"Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. Unity."
The unity of Alcoholics Anonymous it the most cherished quality our Society has. Our lives, the lives of all to come, depend squarely upon it.
We stay whole, or AA dies.
No A.A. can compel another to do anything; nobody can be punished or expelled.
To many minds all this liberty for the individual spells sheer anarchy.
The A.A. member has to conform to the principles of recovery. His life actually depends upon obedience to spiritual principles. If he deviates too far, the penalty is sure and swift; he sickens and dies.
The moment this Twelfth Step work forms a group, another discovery is made - that most individuals cannot recover unless there is a group.
He learns that the clamor of desires and ambitions within him must be silenced whenever these could damage the group.
It becomes plain that the group must survive or the individual will not.
As we had once struggled and prayed for individual recovery, just so earnestly did we commence to quest for the principles through which A.A. itself might survive. on anvils of experience, the structure of our Society was hammered out.
How well they saw that their common welfare came first.
Each needed to consider the others, and in abiding faith they knew they must find their real strength.
They live today in the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous, which - God willing - shall sustain us in unity for so long as He may need us
Reprinted from Twelve Steps And Twelve Traditions with permission.
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