AA Speaker – Mari G. – Primm, NV – 2019
AA speaker Mari G. breaks down all 12 Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous, sharing how they evolved from early group problems and why they’re essential to AA’s survival and unity.
Mari G., a member with 35 years of sobriety from Ontario, Canada, delivers an in-depth AA speaker talk on the 12 Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous. Starting from the chaos of early AA groups that had no unified principles, Mari walks through how Bill Wilson and the fellowship developed these traditions as spiritual guidelines—not rules—to protect the program from internal collapse and external exploitation. This is a foundational talk for anyone seeking to understand why AA’s structure matters as much as the 12 Steps themselves.
In this AA speaker tape, Mari G. explains the 12 Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous—spiritual principles that evolved from real problems in early AA groups, including membership conflicts, money issues, and leadership power struggles. Mari details how traditions like singleness of purpose, group autonomy, and anonymity keep AA focused on helping alcoholics rather than building infrastructure, institutions, or personal authority. She emphasizes that these traditions are not rules but deeply entrenched spiritual practices designed to ensure AA’s future survival.
Episode Summary
Mari G. takes listeners on a detailed journey through the 12 Traditions, the spiritual backbone of Alcoholics Anonymous. Rather than presenting them as abstract concepts, she grounds each tradition in real stories—both historical examples from early AA and personal experiences from her 35 years in the fellowship.
Mari opens by explaining why traditions are called traditions rather than rules. She notes that Bill Wilson understood the alcoholic mind’s tendency toward control and rebellion, so he chose language that would embed itself in people’s hearts. The traditions weren’t invented in a vacuum; they emerged directly from letters headquarters received after the 1941 Washington Post article boosted AA’s visibility from 20 members to 880,000. Early groups imposed arbitrary membership restrictions based on race, class, religion, and behavior—and expelled people who didn’t conform. Bill’s genius was recognizing that if all those rules had been enforced, 90% of members wouldn’t qualify for membership. So instead of rules, he formulated 12 Traditions to guide group unity and purpose.
The core theme running through Mari’s talk is that personal recovery depends on AA unity, and that unity collapses when groups prioritize individual ego, money, prestige, or control over the program’s primary purpose: helping the still-suffering alcoholic. She shares stories of groups that ignored rotation of leadership, groups that became affiliated with outside organizations, and groups that rejected members who didn’t fit a narrow definition of alcoholic.
On Tradition Three—”The only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking”—Mari becomes particularly direct. She describes watching people die because they were in the wrong fellowship. She recounts a young man who was a cocaine addict, not an alcoholic, who was encouraged to stay in AA because the treatment center said he was alcoholic. He got a year medallion, married, had a baby, and committed suicide in the bathroom while his wife found him. Mari attributes his death to the fact that he never got the identification he needed because he wasn’t actually an alcoholic. This leads to Tradition Five, on singleness of purpose: AA can only help alcoholics. Sending non-alcoholic addicts to NA, Narc-Anon, or other fellowships isn’t rejection—it’s honoring the boundaries that keep AA effective.
On money and professionalism (Traditions Six, Seven, and Eight), Mari pulls no punches. She discusses “bounty hunters” in the rooms—people being paid for sponsorship. She talks about members who work in treatment centers as counselors and slowly drift away because they’re now professionals being paid for what should be one alcoholic freely helping another. She describes her group giving donations to the Salvation Army and the church in the group’s name, creating unwanted affiliation. These aren’t mean-spirited rejections; they’re protections against the very thing that destroyed the Washingtonians in the 1840s—loss of focus, mission creep, and money corruption.
Mari also shares a striking personal story about her late husband’s stroke and aphasia. Psychiatrists approached her with a study based on “how AA thinks differently,” offering to publish her psychiatric test results showing she’s somehow neurologically different as an alcoholic. She refused, recognizing it as attempted affiliation with AA’s name and methods. She points out the irony: psychiatrists wonder why they struggle to understand alcoholics, yet every alcoholic lies to psychiatrists, so of course they’re confused.
Throughout the talk, Mari emphasizes that these traditions aren’t burdens—they’re gifts. The development of character she’s received from applying these principles has transformed her. She came into AA with nothing: no humanity, no self-respect, no hope. The traditions taught her humility. She moved from being a rebel activist fighting everything to understanding that principles matter more than personalities.
By the end, Mari circles back to anonymity (Tradition Twelve) as the spiritual foundation of all the others. She notes the irony of movie stars breaking anonymity for glory while claiming to be in recovery. She questions why anyone would get impressed by an announcement of AA membership at a New Year’s party. Anonymity isn’t about hiding; it’s about placing the program above the person, the principles above the personality.
Mari closes with gratitude—for the hand extended to her when she was on the streets, for the free coffee and warm smile, for a place where she wasn’t sniffed at or turned away in disgust. She’s been given life, self-respect, and the ability to hold her head up again. All that’s asked is that she honor the traditions and do the steps. That exchange—humility and principles for freedom—is the deal she’s committed to never taking for granted.
Notable Quotes
Bill knew about the cunning alcoholic mind, the alcoholic mind that is always looking somehow to get it my way, that ego that keeps resurfacing in all of us and it can do so much damage to a group.
When I came in these doors I had nothing left—I’m talking nothing. There was no humanity left. When they told me I just had to be a small part of the great whole, I was amazed that they’d even want to have me.
The very life of our fellowship requires the preservation of this principle—singleness of purpose is a sacred trust.
