I found this article timely and compelling as we read and study Tradition 11 today in our Thursday Twelve & Twelve meeting. I’ve added bold highlights to a few paragraphs that resonate for me from this article Bill W published in the November 1949 Grapevine over 75 years ago. We should note that this articleContinue reading “A Suggestion for Thanksgiving – Grapevine Article November 1949 By Bill W.”
Category Archives: Traditions
Circle & Triangle – As Bill Sees It #307
Above us, at the International Convention at St. Louis in 1955, floated a banner on which was inscribed the then new symbol for A.A., a circle enclosing a triangle. The circle stands for the whole world of A.A., and the triangle stands for A.A.’s Three Legacies: Recovery, Unity, and Service. It is perhaps no accidentContinue reading “Circle & Triangle – As Bill Sees It #307”
The Shape Of Things To Come – Grapevine Article February 1961 By Bill W.
There is a timeless quality to what Bill W wrote that seems as relevant as AA approaches its 90th birthday as it was when he wrote this as the fellowship celebrated its 25 year anniversary. This relevance exists at both the personal recovery level and group collective. – Bruce M. AA’s FIRST quarter-century is nowContinue reading “The Shape Of Things To Come – Grapevine Article February 1961 By Bill W.”
AA Principles & Purpose Are Portable – A Spiritual Principle A Day December 12th
“Being able to focus on a primary purpose and work creatively toward it is so much part of our way of life that we may not realize how valued that is in the world at large.” Living Clean, Chapter 5, “Bridging Two Worlds” The idea that what we learn in recovery applies outside AA isContinue reading “AA Principles & Purpose Are Portable – A Spiritual Principle A Day December 12th”
AA Traditions Are Not Traditional! – Grapevine Article Extract Jan 1955 by Bill W
In our Twelve Traditions we have set our faces against nearly every trend in the outside world. “We have denied ourselves personal government, professionalism and the right to say who our members shall be. We have abandoned do-goodism, reform and paternalism. We refuse charitable money and prefer to pay our own way. We will cooperateContinue reading “AA Traditions Are Not Traditional! – Grapevine Article Extract Jan 1955 by Bill W”
Tradition Five: What A Group Ought To Be Grapevine Article May 2006 by Anonymous
An AA says we can’t transmit what we don’t have The first thing Tradition Five tells us is what a group is, or at least “ought to be.” We are not a sociological entity, although sociologists find us fascinating. We are not a therapy group, although remarkable healing takes place among us. And we areContinue reading “Tradition Five: What A Group Ought To Be Grapevine Article May 2006 by Anonymous”
What Is Freedom in AA? – Grapevine Article May 1960 by Bill W
THE TRADITIONS and customs of Alcoholics Anonymous reveal a charter for individual and group freedom, the like of which history has never before produced. We have no humanly administered government whatever. Once upon a time, there was an AA member who got the notion that his own group was a little too stuffy, respectable, andContinue reading “What Is Freedom in AA? – Grapevine Article May 1960 by Bill W”
Again at the Crossroads – Grapevine Article November 1961 by Bill W.
WE AAs are everywhere developing a keener sense of our history and the meaning of its turning points. Moreover, I believe that we are getting a right sense of our history; something of the utmost importance indeed. The world’s past reveals that many societies and nations have fallen victims to fear and pride, or to their aggressiveContinue reading “Again at the Crossroads – Grapevine Article November 1961 by Bill W.”
Dr. Bob The Fundamentals – In Retrospect – Grapevine Article September 1948
It is gratifying to feel that one belongs to and has a definite personal part in the work of a growing and spiritually prospering organization for the release of the alcoholics of mankind from a deadly enslavement. For me, there is double gratification in the realization that, more than thirteen years ago, an all-wise Providence,Continue reading “Dr. Bob The Fundamentals – In Retrospect – Grapevine Article September 1948”
The Right To Be Wrong – Grapevine Article April 1995 by Jim N.
After moving out West, I attended a beginners meeting one afternoon. A man stood at the door greeting people this way: “Are you new? Do you have a desire to stop drinking?” If the individual didn’t admit to having such a desire, he or she was invited to leave and go to another meeting. IContinue reading “The Right To Be Wrong – Grapevine Article April 1995 by Jim N.”