive influence on every part of the newcomer’s life extending into areas such as employment, personal relationships, sex, child rearing, socialising, financial matters etc. He/she is instructed how to share at meetings, what to share, how long to share for and so on. Advice is given on who he/she should mix with, who is sick and who is well, whether they should be in a sexual relationship or not, whether they should see their children or not (if separated) and so on. Frequently if challenged on this level of intrusion two defences are raised. The first is that the sponsor is simply sharing their own experience (which must be quite extensive given the number of areas that they seem to have expertise in) and secondly, why have a sponsor if you’re not prepared to take their “suggestions”?
Incidentally, the newcomer to these groups does not even have a choice as to who their sponsor should be – they are assigned one – unlike mainstream AA where it is considered the general practice that the newcomer should choose for themselves who they wish to have as a sponsor (or indeed if they want one of these at all) and it is considered part of the process of recovery to ask for help – this in itself showing a willingness to abandon the notion that they can go it alone. But this perspective does not extend to relinquishing all independence – after all, this reliance should finally be based on the God of your understanding.
If a newcomer should be foolish enough to relapse then they are left in no uncertain terms as to their status within the group. Clearly they have not fully accepted their condition (true) and therefore they have no experience to share (false). They are “encouraged” (or “discouraged” depending on your perspective) not to share and to sit at the back of the meeting. Once the newcomer has been assigned to the “dunce” position in the group they have to struggle their way back into the hierarchy via a series of sometimes brutal interviews into the precise nature of their aberrant behaviour. These interviews are disguised as redoing the Steps to identify where they went wrong (the reports that we have heard make them sound much more like a form of punitive interrogation designed to undermine further the limited resources of the unfortunate concerned and place them even more under the sway of their sponsor and the group).
For those who do not make the grade then they make flight into surrounding groups (they are called “refugees” in Medway). It is here that they discover, sometimes for the first time, that the AA represented by the cult bears little resemblance to the one they have newly encountered. It is left to these AA groups to repair the damage wrought by the cult indoctrination. For others, the only conclusion that they can draw is that all of AA is as they have experienced it in the cult and they go elsewhere or back into the mire of active alcoholism. We have had one report of an ex-member who swore that he would never come back to AA and instead attends NA meetings even though his sole addiction was alcohol.
If they can manage to jump through all the quite unnecessary hoops set up by the cult then a quite magical transformation occurs at Step 9. Either at the beginning or it or during the course of this Step the hitherto incompetent individual is adjudged to be able to make decisions for themselves again. This does not of course mean that they can finally dispense with the services of the group or the sponsor but they have achieved sufficient recovery to be able to set off on missionary work amongst the poor heathen inhabiting the deepest darkest reaches of AA – us. No matter how long you have been in AA and how much work you have done on yourself you will always be impressed by the perspicacity of these individuals – as they will frequently lecture you on the subject of recovery, sponsorship, carrying the message ad nauseam. Our only recourse is prayer (for them) and action (for the newcomer).
The Control Freak
These individuals form the core structure of the cult groups. They are drawn from two sources – those who have been conditioned by the groups themselves and; those who are attracted to this kind of structure because they share some of psychological characteristics of its core members. The latter we refer to as “bleeding deacons” and they will be discussed in the next section.
"Control freak" is simply the most apt term to apply to this personality type. It is a matter of general knowledge that the Big Book itself describes the alcoholic as “an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn’t think so.” It may be argued that one of the indicators of recovery is a growing sense of one’s own relatively unimportant place in the scheme of things. However everything about the cult groups runs counter to such a realisation. The cult of sponsorship has almost completely replaced the notion that each member should seek a Power greater than themselves to solve their problem. Instead a human power has replaced this central tenet of AA much to the detriment of the sponsor and the sponsee. The sponsorship system in AA has always been the prime candidate as an opportunity for these controlling types to give full reign to their natural tendencies. It should be remembered that these groups did not come into the Fellowship from somewhere else. They evolved from within AA and they have simply taken existing abuses and developed them further.
We understand by the term “sponsor” someone with experience of the recovery programme assisting someone newer to the fellowship to take certain steps in order to solve their problem with alcoholism. The relationship is one that is not clearly defined and very much open to interpretation on both sides. Since the newcomer is in a poor position to judge whether the sponsorship he or she receives is in fact appropriate this places the burden of responsibility on the sponsor. Clearly in the case of the cult groups their members are ill-prepared for such a duty and would rather follow their own inclinations towards wielding power rather than putting the interests of the newcomer first.
