Extracts
from the aacultwatch forum (old)
“Hi
all,
There
can sometimes be a bit of a problem with a
few personalities dominating a meeting by their sharing too
long. The solution to this is in the Traditions, and in this
case Tradition One - the common welfare coming first -
would be relevant. Recently I did a chair at a very large
lunchtime meeting in central London (not a cult meeting I hasten to
add). There must have been about 100 AA's attending. They had a 3
minute limit on sharing, which seemed very short, when I heard the
secretary mention it. However the meeting flowed well and the sharing
was very much a mix of step recovery/here-and-now issues/feelings
etc. Nothing robotic or phoney. Im my experience large
meetings can tend to attract prima donas, self-promoters and
attention seekers (cult or otherwise). This is to be expected, after
all they have a captive audience for their performances!
My
present homegroup was once a cult meeting but has reverted to real
AA. They had several "sharing rules" designed to keep the
"message" "pure". Actually, on reflection, it
was just a rationalized way of practicing intolerance, impatience,
and imposing cult dogma. The meeting was stiff and regimented. There
were awkward silences if there were no members sufficiently "on
the program" to share! The meeting had a horrible,
frigid atmosphere and put a lot of local people off. Following
the cult's exodus elsewhere, and a group conscience we have adopted a
different tack. We dont put time limits or instruct people what they
can or cannot say. This has made the meeting more comfortable and
relaxed. However we do still say something like this -"This
is a large meeting. Please could you be considerate of others in the
length of your sharing so that as many people as possible
can come in and share.”
This
wording has 2 advantages 1) It requests that people be considerate of
each other without imposing a specific time limit on them.
2) The secretary doesn't spend his entire time looking at his watch,
or mobile phone time-display, and not really listening to what
is being said.
…...”
Cheers
The
Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
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