APPENDICES
· · ·
I The A.A. Tradition
II Spiritual Experience
III The Medical View on A.A.
IV The Lasker Award
V The Religious View on A.A.
VI How to Get in Touch With A.A.
VII Twelve Concepts (Short Form)
Appendix I: The A.A. Tradition
To those now in its fold, Alcoholics Anonymous has made the difference
between misery and sobriety, and often the difference between life and
death. A.A. can, of course, mean just as much to uncounted alcoholics not
yet reached.
Therefore, no society of men and women ever had a more urgent need for
continuous effectiveness and permanent unity. We alcoholics see that we must
work together and hang together, else most of us will finally die alone.
The "12 Traditions" of Alcoholics Anonymous are, we A.A.'s believe, the best
answers that our experience has yet given to those ever-urgent questions,
"How can A.A. best function?" and, "How can A.A. best stay whole and so
survive?"
On the following screens, A.A.'s "12 Traditions" are seen in their so-called
"short form," the form in general use today. This is a condensed version of
the original "long form" A.A. Traditions as first printed in 1946. Because
the "long form" is more explicit and of possible historic value, it is also
reproduced.
The Twelve Traditions
One---Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon
A.A. unity.
Two---For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority---a loving
God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but
trusted servants; they do not govern.
Three---The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop
drinking.
Four---Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other
groups or A.A. as a whole.
Five---Each group has but one primary purpose---to carry its message to the
alcoholic who still suffers.
Six---An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance or lend the A.A. name to
any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property
and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
Seven---Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining
outside contributions.
Eight---Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our
service centers may employ special workers.
Nine---A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service
boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
Ten---Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A.
name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
Eleven---Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than
promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press,
radio and films.
Twelve---Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever
reminding us to place principles before personalities.
The Twelve Traditions (The Long Form)
Our A.A. experience has taught us that:
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.
2.---For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority---a loving
God as He may express Himself in our group conscience.
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.
4.---With respect to its own affairs, each A.A. group should be responsible
to no other authority than its own 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 nonalcoholics. Such special
services may be well recompensed. But our usual A.A. "12 Step" work is never
to be paid for.
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.
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.
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.
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.