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When It Works: 12 Basics
Twelve Principles of NA
PRINCIPLE
ONE -
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Our Middletown, Connecticut NAWOL group is honored to be part of the
process. We have no expectations
other than staying in the process and possibly helping other addicts.
"Hope is to
faith as desire is to willingness."
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 that
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
too. 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. Attending
a meeting might just allow us to hear another addict share exactly where we are
while offering a simple solution. We
have come to understand these coincidences are really just God�s way of
remaining anonymous.
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
while great
faith is needed
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 and 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 and
allows us to start the journey through the twelve steps that brings freedom from
active addiction and
a sense of personal well being that is beyond our wildest dreams.
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."
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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.