- •[Participants draft of work in progress - not for distribution - ed]
- •Na Fellowship Work in Progress
- •Victor Hugo Sewell, Jr.
- •Na Foundation Group
- •1516 B Life Oak Drive
- •The Tradition Wars: a pathway to peace
- •Chapter One Early History of na
- •How na Service Took on Its Form
- •Chapter Three The Book
- •Wso Timeline of Important Dates and Events
- •Forward
- •Introduction
- •Money, Property and Prestige
- •Chapter Five The Growth through Our Book
- •Some thoughts on the History of the Purist Movement
- •In na by a founding member.
- •Chapter Six History Movement Starts in Alabama Madison History Conference
- •I. The inception
- •In order to share how the committee started you need to understand the why.
- •II. The Committee forms
- •III. The First Celebration Set
- •IV. Members Gather
- •V. Speaker Transcripts from the Convention
- •VI. Archive Search and Define Goals
- •VII. The Trouble Starts
- •Allentown history conference
- •Side two of tape
- •[Is there a break in the tape or transcription here? - Ed]
- •Side two of tape
- •[Side two of tape]
- •[End of Tape 4]
- •[Side two]
- •[Side two of tape]
- •[Side two of tape]
- •Baby Blue
- •Intent was to get attention on negative factions within world services by agitating
- •South Florida Blue Story
- •Bob Stone
- •Commentary on history leading up to Baby Blue Case
- •Tremendous Amount of Pain
- •Grateful Dave's Fight
- •Grateful Dave’s Home Group
- •Baby Blue Court Case
- •Part Three
- •'Baby blue'
- •Transcript of the court case - Summary Ruling by Judge Pollack
- •The History Committee Folds
- •Chapter Eleven the world service inventory
- •The superboard
- •Board Authority Motion to be inserted here - Ed
- •The internet
- •The disenfranchised
- •Chapter Fifteen
- •Inside The wso
- •(Why I'm Writing This)
- •History of Narcotics Anonymous
- •History of the Service Structure
- •Our Traditions And The World Organization
- •Inside The wso
- •Service Structure Overview
- •Too Tired To Fight
- •The real na is the caring and the sharing. All else is stage setting. Were we to grow large in worldly terms and lose our simple message of hope, we would have to make another program.
- •Central Office vs. World Wide Fellowship
- •I’m interested in the future of the future.” - Robert Doniger, 1996
- •Spiritual Unity
- •Morality
- •Traditions War Memorial
- •Lynn Watkins Eyewitness account of politics in early days of World Service Conference and the Transition from the original wso
- •Chapter Twenty Pathway to Peace
- •Appendices
- •Excerpt from Bob Stone's Book:
- •Bob Stone and the na fellowship
- •Chapter Twenty
- •I Was Stunned
- •Epilogue
- •Correctness Cults
- •If we look far enough into our past - we will see our future
- •The n.A. Tree The Service Structure of Narcotics Anonymous
- •Introduction
Correctness Cults
In the absence of real historical materials, beliefs held in common by differing groups of members within NA are free to roam at large, do battle, recruit and participate in seemingly endless war with opposing viewpoints. They function like local war lords and rule by force of verbal arms. They conduct kangaroo courts and frequently exclude NA members from participation in their groups or meetings and sometimes run people out of NA. A growing number of witnesses attest to this. Also, a growing number of survivors are coming back to NA and tell of having been run off because they wouldn't go out with someone or sought answers with unpopular questions. This is not recovery in action. It is simply fear and social ineptitude acting in an information vacuum where no one is really sure what to do because they are or have been faced with problems they never experienced.
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If we look far enough into our past - we will see our future
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The n.A. Tree The Service Structure of Narcotics Anonymous
(11/ 7/ 75)
Serenity Prayer : GOD . . . Grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The Courage to change the things I can . . . And the Wisdom to know the difference
. We cannot change the nature of the Addict or Addiction . . . We can help to change the old lie "Once an addict, always an addict" by striving to make recovery more available. God help us to remember this difference
An open letter to the members of Narcotics Anonymous
November 17, 1975
Dear Fellow Members:
Again, the groups in our area are being asked questions like, "Hey, what's this GSR we're supposed to be electing next week, what does he do?"; "Where does the money go, what's it used for?"; " Now that I've been elected Secretary, what do I do?"; "What's the WSO?" Most of the answers we've heard to these questions and others like them have been based on good guesses, opinion, or misinformation. There doesn't seem to be anywhere in N.A. where this kind of information is set down in plain terms.
Gathering together what we could find in old ditto sheets, letters, tapes, from the literature of other fellowships such as ours, and from our own experience, we have tried to find answers to some of our own questions and to clarify some of our misconceptions. The following is a pamphlet about the service structure of N.A. as we understand it. Its purpose is to express, in simple terms, basic ideas about how we as members and servants of N.A. relate to each other and to N.A. as a whole. It is our hope that this pamphlet will become part of our literature, available to all members; and that, in some small way, it will help ensure the continuation and growth of our fellowship.
Yours in Fellowship,
A Group of Concerned Members
copyright 1976 C.A.R.E.
Narcotics Anonymous
World Service Office
P.O. Box 622
Sun Valley, CA 91352
DEDICATION
This presentation of the Service Structure of Narcotics Anonymous is dedicated to the following proposition:
To assure that no addict seeking recovery need die without having had a chance to find a better way of life, from this day forward may we better provide the necessary services.
Our N.A. Symbol
Simplicity is the keynote of our symbol; it follows the simplicity of our fellowship. We could find all sorts of occult and esoteric connotations in the simple outlines, but foremost in our minds were easily understood meanings and relationships.
The outer circle denotes a universal and total program that has room within for all manifestations of the recovering and wholly recovered person.
The square, whose lines are defined, is easily seen and understood; but there are other unseen parts of the symbol. The square base denotes Goodwill, the ground of both the fellowship and the member of our society. Actually, it is the four pyramid sides which rise from this base in a three dimensional figure that are the Self, Society, Service and God. All rise to the point of Freedom.
All parts thus far are closely related to the needs and aims of the addict seeking recovery and the purpose of the fellowship seeking to make recovery available to all. The greater the base, as we grow in unity in numbers and in fellowship, the broader the sides and the higher the point of freedom. Probably the last to be lost to freedom will be the stigma of being an addict. Goodwill is best exemplified in service and proper service is "Doing the right thing for the right reason." When this supports and motivates both the individual and the fellowship, we are fully whole and wholly free.