The High Sheriff

TRADITION ONE:

Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.
"The unity of Alcoholics Anonymous is the most cherished quality our Society has. Our lives, the lives of all to come, depend upon it. We stay whole, or A.A. dies. Without unity, the heart of A.A. would cease to beat; our world arteries would no longer carry the life-giving grace of God; His gift to us would be spent aimlessly. Back again in their caves, alcoholics would reproach us and say, 'What a great thing A.A. might have been!'”

THE TWELVE STEPS

OF

ALCOHOLICS  ANONYMOUS

(p. 129)

 

~

 I have been near enough to spiritual and political movements that behaved as cults to know one when I see it. The first cry of any cult is the insistence upon unity. There is a distinct difference, however, from egalitarian societies and cults, even though all must insist on a common trust. Cults generally enforce cohesiveness through intimidation by a Leader or an elite group of overseers… and this is sadly, but often necessarily, true for societies whose purposes are more altruistic than lining the pockets of their the said Leader or leadership. What makes AA different from these and what is it that unifies its membership without a high sheriff of some sort (read Animal Farm by George Orwell)? How has AA been able to survive without putting reins on its constituents? The answer to this is not only found in the Traditions but in the tyranny of the dictators of our souls: the Bottle; the Pill; the Fix and the spiritual vacuum we were bound within that governed every part of our lives. We find unity in our Traditions but our “Maser at Arms” is our disease. WE are driven out of the Fellowship by the demands of our disease and we stay in the Fellowship with Love and Tolerance because of the freedom we have found from those same demands. Once those chains were broken we found that our survival depended on sticking together. This is the foundation of, not only our survival, but, the dynamic that we thrive within.

geo 4,861