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Posted by Bo S on February 13, 19102 at 14:01:18:
Dear Fellow Members,
I remember someone telling me that when you hear good things about a person, you should multiply it by ten because good news travels slowly. When you hear bad, divide it by ten, because gossip loves an ear.
When I came to NA, I was attracted to the notion of a spiritual group of people
following a belief system I could
utilize and recommend to others like myself. It is just the thing. As we grow and become
more organized, we tend to
develop subsystems within NA, some of which want to be the controlling force. As someone
who has had an interest in
spirituality for a long time, I am very familiar with the conflict between the conscious,
worldly, material and insecure against the pervasive, immaterial, essential and ongoing
reality. There are those who want to think the room is the thing - others want to say it
is only that which is in the room that counts. Actually, they go together. But those who
look at the surfaces may go on to insist that there is really nothing else of importance
inside the room and focus so completely on the room, that they will attack anyone who
suggests that the content is the thing. Even if the content people don't attack, defend or
fight back injuriously.
What are we going to do? It NA the corporation or the people who live the NA Way of Life? Can the corporation sue the members into submission? Or if they 'cave in', will the relentless forces of recovery bulldoze them into obscurity, obliviating any chance of NA becoming a real force in the world? Surrender would suggest that by achieving a working harmony between all our extremists, we all win. No one is totally right about anything, ever. The minds ability to abuse and confuse the facts is well known. We need the street wise to say, hey, put away the guns. We all love one another. There is no win if we must make new suffering by fighting among ourselves.
The simplest way to address some of the tensions within our service structure is to note that the influx of paid workers in and around NA World Services created an arena that was somewhat blind to the general comings and goings of the Fellowship. That is why people don't attend the CAR workshops. They could feel it when they were taken out of the loop. They no longer had a vote that was counted, so they didn't count. The bullshit that we should move by unaminity only makes us the prey of demagogues who are able to make us for the moment forget our own quiet voice and go with the crowd. Hearing from the opposition is a great way to assure our openmindedness is real. Stifling and denying is not discipline but mere spirit killing control. And from what I hear about some of the zonals, serious voices intone their mandate to come from the WILL of the FELLOWSHIP. How and when does this WILL proceed in today's service world?
I know the biggest complaint about the upcoming world convention is the high prices charged for events. Whatever happened to keeping the price down to encourage those who are strapped financially. Or is NA just for the well-heeled? I am certainly not one who is for taking each and every small item out for Group Conscience. I just think the Fellowship should be able to direct its affairs through polling on issues of general concern through our elected service structure. It would be like plugging a lamp back in and seeing that it wasn't the bulb at all. We all depend on our contact.
In Loving Service,
Bo S.