Spiritual Unity

  NA is a spiritual program of recovery from the disease of addiction following the 12 Steps from absolute defeat to the ability to live spiritual principles. Political Correctness in nothing more than refusing to take a stand.  We have to have a bias favoring spirituality. Trying not to offend or fear of being alienated for ones beliefs can work against us if we allow loud, self-seeking people to take charge of the meetings. Conflicts of interest can seriously disrupt the patterns of caring and sharing found in NA groups. Conflicts of interest push spirituality aside; there is always a conflict between the worldly and the spiritual. Sincerity and facing up to the truth are at the root of this thing called recovery. Acceptance without willingness to try something new is useless. The Unity called for in the 1st Tradition has been another casualty of Political Correctness. It used to be the responsibility of each addict to take under his or her wing newcomers and start the education process of NA. The do’s and don’ts of the Fellowship were explained. Clarity of the message of NA recovery was taught. Behavior that was deemed inappropriate by the groups was pointed out. Service work at its most basic levels, such as meeting greeter or butt-can monitor was usually not up for debate. You just were told to do it as service helps keep you clean. The women were told to stay with the women and the men were told to stay with the men. Members with time were severely admonished about leaving the cute newcomers alone so they could recover in peace. How we dressed, drove our cars, conducted ourselves in the parking lot, and what was expected of us when we went out for food after a meeting was part of the education process. Step work was encouraged as soon as we were able to focus enough to put pen to paper. In short we were all in this together. Somewhere along the way all of this stopped being important to most. An ‘anything goes’ mentality arose. The 3rd Tradition became fragmented to only read from the first line. There is more to membership than just a desire to stop using. With membership comes responsibility. But it has become the norm to leave that out. We are told not to offend anyone by calling them on anything. The unity called for in the 1st Tradition is lost, they say, when we point out anything to anyone that used to be considered bad for the addict and bad for the Fellowship.

Sharing pain and concern, one member shares:

 

”The subject of spiritual or moral values is in conflict with PC. What will we have if we say it is all ok. I am seeing the effect of this attitude reflected in the news and in some family members. It causes me reflect on what kind of society we will have in twenty years. When a child of four can calls their dad a punk and beats on everyone around with out fear of reprisal. Because it is not PC to spank or correct the child in the parents eyes. When people in the line at the store attack, kick, curse or take from another because it is not PC to be kind and have manners. It is the culmination of the me society. All about me. For me. About me. No morals, no spiritual center, no respect. ”15 years ago I watched Bill B. leave a meeting in tears because of the disrespect of a newcomer. This guy said fuck the old-timers we don't need them. It is the essence of this attitude that is the problem. because it was not PC to stomp the shit out of the boy, Bill was harmed, and the newcomer tore our area apart and later used.”

 

The whole question of what is morality for the fellowship is also something to be explored. We do not seek to impart a strict view that does not take into account a members personal opinion. None want a forced morality. Being a world wide fellowship, we as members come from a diverse set of societies, with member views shaped by the political, social, religious and/or secular climate we live in. To a narrow perspective before such a multitude would be a potential devisive wedge.

  We have an opportunity to once again allow the members to shape the future of the fellowship. It is our hope that a combination of spiritual principals with a morality component based on belief in the power of the NA message and the primary purpose of NA versus the whole political correctness attitude can bring a much deeper commitment to the fellowship and the addict who still suffers for all of us. The attitude of ‘everyone for themselves’ has taken deep root in the Fellowship due to the example set, which became the way we do things, by the WSO all those years ago. There is an old spiritual saying, “As above, so below.” that may apply here. It may not be intended yet it has built over the years. It happened so slowly that most did not notice. But examine these examples and others you can think of and draw your own conclusions.

 

This is not meant to be another conspiracy theory but a view of how things that do not seem to be related when taken together add up to another reason to take back the Fellowship to the Groups and members. A large percentage of our Fellowship has never known what this Fellowship was like before the taking of the Basic Text by the WSO. The old ways live in memory by a dwindling few. The Fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous is at stake and must be returned to it’s rightful owners, us.

