[ Contents | Search | Post | Reply | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: [email protected]
Category: Category 1
Date: 05 Nov 1999
Time: 00:13:01
Remote Name: ip59.atlanta15.ga.pub-ip.psi.net
Dear Fellow Members:
Exciting times for us. In a decade long project, we are at the point of realization where after we complete the tasks immediately before us, we will have a very presentable book. It is time to change gears.
Every so often, it is my duty to remind you of the assumptions we made as newcomers that someone, an NA someone, had gone the way before us to assure that all was safe and in order. Well, to a great degree that has been done. A million billion addict hours poured into the general effort to improve our common welfare in the seventies, eighties and ninties. Is everything done already? Guess what!
The progress has rasied the ground we can gratefully all stand on and improved the vantage point: we can see, do, go and ask questions that would have been preposterous twenty years ago. We enjoy many thousands of meeting places and probably half a million members (my guess!). Do we have written recovery materials on sex, violence, health, God, abuse and other items that come up in the course of recovery for most addicts? Well, we are working on it.
As noted recently on the new [email protected], our book cannot be considered an outside issue since we only advocate NA. Outside material would necessarily be about outside subjects, concern itself with outside concerns and bring up some kind of outside issues. We do not. The NA Way of Life is a book written by addicts, for addicts, within Narcotics Anonymous. We are following a new pathway for literature! While world service is doing their job, we are acting outside the given framework within NA to extend and carefully consider other subjects that may help our members. It is important, probably necessary that we position ourselves so that we are not hindered by the existing range or taboos and 'approved' channels. Complete, creative freedom may require this. I know that this is not the fastest or most efficient way to write a book. But the book itself grew out of discussions relating to ALL topics affecting, involving or or interest to NA members.
Few, if any, formal structures could allow this type of freeform writing where some approachs may go way outside the range of creativity allowed but the structure. We can deal with issues that need to be recognized or absorbed by the general structure at a later date. The structure knows we are here and thankfully, they allow us to go our way in peace. We want the recovery found in NA to be the very best it can be and that is what drives us. We don't hate or fear the structure because at an earlier date, we are the ones who created the structure. We have the deepest commitment to the Twelve Traditions of NA. But when you work on a boat, you take it out of the water. When you go back to the drawing boards, you reconsider every assumption made along the way in the original design. This is not the sort of thing everyone should be engaged in but when a Fellowship of men and women grows so tremendously as we have, there will be strains placed on the original design. And designers have to go back to the drawing boards to allow for the massive influx of people: so everyone will be as safe and happy as possible. We can't ever claim to have all the answers for everyone, but we can certainly share out what is known in major areas of human activity and concern. Particularly in areas that post threats to our freedom and recovery!
A program has to throughly discuss and consider items adopted by that program. Our case is the same, except that we take our roles more seriously because we have a great many egos and persons who are slow to trust. They must be given time to consider any new changes or modifications. We are trying to work with this reality by slowly letting the NA Way of Life books go out to members with increasing clarity and focus. More books have gone out this year than ever before. We have the ability to put out many more books now. We can hopefully keep pace with the demand.
It is time for you who have been following this project to reflect on your level of commitment. We will never achieve our goal of getting this book to the Fellowship without your crossing a line into full commitment and participation in the effort. That means getting books and helping others get them. It means emailing or mailing us when something disturbs you. It means taking on more interactive group roles. Hopefully, this can all be done with a minimum of pomp and ceremony. Our needs are simple, our tools are simple and our organization can be equally simple. Keep the Faith! Know that I love you and respect the courage it takes to send input. But that is just one way God gives us to fight back. Our written message builds up and reaches a world of suffering addicts.
In Loving Thanks,
Bo S.