We hold people’s lives in our hands here when we sit down and talk to them. If they’re in the wrong fellowship, we kill them by making them stay there.
Anonymity is real humility at work. It is an all-pervading spiritual quality. We try to give up our natural desires for personal distinction.
The Traditions
Acceptance
Fellowship & Meetings
Topics Covered in This Transcript
- Step 2 – Higher Power
- The Traditions
- Acceptance
- Fellowship & Meetings
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Full AA Speaker Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated and may contain minor errors. For the best experience, listen to the audio above.
welcome to sober Sunrise a podcast bringing you AA speaker meetings with stories of experience strength and Hope from around the world we bring you several new speakers weekly so be sure to subscribe whether you join us in the morning or at night there’s nothing better than a sober Sunrise we hope that you enjoy today’s speaker thank you my name is Mari and I am an alcoholic and I’m so grateful to be here and grateful to be sober uh my dry date is the 10th of August 1984 my group is in Markham Village group in Markham montario um and I’m a very very grateful member of Alcoholics Anonymous thank you Lee um I’d like to thank Alexa so much this is the third time she has been my host picking me up usually they last about one time um but I um uh she she’s wonderful and she would do anything that I asked her to so thank you very much I’m basically non demanding and um ask my husbands and um and uh I would like to thank everybody and anybody who had absolutely anything to do with putting on this wonderful event because it is truly a wonderful event and uh you know it doesn’t matter where I go speaking in the world I always hear about State Line uh and it takes a lot to put in this and a lot of little people out there that you don’t see and you don’t realize that they’re contributing to this so I would just like to thank you and I think they deserve a thank you from all of us and I’d like to thank Sharon and Ralph for their wonderful talks last night hearing their stories thank you amazing and and to Rick my Allan on friend you just are so wonderful I just identify with you so much thank you so much thank you and for Lee who gave that wonderful presentation on the history so um I think I’ve thanked about everybody I want to thank God and and and Bill and Bob uh for this wonderful program we’ve given you know when I came up when I came in today Lee had put on Bob Marley Get Up Stand Up fight for your rights you know and uh I used to live in Jamaica and he was one of my guy he didn’t like me and I didn’t like him but I like I liked what he did you know I liked what he did and and and i’ I’ve been very much like that since I’ve been a child I’ve always wanted somethingone to believe in maybe it’s my Irish Scottish ancestry you know I don’t know but I’ve had various things that I used to fight for when I was young you know at age 14 I was boycotting South African grapes um and getting into a lot of trouble from from then I was um I was an activist in some other groups um when I was nursing I uh got in with a group of um anti- aarte people who had come over to study from South Africa uh uh I got very involved with them and got into a lot of trouble and when I was with British Airways I went to South Africa and they wanted me to separate the children in Johannesburg they wanted me they’ve got two signs it says Blanca and non Blanca and as soon as they got off these kids that I was bringing on the lollipop specials from all the schools in England as soon as we landed in in in in Johannesburg uh they wanted me to separate the kids and I absolutely refused to do that I didn’t want any part of it so it’s I’ve always wanted Something Something to Believe In and these Traditions I feel this way I feel that bill you know he calls us benign anarchists and I truly believe that when Bill formulated these and called them the Traditions he absolutely knew what he was doing when I was a early member of Alcoholics Anonymous and just so grateful to be here and I had no argument with anything I had no argument with the steps I had no argument with the traditions I had no argument about basically anything I was asked to do in this program until I got a little Weller but um as regards sponsorship directions but I never had any any problem with the traditions and I remember um when they told me at 6 months I could start to have a position I asked them if there was such a position as a tradition upholder so somebody said to me I didn’t know if I you the oldtimers I used to believe everything they said uh the Old Timer said to me well we don’t have a tradition uph holder but we have um the AA place and I asked how I could join so I basically set up my own and uh and you know we we had a little history today from from uh lee who did a wonderful job and I’ve got a little here and some of the stuff I’m going to be reading from and sharing with you as my own experience with the group and the Traditions but also kind of how we in evolved you know he spoke about the Washington Post article um I think it was after that was published membership Grew From 20 to 880,000 I mean that has a lot of people and if you can imagine there was absolutely no rules no regulations nothing all we had is people who started groups and they would impose their own sah rules and if you did not conform to those rules you would be expelled from the group and those rules were overreaching I mean they went from everything to Irish non non-irish non blacks um non- Catholics all Protestants um a certain uh way of Behaving and dressing um you had the old boys club um at first Dr Bob really didn’t want to to have women you can tell from his haircut he wasn’t a 13 stepper and uh I love Bob’s haircut and um I can imagine his wife doing it to him when he was drunk just to get back at him so um headquarters New York started receiving all these letters um about the problems they were having and the 12 the 12 traditions has evolved out of all these problems every problem that there ever was and that we still can have today when people want to ignore the Traditions it’s all been covered there is no Avenue you can think of that we can go into that hasn’t been covered by the traditions because you see Bill was an alcoholic and Bill knew about the cunning alcoholic mind the alcoholic mind that is always looking somehow to get it my way that ego that keeps resurfacing in all of us and it can do so much damage to a group I do not understand why people want to change Alcoholics Anonymous and there are a lot of movements of float that would like to change Alcoholics Anonymous and I don’t know why because really what else have we got what is the success rate for any other I mean look at the washingtonians the washingtonians 80 1840s uh six drunks sitting in a bar in Baltimore Maryland they want to stay sober so they decided they’re going to meet and help each other to stay sober that was it stay sober and in a few years the movement was so big it had gone to well there’s varying arguments about what it went to but there some say it went to almost 600,000 members but you see that’s because they didn’t have any