 

 

 

One member’s experience:

 

“Who's going be the ones to set the standard? What am I considering to be moral that you wouldn’t. Who are you to tell me what my morals should be? Where would it become self-righteous? Didn't the WSO think they knew best for us.??? They might well have thought they were teaching us morals..?? ”Maybe we already have the way. The path has already been laid out. Could it be that we all as members need to be about the path and the application of these principles through the 12 Steps and the adherence to the 12 Traditions by each group and on up through the service structure. ”Now I see newcomers get encouraged to chair meetings and become leaders and trusted servants before they could possibly have proven they have earned our trust and respect. I see newcomers get long-winded in meetings and too few seem to understand why this can actually harm the newcomer. ”Some bleeding deacons as the old AAers called them might come in behind me and undermine and contradict something I said in order to help a new person get humble. A few years back at a Saturday noon JFT (Just For Today) meditation meeting a couple of men with seven or so years went to whining about their problems right after we read a meditation that had nothing to do with dumping. I stepped in and basically told them to grow up, and that what they were talking about had nothing to do with the topic of the meditation, or recovery for that matter. The balance of the meeting consisted of big mouthed, big bottomed, big egoed women sharing that I was wrong because they could share about anything affecting their recovery. ”That meeting wasn't my home group and maybe it was merely a drama and trauma dump session, maybe it still is. Point is a couple of the women who came in behind me and controverted what I shared to the men had substantial clean time, and in the old days, out of respect for my time, they would have reinforced what I said, or said nothing. Hell, even 2 and 3 year wonders have the gall to come in behind old timers and tell the old timer he or she is wrong these days. ”Lack of ego deflation, obedience, discipline, and respect is hurting the fellowship. Course I'm way way past having any of the nonsense affect what I do or say. I figure if my motives are right, any barriers will be removed by who's in charge.”

The important thing for those who are not familiar with the term 'political correctness' is that it is not only deceptive and not true, it is something fabricated by a controlling group of a few administrators who take it on themselves to make rules - and reality - for others. It is deadening the the spirit. Spirited members come to be seen as threats to the status quo, as indeed they are, and should be!

 

A member of the former World Service Board of Trustees recalls:

 

“We have come a long ways in NA and I vividly recall saying, "You can't do that, it violates the trust bond with the people who built the Fellowship." The reaction was anything but spiritual. Because they were not there and knew nothing of the trust bonds I spoke of, they reacted as if I were making it up.

 

“Members used to strut around WSO in 1982 when they found a found a typo in the original Basic Text, unaware that any typos were generated by WSO typesetting the manuscript. Since the Lit Committee did not proof the type setting process, all that could be said was there were some original typos in the manuscript. Who would expect WSO to print typos.

 

“I remember in 1985 or so every year we had a new buzz word. The first year it was ‘inappropriate.’ Anything wrong or unsuitable to the WSO was deemed ‘inappropriate.’ It was hard for people to react to this word because they were not used to political correctness. You could say a phrase was ‘inappropriate’ and never hear of see it again – that year! Then legalistic terms like ‘dissembling’ to describe the lawyers habit of presenting a set of information as if it were complete, only leaving out certain key items to lend a false air of certainty to a proposition or declaration. As long as no one challenges, the argument is strengthened. Lawyers go to school to learn how to do this – and how to deal with it when it comes up. Addicts seeking to serve their Fellowship didn’t see this coming and it certainly wasn’t seen in any of the Conference materials at the time. Then came graduated information: dis-information, mis-information, misleading-information, inaccurate information. After this were some instances of black listing where WSO personnel allowed their personal presumptions to contribute to a list of members who were supposedly involved with the Baby Blue. Legalistic threatening documents were sent out to a large number of NA trusted servants instructing them to ‘cease and desist’ from distributing the Baby Blue versions of our Basic Text, Narcotics Anonymous. Curiously, many members receiving these documents knew nothing of the Baby Blue and reacted in horror. “NA goes to court” was a matter of some discussion among the many non-addicts who followed our progress from afar.”

 

It is the blindness that comes at the center – an almost total lack of perspective. When you go from a volunteer system to a paid staff, you get some 'funny' shifts of emphasis. What is regarded as important changes. No longer is it important that the writing reflect the true experience of recovery of actual NA members. It becomes, "Who gets the credit? How will this affect my standing or that of my department." The basics of bureaucracy are in books at your public library, look under ‘b.’ It will shock you how ordinary and predictable our problems are. Political correctness is a term made up to describe the 'official position' of bureaucrats trying the manage the thinking of a population. It is right up there with ethnic cleansing for murder of an ethnic population. Cleansing sounds better than stabbing, shooting, blowing up and genocide. Correctness sounds better than lying, cheating or massaging the truth advantageous to the managers. This is an outright violation of the letter and spirit of our Twelve Traditions – and a good example why we ought never lend the NA name to outside enterprises. Many addicts who experienced this crass intrusion to our spiritual Fellowship were so shocked and dismayed, they were unable to continue in recovery. There may be some hard-hearted people who thought these people just lacked strong programs of recovery. There are may witnesses who experienced these things alive today and through the writings in this book, their pain will not go unnoticed. It is our sincere hope that this book signals the end of such disorders.