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FAQ

These are a few of the questions that I like to share with others for discussion. 

A word of caution:  One may think that, for some of these, the answer is obvious or that there is only one answer.  That may be so if you're answering them by yourself! 

A group discussion may yield a surprising array of answers. . . .I encourage you to engage your group and give it a try!

  1. Why did Bill write the Traditions?
     

  2. Who enforces the Traditions?
     

  3. What became the “prime question” for the fellowship according to Tradition One? What are the implications of that “prime question?” 
     

  4. What is an effective way to start a group conscience?  Why?
     

  5. How does a group handle its difficulties?
     

  6. Who determines whether or not someone has a desire to stop drinking?
     

  7. Bill made the following statement on page 105 in Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, about Tradition Four:  “Some may think that we have carried the principle of group autonomy to extremes. … [Autonomy] means that these two or three alcoholics could try for sobriety in any way they liked.  They could disagree with any or all of A.A.’s principles and still call themselves an A.A. group.” [Italics mine]  Good grief!  Had Bill lost his mind?!?  What in the world gave him the courage to write that?
     

  8. What is the purpose of Tradition 4?
     

  9. Who are alcoholics who still struggle?
     

  10. Why is it important that Alcoholics Anonymous requires no dues or fees for A.A. membership?
     

  11. Where and why does Bill write the following about alcoholics?  “At this juncture, we can hear a churchman exclaim, “They are making disobedience a virtue!”  He is joined by a psychiatrist who says, “Defiant brats!  They won’t grow up and conform to social usage!”  The man in the street says, “I don’t understand it.  They must be nuts!”  What was Bill’s particular point as related to Tradition Nine?
     

  12. What is the difference between Tradition Six and Tradition Ten?
     

  13. Why do we have two Traditions on Anonymity?  What distinguishes one from the other?
     

  14. In Tradition Twelve, Bill writes, “Moved by the spirit of anonymity, we try to give up our natural desires for personal distinction as A.A. members both among fellow alcoholics and before the general public.”  What do you think Bill meant particularly in reference to “distinction as A.A. members … among fellow alcoholics.”  

As a friend in Iran says, “All of us say our first name followed by ‘I am an alcoholic.’ We have the same last name, ‘I am an alcoholic.’ Therefore, we are family.”

 

I wrote On What Slender Threads: A.A.’s Twelve Traditions from a Historical Perspective with the help of my family.

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