I THE A.A. TRADITION - Alcoholics Anonymous

1 APPENDICESI The TraditionII Spiritual ExperienceIII The Medical View on The Lasker AwardV The Religious View on How to Get in Touch With Twelve Concepts (Short Form)ITHE TRADITIONTo those now in its fold, Alcoholics Anonymous hasmade the difference between misery and sobriety, andoften the difference between life and death. can,of course, mean just as much to uncounted alcoholicsnot yet , no society of men and women ever hada more urgent needfor continuous effectiveness andpermanent unity. We Alcoholics see that we must worktogether and hang together, else most of us will finallydie 12 Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous are,we s believe, the best answers that our experiencehas yet given to those ever-urgent questions, Howcan best function?

2 And, How can best staywhole and so survive? On the next page, s 12 Traditions are seen intheir so-called short form, the form in general usetoday. This is a condensed version of the original longform Traditions as first printed in 1946. Becausethe long form is more explicit and of possible historicvalue, it is also 11/20/13 3:41 PM Page 561 The Twelve TraditionsOne Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority a loving God as He may express Himself in ourgroup conscience.

3 Our leaders are but trusted servants;they do not The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or as a Each group has but one primary purpose tocarry its message to the alcoholic who still An group ought never endorse, finance or lendthe name to any related facility or outside enterprise,lest problems of money, property and prestige divert usfrom our primary Every group ought to be fully self-support-ing, declining outside Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ , as such, ought never be organized; but wemay create service boards or committees directly responsi-ble to those they Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the name ought never be drawn into pub-lic Our public relations policy is based on attrac-tion rather than promotion.

4 We need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all ourTraditions, ever reminding us to place principles before 11/20/13 3:41 PM Page 562 The Twelve Traditions(The Long Form)Our experience has taught us that:1. Each member of Alcoholics Anonymous is but asmall part of a great whole. must continue to live ormost of us will surely die. Hence our common welfarecomes first. But individual welfare follows close For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority a loving God as He may express Himself in ourgroup Our membership ought to include all who sufferfrom alcoholism.

5 Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover. Nor ought membership ever depend uponmoney or conformity. Any two or three Alcoholics gath-ered together for sobriety may call themselves an , provided that, as a group, they have no With respect to its own affairs, each groupshould 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 con-sulted. And no group, regional committee, or individualshould ever take any action that might greatly affect a whole without conferring with the trustees of theGeneral Service Board.

6 On such issues our common wel-fare is 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 Problems of money, property, and authority may eas-ily divert us from our primary spiritual aim. We think, there-fore, that any considerable property of genuine use to 11/20/13 3:41 PM Page 563should be separately incorporated and managed, thus dividingthe material from the spiritual. An group, as such, shouldnever go into business. Secondary aids to , such as clubsor 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.

7 Hence such facil-ities ought not to use the name. Their managementshould be the sole respon sibility of those people who finan-cially support them. For clubs, managers are usually pre-ferred. But hospitals, as well as other places of recuperation,ought to be well outside and medically an group may cooperate with anyone, such coop-eration ought never go so far as affiliation or endorsement, ac-tual or implied. An group can bind itself to no The groups themselves ought to be fully sup-ported by the voluntary contributions of their own mem -bers.

8 We think that each group should soon achieve thisideal; that any public solicitation of funds using the nameof Alcoholics Anonymous is highly dangerous, whetherby groups, clubs, hospitals, or other outside agencies; that acceptance of large gifts from any source, or of contribu-tions carrying any obligation whatever, is unwise. Thentoo, we view with much concern those treasurieswhich continue, beyond prudent reserves, to accumulatefunds for no stated purpose. Experience has oftenwarned us that nothing can so surely destroy our spiritual heritage as futile disputes over property, money, Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever non -professional.

9 We define professionalism as the occupationof counseling Alcoholics for fees or hire. But we mayemploy Alcoholics where they are going to perform those services for which we might otherwise have to engage nonalcoholics. Such special services may be well recom-pensed. But our usual 12 Step work is never 11/20/13 3:41 PM Page 564be paid Each group needs the least possible organiza-tion. Rotating leadership is the best. The small groupmay elect its secretary, the large group its rotatingcommittee, and the groups of a large metropolitan areatheir central or intergroup committee, which often em-ploys a full-time secretary.

10 The trustees of the GeneralService Board are, in effect, our General ServiceCommittee. They are the custodians of our Traditionand the receivers of voluntary contributions bywhich we maintain our General Service Office atNew York. They are authorized by the groups to han-dle our over-all public relations and they guarantee the in-tegrity of our principal newspaper, the such representatives are to be guided in the spirit of service, for true leaders in are but trusted and ex-perienced servants of the whole. They derive no realauthority from their titles; they do not govern.