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12 Steps and 12 Traditions Information and Discussions related to the 12 Steps and The 12 Traditions

 
 
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Old 12-30-2014, 09:07 AM   #2
bluidkiti
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NA TRADITION SIX

"An NA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the NA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property or prestige divert us from our primary purpose."

Our principles help us avoid certain problems by giving us guidance where we may not see the possibility of error. We addicts are so good at getting caught up in our undertakings; we can glide right past the barriers normal folk would be able to see. The reason we don't allow conflict of interest to enter into the picture is because we can justify anything. We can put the making of money beyond the feelings and emotional needs of our Fellowship to be involved and feel the weight of responsibility that keeps us spiritually fit as a fellowship. Without this reality, we would weaken into flabby complacency. Our responses would wane into ineffectuality.

The insidious nature of our disease makes us abnormally susceptible to distraction. We can slip out of a prearranged direction of effort into a justified detour with the best of excuses. Diversion from our primary purpose is similar to what we as members go through in our daily fight for recovery. We all know about drifting into concerns, worries and preoccupations that threaten our recovery. This leaves no time for meetings, Twelve Step work or interactive recovery with other addicts. Our desire keeps us focused on recovery.

It is hard to move in two directions at once. A spiritual fellowship sets spiritual goals. If we were to set worldly goals, we would quickly become worldly and the spiritual would seem inconsequential and impractical. Anyone who has been around the Fellowship will sooner or later come up against a situation that throws apparent competence into direct conflict with spiritual reality. We learn to choose the spiritual as the eternal, lasting reality over the transient apparent reality that looks so good to begin with and caves in under pressure.

The insidious nature of our disease makes us very vulnerable to the disasters that can occur when we stray from the Sixth Tradition. We are addicts and therefore suffer from low self-esteem and have fragile egos to being with. Therefore, we are easily corrupted by the temptations of property and prestige and can soon forget about the danger of placing personalities before principles. The insidious disease of addiction allows us to rationalize all sorts of behavior, such as endorsements of outside enterprises. Since some of these enterprises will help us reach the still suffering addict, they are sometimes considered in line with the 12th step of carrying the NA message to the still suffer addict. But this is a trap. If people were rescued by a military group, part of the rescue is letting them return to their homes and not in a prison camp. Doctors can help identify other problems we may have. One doctor has spoken, "Addicts do not necessarily have any other primary illness requiring treatment of any sort." We don't take drugs just because doctors tell us to do so. It is our life at stake and many doctors are not informed about addiction. Be careful! Our inherent self-centeredness can make us easy prey for the notoriety that comes with doing endorsements. This is why the 6th tradition was written and is so very important. It protects us and NA as a whole from ourselves.

After finding recovery and practicing a spiritual way of life, we begin to search out fellow addicts who are like us. It is a sense of trust that is allowed to transform us into productive members of society. The world would be loving and caring if the population was made up solely of recovering addicts. There would be more honesty and compassion in making, but unfortunately, that is not reality. Recovery is about dealing with reality. Many would prey on the spiritual principles that addicts develop after working the Steps. This is not to have a cynical view of humanity, but a simple fact. For instance, people would not remember the positives NA might have had with outside enterprises. These accounts would be insignificant to a non-addict, but a negative account of an affiliation with an outside enterprise would destroy years of the kind of credibility we strive to achieve. Much of society still thinks of addiction as a moral delinquency instead of a moral disease.

The clear, pure message of NA is an anecdote to addiction. The disease tries to dilute this message. When a group endorses another 12 Step fellowship or treatment center, it is giving praise to the disease. It is saying that NA alone cannot work, that we must also go somewhere else. It keeps many addicts from making that final commitment to work the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions of NA. This can be deadly to some suffering addicts. NA is the only program of recovery that works for us. If we are curious or have an opportunity, we can take our program with us into any area of life or learning.

The disease of addiction is progressive. As our recovery progresses, so does our dormant disease. When we compromise our Sixth Tradition "one time," we lose our integrity as a Fellowship. When we become involved with selling our name, we must begin to pay the price for selling our souls. We are all capable of living in our active disease. We must not allow money, property or prestige to enable us to take the focus off our primary purpose. Service work is a privilege and an honor. We must not allow ourselves to become involved in service work for profit. It may be more desirable to collect money than to sit up with a newcomer, but when the newcomers are ignored, we die. Nothing is NA except NA. We carry our message, not force our opinion. We surrender to our purpose knowing that we respect our Fellowship and that we respect ourselves. Compromises extract a toll from our lives we might not be willing to pay if we could see how much - and how often - we are charged for little or no gain.
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"No matter what you have done up to this moment, you get 24 brand-new hours to spend every single day." --Brian Tracy
AA gives us an opportunity to recreate ourselves, with God's help, one day at a time. --Rufus K.
When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. --Franklin D. Roosevelt
We stay sober and clean together - one day at a time!
God says that each of us is worth loving.
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