
                       APPENDICES

              I The A.A. Tradition
             II Spiritual Experience
            III The Medical View on A.A.
             IV The Lasker Award
              V The Religious View on A.A.
             VI How to Get in Touch With A.A.


                            I
                   THE A.A. TRADITION

  To those now in its fold, Alcoholics Anonymous has
made the difference between misery and sobriety, and
often the difference between life and death. A.A. can, of
course, mean just as much to uncounted alcoholics not
yet reached.

  Therefore, no society of men and women ever had a
more urgent NEED for continuous effectiveness and perma-
nent unity. We alcoholics see that we must work together
and hang together, else most of us will finally die alone.

  The "12 Traditions" of Alcoholics Anonymous are, we
A.A.'s believe, the best answers that our experience has
yet given to those ever urgent questions, "How can A.A.
best function?" and, "How can A.A. best stay whole and
so survive?"


  On the next page, A.A.'s "12 Traditions" are seen in
their so-called "short form," the form in general use to-
day.  This is a condensed version of the original "long
form" A.A. Traditions as first printed in 1946.  Because
the "long form" is more explicit and of possible historic
value, it is also reproduced.

                           563
                  The Twelve Traditions

  One--Our common welfare should come first; personal
recovery depends upon A.A. unity.

  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.

  Three--The only requirement for A.A. membership is a
desire to stop drinking.

  Four--Each group should be autonomous except in 
matters affecting other groups, or A.A. as a whole.

  Five--Each group has but one primary purpose--to
carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.

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

  Seven--Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-support-
ing, declining outside contributions.

  Eight--Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever
nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special
workers.

  Nine--A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we
may create service boards or committees directly responsi-
ble to those they serve.

  Ten--Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside
issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into
public controversy.

  Eleven--Our public relations policy is based upon attrac-
tion rather than promotion; we need always maintain
personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films.

  Twelve--Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our
Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before
personalities.

                           564

                  The Twelve Traditions
                     (The Long Form)

Our A.A. experience has taught us that:

  1.--Each member of Alcoholics Anonymous is but a
small part of a great whole.  A.A. must continue to live or
most of us will surely die.  Hence our common welfare
comes first.  But individual welfare follows close after-
ward.

  2.--For our group purpose there is but one ultimate
authority--a loving God as He may express Himself in our
group conscience.

  3.--Our membership ought to include all who suffer
from alcoholism.  Hence we may refuse none who wish to
recover.  Nor ought A.A. membership ever depend upon
money or conformity.  Any two or three alcoholics gath-
ered together for sobriety may call themselves an A.A.
Group, provided that, as a group, they have no other
affiliation.

  4.--With respect to its own affairs, each A.A. group
should be responsible to no other authority than its own
conscience.  But when its plans concern the welfare of
neighboring groups also, those groups ought to be con-
sulted.  And no group, regional committee, or individual
should ever take any action that might greatly affect A.A.
as a whole without conferring with the Trustees of the
General Service Board.  On such issues our common wel-
fare is paramount.

  5.--Each Alcoholics Anonymous group ought to be a
spiritual entity HAVING BUT ONE PRIMARY PURPOSE--that of
carrying its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.

  6.--Problems of money, property, and authority may
easily divert us from our primary spiritual aim.  We think,
therefore, that any considerable property of genuine use

                           565
566               ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

to A.A. should be separately incorporated and managed,
thus dividing the material from the spiritual.  An A.A.
group, as such, should never go into business.  Secondary
aids to A.A., such as clubs or hospitals which require much
property or administration, ought to be incorporated and
so set apart that, if necessary, they can be freely discarded
by the groups.  Hence such facilities ought not to use the
A.A. name.  Their management should be the sole respon-
sibility of those people who financially support them.  For
clubs, A.A. managers are usually preferred.  But hospitals,
as well as other places of recuperation, ought to be well
outside A.A.--and medically supervised.  While an A.A.
group may cooperate with anyone, such cooperation ought
never go so far as affiliation or endorsement, actual or im-
plied.  An A.A. group can bind itself to no one.

