Short form:
The Conference shall observe the
spirit of AA tradition, taking care that it never becomes the seat of perilous
wealth or power; that sufficient operating funds and reserve be its prudent
financial principle; that it place none of its members in a position of
unqualified authority over others; that it reach all important decisions by
discussion, vote, and, whenever possible , by substantial unanimity; that its
actions never be personally punitive nor an incitement to public controversy;
that it never perform acts of government, and that, like the society it serves,
it will always remain democratic in thought and action.
Long form:
General Warranties of the
Conference: in all its proceedings, the General Service Conference shall
observe the spirit of AA Tradition, taking great care that the conference never
becomes the seat of perilous wealth or power; that sufficient operating funds,
plus an ample reserve, be its prudent financial principle; that none of the
Conference Members shall ever be placed in a position of unqualified authority over any
others; that all important decisions be reached by discussion, vote, and,
whenever possible, by substantial unanimity; that no Conference action ever be
personally punitive or an incitement to public controversy; that, though the
Conference may act for the service of Alcoholics Anonymous, it shall never
perform any acts of government; and that, like the Society of Alcoholics
Anonymous which it serves, the Conference itself will always remain democratic
in thought and action.
'in all its
proceedings, the General Service Conference shall observe the spirit of AA
Tradition, taking great care that the
conference never becomes the seat of perilous wealth or power'
·
Do I pursue service to God and others as my primary
goal?
·
If that is not my primary goal, what is?
·
Do I pursue wealth or power?
·
Do I pursue these to restore wounded
self-esteem?
·
If so, what past, unresolved attack on my
self-esteem have I not seen through and thus forgiven?
·
Do I recognise that wealth and power, in as far
as they come to me, remains God's, on whose behalf they are to be used?
·
Can I instead manifest my self-esteem through
service to God and others?
'that sufficient
operating funds, plus an ample reserve, be its prudent financial principle'
·
Do I work to ensure I have enough funds to live?
·
Do I set aside sufficient funds for savings, a
pension, etc.?
·
Do I have one year's operating expenses as a
reserve, with two-thirds available 'without loss, thereby enabling us to meet
hard times or even a calamity'?
·
Do I live sufficiently within my means to build
up and maintain this reserve?
·
Do I have a budget?
·
Do I monitor adherence to this budget?
·
Do I work more/spend less when I discover I am
over-spending?
·
Am I reckless?
·
Am I miserly?
·
Am I personally attached to my money (clue: do I
feel fearful or personally threatened when something threatens my money,
finances, or assets)?
'that none of the
Conference Members shall ever be placed in a position of unqualified authority
over any others'
·
Do I place myself in a position of unqualified authority
over any others?
·
Do I place others in such a position over me?
·
Do I dictate to others in general?
·
Do I let others dictate to me?
·
Where God or the world does give me authority,
do I behave like a dictator, or a coach who is leading by example?
'that all important
decisions be reached by discussion, vote, and, whenever possible, by
substantial unanimity'
·
Do I seek discussion and consensus with friends,
with family, in the workplace, or in other settings?
·
When I hold a minority view, can I nonetheless
bow to the majority?
·
Or do I block the majority view?
'that no Conference
action ever be personally punitive or an incitement to public controversy'
·
Do I have punitive (punishing) feelings towards
anyone?
·
How do those feelings manifest?
·
Do I exhibit anger, or punitive or aggressive
intent?
·
If I want to punish, it means I feel attacked.
Do I promptly work Steps Four–Nine to remove the sense of attack?
·
Do I forgive? Without exception? Straight away?
·
Do I cause or court public controversy to no
good purpose?
·
Do I gossip or bitch? If so, why am I doing
this?
·
Am I a creator of confusion or harmony?
·
When I am attacked, do I maintain a
non-aggressive, pacific attitude—or am I prone to anger, hostility, rebellion,
and aggression?
·
Do I realise that my best defence is usually no
defence at all, namely complete silence at the public level?
