Short form: The General Service Conference of AA has become, for nearly every practical purpose, the active voice and the effective conscience of our whole Society in its world affairs.
- Concept II is the first act of delegation in the Concepts.
- Conference is both a delegatee and a delegator.
- A delegatee is a trusted servant.
- Any delegatee serves the delegating authority, not itself.
- This requires discipline: the discipline to let all other concerns fall away.
- Forms of active conscience: individual conscience, the group conscience, the conscience of other entities in AA, and the conscience of other individuals and bodies in the world.
- Ultimate vs delegated authority: God has ultimate authority; I have delegated authority.
- God delegates to me because he needs me. This is the continuing source of my self-esteem. God would delegate to someone else if I wasn’t important to Him.
- I must also delegate to others: I have to abandon the idea that the job will be done well only if I do it.
- Good intention without disciplined action = fantasy.
- As God trusts me, so I trust you.
- A sponsor has delegated authority from God to make suggestions I need to comply with to stay sober and grow spiritually.
- As a sponsor myself, I must be disciplined to receive delegated authority from God and sponsor others as I was sponsored.
- Discipline as a sponsor means that I act only under delegated authority and do not attempt to originate my own authority.
- Am I disciplined as a sponsee?
- Am I working the step, tradition, or concept that I am on, on a daily basis?
- Am I taking nightly inventory?
- Am I getting up early enough to have enough time for prayer and meditation?
- Am I available for twelfth-step work on a daily basis?
- Do I try to practise the spiritual theme of my inventory and mediation throughout the day?
- Do I incorporate the sixth and seventh steps into my life by practising the opposites of my defects?
- Do I promptly admit when I am wrong and make amends?
- Discipline is developed by saying 'yes' to AA requests, which entails saying 'no' to ego requests.
- Drinking is not the only addictive pattern: gradually all the others need to be dropped.
- When I decide to forego escape into other addictive patterns, I am drawn towards God, because there is nowhere else to go.
- Once drawn to God, I serve, because there is nothing else to do.
- If I'm not growing towards serving God, I'm falling back towards the voices of the ego, and eventually towards alcohol.
- What opportunities to serve have I swerved, both in AA and outside AA?
- What distractions are stopping me from serving maximally, both in AA and outside AA?
- Do I make myself available to anyone who wants help through me?
- God is the ultimate delegating authority regarding my duties; conscience is the immediate delegating authority.
- I need to trust God to tell me how he wants me to be of service. My job is simply to show up. If I am disciplined enough to show up, God will show me what to do.
- How can I help you serve?
Inventory:
Looking at the above ideas:
Where am I currently falling down?
What can I do differently?