  7.--The A.A. group themselves ought to be full sup-
ported by the voluntary contributions of their own mem-
bers.  We think that each group should soon achieve this
ideal; that any public solicitation of funds using the name
of Alcoholics Anonymous is highly dangerous, whether
by groups, clubs, hospitals, or other outside agencies; that
acceptance of large gifts from any source, or of contribu-
tions carrying any obligation whatever, is unwise.  Then
too, we view with much concern those A.A. treasuries
which continue, beyond prudent reserves, to accumulate
funds for no stated A.A. purpose.  Experience has often
warned us that nothing can so surely destroy our spiritual
heritage as futile disputes over property, money, and
authority.

  8.--Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever non-
professional.  We define professionalism as the occupation
of counseling alcoholics for fees or hire.  But we may
employ alcoholics where they are going to perform those
services for which we might otherwise have to engage
nonalcoholics.  Such special services may be well recom-
                   THE A.A. TRADITION             567

pensed.  But our usual A.A. "12th Step" work is never to
be paid for.

  9.--Each A.A. groups needs the least possible organiza-
tion.  Rotating leadership is the best.  The small group
may elect its Secretary, the large group its Rotating
Committee, and the groups of a large Metropolitan area
their Central or Intergroup Committee, which often em-
ploys a full-time Secretary.  The trustees of the General
Service Board are, in effect, our A.A. General Service
Committee.  They are the custodians of our A.A. Tradition
and the receivers of voluntary A.A. contributions by
which we maintain our A.A. General Service Office at
New York.  They are authorized by the groups to han-
dle our over-all public relations and they guarantee the in-
tegrity of our principle newspaper, "The A.A. Grapevine."
All such representatives are to be guided in the spirit of
service, for true leaders in A.A. are but trusted and ex-
perienced servants of the whole.  They derive no real
authority from their titles; they do not govern.  Universal
respect is the key to their usefulness.

  10.--No A.A. group or member should ever, in such a
way as to implicate A.A., express any opinion on outside
controversial issues--particularly those of politics, alcohol
reform, or sectarian religion.  The Alcoholics Anonymous
groups oppose no one.  Concerning such matters they can
express no views whatever.

  11.--Our relations with the general public should be
characterized by personal anonymity.  We think A.A.
ought to avoid sensational advertising.  Our names and
pictures as A.A. members ought not be broadcast, filmed,
or publicly printed.  Our public relations should be guided
by the principle of attraction rather than promotion.
There is never need to praise ourselves.  We feel it better
to let our friends recommend us.

   12.--And finally, we of Alcoholics Anonymous believe
568               ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

that the principle of Anonymity has an immense spiritual
significance.  It reminds us that we are to place principles
before personalities; that we are actually to practice a
genuine humility.  This to the end that our great blessings
may never spoil us; that we shall forever live in thankful
contemplation of Him who presides over us all.


                           II
                  SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE

  The terms "spiritual experience" and "spiritual awaken-
ing" are used many times in this book which, upon careful
reading, shows that the personality change sufficient to
bring about recovery from alcoholism has manifested
itself among us in many different forms.

  Yet it is true that our first printing gave many readers
the impression that these personality changes, or reli-
gious experiences, must be in the nature of sudden and
spectacular upheavals.  Happily for everyone, this con-
clusion is erroneous.

  In the first few chapters a number of sudden revolu-
tionary changes are described.  Though it was not our
intention to create such an impression, many alcoholics
have nevertheless concluded that in order to recover
they must acquire an immediate and overwhelming "God-
consciousness" followed at once by a vast change in
feeling and outlook.

