AAs12Traditions

Traditions Long Form

Traditions Short Form

Traditions Checklist.

The Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous Top

Our AA experience has taught us that:

Long Form

Each member of Alcoholics Anonymous is but a small part of a great whole. AA must continue to live or most of us will surely die. Hence our common welfare comes first. But individual welfare follows close afterward.
For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience.
Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism. Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover. Nor ought AA membership ever depend upon money or conformity. Any two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an AA group, provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation.
With respect to its own affairs, each AA group should be responsible to no other authority than its own conscience. But when its plans concern the welfare of neighbouring groups also, those groups ought to be consulted. And no group, regional committee, or individual should ever take any action that might greatly affect AA as a whole without conferring with the trustees of the General Service Board. On such issues our common welfare is paramount.
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.
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 to AA should be separately incorporated and managed, thus dividing the material from the spiritual. An AA group, as such, should never go into business. Secondary aids to AA, 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 responsibility of those people who financially support them. For clubs, AA managers are usually preferred. But hospitals, as well as other places of recuperation, ought to be well outside AA—and medically supervised. While an AA group may cooperate with anyone, such cooperation ought never to go so far as affiliation or endorsement, actual or implied. An AA group can bind itself to no one.
The AA groups themselves ought to be fully supported by the voluntary contributions of their own members. 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 contributions carrying any obligations whatever, is unwise. Then, too, we view with much concern those AA treasuries which continue, beyond prudent reserves, to accumulate funds for no stated AA purpose. Experience has often warned us that nothing can so surely destroy our spiritual heritage as futile disputes over property, money, and authority.
Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever non-professional. We define professionalism as the occupation of counselling 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 recompensed. But our usual AA Twelfth Step work is never to be paid for.
Each AA group needs the least possible organization. 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 employs a full-time secretary. The trustees of the General Service Board are, in effect, our AA General Service Committee. They are the custodians of our AA Tradition and the receivers of voluntary AA contributions by which we maintain our AA AA's General Service Office at New York. They are authorized by the groups to handle our overall public relations and guarantee the integrity of our principal newspaper, the AA Grapevine. All such representatives are to be guided in the spirit of service, for true leaders in AA are but trusted and experienced servants of the whole. They derive no real authority from their titles; they do not govern. Universal respect is the key to their usefulness.
No AA group or member should ever, in such a way as to implicate AA, 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.
Our relations with the general public should be characterized by personal anonymity. We think AA ought to avoid sensational advertising. Our names and pictures as AA 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.
And finally, we of Alcoholics Anonymous believe 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.

Short Form

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

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-supporting, 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 responsible 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 on attraction 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.

Traditions Checklist Top

Tradition One

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

Am I in my group a healing, mending, integrating person, or am I divisive? What about gossip and taking other members' inventories?
Am I a peacemaker? Or do I, with pious preludes such as "just for the sake of discussion," plunge into argument?
Am I gentle with those who rub me the wrong way, or am I abrasive?
Do I make competitive AA remarks, such as comparing one group with another or contrasting AA in one place with AA in another?
Do I put down some AA activities as if I were superior for not participating in this or that aspect of AA?
Am I informed about AA as a whole? Do I support, in every way I can, AA as a whole, or just the parts I understand and approve of?
Am I as considerate of AA members as I want them to be of me?
Do I spout platitudes about love while indulging in and secretly justifying behavior that bristles with hostility?
Do I go to enough AA meetings or read enough AA literature to really keep in touch?
Do I share with AA all of me, the bad and the good, accepting as well as giving the help of fellowship?

Tradition 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.

Do I criticize or do I trust and support my group officers, AA committees, and office workers? Newcomers? Old-timers?
Am I absolutely trustworthy, even in secret, with AA Twelfth Step jobs or other AA responsibility?
Do I look for credit in my AA jobs? Praise for my AA ideas?
Do I have to save face in group discussion, or can I yield in good spirit to the group conscience and work cheerfully along with it?
Although I have been sober a few years, am I still willing to serve my turn at AA chores?
In group discussions, do I sound off about matters on which I have no experience and little knowledge?

Tradition Three

The only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking.

In my mind, do I prejudge some new AA members as losers?
Is there some kind of alcoholic whom I privately do not want in my AA group?
Do I set myself up as a judge of whether a newcomer is sincere or phony?
Do I let language, religion (or lack of it), race, education, age, or other such things interfere with my carrying the message?
Am I overimpressed by a celebrity? By a doctor, a clergyman, an ex-convict? Or can I just treat this new member simply and naturally as one more sick human, like the rest of us?
When someone turns up at AA needing information or help (even if he can't ask for it aloud), does it really matter to me what he does for a living? Where he lives? What his domestic arrangements are? Whether he had been to AA before? What his other problems are?

Tradition Four

Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or AA as a whole.

Do I insist that there are only a few right ways of doing things in AA?
Does my group always consider the welfare of the rest of AA? Of nearby groups? Of Loners in Alaska? Of Internationalists miles from port? Of a group in Rome or El Salvador?
Do I put down other members' behavior when it is different from mine, or do I learn from it?
Do I always bear in mind that, to those outsiders who know I am in AA, I may to some extent represent our entire beloved Fellowship?
Am I willing to help a newcomer go to any lengths-his lengths, not mine-to stay sober?
Do I share my knowledge of AA tools with other members who may not have heard of them?