·
Do I restrict myself, where the critic is
misinformed, to communicating in a 'temperate and informative way', and
privately?
·
When criticism is indeed justified, do I acknowledge
this to the individual who has criticised me?
·
When the Traditions are being violated, do I
inform the violator privately?
·
When one or more people want to break away or
withdraw (from my home group, from my friendship circle, from my sponsorship of
them, or from a closer relationship), do I respond with non-resistance and
completely avoid anger and attack?
'that, though the
Conference may act for the service of Alcoholics Anonymous, it shall never perform
any acts of government and that, like the Society of Alcoholics Anonymous which
it serves, the Conference itself will always remain democratic in thought and
action.'
·
Do I
feel threatened by people who disagree with me?
·
Do I
respect the views of those who disagree with me, or do I attempt to override,
punish, shame, demonise, or ostracise them?
·
Do I act
in anger, haste, or recklessness, or instead do I make decisions thoughtfully and
after due consideration?
·
Do I
force the programme on anyone, in any way?
·
Do I
restrict myself to offering my experience, for fun and for free, wanting
nothing in return?
Quotations
'Taken as a whole, our Conference Charter is the substance
of an informal agreement which was made between the AA groups and their Trustees
in 1955. It is the agreed basis upon which the General Service Conference operates.
In part, the Charter is an elastic document; its first eleven Articles can be
readily amended by the Conference itself at any time.
But Article 12 of the Charter stands in a class by itself.
An amendment or a cancellation of any of its vital Warranties would require the
written consent of three-quarters of all the directory-listed AA groups who
would actually vote on any such proposals, and the considerable time of six
months is allowed for careful deliberation.'
'We are guaranteed the freedom of selfless service by
observing the six warranties.'
'For us, prudence is a workable middle ground, a channel of
clear sailing between the obstacles of fear on the one side and of recklessness
on the other.'
'Above all, we devote ourselves to the newcomer, and this is
our principal Twelfth Step work. In this activity we often take large amounts
of time from business hours. Considered in terms of money, these collective
sacrifices add up to a huge sum. But we do not think that this is anything
unusual. We remember that people once gave their time to us as we struggled for
sobriety.'
'Therefore it is evident that the harmony, security, and
future effectiveness of AA will depend largely upon our maintenance of a thoroughly
non-aggressive and pacific attitude in all our public relations.'
'Almost without exception it can be confidently estimated
that our best defence in these situations would be no defence whatever—namely,
complete silence at the public level.'
'Unreasonable people are stimulated all the more by
opposition. If in good humour we leave them strictly alone, they are apt to
subside the more quickly. If their attacks persist and it is plain that they
are misinformed, it may be wise to communicate with them in a temperate and
informative way; also in such a manner that they cannot use our communication
as a springboard for fresh assault.'
'There is, too, a grave problem that we have never yet had
to face. This would be in the nature of a deep rift running clear across AA—a
cleavage of opinion so serious that it might involve a withdrawal of some of
our membership into a new society of their own, or in their making an alliance
with an outside agency in contravention of the AA Tradition … Our considered
opinion is this: that the best possible Conference attitude in such a
circumstance would be that of almost complete non-resistance—certainly no anger
and certainly no attack.'
'Indeed we have always practiced this principle on a lesser
scale. When a drunk shows up among us and says that he doesn't like the AA
principles, people, or service management; when he declares that he can do
better elsewhere—we are not worried. We simply say, "Maybe your case is
different. Why don't you try something else?" '
'In the light of all this experience, it becomes evident
that in the event of a really extensive split we would not have to waste time
persuading the dissenters to stay with us. In good confidence and cheer, we
could actually invite them to secede and we would wish them well if they did
so. Should they do better under their new auspices and changed conditions, we
would ask ourselves if we could not learn from their fresh experience.'
'Freedom under God to grow in His likeness and image will
ever be the quest of the Alcoholics Anonymous.'