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~ 2008 Form ~
"Hope is to faith as desire is to willingness."
NA WOL Foundation Group in Middletown, Connecticut - November 24, 2007
Since
our origins as a program and Fellowship, one common principle has been binding
our spirits together: Hope. Hope for recovery. Hope that the obsession will someday be lifted. Hope that the
program is for real. Hope that things will start making sense. Hope for
ourselves and others. When an addict attends an NA meeting and hears a message
of hope, their ability to admit their need for help begins. Hope is catching, in
a sense, and can be transmitted by spiritual interaction.
Hope
is the one spiritual principle that can be given away. We found this happening in NA when newcomers listened to other members
share their experience, strength, and hope. Some addicts experience was so strikingly similar to their own, they
identified with the story and for the first time thought that maybe they too
could get clean. This thought,
driven from the heart of another sharing addict, was their first experience with
Hope. They
left the meeting feeling different than when they came. They left with the idea that this way of life might be possible for them
too. For a brief moment in
the meeting, they even forgot about their obsessive desire to use. They left the meeting with a strong desire to come back and discover how
other addicts have been staying clean. Hope
is Hearing Other People�s Experiences.
Hope
is to desire something reasonable and attainable. The desire for recovery was
unreasonable and unattainable for us until we found NA.
Those who have gone before us had this desire and it is the same desire
for recovery that makes us members today. Hope keeps us alive and vital as a
Fellowship. Hope wards off negativity and apathy. While hope may seem intangible
to some, its effects are profoundly visible. You can tell by looking at someone
that they are hopeful. It is at the head of our list of spiritual principles
because with hope, problems don't seem insurmountable. Anticipation of things
getting better can be the
beginning of fulfillment.
(note:
this was already added in the 1998 version)
We
know when we feel hopeless; solutions are apt to appear distant and unlikely. A
lot of us in NA learn to give and receive hope from one another at the onset of
our recovery. When we feel hopeful, our sense of security, optimism and
self-reliance eliminate many of our concerns and help us deal with the rest. On
the other hand, hopelessness breeds despair and the simplest things can seem
overwhelming. As a principle, hope becomes something to be treasured. Like any
treasure, there are those would steal what they could have honestly. As a
fundamental part of our recovery, NA members are asked to avoid any act that
would threaten to dampen or extinguish hope in the hearts of our members.
Hopelessness
has its hallmarks also. Dejection, despair, desperation, despondency, and discouragement
can result in an incapacity for hope. When we feel these things in recovery, we
learn to realize spiritual principles are being violated in some way that
affects us. In this way, principles may guide us out of our hopelessness.
Policies
insuring every member is capable of having a voice in NA have been a part of our
Traditions and Service Structure since we first began to grow as a Fellowship.
In the early seventies, dreams began which were realized by the creation of our
World Service Conference in 1975. Even in our earliest days, the efforts to
begin and carry the NA message were almost entirely dependent on the hope that a
better way was possible for addicts. The value of the hope offered by these
�open door' policies was made apparent by a series of efforts where the
�door' was closed to all but a few. The failure of these efforts and the
feelings of hopelessness among the many waiting on the few, proved a severe test
for our Fellowship.
We
can withstand some adversity because it is familiar ground for most of us. To
have our sense of hope and assurance threatened not only dampens our spirits but
can lead to a sense of utter abandonment - a dangerous place for recovering
addicts. Hope allows us to take our first Step, though it may be so small as to
go almost unnoticed. Hope allows us to make the surrenders we each must face if
we are to grow in recovery. Hope is also the basis of our First Tradition. We
would have no common welfare without hope.
As
our trust, confidence, and faith grows, so
does our sense of hope. Exploitation of our members, falsification of minutes
and reports, and controlled
elections and manipulations of group conscience have caused many of our members to
lose hope. In this sense, hope as a principle may give some of us the clarity we
need to avoid doing these things when they may seem desirable or important.
Blindness to the effects of our actions on others makes talk of God and hope
seem unimportant and unrealistic at the times when we need help the most.
There
are at least two ways to learn this lesson: give in to the temptation and
violate spiritual principles or avoid violating our structure and its
principles. It is easy to do one and requires great faith to do the other. Where
we fall into error, a public Tenth Step among our membership, is the best way to
stop the disorder and gain the forgiveness we need from others. The Tenth Step
puts closure on the harm done. Rule breaking always risks harming others and
should be avoided by earnest study and meditation.
We
need to remember that there is a solution to all of our problems in Narcotics
Anonymous. The solution is the 12
steps of Narcotics Anonymous. Embedded
into our journey through the 12 steps is Hope.
When pride, ego, greed, hatred, and anger (character defects) enter our
minds, we must turn these defects over to a loving caring God of our own
understanding. The only way to be
able to do this is to be working the 12 steps.
Being in a 12 step fellowship without working the steps is like getting
into a car without turning the key. How
can we expect to go anywhere spiritual without doing the work?
The 12 steps allow us to change our spirit from diseased thinking to that
of a loving spiritual nature. Instead
of controlling situations, we begin to let go, trust the process, and ask for
help. We begin to have hope that any given negative situation be
turned into a positive one when we apply the 12 steps on Narcotics Anonymous. As
hope arrives, the simplicity of the program will reveal itself.
Where
hope and a sense of purpose prevails, we addicts begin to learn feelings long
lost to most of us through our active addiction. At times, we may feel almost
too buoyant, too enthusiastic. Our aspirations may exceed what is possible for
us - yet often in recovery today's dream is tomorrow's reality. Without a dream,
we may have no tomorrow. A sense of hope allows us to discuss matters that may
be unpleasant or make us uncomfortable. When disorders occur, we suffer until we
get back to the NA way: Steps, Traditions and Principles. Hope helps us
surrender to the 1st Step.
One
addict shares simply: "Hope is a small word but a big thing and if it
wasn't shown to me through NA, I think I might have died."
11.24.07
persons have visited this site since April 20. 2006
Reprinted from the
N.A. FELLOWSHIP USE ONLY
Copyright � December 1998
Victor Hugo Sewell, Jr.
NA Foundation Group
6685 Bobby John Road Atlanta, GA 30349 USA
404.312.5166
[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.