Do you want to be RIGHT or do you want to be HAPPY?
Today on the Daily Sobriety Renewal, our secretary (AKA trusted servant) admitted he got ‘rattled’ when someone was not on mute while he was reading / sharing and lost his train of thought.
More importantly, the SA 08:30 DSR has become very ‘controlling’ and I feel the need to speak up to protect the 12 Traditions.
Here is what Roy K. has to say in our Basic text…
“MEETINGS ~ HOW THE WORK: As I come into the fellowship, I’m confronted with my disease. First, in my initial contacts with other members; then in meeting after meeting…
By not imposing uniformity. We don’t prescribe doing the Steps by formula or in exactly the same way some other member does them. We do the Steps in our own way and time; we ‘Live and Let Live.’ But working the Steps does work for us…
MEETING GUIDELINES: We can benefit from the unwritten guidelines that have contributed so profoundly to the success of other Twelve Step program meetings and have proven as valuable in our own.
Leaders of meetings are servants of that meeting. They don’t “carry” the meeting; they merely facilitate it. A common mistake of those who have no prior Twelve Step meeting experience is to feel they must comment on everything that is said or “help out” in some way by giving “the answer.” The effective leader surrenders this impulse and lets the meeting work itself.
The leader of the meeting does not have to acknowledge a raised hand; he or she can call on someone else. They can interrupt the one talking, if it is called for. This is in line with our common tradition. At the same time, a good meeting is one where the leader’s presence is inconspicuous and non-controlling.”
(SA WB pg. 185-189)
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MEMBERSHIP RULES?
Around 1943 or 1944, the Central Office asked the groups to list
their membership rules and send them in. After they arrived we set
them all down. A littlereflection upon these many rules brought us to an astonishing conclusion.
If all of these edicts had been in force everywhere at once it would
have been practically impossible for any alcoholic to have ever
joined A.A. About nine-tenth of our oldest and best members could
never have got by!
At last experience taught us that to make away any alcoholic’s full
chance for sobriety in A.A. was sometimes to pronounce his death
sentence, and often to condemn him to endless misery. Who dared to be judge, jury, and executioner of his own sick brother?
1. GRAPEVINE, AUGUST 1946
2. TWELVE AND TWELVE, P. 141
As Bill Sees It (pg. 41) => http://saphonemeeting.org/images/AsBillSeesIt.pdf
P.S. Definition of “edict” – a decree issued by a sovereign or other authority. Any authoritative proclamation or command.
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Here are some more references:
* http://saphonemeeting.org/blog/heres-to-the-crazy-ones
* http://saphonemeeting.org/blog/listen-silent
* http://saphonemeeting.org/blog/are-you-disturbed
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Feel free to share this with others. I personally get very, very upset when moderators & others CRITICIZE and/or INTERUPT others.
We are ALL equal.
Losing face is EXTREMELY disturbing! More importantly, notice the first word in the first step is “WE”.
criticize—indicate the faults of (someone or something) in a disapproving way. Form and express a sophisticated judgment.
synonyms: censure, denounce, condemn, attack, lambaste, scorn, disparage, denigrate, give bad press to, run down.
interrupt—stop or break the continuous progress of (an activity or process).
synonyms: cut in, break in, barge in, intervene, put one’s oar in, put one’s two cents in, interject.
Peace, Love & Service