Tradition Five

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

Do I ever cop out by saying, "I'm not a group, so this or that Tradition doesn't apply to me"?
Am I willing to explain firmly to a newcomer the limitations of AA help, even if he gets mad at me for not giving him a loan?
Have I today imposed on any AA member for a special favor or consideration simply because I am a fellow alcoholic?
Am I willing to twelfth-step the next newcomer without regard to who or what is in it for me?
Do I help my group in every way I can to fulfill our primary purpose?
Do I remember that AA old-timers, too, can be alcoholics who still suffer? Do I try both to help them and to learn from them?

Tradition Six

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

Should my fellow group members and I go out and raise money to endow several AA beds in our local hospital?
Is it good for a group to lease a small building?
Are all the officers and members of our local club for AAs familiar with "Guidelines on Clubs" (which is available free from GSO)?
Should the secretary of our group serve on the mayor's advisory committee on alcoholism?
Some alcoholics will stay around AA only if we have a TV and card room. If this is what is required to carry the message to them, should we have these facilities?

Tradition Seven

Every AA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.

Honestly now, do I do all I can to help AA (my group, my central office, my GSO) remain self-supporting? Could I put a little more into the basket on behalf of the new guy who can't afford it yet? How generous was I when tanked in a barroom?
Should the Grapevine sell advertising space to book publishers and drug companies, so it could make a big profit and become a bigger magazine, in full color, at a cheaper price per copy?
If GSO runs short of funds some year, wouldn't it be okay to let the government subsidize AA groups in hospitals and prisons?
Is it more important to get a big AA collection from a few people, or a smaller collection in which more members participate?
Is a group treasurer's report unimportant AA business? How does the treasurer feel about it?
How important in my recovery is the feeling of self-respect, rather than the feeling of being always under obligation for charity received?

Tradition Eight

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

Is my own behavior accurately described by the Traditions? If not, what needs changing?
When I chafe about any particular Tradition, do I realize how it affects others?
Do I sometimes try to get some reward-even if not money-for my personal AA efforts?
Do I try to sound in AA like an expert on alcoholism? On recovery? On medicine? On sociology? On AA itself? On psychology? On spiritual matters? Or, heaven help me, even on humility?
Do I make an effort to understand what AA employees do? What workers in other alcoholism agencies do? Can I distinguish clearly among them?
In my own AA life, have I any experiences which illustrate the wisdom of this Tradition?
Have I paid enough attention to the book Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions? To the pamphlet AA Tradition-How It Developed?

Tradition Nine

AA, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.

Do I still try to boss things in AA?
Do I resist formal aspects of AA because I fear them as authoritative?
Am I mature enough to understand and use all elements of the AA program-even if no one makes me do so-with a sense of personal responsibility?
Do I exercise patience and humility in any AA job I take?
Am I aware of all those to whom I am responsible in any AA job?
Why doesn't every AA group need a constitution and bylaws?
Have I learned to step out of an AA job gracefully-and profit thereby-when the time comes?
What has rotation to do with anonymity? With humility?

Tradition Ten

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

Do I ever give the impression that there really is an "AA opinion" on Antabuse? Tranquilizers? Doctors? Psychiatrists? Churches? Hospitals? Jails? Alcohol? The federal or state government? Legalizing marijuana? Vitamins? Al-Anon? Alateen?
Can I honestly share my own personal experience concerning any of those without giving the impression I am stating the "AA opinion"?
What in AA history gave rise to our Tenth Tradition?
Have I had a similar experience in my own AA life?
What would AA be without this Tradition? Where would I be?
Do I breach this or any of its supporting Traditions in subtle, perhaps unconscious, ways?
How can I manifest the spirit of this Tradition in my personal life outside AA? Inside AA?

Tradition Eleven

Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.

Do I sometimes promote AA so fanatically that I make it seem unattractive?
Am I always careful to keep the confidences reposed in me as an AA member?
Am I careful about throwing AA names around-even within the Fellowship?
Am I ashamed of being a recovered, or recovering, alcoholic?
What would AA be like if we were not guided by the ideas in Tradition Eleven? Where would I be?
Is my AA sobriety attractive enough that a sick drunk would want such a quality for himself?

Tradition Twelve

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

Why is it good idea for me to place the common welfare of all AA members before individual welfare? What would happen to me if AA as a whole disappeared?
When I do not trust AA's current servants, who do I wish had the authority to straighten them out?
In my opinions of and remarks about other AAs, am I implying membership requirements other than a desire to stay sober?
Do I ever try to get a certain AA group to conform to my standards, not its own?
Have I a personal responsibility in helping an AA group fulfil its primary purpose? What is my part?
Does my personal behaviour reflect the Sixth Tradition-or belie it?
Do I do all I can do to support AA financially? When is the last time I anonymously gave away a Grapevine subscription?
Do I complain about certain AAs' behaviour-especially if they are paid to work for AA? Who made me so smart?
Do I fulfil all AA responsibilities in such a way as to please privately even my own conscience? Really?
Do my utterances always reflect the Tenth Tradition, or do I give AA critics real ammunition?
Should I keep my AA membership a secret, or reveal it in private conversation when that may help another alcoholic (and therefore me)? Is my brand of AA so attractive that other drunks want it?
What is the real importance of me among more than a million AAs?

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