Those individuals who are brought up within the group have at best a superficial grasp of spiritual principles. Such is the rapidity that is artificially imposed upon them to proceed through the steps and the completely unrealistic expectations that are encouraged by an over literal interpretation of such passages of the Big Book (eg. “rocketed into a fourth dimension” etc) that they are left with a euphoric anticipation of what is on offer. Any failure of reality to measure up to this delusion is overruled by these immature personalities who employ group think, denial and, where necessary, anger to sustain their fantasy. The means by which they can further support this form of hysteria is to recruit yet more newcomers who will be driven through the same process all the time proclaiming their public happiness whilst hiding a private grief. The split between inner experience and outer presentation forces these individuals into deeper and deeper conflict. As the gulf widens between delusion and truth these individuals are forced into ever more extreme measures to bolster their sense of security. They know that they are standing on shifting sand and the only way to protect themselves from this unsteady foundation is to stand on the shoulders of others – the more shoulders the better. The dynamics of this personal crisis require that the outside environment be completely controlled – the newcomer must be controlled, the group must be controlled, AA must be controlled – for underneath it all “self will” still “runs riot”. Nothing must be allowed to obstruct the momentum towards domination and any means may be employed to sustain the dream; for the fear always lurks in the wings that reality will intrude to reveal the nightmare underneath it all. Triumphs are gloried in as the ego feeds upon itself – defeats are met with anger and desperation – and so the cult perpetuates itself sliding always towards its own destruction. Unfortunately, though this quite natural process will inevitably unfold, in the meantime people are suffering quite unnecessarily – even to death.
“Bleeding deacons”
This term is taken from the Steps and Traditions book. It is a phrase constructed from a depiction of power conflicts in AA between old timers who seek to impose their views upon the group – the deacons – and other newer members - and the ensuing carnage that results with the “bleeding” bodies of AAs littering the landscape. We forget where the exact reference comes from – perhaps a 12 x 12 enthusiast could enlighten us on this.
The cult group tends to hold some attraction even for the member who has been around for some years. Simply refraining from committing suicide for a considerable period of time (which is essentially what an alcoholic does who does not pick up the first drink one day at a time for an extended number of days) does not imply the acquisition of wisdom or the development of a degree of self-awareness. The ego may simply have gone underground awaiting the conditions for it to resurface in all its hideous glory. Very few of us can really claim to have made much of an inroad upon that condition which lies just beneath the facade – our desire for ego-based power. As the years pass by and our reputation for sobriety flourishes we may fall prey to the illusion that we are bigger fish than we actually are in an extremely small fishpond. This condition is generally balanced by constant contact with fellow members who, as are our contemporaries, knew us when we were truly barking mad and remind us from time to time of our more appalling gaffes. The average (dare we say) member of AA has a healthy disrespect for any kind of pretension and is more than able to puncture the prideful balloons of an expanding sense of self-importance. However the deacon can generally gather about him or her a small coterie of fellow members who have chosen to place him in the position of guru – albeit informally. This mutual admiration society can flourish for some time before the gang disperses as its members recognise the folly of their ways; admiration gives way to fond regard and no one is greatly harmed – the technical term for this is “growing up”. However some of this category crave the adulation that so infrequently surfaces and long for a more durable position of veneration. The cult group serves this purpose admirably. Most cult members are relatively new to AA and to further their own agenda it is useful for them to cultivate “deacons” who serve to lend their movement greater legitimacy. Flattery is employed to great effect to service the hungry ego that lies hidden away beneath the sober front. The deacon is told how valued his/her experience is and he/she is consulted for guidance on matters of great importance. The fact that the cult will proceed along its own way regardless of the advice, maintaining the appearance of compliance, is neither here nor there. The deacon gets what they want and the cult gets what it wants. This mutually parasitic arrangement ensures in the long term that the cult now has the semblance of credibility and the deacon can serves as its mouthpiece to the wider fellowship.
An additional strategy is employed to co-opt deacons who are busy building some kind of little empire within the hierarchy. If they can be persuaded that the cult can further their ambitions they may simply decide to throw in their lot with the “winning team” cynically pursuing their own ends with complete disregard for the welfare of the newcomer or AA as a whole.
Finally the cult may simply play on the apathy of the deacon who has decided that true spirituality resides in doing nothing and throwing up their hands as they “hand it over to the Higher Power”. After all they still get to keep their gang.