singleness of purpose that is that because they get into the F Politics the suffragette movement um uh money they became very interested in money they became interested in publicity and the fact was they had no spiritual base they didn’t have a spiritual program and when you think about it in a few short years there’s none of them left they were all gone they were all drunk hopeless that was a massive movement and when Bill received all these letters he came to the astonishing conclusion that if all of these membership rules were adhered to 9/10 of the membership wouldn’t be allowed in the rooms when he gathered them all together now there’s a lot of Alcoholics in here can you imagine if it was your group way back in the early days just think about how you’d run it before you done the 12 Steps scary isn’t it because we have that mind that wants to control so the idea for the uh 12 traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous came directly from all the correspondents that was generated after the Washington Post AR um article and Alcoholics Anonymous was actually breaken apart breaking apart and that is when that member in 1945 um I think he uh chk from Michigan he wrote an article about the washingtonians and it really affected Bill and Bob very very much and they set to work going around and talking to people in the groups and of course they were not well received because you know it’s my sponsor Clancy my beloved sponsor you know he used to say that when he was drinking he’d stand and he’d beat his fist and he’ say justice justice for all man kind and then at the end it was Mercy Mercy you know and and that’s what all these members were like the justice justice do it my way justice justice I want it my way cuz I started the group it’s my group and it go the way I want it to go and they didn’t want rules they absolutely refused to have rules so that is why it’s not called rules and why it’s called traditions because I think there’s something deep deep within our morly Hearts alcoholics of my type that um that that like the word Traditions I come from an old country I come from an old country I was brought up on Celtic gilic Traditions I mean some of them are bizarre in the light of day you know I mean I mean I’ve still got an ant talks to the fairies you know and uh but but they’re entrenched in people these Traditions are entrenched in people and that’s what the word Traditions does the minute you think about it that brilliant word it becomes entrenched within you so it’s another stroke of Genius as was said I think uh I can’t remember who said it but these Bill published them first he used a grap Vine as his vehicle to publish the Traditions uh because that way there was nobody shouting at them from groups you know they were still asking to come and speak but they were saying in a little note to him or the phone call whatever come and tell us about where you used to hide the bottles come and tell us about your drinking sprs but don’t talk about those damn Traditions so if he put them out in writing form then they would be read even it if it was to be read and put aside they’d be read because alcoholics if you’re a good alcoholic you want to be informed about the topic of the day you just have to go to a business meeting to see that so it was called 12 points to assure our future and that’s certainly what these Traditions have done they’ they have please God will go on to assure our future and you know the groups of were really in trouble took them very seriously because they understood and were afraid and I think that’s what happens to a lot of us we become afraid and that’s why you see sometimes you know the Discord that you see in groups between people the fear and the paranoia that can overcome us when we think about this thing slowly collaps in the way the washingtonians and we are fearful people people we are fearful people no matter how long we are sober at least you know CH I know being around here for 35 years no matter how long we’re sober no matter you know how old we get you know there’s a few things that never ever quite go away emotional immaturity deep sensitivity and fear and when I’m in fear about something happening to Alcoholics Anonymous I will get into my neurosis and then I’ll get into into my paranoia and then it becomes my obsession of the mind so I start doing a little circle of the groups in my area to make sure they’re all adhering to the Traditions it’s like here she comes you know um and Bill presented the Traditions that um at the convention in Cleveland in 1950 the first one that’s where he that’s where he and Dr Bob was there as well and I’m so happy that Dr Bob was alive to okay these Traditions cuz can you imagine what would go on if it was just Bill had passed these traditions because you know AA is more or less even today divided into two camps you know you have the aconites you have the people out there and then you have the people in New York and further on you know the wonans and the the and the Smithsonian you like and each one thinks that their hero is better than the other one and Dr Bob died in the November after these were were were published um so what are the 12 traditions well they are to group survival and Harmony what the 12 steps are to our survival and without them we will surely die because you see if I don’t do the 12 steps and adhere to the 12 steps and keep in good spiritual condition according to the 12 Steps then I will surely die if I don’t physically die I will certainly die spiritually but if we don’t uphold the 12 tradition then there’ll be nothing left of us tradition one our common welfare should come first personal recovery depends upon AA Unity what does that really mean is how to best work and live together because that Unity that we feel in the rooms is everything have you ever been in a group group at a business meeting at a speaker meeting when you’ve sat in the rooms and you worried about the unity anybody show me hands that’s a lot of people and I don’t have time to ask you all individually what What that particular thing was about but I hope that as I go on here I’ll cover some of the things that can cause that feeling or let me talk for me certainly cause them for me and for my sponses who call me about them so it’s a principle of humility rather than Rebellion um again growing up I used to think that I was a female Braveheart you know and and I used to even go up to the highlands where he used to run about and I’d run around shouting all the robish I just didn’t have any blue pain and and and I understand this completely now that I was always a rebel until alcohol took away everything I had when I came in these doors I had nothing left left I’m talking nothing there was no I didn’t even have any Humanity left when I came in these doors nothing barely I had nothing nothing my Rebellion had been completely taken out of me by the demon alcohol as my granny used to call it every facet and part of me had been erased and I came in here with humility I came in here realizing that for the first time in my life I could admit that I knew nothing about living nothing I thought I knew about love but my beloved children were taken away so was that love everything was gone when they told me I just had