Bill Wilson, chief architect of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), once wrote to a friend that ;;AA;; is an utter simplicity which encases a complete mystery.;; This statement accurately suggests the difficulty in any attempt to understand AA. For starters, AA is spiritual, which is the reason, according to Ernest Kurtz, one of the leading experts on AA, that it ;;eludes capture.;; AA is elusive by way of the paradox embodied in its spiritual principles, such as the idea that one wins through surrender. But AA is also eclectic. AA;;s eclecticism stems from its reliance on experience, as well as its pragmatic practice of borrowing at will from the fields of medicine, religion, psychology and good old common sense. Indeed, Kurtz contends that ;;it is doubtful that the world has ever seen a more consistent living-out of pragmatism that so many have thought characterizes American culture.;; The eclecticism has led some to compare AA to the proverbial elephant, which when examined by blind folded observers, each of whom touches a different part of the elephant, reach diverse conclusions as to the nature of the beast. And if this is not enough complexity, AA also embodies several rather glaring contradictions; it is at once both spiritual and religious, both feminist and sexist.
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The Broad Highway: Alcoholics Anonymous and the Quest to Restore the Sacred
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