Short form. Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the AA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
Long form. No AA group or member should ever, in such a way as to implicate AA, 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.
Application within AA
- Who does this apply to?
- Overtly:
- Alcoholics Anonymous
- AA groups
- AA members
- By extension
- All entities and individuals within AA
- AA entities always represent AA, so this Tradition applies universally and at all times
- The individual is sometimes representing AA, so this Tradition applies to the individual in any AA context
- Sharing in a meeting
- Sponsorship (unless the item is flagged as personal)
- Fellowship before / after meetings
- If you must mention something controversial: make clear it's your own view, not AA's
- But, if we're walking Big Books, maybe we're always on show
- So: neutrality is best on social media
- However, there is a general spiritual principle, here, of universal application (see below: Application in life)
- What does 'outside' mean in the phrase 'outside controversial issues'?
- Anything that is not 'inside' AA
- What is 'inside'? Anything that relates to the single primary purpose (Tradition Five)
- Outside issues that are specifically mentioned:
- Politics
- Alcohol reform
- Sectarian religion
- Opinions, stated or implied, on religion or particular sects:
- 'I'm a recovering Catholic'
- 'Religion is for people who want to avoid hell; spirituality is for people who have been there'
- Outside issues that are not specifically mentioned but are currently relevant:
- Psychotherapy
- Expressing general views on its necessity, irrelevance, or harmfulness
- Medicine
- Medication
- Opinions are 'out'
- But experience is 'in'
- People report abusing the following classes of medical drugs
- Opiates
- Opioids
- Benzodiazepines
- Barbiturates
- Hypnotics
- Central nervous system stimulants
- Always consult a doctor or psychiatrist to make decisions about starting, stopping, or changing medication
- Mental illness
- Autism / Asperger's etc.
- Other treatments for alcoholism
- Stipulating what constitutes meditation
- 'Real meditation for real alcoholics'
- What is the problem with public controversy?
- Tradition Eleven: attraction not promotion
- Risk of
- Attack
- Conflict
- Loss of reputation
- Impairment of AA's attractiveness
- Impairment of AA's ability to cooperate successfully with related professions
- Diversion from primary purpose
- Internal conflict within AA
- Harm to the spiritual condition of individual AA members
- Parallel with Tradition One: We stay unified by avoiding division
- Parallel with Tradition Four: Keep our nose out of other people's business
- Parallel with Step 10: we have ceased fighting anything or anyone
- Parallel with Step 11: we are no longer running the show, thy will be done
- Parallel with Concept XII, Warranty V
- Avoidance of public controversy
- Maintenance of silence if attacked
Application in life
- Is it OK for individual AA members to become involved in public issues?
- The tenth tradition does not 'mean that the members of Alcoholics Anonymous, now restored as citizens of the world, are going to back away from their individual responsibilities to act as they see the right upon issues of our time' (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions)
- However, many alcoholics tend to get entangled emotionally & make problems worse through their involvement
- So how are we going to discharge those responsibilities in the world sanely?
- Solution 1: Be involved in community and society directly
- Principles for how to be involved in public issues in an spiritually healthy way
- Big Book: we have ceased fighting anything or anyone (Step 10)
- Take my own inventory, not the inventory of others (Step 04)
- Avoidance of activating the Karpman Drama Triangle
- Do not cast myself as victim
- Do not cast others as perpetrators
- Do not assume the mantle of rescuer
- Seek the attainment of positive objectives (Micah 6:8)
- Do justly
- Love kindness
- Walk humbly with God
- Place common welfare first; personal welfare a close second (Tradition One)
- 'Fact-finding and fact-facing': stripping away of emotionalism and hyperbolic narrative (Step Four)
- Correction of errors not punishment of sin (A Course In Miracles)
- Match authority with responsibility: hold those accountable who are genuinely responsible because they have actual authority (Concept X)
- Corollary: avoid proxy and collective victimhood and blame
- Disagree without being disagreeable: being a peacemaker
- Detach with love from others' reactions (Al-Anon)
- This frees me to act right without fear
- Solution 2: Be involved in community and society indirectly
- Concept VIII: delegation by supporting organisations financially or otherwise
- How to be neutral
- Perceive the objectives to be God's, not mine
- See myself merely as an agent and a visitor on the material plane
- Since God has no hands but mine, I am necessary
- But I have no personal investment
- Parallel with Tradition IV:
- I have my life: this is my business
- You have yours: that is your business
- We have common endeavours: these are our business
- Governed by the principles of Tradition Two + Concept XII, Warranty IV ('discussion, vote, and substantial unanimity')
- 'Common ground of love and tolerance' (The Family Afterward)
- Practical domestic example 1
- I have my cupboards, shelves, and surfaces: what I do with these is my business:
- You have your cupboards, shelves, and surfaces: what you do with these is your business
- We have common cupboards, shelves, and surfaces: what we do with these is our business
- Practical domestic example 2
- What you do with your time is your personal business (except where it seriously affects me or the relationship or home as a whole)
- What I do with my time is my personal business (except where it seriously affects you or the relationship or home as a whole)
- E.g.
- AA trips, being away at meetings in the evenings
- Overworking
- Consorting with undesirable people or bad influences
- Our common time is our common business
- We agree together how we spend common time
- This requires substantial unanimity
- We both have to be available voluntarily
- I have no right to demand the other person's availability
- I have no claim over the other person even if they are a parent, a spouse, etc.
- Minding my own business: some ideas and slogans
- Don't yank weeds out of other people's yards
- Yank the weeds out of your own yard!
- Tend your own acre
- Keep your wind out of other people's sails (don't interfere with other people)
- Keep other people's wind out of your sails (don't let other people interfere with you)
- Dennis F:
- 'Without nightly written inventory, I become involved with the wrongs of the world that I think keep me from being happy. ...
- ... Dwelling on the defects of others prevents me from seeing my own and having to change.'
- Spiritual consent
- It's only my business if you make it my business
- Implicit spiritual consent;
- To some extent, any sponsorship relation implies consent to respond substantively (i.e. to share experience and express a view)
- To some extent, any sharing of a situation with someone deliberately sought out implies consent to respond substantively (i.e. to share experience and express a view)
- Chit-chat before or after meetings or at fellowship does not imply consent to share experience and express a view
- Sharing something at a meeting does not imply consent to share experience and express a view
- Explicit spiritual consent
- This can obtain at the level of the relationship and be established at the outset
- This can be established or reaffirmed as necessary:
- The sponsor might ask: 'Would you like my input on that question?'