to be a small part of the Great hole I was amazed that they’d even want to have me you know I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again when I came in here I was not looking good I mean my old sponsy I said to once you know Carol a lot of my sponses are being 13 stepped I was never 13 stepped she said do you remember what you looked like when you came out she said you had jake leg we used to take you to meetings in a carart so this group has to survive or the the group has to survive or the individual or not it’s really that simple my personal Ambitions no matter what have to be set aside if this thing is something that I honor and treasure and feel honor to be a part of then all I must to do is to keep these traditions and the perspective that I get from sitting in the meeting the perspective I get from being in a group discussion and from listening to other people because I have learned to listen and respect that lets me see who I really am and that lets me see how much I need a leash how much I need a leash because being being the activist That I Used to Be and then going to where I was and two extremes and then coming in these room and see what is being offered to me that our personal recovers depends on AA Unity I realized I wanted to be in Middle Ground I wanted to be in the Middle Ground I wanted to be able to think about what is best for Alcoholics Anonymous not me one more time it’s not about me it’s about you um tradition two for our group purpose there is but one ultimate Authority a loving God as he may Express himself in our group conscience our leaders are but trusted servants they do not govern I love that I love that the example I have to give you I lived uh in sobriety I lived in another country a couple of countries just for a little while and one of those there was a guy had set up a meeting in his basement and it was called his first name so and so’s meeting and I went to this meeting because there were wasn’t many meetings where I was and uh and he would always cheer the meeting he would announce this is Godzilla’s meeting and he does the same people to read every week so not being in fit spiritual condition one day I um I went to him and I questioned this and um I told him you know I’m if none of us get to speak and participate how are we going to deal with our alcoholism he said well how long are you sober and I told him he said listen I’m in a medical profession what you think is alcoholism it’s just little bits of alcohol still stranded in your psyche what little bits of alcohol still stranded in my psyche so we had a little disagreement and um and then he told me he was going up to the states to this medical conference that was going on and he was going to hear a guy who was coming to speak and he would bring me back these CDs and I used to say to him why don’t you listen to Clancy talking about alcoholism that guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about he’d never you know he didn’t want to hear clany so anyway he comes back from the medical convention in Florida and I went to him and I said so where are the CDs I’m looking for the Cs you know I want to hear what this guy had to say he said oh forget it wasn’t any good the next day I called clany he says I just got back from Miami speaking at a medical conference of course I went armed with a few facts um the wisdom of rotation and democracy um I joined a group a few years ago I had been at one group for many many many years and then I changed and I joined another group and when I went to that group um they had a similar setup Al it wasn’t called hold his group but he would cheer all the meetings and he would pick the people who had to do what they were doing and I had some of my friends started coming and joined the group and you know we went to the business meeting and um and we sat down and we we spoke about this you know and and you know we spoke about this Spirit of rotation and it did not go down well but eventually um the to be honest with you they just didn’t really know about it they didn’t apply it and a lot of times you will see that that is ignorance too now it might be ignorance that they want to keep and cultivate for their own selfish egos I don’t know but now that group has changed completely and we’re on the spirit of rotation um and and you know what this reminds me too is that that the child the child and error has come about knowing that every group has defects there is no perfect group in the world we all have defects and you know you might have everybody running really well and it’s lovely and then go to the next business meeting and it’s a whole different story because someone’s gone home and started thinking about things for a bit and that’s you know as you know that’s never a good idea because they get idea Bing and they’re up all night thinking about how they’ll tell us about this new idea and then when you compare it to the tradition it just it does doesn’t pan pan out you know and I’m not going to be reading a lot from from uh from the the 12 traditions are here for you to read but it’s important in in in in uh tradition 2 that you think about Charlie of Charlie Town’s you know when I was watching the history there I saw what my hero Bill Wilson went through he had no money and he kept having these opportunities to have money and and he just kept kept getting shut down and thank God he and remember to that Charlie towns offered him a job at towns hospital and he thought that would be a great idea but he took it back to the group to to you know a group conscience and he said don’t you realize you can never become a professional don’t you always say to us that good is the enemy of best you have to be the best there can be bill you see the group conscious is what keeps us right sized and we listen to it well most of us do some of us go Fain another group um and you know as Bill put it it’s a m as the memb said to him it’s a matter of life and death Bill and as bill says so spoke the group conscience the group was right and I was wrong the voice on the subway was not The Voice voice of God how often have you thought the voice of God is telling you to do something and the group conscience doesn’t agree with God and that’s what he says here he really believed it was the voice of God telling him to do this and he’d be prepared for professional work an a what a nightmare that would have been he said here was the true voice welling up out of my friends out of my group conscience I listened and thank God I obeyed tradition three I don’t think there is any tradition more than this one that caus these problems and Alcoholics Anonymous the only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking that creates a lot of problems and Alcoholics Anonymous that is why it’s so important when you have a new member come in that you sit down and you talk to the member and make sure that they are in the right Fellowship how many people in here have saw people died because they’re in the wrong Fellowship a lot we don’t seem to understand that we hold people’s lives in our hands here when we sit down and talk to them you know in AA you have you have two groups you know again you’ll have the ones who are the zealots I’ve often been accused of being a zealot but