Question
2:
“Would
the Fellowship review and re-affirm what constitutes an AA Group,
within the Fellowship in Great Britain with specific reference to
Traditions 4 - 6?
Background
Consider
the contribution to the carrying of the message, financial and
practical implications when deliberating each question.”
Extract:
“For
some typical alcoholics who have not yet got to grips with the deeper
revelations of their malady in Step Five, Love and Service can be
rationalised into nonsense. Love and Service can simply be viewed as
a means by which the alcoholic can gain personal power and prestige
within the fellowship; sometimes money. With this in mind, I suggest
AA groups read the following out loud when electing group
leaders.
“Characteristic of the so-called typical alcoholic is a narcissistic egocentric core, dominated by feelings of omnipotence, intent on maintaining at all costs its inner integrity. While these characteristics are found in other maladjustments, they appear in relatively pure culture in alcoholic after alcoholic. In a careful study of a series of cases, Sillman reported that he felt he could discern the outlines of a common character structure among problem drinkers and that the best terms he could find for the group of qualities noted was ‘defiant individuality’ and ‘grandiosity’. In my opinion these words were accurately chosen. Inwardly the alcoholic brooks no control from man nor God. He, the alcoholic, is and must be master of his own destiny. He will fight to the end to preserve that position.” (Dr. Harry M. Tiebout. Extract from Appendix E:b, AA Comes of Age, page 311)
“Good Service leaders, together with sound and appropriate methods of choosing them, are at all levels indispensable for our future functioning and safety.” (Extract from Concept IX)
Reaffirmation of what constitutes an AA group should be firmly set within the context of AA Traditions, Concepts and guidelines. They facilitate Love and Service. A cart can’t come before the horse. Our common welfare should come first. Guardianship is part of Love and Service.
“This means that all of us--AA as a whole--are now entirely ready to take over full guardianship of the AA Traditions that guarantee our unity in time to come, and also to take complete charge of those World Services which are the means by which we function as an entire Fellowship, and from which radiate our principal life-lines to those millions all over the globe who still need AA.” (Bill W. “The Significance of St. Louis” AA Grapevine April 1955, The Language of the Heart page 141)
Each AA member is entrusted with the responsibility to be a guardian of the fellowship. When some people talk of service these days I’m not sure if they appreciate that service in an AA group is also AA World Service. This comes with duties and responsibilities to AA as a whole; to guard against misuse of the AA name and to support AA services beyond their group. Group leaders, as AA World Service workers, are trusted with delegated authority to operate the group within AA Traditions, Concepts and guidelines. According to Tradition nine, they are directly responsible (accountable) to those they serve. This service and accountability is two way since they serve both the AA group and AA World Service. In other words, AA group leaders are directly accountable to the intergroup conscience as well as their own group conscience. Hence Tradition four states “Each Group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or AA as a whole.” The meaning of this Tradition cannot be broken in two to make “Each group is autonomous.” “
“Characteristic of the so-called typical alcoholic is a narcissistic egocentric core, dominated by feelings of omnipotence, intent on maintaining at all costs its inner integrity. While these characteristics are found in other maladjustments, they appear in relatively pure culture in alcoholic after alcoholic. In a careful study of a series of cases, Sillman reported that he felt he could discern the outlines of a common character structure among problem drinkers and that the best terms he could find for the group of qualities noted was ‘defiant individuality’ and ‘grandiosity’. In my opinion these words were accurately chosen. Inwardly the alcoholic brooks no control from man nor God. He, the alcoholic, is and must be master of his own destiny. He will fight to the end to preserve that position.” (Dr. Harry M. Tiebout. Extract from Appendix E:b, AA Comes of Age, page 311)
“Good Service leaders, together with sound and appropriate methods of choosing them, are at all levels indispensable for our future functioning and safety.” (Extract from Concept IX)
Reaffirmation of what constitutes an AA group should be firmly set within the context of AA Traditions, Concepts and guidelines. They facilitate Love and Service. A cart can’t come before the horse. Our common welfare should come first. Guardianship is part of Love and Service.
“This means that all of us--AA as a whole--are now entirely ready to take over full guardianship of the AA Traditions that guarantee our unity in time to come, and also to take complete charge of those World Services which are the means by which we function as an entire Fellowship, and from which radiate our principal life-lines to those millions all over the globe who still need AA.” (Bill W. “The Significance of St. Louis” AA Grapevine April 1955, The Language of the Heart page 141)
Each AA member is entrusted with the responsibility to be a guardian of the fellowship. When some people talk of service these days I’m not sure if they appreciate that service in an AA group is also AA World Service. This comes with duties and responsibilities to AA as a whole; to guard against misuse of the AA name and to support AA services beyond their group. Group leaders, as AA World Service workers, are trusted with delegated authority to operate the group within AA Traditions, Concepts and guidelines. According to Tradition nine, they are directly responsible (accountable) to those they serve. This service and accountability is two way since they serve both the AA group and AA World Service. In other words, AA group leaders are directly accountable to the intergroup conscience as well as their own group conscience. Hence Tradition four states “Each Group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or AA as a whole.” The meaning of this Tradition cannot be broken in two to make “Each group is autonomous.” “
Cheerio
The
Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
