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Service Material
from the General Service Office
Our A.A. experience has taught us that:
Tradition 1. Each member of Alcoholics Anonymous is but a small
part of a great whole. A.A. must continue to live or most of us will surely
die. Hence our common welfare comes first. But individual welfare follows
close afterward.
Tradition 2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate
authority-a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience.
Tradition 3. Our membership ought to include all who suffer from
alcoholism Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover. Nor ought A.A.
membership ever depend upon money or conformity. Any two or three alcoholics
gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an A.A. group, provided
that, as a group, they have no other affiliation.
Tradition 4. With respect to its own affairs, each A.A. group
should be responsible to no other authority than its one conscience. But
when its plans concern the welfare of neighboring groups also, those groups
ought to be consulted. And no group, regional committee, or individual
should ever take any action that might greatly affect A.A. as a whole
without conferring with the trustees of the General Service Board. On such
issues our common welfare is paramount.
Tradition 5. Each Alcoholics Anonymous group ought to be a
spiritual entity having but one primary purpose- that of carrying its
message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
Tradition 6. Problems of money, property, and authority may easily
divert us from our primary spiritual aim. We think, therefore, that any
considerable property of genuine use to A.A. should be separately
incorporated and managed, thus dividing the material from the spiritual. An
A.A. group, as such, should never go into business. Secondary aids to A.A.,
such as clubs or hospitals which require much property or administration,
ought to be incorporated and so set apart that, if necessary, they can be
freely discarded by the groups. Hence such facilities ought not to use the
A.A. name. Their management should be the sole responsibility of those
people who financially support them. For clubs, A.A. managers are usually
preferred. But hospitals, as well as other places of recuperation, ought to
be well outside A.A. and medically supervised. While an A.A. group may
cooperate with anyone, such cooperation ought never go so far as affiliation
or endorsement, actual or implied. An A.A. group can bind itself to no one.
Tradition 7. The A.A. groups themselves ought to be fully
supported by the voluntary contributions of their own members. We think that
each group should soon achieve this ideal; that any public solicitation of
funds using the name of Alcoholics Anonymous is highly dangerous, whether by
groups, clubs, hospitals, or other outside agencies; that acceptance of
large gifts from any source, or of contributions carrying any obligation
whatever, is unwise. Then too, we view with much concern those A.A.
treasuries which continue, beyond prudent reserves, to accumulate funds for
no stated A.A. purpose. Experience has often warned us that nothing can so
surely destroy our spiritual heritage as futile disputes over property,
money, and authority.
Tradition 8. Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever
nonprofessional. We define professionalism as the occupation of counseling
alcoholics for fees or hire. But we may employ alcoholics where they are
going to perform those services for which we might otherwise have to engage
non alcoholics. Such special services may be well recompensed. But our usual
A.A. '12 Step' work is never to be paid for.
Tradition 9. Each A.A. group needs the least possible
organization. Rotating leadership is the best. The small group may elect its
secretary, the large group its rotating committee, and the groups of a large
metropolitan area their central or intergroup committee, which often employs
a full-time secretary. The trustees of the General Service Board are, in
effect, our A.A. General Service Committee. They are the custodians of our
A.A. Tradition and the receivers of voluntary A.A. contributions by which we
maintain our A.A. General Service Office at New York. They are authorized by
the groups to handle our over-all public relations and they guarantee the
integrity of our principal newspaper, the A.A. Grapevine. All such
representatives are to be guided in the spirit of service, for true leaders
in A.A. are but trusted and experienced servants of the whole. They derive
no real authority from their titles; they do not govern. Universal respect
is the key to their usefulness.
Tradition 10. No A.A. group or member should ever, in such a way
as to implicate A.A., express any opinion on outside controversial
issues-particularly those of politics, alcohol reform, or sectarian
religion. The Alcoholics Anonymous groups oppose no one. Concerning such
matters they can express no views whatever.
Tradition 11. Our relations with the general public should be
characterized by personal anonymity. We think A.A. ought to avoid
sensational advertising. Our names and pictures as A.A. members ought not be
broadcast, filmed, or publicly printed. Our public relations should be
guided by the principle of attraction rather than promotion. There is never
need to praise ourselves. We feel it better to let our friends recommend us.
Tradition 12. And finally, we of Alcoholics Anonymous believe that
the principle of anonymity has an immense spiritual significance. It reminds
us that we are to place principles before personalities; that we are
actually to practice a genuine humility. This to the end that our great
blessings may never spoil us; that we shall forever live in thankful
contemplation of Him who presides over us all.
Copyright © A.A. World Services, Inc. Reprinted by Permission
The A.A. The book "The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions," is available
from the General Service Office, Grand Central Station, P.O. Box 459, New
York, NY 10163. Also available from your
Central/Intergroup Office.
The Twelve
Traditions - Illustrated
The Twelve Concepts for World Services Illustrated PDF This file is in PDF
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