you have the one who who are the zealots and then you have the other one that are love and tolerance to the extreme bring in anybody this is for everybody we can help you it doesn’t matter what your elment is we can help you and that is so damaging to people we kill people talking like that there is no barrier to any alcoholic wishing to join Alcoholics Anonymous none but you have to have a desire to stop drinking I have even met Overeaters and Alcoholics Anonymous who tell me that they come because they have a desire not to drink because they’ve never wanted to drink unbelievable it’s it’s unbelievable how this can be manipulated Dr um well it was Dr Bob’s group but Bill gives a great example he says at about year two this is about two how we incorporated that we only need a desire to drop drinking to stop anybody is welcome and about year two of the akum group a poor devil came to Dr Bob in a grievous State he could qualify as an alcoholic all right but he said doc I’ve got another real problem to tell you I don’t know if I can join AA because I’m also a sexual deviant well that had to go to the group conscience you know Dr Bob Andy’s haircut he wasn’t really tolerant and know probably a little shocked you know until until then anybody could say what they wanted to about who could join and who couldn’t join and the group conscience got very heated and generally they said this is a letter that was written in um you know Bill gave this talk at the general cus conference in 1968 a talk on the Traditions uh under no circumstances could we have such a courage and such a disgrace amongst us said these gentlemen and his bill writes as then our destiny hung by a thread it was on a razor edge over this single case could we exclude the socalled undesirability that obviously was an alcoholic but obviously had what was called back then another problem which we would not call today we’re talking long ago here who who are we considering our record who are we as recovering alcoholics to sit in judgment and exclusion of anybody the bunch were sitting in Dr Bob’s living room arguing and dear old Dr Bob looked around and said isn’t it time folks to ask ourselves what would the master do Bill states in the and 12 that this fellow plunged into 12-step work and tirelessly carried the message never did he trouble anyone with his other problem that’s that’s the beginning of how this evolved people dealing with people not some high flutin concept that sat down and thought about to keep us pure it’s from absolute experiences Manhattan group 1945 you know people didn’t want to let blacks in didn’t want to let gars in didn’t want anybody to come in except the real alcoholic who usually look like Dr Bob I love Dr Bob so in the Manhattan group 1945 a man came in needing help he was black and no black members he was also an ex-convict all his Earthly belongings were on his back his hair was bleach blonde he had on makeup and told us he was a dope fiend and an alcoholic someone called bill can you imagine that conversation so Bill The Genius of Bill asked if he was an alcoholic certainly an alcoholic so the prospect was invited to attend meetings but just just to speak about his alcoholism B states that these two example examples were the precedent for the third tradition that’s how it came about that’s basically how tra tradition came about and again I think that today it’s so important to sit down I’ll tell you a couple of examples um that I’ve had that have CAU I’ve seen young people go to their death because they were in the wrong fellowship and in fact one just very recently who was a a very young beautiful man very dear to my heart um it breaks my heart um a desire to stop drinking it comes from a deep place and it comes from a place of suffering it comes from a place of drinking a legal beverage that I can go in and buy in any corner store that I can see anybody going by anywhere that I can see being oberved in every public place on planes everywhere and yet if I drink it I become crazy because I’ve proven it to myself time after time sitting watching Drinkers and people say just have one okay and I end up with them berating me and looking down at me and disgust and I haven’t even had as much as them to Dr drink so that feeling of difference that we have is a feeling that all everybody else they seem to be able drink this thing that I can’t and there’s a great shame in that and one more time it sets me about as a separate entity I cannot have a social drink I’ve never seen anybody have a little social crack but it is that difference that makes me a separate entity so tradition four each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or AA as a whole that more or less basically is that if my group decides something that’s only going to be held within the group it’s not breaking the tradition it’s okay but if it’s going to damage my surrounding groups or if it’s going to damage anything else in Alcoholics Anonymous I had to I have to go and see about it we had an example you probably heard about it um where that this affected and it was uh one of the oldest groups in in Alcoholics Anonymous decided they were going to become an atheist group and um they started putting up sayings etc etc about atheists and uh tick the steps and the traditions and Intergroup went all around our groups and we decided that we were going to delist them from the meeting book because they weren’t adhering to to to our Traditions Etc and uh they were taken out the Mee and book and um they took us to Human Rights yeah and there was okay for them to take us to court uh on um religious discrimination and New York had to come up and eventually uh we had to settle that case and they just can’t print their own formulation of the steps that caused a lot of disunity um Bill gives the example of mid middlet toown a group there that were all hot as fire crackers about it stargazing the elders dreamed of Innovations they figured the town needed a great big alcoholic Center beginning on the ground flooor can you imagine it would just rise to these massive Heights and there was a promoter in the deal a super promoter and by his eloquence he alled all fears and if they formulated 61 rules to ensure foolproof continuous operation 61 rules and regulations were adopted confusion replac Serenity they want some young drunks yearn for Education doubted if they were alcoholics personality defects of other could be cured with a loan a little wonder what happened the head promoter wrote the foundation office then he did something else that was to become an AA classic because the group was dropping apart it went on a little card golf score size the cover read Middleton group number one rule 62 once the card was unfolded a single pungent sentence leaped to the eye don’t take yourself too seriously and that’s where rule 62 right tradition five each group has but one primary purpose to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffer AA is limited that’s why Bill starts this with the old iay shoe maker stick to thy last better to do one thing well than many badly the only thing I know about is alcohol I don’t know about anything else I am very limited in what I can do I know my limitations I now know my limitations before I accept being