  Among our rapidly growing membership of thousands
of alcoholics such transformations, though frequent, are
by no means the rule.  Most of our experiences are what
the psychologist William James calls the "educational
variety" because they develop slowly over a period of
time.  Quite often friends of the newcomer are aware of
the difference long before he is himself.  He finally
realizes that he has undergone a profound alteration in
his reaction to life; that such a change could hardly have
been brought about by himself alone.  What often takes
place in a few months could hardly be accom-
plished by years of self-discipline.  With few exceptions
our members find that they have tapped an unsuspected

                           569
570               ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

inner resource which they presently identify with their
own conception of a Power greater than themselves.

  Most of us think this awareness of a Power greater than
ourselves is the essence of spiritual experience.  Our more
religious members call it "God-consciousness."

  Most emphatically we wish to say that any alcoholic
capable of honestly facing his problems in the light of
our experience can recover, provided he does not close
his mind to all spiritual principles.  He can only be de-
feated by an attitude of intolerance or belligerent denial.

  We find that no one need have difficulty with the
spirituality of the program.  WILLINGNESS, HONESTY AND OPEN
MINDEDNESS ARE THE ESSENTIALS OF RECOVERY.  BUT THESE ARE
INDISPENSABLE.

  "There is a principle which is a bar against all informa-
  tion, which is proof against all arguments and which
  cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance--
  that principle is contempt prior to investigation."

                                   --HERBERT SPENCER


                           III
                 THE MEDICAL VIEW ON A.A

  Since Dr. Silkworth's first endorsement of Alcoholics
Anonymous, medical societies and physicians throughout
the world have set their approval upon us.  Following
are excerpts from the comments of doctors present at the
actual meeting* of the Medical Society of the State of
New York where a paper on A.A. was read:

  Dr. Foster Kennedy, neurologist: "This organization of
Alcoholics Anonymous calls on two of the greatest reser-
voirs of power known to man, religion and that instinct
for association with one's fellows...the 'herd instinct.'
I think our profession must take appreciative cognizance
of this great therapeutic weapon.  If we do not do so, we
shall stand convicted of emotional sterility and of having
lost the faith that moves mountains, without which medi-
cine can do little."

  Dr. G. Kirby Collier, psychiatrist: "I have felt that A.A.
is a group unto themselves and their best results can be
had under their own guidance, as a result of their philos-
ophy.  Any therapeutic or philosophic procedure which
can prove a recovery rate of 50% to 60% must merit our
consideration."

  Dr. Harry M. Tiebout, psychiatrist: "As a psychiatrist,
I have thought a great deal about the relationship of my
speciality to A.A. and I have come to the conclusion that
our particular function can very often lie in preparing
the way for the patient to accept any sort of treatment
or outside help.  I now conceive the psychiatrist's job to
be the task of breaking down the patient's inner resist-
ance so that which is inside him will flower, as under the
activity of the A.A. program."

  * 1944
                           571
572               ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

  Dr. W. W. Bauer, broadcasting under the auspices of
The American Medical Association in 1946, over the NBC
network, said, in part: "Alcoholics Anonymous are no
crusaders; not a temperance society.  They know that they
must never drink.  They help others with similar prob-
lems... In this atmosphere the alcoholic often over-
comes his excessive concentration upon himself.  Learning
to depend upon a higher power and absorb himself in his
work with other alcoholics, he remains sober day by day.
The days add up into weeks, the weeks into months and
years."

  Dr. John F. Stouffer, Chief Psychiatrist, Philadelphia
General Hospital, citing his experience with A.A., said:
"The alcoholics we get here at Philadelphia General are
mostly those who cannot afford private treatment, and
A.A. is by far the greatest thing we have been able to
offer them.  Even among those who occasionally land
back in here again, we observe a profound change in
personality.  You would hardly recognize them."

  The American Psychiatric Association requested, in
1949, that a paper he prepared by one of the older mem-
bers of Alcoholics Anonymous to be read at the Associa-
tion's annual meeting of that year.  This was done, and
the paper was printed in the American Journal of Psy-
chiatry for November, 1949.

