A Stein Full of Jung ep.2A Stein Full of Jung ep.2
Father Bill W.
Father Bill W. connects Jungian psychology with 12-step spirituality, focusing on mutual relationships, two-way prayer, and inner transformation in recovery. The conversation walks through confession, education, and self-acceptance as key parts of a deeper change process.
46:10•31 Aug 2026
A Stein Full of Jung: Two-Way Prayer, Ego, and Deeper 12-Step Recovery
Episode Overview
- Recovery relationships work best on level ground, with mutual benefit rather than hierarchy or one-upmanship.
- Two-way prayer encourages not just speaking to a higher power but listening for a loving, honest inner voice.
- Confession runs through several steps, helping bring guilt, shame and hidden material from the unconscious into healing.
- Education through trusted books, ideas and guides can clarify confusing experiences early in sobriety.
- Transformation grows from ongoing dialogue between ego and a deeper inner reality, rather than trying to destroy the ego.
“Bill, I'm not here to forgive you… I'm here to accept you.”
What drives someone to seek a richer, deeper recovery than simply “not drinking”? This episode finds Father Bill W. unpacking Jungian ideas and showing how they connect with 12-step spirituality, especially for those curious about going further than surface-level sobriety. Speaking from decades of recovery as an Episcopal priest, he walks through Dr Murray Stein’s essay on Jungian analysis and translates it into everyday recovery language.
You’ll hear how Jung’s concept of a “dialectical relationship” – a genuine back-and-forth between analyst and patient – mirrors the bond between sponsor and sponsee, or between a person in recovery and their higher power.
As Father Bill puts it, “We need contact dialogue with the unconscious… and conversely, the unconscious needs contact.” He talks about why hierarchy and “one-upmanship” can be toxic in recovery, joking about refusing to sit in a throne-like chair at an AA history gathering because it would separate him from the group. Instead, he stresses sitting “side by side,” emphasising mutual need: sponsors need newcomers just as much as newcomers need sponsors.
A big part of the conversation centres on two-way prayer – not just talking to the divine, but listening for a loving inner voice that meets the standards of honesty, purity, unselfishness, and love.
He links this to Jung’s idea of two centres of consciousness: the ego and a greater, inner reality often described as “the God within.” Father Bill also walks through Jung and Stein’s four stages of change – confession, elucidation, education, and transformation – and shows how they echo the 12 steps, especially around admitting defeat, facing guilt and shame, and finding self-acceptance.
His own fifth-step story brings this to life, including the powerful moment when his sponsor said, “I’m not here to forgive you… I’m here to accept you.” If you’re wondering how psychology, spirituality, and practical AA wisdom can fit together, this episode gives plenty to chew on and might prompt you to ask: what kind of relationship are you really building with your higher power and with the people who walk beside you in recovery?
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