a sponsor because I don’t want to hurt anybody I want I I ask God every night May I only ever be helpful and never hurtful I know my limitations today it says here better to do one thing well than many badly this is a central theme of the tradition around our society gathers in unity the very life the very life of our fellowship require the preservation of this principle that is a definitive statement from Bill the very life of our sh fellowship and he goes on to talk about um singleness of purpose and he also goes on to say adhering to our singleness of purpose is a sacred trust sacred trust where else have you seen him use that it is a sacred trust I have to keep no matter how much I would want de to deviate from it and you know if you want to read about singer of purpose and what the reasons for it being to there’s a wonderful um um pamplet that bill wrote problem problems other than alcohol and on the in the there he said there is no way to make a non-alcoholic addict into an AA member in my group we have lots of Jewel addicts wonderful young people wonderful young people who have suffered horrendously from Jewel addiction they never talk about their other addiction they go to NCA they may mention from the program that they also had a trouble with outside issues but they go elsewhere and they’re wonderful stalwart members of Alcoholics Anonymous now there was a young fellow how’s how’s wife joined AA at the same time she was alcoholic he said he was alcoholic cu the treatment center told him to say he was alcoholic but he wasn’t he never drank alcohol he was a a cocaine addict never had any desire to drink alcohol never wanted to drink alcohol and they both got a year Medallion they got married and then they had a beautiful little baby and the day of that baby’s christening his wife found him in the bathroom with his wrists slashed he had been in and know in and know in and know after that one year he had convited to some of us that he was not an alcohol coholic but that he did not like ca and he had been encouraged by some to just stay in AA so you see he did not get the identification that makes us feel all right he did not get what he needed and we killed him that’s how I look on it we killed him by making people stay here that can’t identify because that’s all we have when I listen to the speakers I have identification I don’t have any other degrees bill says tradition five it has now become plain enough that only a recovered alcohol can do much for a sick alcoholic and it’s a tremendous responsibility an obligation so great that amounts to a sacred trust for to Our Kind who suffer alcoholism recovery is a matter of life and death so the Society of Alcoholics Anonymous cannot it dare not ever be diverted from its primary purpose that is the sacred trust that we have been given and we do not do it to be mean we do it to survive we had a closed meeting the other day and a little girl came her father was an alcoholic and she was a drug addict and it was a Clos meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous and when we go around the room to identify she said that um she’s an addict so we asked her if she had a desire to stop drinking and she said she didn’t drink now normally in that case we will take them outside and talk to them and somebody will arrange to meet them the next day and take them to a meeting well she had two years actually in another fellowship but she said she had come to support her father so we had to ask her to leave because it’s a closed meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous and it could have been handled very very badly and I have seen where it’s been handled badly and of course some people said well why don’t we change the format of the meeting so we can stay but some people there were in dire need of a closed meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous we had to put the good of the group ahead of this this girl who had just come to be with her father if it was an individual Choice what would you do thank God for the group conscience as Bill said if we don’t stick to these principles we shall almost surely collapse and if we collapse we cannot help anyone therefore I see no way of making non-alcoholic addicts into AA members experience say loudly that we admit no exception if we persist in trying this I’m afraid it will be hard on the drug user himself think about that it would be hard on the drug user himself we must accept the fact that no non-alcoholic whatever his Affliction can be converted into an alcoholic AA member I to finish with in the land of the heart which I love because it’s got most of those essays in there it said reflect that we shall never be our best except when we H only to the primary spiritual principle principle of Alcoholics Anonymous that of carrying the message to the alcoholic who St surface and prudently cleave prudently cleave to its singleness of purpose tradition six an AA group ought never endorse Finance or L the AA name to any related facility or outside Enterprise less problems of money property and Prestige divert us from our primary purpose many examples of that um that group I told you about that I joined for a long time they had been um given money on behalf of our group in the name of our group to um a a place for um Street people downtown this is a contribution from so and so group um immediately creating an affiliation and not only that but using um Step seven money for an outside issue um there’s been many examples I’ve seen in my group for example Christmas presents taking Christmas presents from our group down to the Salvation Army in the name of our group these are all very very worthy Enterprises but they can’t continue cuz we have because then we’ll be Affiliated and the last thing that came up was that every year apart from paying the rent they decided to give a big donation to the church sounds very nice doesn’t it that’s not what we’re about here you want to give up your money then send it to New York or send it to inter group but you know not the church all these arguments that came up about endorsing finance and lending the AA name in the early days that was a big problem because everybody wanted to jump on the AA bandwagon everybody there was even liquor companies wanted to jump on the AA bandwagon but you know Bill writes here in here too you know we of AA did dream those dreams because most alcoholics are bankrupt idealists and then came the educational then came the the question is this a spiritual or a medical problem and then there was some psychiatrists wanting to use a A&M when they were having um um people treating some of their patients we do this under the AA offices I myself spent four years in an ental institutions you wouldn’t believe it treated as a manic depressive my last entry in there that they started changing my my diagnosis my primary diagnosis was changed from manic depressive to Chronic alcoholic and sending me to the AA meetings that came in as a separate entity to the psychiatric unit because the psychiatrist have told me I know nothing the ones who are honest just like Dr Young said to Poland I’ve heard about recoveries but me personally I’ve never seen them and he was very famous man I had an example of this I’ll share