  (This address is now available in pamphlet form at
nominal cost through most A.A. groups or from Box 459,
Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10163, under the
title "Three Talks to Medical Societies by Bill W."--
formerly called "Bill on Alcoholism" and earlier "Alcohol-
ism the Illness.")

                           IV
                    THE LASKER AWARD

  In 1951 the Lasker Award was given Alcoholics Anony-
mous.  The citation reads in part as follows:

  "The American Public Health Association presents a
Lasker Group Award 1951 to Alcoholics Anonymous
in recognition of its unique and highly successful ap-
proach to that age-old public health and social problem,
alcoholism... In emphasizing alcoholism as an illness,
the social stigma associated with this condition is being
blotted out... Historians may one day recognize Alcohol-
ics Anonymous to have been a great venture in social
pioneering which forged a new instrument for social ac-
tion; a new therapy based on the kinship of common
suffering; one having vast a potential for the myriad other
ills of mankind."






                           573

                            V
               THE RELIGIOUS VIEW ON A.A.

  Clergymen of practically every denomination have
given A.A. their blessing.

  Edward Dowling, S.J.,* of the Queen's Work staff says,
"Alcoholics Anonymous is natural; it is natural at the
point where nature comes closest to the supernatural,
namely in humiliations and in consequent humility.  There
is something spiritual about an art museum or a sym-
phony, and the Catholic Church approves of our use of
them.  There is something spiritual about A.A. too, and
Catholic participation in it almost invariably results in
poor Catholics becoming better Catholics."

  The Episcopal magazine, THE LIVING CHURCH, observes
editorially: "The basis of the technique of Alcoholics
Anonymous is the truly Christian principle that a man
cannot help himself except by helping others.  The A.A.
plan is described by the members themselves as 'self-in-
surance.'  This self-insurance has resulted in the restoration
of physical, mental and spiritual health and self-respect
to hundreds of man and women who would be hope-
lessly down and out without its unique but effective therapy."

  Speaking at a dinner given by Mr. John D. Rockefeller
to introduce Alcoholics Anonymous to some of his friends,
Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick remarked:

  "I think that psychologically speaking there is a point
of advantage in the approach that is being made in this
movement that cannot be duplicated.  I suspect that if
it is wisely handled--and it seems to be in wise and
prudent hands--there are doors of opportunity ahead of
this project that may surpass our capacities to imagine."

  * Father Ed, an early and wonderful friend of A.A., died in the
Spring of 1960.
                           574

                           VI
              HOW TO GET IN TOUCH WITH A.A.

  In the United States and Canada, most towns and cities
have A.A. groups.  In such places, A.A. can be located
through the local telephone directory, newspaper office,
or police station, or by contacting local priests or minis-
ters.  In large cities, groups often maintain local offices
where alcoholics or their families may arrange for inter-
views or hospitalization.  These so-called intergroup
associations are found under the listing "A.A." or "Alco-
holics Anonymous" in telephone directories.

  At New York, U.S.A., Alcoholics Anonymous maintains
its international service center.  The General Service Board
of A.A. (the trustees) administers A.A.'s General Service
Office, A.A. World Services, Inc., and our monthly maga-
zine, the A.A. Grapevine.

  If you cannot find A.A. in your locality, a letter ad-
dressed to Alcoholics Anonymous, Box 459, Grand Central
Station, New York, NY 10163, U.S.A., will receive a
prompt reply from this world center, referring you to the
nearest A.A. group.  If there is none nearby, you will be in-
vited to carry on a correspondence which will do much to
insure your sobriety no matter how isolated you are.

  Should you be the relative or friend of an alcoholic who
shows no immediate interest in A.A., it is suggested that
you write the Al-Anon Family Groups, Inc., P. O. Box 862,
Midtown Station, New York, NY 10018, U.S.A.

  This is a world clearing house for the Al-Anon Family
Groups, composed largely of the wives, husbands and
friends of A.A. members.  This headquarters will give the
location of the nearest Family Group and will, if you wish,
correspond with you about your special problems.

                           575
