Question
2:
With
specific regard to the history of our AA service structure, can the
Fellowship share experience on how we can best strengthen unity by
trusting and valuing the decisions of the group conscience at all
levels of the Fellowship?
Background
‘The unity, the effectiveness, and even the survival of AA will always depend upon our continued willingness to give up some of our personal ambitions and desires for the common safety and welfare. Just as sacrifice means survival for the individual alcoholic, so does sacrifice mean unity and survival for the group and for AA’s entire Fellowship’.
AA Comes of Age, pp. 287-288 (Quoted in As Bill Sees It, p. 220)
Consider the contribution to the carrying of the message, financial and practical implications when deliberating each question.
Background
‘The unity, the effectiveness, and even the survival of AA will always depend upon our continued willingness to give up some of our personal ambitions and desires for the common safety and welfare. Just as sacrifice means survival for the individual alcoholic, so does sacrifice mean unity and survival for the group and for AA’s entire Fellowship’.
AA Comes of Age, pp. 287-288 (Quoted in As Bill Sees It, p. 220)
Consider the contribution to the carrying of the message, financial and practical implications when deliberating each question.
See
also:
Extract:
“There
needs to be a greater understanding of the Twelve Concepts for World
Service at all levels, but especially at intergroup/ group level; a
greater understanding of the complexity of early AA history, how and
why the AA Traditions and Concepts developed. No society can function
without some boundaries for individual and group behaviour; or
without the elected authority and responsibility to see that these
boundaries are kept intact. Without this responsibility and authority
A.A. can return to the same pre-Tradition chaotic days of the 1940’s.
Groups led by the “power driven ego,” “dictators,” and
“steering committees,” as Bill W. recalled:
“Growth brought headaches; growing pains, we call them now. How serious they seemed then! “Dictators” ran amok; drunks fell on the floor or disturbed the meetings; “steering committees” tried to nominate their friends to succeed them and found to their dismay that even sober drunks could not be steered.” (AA Grapevine April 1947; The Language of the Heart pages 47-48)
“The Twelve Traditions were slowly evolved during an era when large-scale publicity was causing new groups to spring up like popcorn on a hot griddle. Many a power-driven ego ran hog-wild among us in those days, and it was the Traditions that finally brought order, coherence, and effective functioning out of the noisy anarchy which for a time threatened us with collapse.” (“The Language of the Heart” AA Grapevine July 1960 [a misquote: actually AA Grapevine November 1972]; The Language of the Heart page 248).
A good place to start to strengthen unity would be for those in service, especially at group and intergroup level, to read the full article from where the excerpt of the background to this question was taken: “Why Alcoholics Anonymous is anonymous.” Besides being printed in AA comes of Age, this is also available online, in the pamphlet: AA Tradition How it Developed, page 40.
http://www.aa.org/pdf/products/p-17_AATraditions.pdf
Then move on to develop a working knowledge of the principles of AA Traditions and how they developed; and the Twelve Concepts for World Service, in order to understand how the group conscience works and their elected duty to carry responsibility and authority.
http://www.aa.org/pdf/products/en_bm-31.pdf”
“Growth brought headaches; growing pains, we call them now. How serious they seemed then! “Dictators” ran amok; drunks fell on the floor or disturbed the meetings; “steering committees” tried to nominate their friends to succeed them and found to their dismay that even sober drunks could not be steered.” (AA Grapevine April 1947; The Language of the Heart pages 47-48)
“The Twelve Traditions were slowly evolved during an era when large-scale publicity was causing new groups to spring up like popcorn on a hot griddle. Many a power-driven ego ran hog-wild among us in those days, and it was the Traditions that finally brought order, coherence, and effective functioning out of the noisy anarchy which for a time threatened us with collapse.” (“The Language of the Heart” AA Grapevine July 1960 [a misquote: actually AA Grapevine November 1972]; The Language of the Heart page 248).
A good place to start to strengthen unity would be for those in service, especially at group and intergroup level, to read the full article from where the excerpt of the background to this question was taken: “Why Alcoholics Anonymous is anonymous.” Besides being printed in AA comes of Age, this is also available online, in the pamphlet: AA Tradition How it Developed, page 40.
http://www.aa.org/pdf/products/p-17_AATraditions.pdf
Then move on to develop a working knowledge of the principles of AA Traditions and how they developed; and the Twelve Concepts for World Service, in order to understand how the group conscience works and their elected duty to carry responsibility and authority.
http://www.aa.org/pdf/products/en_bm-31.pdf”
“Correction
to the above post. Only a small excerpt of the article “Why
Alcoholics Anonymous is anonymous” in the pamphlet “AA Tradition
How it developed”. The full article is in “AA Comes of Age””
Cheerio
The
Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
