Narcotics Anonymous Way of Life

~ 2006 Form ~

Why It Works:  12 Traditions

TRADITION FIVE

Tradition Five

Though each group is welcomed to their diversity through autonomy, there is also sameness throughout, this is the message we carry.  NA offers a vision of hope and a promise of freedom from active addiction to any addict who passes through our doors.  An addict, any addict, can stop using, lose the desire, and find a new way of life.  This is our message and the primary purpose of our groups.

 We have found it best that we do this one thing supremely well, which is to carry our message, than to engage in many related multi-tasks.  If the latter were true, our initial purpose would suffer.  Mental health, treatment centers, politics, and legislation are all potentially very good endeavors.  However, Narcotics Anonymous should only seek to cooperate with already established professionals in these fields and never affiliate in any sense of the word.

 When it comes to the personal matters of our members, we must also exercise restraint.  Our purpose is to share, as individuals, groups, and as a fellowship, how we found recovery through the program of Narcotics Anonymous.  Legal, social, medical, moral, and ethical issues, as shared by our members, are welcomed in our meetings.  We do, however, want to make sure that our groups take no sides on these issues outside of NA�s collective experience with recovery from addiction.  Such actions could lessen the success of our message.

 The best way to keep our groups safe in this regard is to keep our meeting formats simple and focused.  When our formats become overridden with issues outside the scope of our fellowship�s experience, Steps, and Traditions, they begin to lose their effectiveness.  Our group members, on the other hand, may have personal familiarity in these issues; they will do best by sharing their own experience with these matters, trying not to affiliate such issues with Narcotics Anonymous or incorporate them into their group formats.

 In the active addiction, there was much pain and misery in our lives and the lives of most everyone we came in contact with.  Many of us found it was the selfish, self-centered fear driving us into an isolated death of mind, body, and soul.  It became evident that fear, manifested in our thoughts and feelings, created many of our problems.  It was our lack of faith, not the drugs; using was only a symptom of our dilemma.  We should always be vigilant that our decisions as individuals and groups are the expression of our faith.  The atmosphere of the group, and the message we carry, ought always reflect the commitment we have to the principles embodied in our Twelve Steps and Twelve Tradition.

 For our groups to be an effective vehicle for carrying the message of recovery, it is thought necessary to develop an atmosphere of recovery in each meeting.  All of our Steps and Traditions are comprised of spiritual principles just as NA is a spiritual program.  We have found that we can exchange the phrase �atmosphere of recovery� with �atmosphere of spirituality,� and agree that this is the message our groups should emanate.

 Ideally, the practice of spirituality lies in the application of spiritual principals.  If true spiritual principals are never in conflict; any or all ought to fit the phrase �atmosphere of recovery,� and define it accordingly.  We can take an instance where the phrase �atmosphere of recovery� is sought and introduce a series of spiritual principals in place of the word �recovery� (i.e. an atmosphere of acceptance... an atmosphere of patience... an atmosphere of tolerance...  of unconditional love, open-mindedness, willingness, surrender, compassion, empathy etc).  In this way, a group�s inventory will best reflect the spirit of our program without the vulnerability to our old ways of thinking.

 The still suffering addict is also an important focus of this tradition.  These addicts can be anyone inside or outside of the group.  Our members would do well to insure a consistent application of anonymity to each member, allowing them to express themselves in an atmosphere free from judgment.  Even a member with many years clean can be a suffering member of a group.  Just as possible is the member who usually displays themselves in accordance with spiritual principles.  Devastation knows no boundaries and desperation takes no prisoners.  The suffering addict might be the one who was absent, or who has yet to show up.  Our purpose is to help those that need us, even to seek them out if need be.  This tradition actuates the collective application of our Twelfth Step.  As we seek to help others, we strengthen our recovery and insure against relapse at the same time.

 The message we carry as a group is the practice of principles toward these individuals, however troublesome they may be.  The new members begin to admire our demonstration of acceptance, patience, and tolerance, and begin learning from the start that spiritual growth comes from within.  It has been said that if we do not see a leader in the room we strive to be one.  If we do not hear the spiritual message of recovery we try to carry it.  If the suffering addict does not tell us, we should seek them out.

 - from member in Los Angeles

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Reprinted from the 
Narcotics Anonymous Way of Life
2006 Form being edited on this site.

N.A. FELLOWSHIP USE ONLY
Copyright � December 1998
Victor Hugo Sewell, Jr.

N.A. Foundation Group
1516 B Live Oak Drive
Tallahassee, Florida 32301
[email protected]

All rights reserved. This draft may be copied by members of Narcotics Anonymous for the purpose of writing input for future drafts, enhancing the recovery of NA members and for the general welfare of the Narcotics Anonymous Fellowship as a whole. The use of an individual name is simply a registration requirement of the Library of Congress and not a departure from the spirit or letter of the Pledge, Preface or Introduction of this book. Any reproduction by individuals or organizations outside the Fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous is prohibited. Any reproduction of this document for personal or corporate monetary gain is prohibited.

Last update March 27, 2007