A Profile of Jim Burwell, Agnostic and Author of “The Vicious Cycle,” by Ron Long

“Dear Bill...[I am the]...oldest active AA member at group level. [I did] contribute materially in all three of our A.A. books, with phrases “God as you understand Him” and “Only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking,” plus my own story.

In 1939-40 period did sell more books to stores, doctors, etc. than anyone. Did help in 1940, finance (200.00 stock) to keep Vesey Street going. Carried the message to and help organize original groups in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Wilmington, and Harrisburg; plus half a dozen neighborhood and hospital groups in Philadelphia and San Diego. The Philly group was the first to contribute to New York.

Initiated the plan for Judge Bok to get us inside The Saturday Evening Post, And Bill, I am the only one of the original members that has never bucked publicly on any of your projects. Especially in 1948-49, I stumped the state for your conference. I do hope this does not sound [like I am bragging] ...but these are facts as I see them.” Letter from Jim Burwell to Bill Wilson May 15, 1965

As a former atheist, when I initially came into Alcoholics Anonymous I reacted to use of the word God with an attitude of contempt prior to investigation. Thank God I stayed sober long enough to investigate the matter. As a result, I am a recovered atheist; my sobriety date is January 5, 1983. I owe a world of gratitude to Jim Burwell, who helped pave the way for alcoholics like me.

Jim Burwell’s influence on Bill Wilson in the writing of the Big Book was described by Wilson himself in Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age. Jim militantly opposed the usage of the word “God” in consistent adherence to his agnostic philosophy. A compromise was negotiated between Wilson and Burwell with the literary employment of such terms as “power greater than ourselves.” Dr. Carl G . Jung’s influence on Bill Wilson was also a major factor, I believe, that helped pave the way for both the spiritual freedom and the therapeutic aspect of the recovery program that emerged, known since 1939 from the title of its first book, as Alcoholics Anonymous.

The rather profound influence of the first neo-Freudian psychoanalyst to break away from Sigmund Freud is well documented in AA History. Freud was a materialist; an atheist. Carl G. Jung retained his theistic philosophy and developed the original concept of the Higher Power. The Higher Power is experienced, per Jungian psychoanalysis, as the subconscious mind is freed from the repression which initially caused that side of the human personality to create a memory block defense system. Traumatic episodes, unpleasant imprintations, et cetera were assigned and filed away to the subconscious realm of the mind. It was Freud who discovered the subconscious. It was Jung who found in it the key to the spiritual experience of the Higher Power. It was Bill Wilson who gave the suffering alcoholic the path to that experience, embodied in the Twelve Steps of Recovery. In a January 23, 1961 letter to Jung, Bill Wilson wrote:

“May I first introduce myself as Bill W., a co-founder of the Society of Alcoholics Anonymous. Though you have surely heard of us, I doubt if you are aware that a certain conversation you once had with one of your patients, a Mr. Roland H., back in the early 1930s, did play a critical role in the founding of our Fellowship. . . . Having exhausted other means of recovery from his alcoholism, it was about 1931 that he became your patient. I believe that he remained under your care for perhaps a year. His admiration for you was boundless, and he left you with a feeling of much confidence. . . . [Following a relapse]. . ., he again returned to your care. Then followed the conversation between you that was to become the first link in the chain of events that led to the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous. . . . you frankly told him of his hopelessness, so far as any further medical or psychiatric treatment might be concerned. This candid and humble statement of yours was beyond a doubt the first foundation stone upon which our Society has since been built.”

Jim Burwell expressed in a 1957 recording at Sacramento that his agnostic stance had mellowed out over the years. However, his early militancy was a perhaps spiritual wonder! The compromise between him and Bill Wilson established an enduring principle in Alcoholics Anonymous, that of flexibility and acceptance of differing viewpoints on spiritual matters. That vital principle paved the way for hope for all suffering alcoholics seeking sobriety and recovery from a seemingly hopeless state of body and mind. One’ religious affiliation, or lack of it; one’s philosophical preferences, or none; one atheistic, or agnostic, or atheistic, or pantheistic, or virtually any relatively held notion or concept of a power greater than ourselves, could bare no relevance on one’s membership the Fellowship of the Spirit. Thanks to Jim Burwell.

Born on March 25, 1898, Jim Burwell of Washington, D.C. later moved to the New York area. Jim began to decline on January 8, 1938 to a hard bottom. His Sobriety Date was June 15,1938. He became acquainted with and began an association with Bill Wilson, Dr. Bob Smith, Bill Dodson, Henry (Hank) Parkhurst and a few others, who comprised a group of sober drunks that a year later would be known as Alcoholics Anonymous. Jim carried the A.A. message to the end of his life, carrying often the meetings to new places. He initiated Alcoholics Anonymous in Baltimore and Philadelphia. Later he and his wife moved to San Diego, California. He and Rosa resided at 4193 Georgia Street in San Diego.

One day his parked car, which apparently did not have the emergency brake in place and which slipped out of “park,” rolled down his driveway at his home in San Diego and hit him. Jim suffered a broken hip. He never fully recovered from the injury. In his last years Jim was often in a wheelchair and constantly smoked a pipe. A.A. rooms were always filled with smoke. Jim was a small man with red hair. Jim Burwell weighed about 130 pounds. Jim and Rosa Burwell were involved in service and were elected to many AA positions many times. When not holding any elected positions, they were volunteers in any area of need. They were very active. Jim and Rosa were known as “Book People.” If a line was not in the Big Book or Literature, they would not use it.

Following a long illness, he was admitted to the Veterans Administration Medical Center, La Jolla, California. He missed those meetings. However, that did not prevent him from being active. Jim started a new meeting there at the VA! The Torrey Pines Thursday Night Discussion Group of Alcoholics Anonymous still meets at 3350 La Jolla Village Drive, Room 2011. Jim Burwell died in the VA on September 8, 1974. He is buried on the grounds of Christ Episcopal Church at Owensville, Maryland. He touched the lives of many. He was apparently a human being, capable of being criticized by some and adored by others. He died sober. That is as close to perfection as we will ever achieve.