Daily Reflections reading April 29th
Group Autonomy
Some
may think that we have carried the principle of group autonomy to extremes. For
example, in its original “long form,” Tradition Four declares: “Any two or three
gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an A.A. group, provided that
as a group they have no other affiliation.” . . . . But this ultra-liberty is
not so risky as it looks. A.A. COMES OF AGE, pp. 104-05
As
an active alcoholic, I abused every liberty that life afforded. How could A.A.
expect me to respect the “ultra-liberty” bestowed by Tradition Four? Learning
respect has become a lifetime job.
A.A.
has made me fully accept the necessity of discipline and that, if I do not
assert it from within, then I will pay for it. This applies to groups too.
Tradition Four points me in a spiritual direction, in spite of my alcoholic
inclinations.
© Alcoholics Anonymous World Services
My thoughts on April 29th Reading
Tradition Four. Each group should be
autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole Autonomy
is a ten-dollar word. But in relation
to us, it means very simply that every A.A. group can manage its affairs
exactly as it pleases, except when A.A. as a whole is threatened.
The statement I use "it is important
to remember that what you hear at this meeting is only the individuals
experience no one can speak on behalf of the entire worldwide fellowship, or
indeed any of the groups"
This sums up the fourth tradition AA is a
WE program and its a collective We that governs us no individual has the right
to tell you what you can share at any meeting, each group thru its group
conscience has the freedom to decide for itself the content of its meetings
The topics that will be discussed, the
group can decide if the meeting will be opened or closed and when and where the
meeting will be held, each group can decide to change its meeting format and
has complete authority to spend its funds as needed
The group can also decide how it wishes
to open and close its meetings, some groups close with a prayer while others
have a moment of silence, each group has total freedom it is entirely up to the
membership of the group
The second part of this tradition matters
affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole reminds each group that it has a
responsibility also to the worldwide fellowship, by adhering to the traditions
and principals each group can assure that it will not stray too far away from
the program's basic tenets
Of share their experience, strength, and
hope with each other, that they may solve their common problem, this means they
share openly about all their experiences without interruptions, the autonomy
provided in Tradition four
Does not mean an individual group has the
authority to re-word the steps or traditions, or to create its own literature,
not to sanction anyone, many meetings have gotten away from the look and feel
of its primary purpose by using literature non-conference approved
But this is also the groups choice as
long as it does not affect AA as a whole, for my home group we do have
non-conference literature, we do keep it separated from conference approved
literature by using a separate table for this
There is no right or wrong way to hold a
meeting, but we can cease carrying the message if we stray too far from its
traditions and concepts, when I first came into this program I learned how it
was in my little group as I went to the other groups in neighboring towns I
would think
They don't do their meetings right, they
have too much laughter and don't start on time, I thought then they were
laughing at the person, not with the person, being thin skinned everything out side
my home group bothered me
Today these little things that use to
bother me now make me realize they are what makes all these groups unique and
different, yet are all given the same message to help others recover form our
deadly disease of alcoholism
I look forward to the different meetings
now because we are unique in our own rights as long as the guidelines of the
program are followed and the basic message is there for us this is one more
example of why AA work
God bless you Al M
Please feel free to mail suggestions
or comments