with you my last husband had a massive stroke he could never speak he couldn’t understand the spoken word he never was able to speak again he had severe Global aasia means he woke up in China it’s like he’s speaking Chinese and everybody’s speaking Chinese he doesn’t speak Chinese he could never read it was just poor soul he he was comp he didn’t have any language skills which involves More Than Just Words this this is a chair John touched your nose he didn’t know how to do any of that and then he became very violent cuz he’s a recovering alcoholic he couldn’t talk so I put them in um um a rehabilitation center it was a it really was called a behavioral center because if he hadn’t gone in there they were going to put him in lockdown units and I didn’t want him in lockdown units so these psychiatrists called me down and they said we’re going to do a study Mari based on AA and what we’ve learned about AA and alcoholic we realize your husband’s an alcoholic and we’re having trouble communicating with him even through aphasia it’s a special way to deal with stroke patients communication he said we realize you alcoholics think different you react different sometimes you to see things different to the rest of the world would you be willing to do a little psychiatric test I said uh of course I’m at years sober I’m well so they give me this psychiatric test and three books I answer them I turn them in and a little while later maybe a day they called me and said could I come down they’ve got the results so I go down there and there’s three psychiatrist sitting behind a table with a tape recorder and when I go in and sit down they said we’ve had the results of the test we have a question to ask you I said yes they said who’s looking after you now oh I said nobody they said what medication are you on I said none they said according to this you should be so then they wanted to publish this thing in their monthly magazine about alcoholics and this different kind of a psychiatric makeup they have based on this and that what would that be it would be affiliation wouldn’t it so I said no of course they didn’t know what they were talking about they’re not like us and no wonder no wonder the psychiatric uh profession has a hard time understanding us how many people in here have gone to a psychiatrist and lied oh my God no wonder they’re screwed and of course bill says the um the accumulation of money property and The Unwanted personal Authority so often G guaranteed by personal wealth a serious H houses again which an AA group must be on guard against tradition seven every AA group ought to be fully self-supporting declining outside contributions again I’ve seen that happen in our group when we have Med in in in Canada when we have a medallion nights uh we have them every 5 years I just had one from my 35th year I delayed a bit till November CU I wanted my my sons wanted to be there and um on your medallion night um you pick the speaker you pick the people who read and you get a cake and it’s just your night it’s just for you and a lot a lot of family members come and I noticed that some of them were putting money in the plate that’s an outside contribution right people don’t think about that but that’s outside contribution self-supporting alcoholics this makes us be self-supporting who ever heard of a self-supporting alcoholic you know I don’t know about you but I know not today I know what my dependence is I am absolutely and completely dependent on God and that way I have utter and complete Independence but I was me and the alcoholics I sponsor we’ve always had very dependent personalities that’s just part of who we are Bill R about that in um emotional sobriety I get very dependent I used to get very dependent and as regards being self-support through my own contributions that was a foreign concept you know I I had this feeling that I was just entitled to get all this free stuff and if I didn’t get it I’d take it so this is this is asking me to build character it’s also asking my group to be fully self-supporting asking Alcoholics Anonymous as a whole to be fully self-supporting so that nobody no government nobody can come and tell us what to do what was it Rockefeller said I think I wrote John Rockefeller he said that money would spoil this thing what an Insight that was money will spoil this thing he said accepting donations would compromise the autonomy and Independence and anonymity of our members genius thank you Rockefeller I know Bill didn’t want to thank him at the time but thank you rockella thank you and thank you for me personally because you see the development of character is what I’ve I’ve received in here I didn’t have character I got character formation through being in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous and applying these Traditions to my life so you know in this world as in this world as someone said to me long ago when I was really really down he who holds the gold makes the rules the Piper plays the tune we are in a magnificent Society within a society who our self- supporting through what we do traditionally Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional but our service centers May employ special workers the biggest contention in the fellowship today is professionalism a lot of people are wanting to professionalize Alcoholics Anonymous um you you if I’m not going to bring it to your attention too much if you see it then you’ll know what I’m talking about you’ll be able to name it the single purpose is defeated every time we’ve tried to professionalize a 12st step the result has been exactly the same singleness purpose that of one alcoholic helping another alcoholic freely we have bounty hunters in the rooms these days I don’t know if you know that but there’s bounty hunters there’s paid sponsorship paid sponsorship and Bill just goes on here to talk perhaps the fear will always lurk in every AA heart that one day our name will be exploited by somebody for real cash and I would say to you too that if somebody is coming to Alcoholics Anonymous and being asked for money when they come in the door because it looks like they just drove up in a Cadillac or a rose or whatever it is that person is slowly and gently being pushed back out the door again I sponsor a lot of very wealthy women who has very been very very hard for them to get sobriety because a homework I’m talking a lot of money let them come to a safe place where money is not important I like to think we’re all one size when we come in here all one size and of course we do hire we do hire people to work in our offices Etc that’s a totally different thing how many people people have sponsored somebody who at four weeks sobriety say they’re going to be a counselor it has been my opinion and my experience that everybody who does that that goes in and works in a treatment center they begin to say that every day they’re doing their work for an alcoholic but I point out to them they’re being paid for it and they stop coming to AA because now they’re professionals now they’re professionals and they slowly slip away into the wide Blue Yonder many times I was asked to come and work in a treatment center I have no degrees oh I’m is an alcoholic I said no of course not I was offered to come