Posted by John M on September 07, 19101 at 15:41:37:
Subject: Love, Bo S. Subject: John M, Open Arms Area , Monroe, New York Dear John M, Thanks for your supportive comments and concerns. This is a really touchy subject. At stake here is our Occams Razor (sp?) is a term for evaluating the truth of propositions. More or less it says the simplest It doesn't bother me that there may be numerous line of thought and consideration on a problem like this Back to the discussion. We cannot lend our NA name to outside issues. Service boards and committees The reason we don't lend out name is because outside issues by definition have other goals and purposes I love NA and I respect all the hard, dedicated work of the SS since 1975 when it began. But I think we Recently we were planning a small workshop in a medium sized American city. I told the contact person The NA Way of Life book is a break out because we are still free members, living in a free society and In Loving Service, Bo S.
Traditions Seven and Nine
Date:
Fri, 07 Sep 2001 02:27:59 -0400
From:
Bo Sewell
To:
NAWOL Topic Discussion
This came in from a concerned member and may stimulate some general discussion. Keep it friendly and
lets see if we can get somewhere.
Hi Guys--John M. From Ny Here
Date:
Thu, 6 Sep 2001 14:31:47 EDT
From:
[email protected]
To:
[email protected]
Some real great stuff here.. Congratulations to all of you (us) who have
worked so hard on NAWOL. I have a comment I need to make about the 7th
Tradition Chapter.
In the 6th paragraph, a good point is made about service boards and
committees.
Clearly there is a difference between NA groups and service boards and/or
committees relationship to all of our traditions and that needs to be stated,
however, our paragraph boldly states that Service boards and/or commitees are
NOT NA.
I have a problem with that statement. True they are not NA groups or
meetings.
But I believe our area and regional service committees are truly a part of
na that needs to be included in this paragraph as they also need to recognize
the 7th tradition. I believe that our service boards and committees are NA
and they are affected by our traditions every bit as much (if not more) than
our NA groups.
I think this is an important point. Our GSR's take a conscience from thier
groups to thier area and the area's conscience to Regional service. Again I
understand and agree that there is a distinct difference about the way our
members contribute thier time and energy within the home group as opposed to
service outside the group, but I believe these groups are indeed a part of
Narcotics Anonymous and they are Vital to our existance.
Thank you for taking the time to read my message, please reply if you think
I can help in some way.
Sincerely;
integrity as a spiritual Fellowship and program. The Ninth Trad says we "may create" but cautions the
committees are "directly responsible." The only provision against a service board or committee that is not
directly responsible is the Seventh Trad with it's warning about not accepting "outside contributions."
explanation that fits the facts is the most likely. When we were developing ways to work on recovery
literature in the late seventies, one way I contributed to the process was to note that while many
statements on spirituality or group conscience have plausibility, only a few turn out to actually happen in
practice. So, while we addicts can wax philosopically about all the implications, relevancy has to meet
whatever challenges present themselves. Since some of the concerns we are discussing here go back to
my childhood for me, especially the discussions I had with beatniks about society and non-comformity, I
was concerned from the beginning of my recovery about how we could conduct a program without setting
up all the bureaucratic systems that scuddle other instances of human good will. Spiritual, I believe, is
superior to the Mental. Our Fellowship is on the Spiritual plane, our service structure is Mental plane.
one. Each line of thought my be valid in terms of its proposition yet miss entirely the points of other lines of
thought on the same subject. Unless a common thread it established, there is most often a discussion that
fails to be useful. Considering the SS to be part of the Spiritual Fellowship, it is possible to make several
valid points. However, since our SS is composed of members with defined terms, there is little security
that tomorrows trusted servants are going to be competent. NA membership, on the other hand, is life - a
day at a time. Positions held by members who have been deeply involved for decades is more stable.
Plus, they have no position per se to defend and are not worried about the next election. Mostly our
writings on the SS have been generated by the SS and the Fellowship voice has gotten lost in the process.
The first instance of this was looking through a CAR Report in the early ninties and noticing that the SS
reports were neatly composed and professionally processed. Regional reports looked, by comparison,
shabby, on different letterheads, sometimes photocopied from sheets that had been typed by hand and
just 'different'. The understatement was the implication that the SS was really together and the SF was no
nothing boobs with no secretarial skills and perhaps therefore, no real understanding of these weighty
matters. Now, please notice that when the 1990's began, we had a SS where representative HAD to vote
as their regions, areas and group told them to vote. At the end of the 1990's you now have delegates who
vote as they please. In 1989 almost every home group read, discussed and voted on the CAR report.
Now, the system has become so complicated as to be more obstructive than productive. The vote had the
effect of making members feel responsible and a part of what was happening in NA. They showed up for
the CAR workshops because it empowered them. Now, they are not empowered and the ebb and flow
of the SS is just too tedious to make any difference. The one and only thing that regions voted against
from about 1985 on was that we would have no super board. Now, the members who opposed the super
board are gone and we have a super board. Is it directly responsible? Does it have Fellowship approved
guidelines? Does it?
that are not directly responsible are no NA, as per Seventh Traditions. All of this would be kind of
irrelavant except I know and you may not, that the SS now has power to make NA policy without safe
guards. If I had to drive along the edge of a cliff in a car, I would prefer to have a nice, strong, maintained
guard rail. Not that I'm not a good driver, but heck, something might catch my eye and it only takes an
extra blink to go over the edge.
than maintaining our spiritual integrity and carrying our message. I don't blame the people who have been
destroyed or mired down in all the superflous overthink of the 1990's. I do recognize that we must go
forward as a Fellowship whatever the weather. So, while I don't throw bricks at the picture windows of
others, I try to find something real, and good and lasting I can do to help. I am fifty-six years old. My Dad
is losing his hearing and eyesight but on Wednesday's I still take him to dinner and the movies. We both
get in as seniors! None of us will be around forever, so we have to do what we can, while we can and
while we still feel like it.
have to look at results. A big part of our message used to be that membership really meant something: you
were in charge of NA. Your little tiny personal vote was tallied and meant something. Trusted Servants
had to make sure you were informed so that you would be competent to make decisions. Distorting or
altering Fellowship information had not yet been subjected to the alternatives of dis-information,
mis-information or disembling information so that a favored outcome would appear more attractive. Some
of us have had to learn all this to keep out heads on our shoulders but the fact remains that the clear path
of complete, creative freedom is still there, it's just not in the service structure.
there that we could do what was needed in an informal setting, with no great amount of space. He didn't
believe me at first and went to the committee doing the convention. Do you know what they were worried
about? How much the space would cost them. No the recover and well being of hundreds of thousands of
addicts seeking recovery in NA who have multiple living problems facing them each day and a bundle of
spiritual principles that they are not yet accustomed to applying in a routine and effective manner. That's
who I care about. I just don't think we should burden the 'committees' with things they don't understand
and didn't sign up for.
we have the right of self-expression. Having said all this, and with the sincerity of your original question in
mind, please give me your thoughts. If you mean service boards and committees are part of the
Fellowship as long as they remain directly responsible, I might be able to agree with that. If the service
boards and committees exist independent of, not responsible and capable of making NA policy, I may
politely point out some dangerous considerations that don't fit in well with the smooth, apparently all
incompassing statements.