NA Way of Life
Out House
INTRODUCTION
[Reinstalled in book to underscore that the plan being carried out
now
is consistent with the original and ongoing Plan for the NA Way of Life book. - Ed]
[Original Introduction to NA Way of Life - Taken out in 1994 to be replaced by booklet material which displaced some of the content. - Ed]
Introductions are supposed to explain how to utilize or benefit from a book, so we are at a curious juncture. To benefit from this book, we must first write it! We want to share our experience with writing for the Fellowship and make an important point: That it can be done and we can do it.
When the Basic Text was being written, there were plenty who said it can't be done, or at least not the way we had it planned. We were called foolish, even crazy, to trust a bunch of dope addicts to write a book on their `recovery.' In those days there were many who had little respect for us. We had to earn respect by being respectable. Writing our own literature let people know we were serious about our gratitude, serious about our recovery and serious about our willingness to love and care for the newcomer.
Most of you have benefitted from the Basic Text yet never expect to get to write anything helpful. Well, the plan for this book is to sponsor writing from the society of addicts recovering in NA. Chapter length pieces on any topic within the range of things we experience in recovery can be made into a book.
In particular, there are many among us dismayed that some energy is being exerted against the principle idea that our recovery is from `just' drug addiction. The exciting thing about NA, for us, has always been the relief we have found from our addiction once we stopped using. Those of you who share this belief might find some fascinating material to add on over spending and other compulsions that have nothing to do with chemical addiction. Our serious concern here is that our disease appears to mutate into other forms, some that may be as seemingly non-injurious as watching too much TV and others that may be as totally devastating as any degree of `drug' addiction. WE must count ourselves as free to write about these things lest a big part of our program be lost forever to those who live the NA way of life.
So, count yourself free and write for this book. If your writing is sincere and accurate at least you will benefit to some degree. Your efforts may be a runaway best photocopied, eternally underground recovery piece. It may become a booklet. It is hoped that if enough good members go for this humorous yet sincere approach to getting some new material into print, many of the chapter length pieces can be compiled into a single book to help carry our message.
One thing that is not humorous: This material is meant only to help addicts and is freely given. It should never be seen as mere property and no addict anywhere should ever be made to suffer by our efforts to help. With the background for this work nearly complete, let me first layout the events in sequence that lead up to this work and the method I would like to recommend to various friends and sponsees around the Fellowship. Remember, one of the ways we have survived is by using our imagination and acting on hunches. I think this is a good one and might even work applied to other writing tasks.
To start with, we wrote our Basic Text in the years between 1977 and 1982. As was our intention, we surrendered the material to the main World Service Conference that then moved the material into the safekeeping of our World Service Office. It was printed and distributed from the Office for the next nine years.
We are ready to begin new work. There is trouble with going through what used to be the approved channels for this work. An alternative route is to accept this document as the basis for the new work and to open chapters experimentally, have them developed and workshopped by various members throughout the Fellowship, distribute the various chapters informally and let the result be compiled into a final manuscript. This way, no one area or region could control the material much less know in advance, or in passing, how the material would come out. Only the needs of the addicts seeking recovery as well as the valid experience of our membership would be taken into account.
The resultant chapters would say number around twenty or maybe more. There might be several chapters on relationships and two of three on employment in recovery. There might be new chapters developed for `What is NA' and `Recovery and Relapse'. Costs and availability of the material being worked on would be determined by the source of the material. Members could pick and choose or in many cases, do better themselves. Lists of available materials would have to be published and circulated informally. Our natural ingenuity and competitiveness would likely keep the costs down.
After sufficient momentum is achieved, some more formal method might be arranged. With or without this formalization, the Fellowship would retain both the rights to print and the rights to copy the materials in all versions. This might mean that there were multiple versions of similar material in concurrent usage.
If and when the Fellowship wants to compile the material into a single volume, there are several ways it could be handled. Perhaps some large regions would want to serve the Fellowship by printing `standard forms'. It might even be possible to entrust world to attempt to do this, were it possible to avoid some of the instability of the eighties.
At any rate, we would see a growth of new ideas and recovery experience in print with a minimum of hassle and expense. No one version would be the final word. We don't recommend using this anonymous effort to grind personal axes, yet your feelings are important. Remember to respect our reader. Share the way you would in a meeting and let the attractiveness show itself. Like our personal recovery, the writing would take on its own colors and word choices. Some material might have an intellectual appeal. Other material might be rather raw and coarse. All would depend on usefulness to perpetuate itself. May the God of your understanding be with us as we proceed to extend our message of recovery in writing. The
Authors
IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF NA AND WOULD LIKE TO
CONTRIBUTE YOUR COMMENTS,
PLEASE DO SO BY WAY OF THE QUEST FORUM.
[Related material will be composed and displayed here in a series of topic related
articles. - Ed.]
hits in 1999!
Reprinted from the
N.A. FELLOWSHIP USE ONLY
Copyright � December 1998
Victor Hugo Sewell, Jr.
N.A. Foundation Group
340 Woodstone Drive - Marietta, Georgia 30068
[email protected]
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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 June 12, 2000