and speak at this big there’s a beautiful Club in um on on at Toronto called the Granite Club it’s a millionaire billionaire club they asked me to come and speak um a bunch of um um GMS general managers etc for a fee no do this for free and for fun come to an open meeting tradition n a such ought never be organized but we may create service board or committees directly responsible to those they serve great suffering but Bill wrote great suffering and great lover a disciplinarians we don’t need any other that’s it the people who are sitting in this room I’m talking to the converted is there anybody in this room has any problem with the Traditions just raise your hand absolutely nobody because we’ve all been beaten and human iated into submission and the great love that we have for Alcoholics Anonymous that’s why right it’s the only way we learn it’s the only way we learn there the difference between that of vested and Authority or the spirit of service and Bill said did you ever hear of a Nation a church or a political party even a benevolent Association that had no membership roles every nation in fact every former Society has to have a government administered by human powers aa’s headquarters in New York that’s where we go they don’t have any Authority either call him and ask him something what does your group say or we really don’t have any uh opinion on that unless each AA member follows the best of his ability or Sugg just to 12 steps of recovery he almost certainly signs his own death warrant his drunkenness and disolution are not penalties inflicted by people in Authority they result from his personal disobedience to spiritual principles the 12 traditions are spiritual principles if I want to deviate from them I’m immediately taking my steps out the door though tradition n at first seems to deal with purely practical martys its actual operation it discloses a society within an organization an animated only by the spirit of service a True Fellowship tradition 10 Alcoholics Anonymous is no opinion on outside issues against the AA name ought never be drawn into public controversy and Bill said never since the beginning of Alcoholics Anonymous has it been divided by a major controversial issue thank God never and yet I’ve gone to groups and heard political discussions going on anybody in here heard that oh I forget I’m in America guess rather heaty doesn’t it those said let us reemphasize that this reluctance to fight one another or anybody else is not counted as some special virtue that makes us feel Superior to other people nor does it mean that members of Alcoholics Anonymous are restored as citizens of the world are going to back away from their individual responsibilities to act as they see right upon the issues of our time that’s what it is personally in my personal life is what I feel and what I I support and what I can think will be the best for out there in here it’s according to what you tell me I can voice what I think but it’s according to what you tell me the only tangible evidence for the Washingtonian movement left up until I think early 19 00s yeah was um a home for the fallen in Boston six members or something because they didn’t have any of these traditions and uh our pu traditional 11 our public relations policy based on attraction rather than promotion we need always maintain personal anonymity the level of press radio and films it’s attraction not promoting and you know when someone approaches me and tells me they listen to my CD on YouTube immediately it makes me feel different why am I on YouTube I’m just a member of Alcoholics Anonymous immediately creates a feeling of disunity so if you know it and not only that the other thing is this they get paid for each download or however many downloads they get paid for that so they’re making money out of 12st Step work which is one alcoholic sharing with another alcoholic and bill says um you know to soberly soberly face the fact that being in the public ey particularly hazard hazardous for us by temperament nearly any every one of us has been an irrepressible promoter and the prospect of society composed almost entirely of promoters was frightening consider this explosive Factor we had to exercise self-restraint and the early members Lily and Roth I’ll cry tomorrow she thought she was doing AA a good turn and she identified as an alcoholic and ended up dying drunk in the gutter we have all these movie stars today that are breaking their anonymity for what if they get drinking again what does it mean to somebody who one day had thought about coming to AA anyway it’s tradition 12 and I’ll finish uh anonimity is a spiritual Foundation of all our Traditions ever reminding us to place principles before personalities what did Dr Bob say love and service we all know what love is we all know what service is it speaks to our personal anonymity it speaks to not wanting to identify as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous for whatever Glory it might get you whoever thought you’d get Glory out of being an alcoholic you know you know going to a a New Year’s party and just announcing to all I’m a member see how impressed they are by all of that you know and probably saying well you bloody should be you know and uh you know in the early days they wanted to shout about AA from the housetops and some did but it was plain that we could not be a secret society and it is placing principles before personalities and what are the principles the principles are again what I’ve just gone over and what are reflected in the 12 traditions those are the principles those are the way that we’re able to spread this fabulous beautiful god-given Fellowship I will never ever take this deal for granted never I have been given me I’ve been given a gift of Life of self-respect of being able to hold my head up I never thought I could hold my head up ever again the things that had happened to me because of my alcoholism there’s nothing more could happen to me I know the Dark Places death death would have been all right I know the dark regions of being on the street and believe you me there’s no hope no hope there and yet you offer me a hand a free talk a free cup of coffee a place to come and get warm you smile at me you don’t turn away in disgust you don’t sniff at me where in the world could I get that I’m a chronic alcoholic I never knew there was any hope so you ask me I’ve got to do a few simple things and stay out of myself for the traditions and do 12 steps and I’ll get a change of personality and I won’t have to drink this horrible stuff it’s killing me and yet I can’t stop drinking all right I’ll honor you I’ll do your spiritual Foundation and Bel just said to finish these experience taught us that anonymity is real humility at work it is an all pervading spiritual quality which today Keynotes AA life everywhere moved by the spirit of anonimity we try to give up our natural desires for personal distinction we are sure that humility expressed by an anonymity is a greatest Safeguard the Alcoholics Anonymous can ever have and thank you so much for having me here thank you for listening to sober Sunrise if you enjoyed today’s episode please give it a thumbs up as it will help share the message until next time have a great day