Click here to see Area feedback on the Basic Text 6th edition TASC meets the 2nd Sunday (3rd Sunday in May & October) of each month at 10:00 am., at CAMH, 33 Russell Street, in the cafeteria (1 block N of College St. on the E side of Spadina) Learn more about the Toronto Area Service Committee What is TASC? Who attends TASC? FEEDBACK FROM THE BASIC TEXT WORKSHOP The following is the input from the members of our fellowship that attended the workshop regarding the revision of the Basic Text. We are circulating it to see if there si any other feedback that the members of the Toronto Area have to offer. PART ONE - INPUT ON PREFERENCE Page One: Third paragraph as a whole. (Now, with the publication of our Sixth Edition Basic Text, we can say NA has in many respects, come of age. That process has not been without growing pains, however. From 1983 to 1988 we published five editions and a revision of the Basic Text. Those changes were spurred by and gave rise to tremendous conflict in our fellowship. In fact, for years afterward, the fellowship as a whole was unwilling to consider revising the book again. Frankly, many of us thought we would never see the day that a new edition of the Basic Text could be welcomed by the fellowship.) We felt that a clearer overview of the conflict resolutions that were attained in getting to this point of the Basic Text, both past and future.
Page Two: Third Paragraph, last sentence (Our members come from every walk of life. We are not contained within political or geographic boundaries, nor are we limited by any individual differences in faith or philosophy. In this respect, we are a kind of utopia; no matter what conflicts are unfolding in the world at large, inside the doors of NA, our common welfare comes first. Our text explains that this unity of purpose helps us “to achieve the true spirit of anonymity” where all of us are equal as members of the group. With that as our foundation, we as individual recovering addicts are each able to find our own distinct voice and to sin a song that is uniquely ours to sing.) We felt that the singing metaphor was sort of “cheesy” and that newcomers identify with SHARING not singing! A minority questioned the use of the word “utopia”, however most of us liked it.
Page Three: Last paragraph, second sentence (We hope the Sixth Edition Basic Text will offer a vision of recovery for addicts around the world—those who have already found the rooms of NA and those who will walk through our doors tomorrow. Over the years our fellowship has changed ands our literature has expanded and been revised, but the message remains the same: an addict, any addict, can stop using lose the desire to use and find a new way of life. You are welcome here. Please stay and be part of our growth, change, and recovery. The second sentence omits the words in bold, and we strongly feel they need to be added, in keeping with our current literature. PART TWO - INPUT ON INTRODUCTION TO OUR MEMEBERS SHARE
In our meetings, our lives, and our literature, we help each other by sharing our experience and the tools we use to live clean and recover. The Basic Text is an expression of this desire to share our recovery: Our collective wisdom describing the program in the first ten chapters, and here, our individual experiences living the program. Our members’ lives depend on our program; our program comes to life though the voices of our members.* __________________________________* Our First Tradition teaches us to look past out differences for our common welfare. The concept of unity described in this tradition is not the same thing as uniformity; over time we find that those differences are precisely the things that enrich us. In the particulars of our stories the truth of our message comes through; we see how much alike we really are. This can seem like a contradiction in NA: Our development as individuals and as a fellowship is about fostering our common bonds and common identity; at the same time we cultivate and cherish the things that make each of us who we are. We need both of these points of view to stay strong and grow. Since our Basic Text was first published, we have grown and changed as a fellowship. Our membership has broadened and our experience has deepened. Today we are truly worldwide, and each of our local NA communities contains worlds as well. Together we made a decision to revise this part of the book to embrace and reflect these changes. In the pages that follow, our members share their experience getting clean, staying clean, and living clean. The experience shared is as wide-ranging as we are ourselves. Our members write about going back to school, losing people they love, struggling with illness, making amends, coming to terms with their sexuality, raising children, serving the fellowship we all love, and countless other successes and challenges. It would be impossible to fully reflect the diversity in who our members are or what we have gone though in one collection, but here we have gathered some of the richness. Those who are already familiar with the Basic Text will notice several structural changes here. Part of the motivation to revise the text was to make it easier to navigate. To that end, each individual piece is very briefly summarized at the beginning and in the Table of Contents. If you are looking for something specific (like some0ne who struggled with illness, or someone who got clean young) you may be able to find it more quickly. We have organized the collection into four sections, the first of which is called “Beginnings.” The five stories here come from earlier editions of the Basic Text, and have not been edited for this edition. These voices of some of our younger members are a window on our earlier years. In addition to these five, several other previously published stories (from the English Basic Text, as well as other-language editions of the Basic Text and White Book have been edited elsewhere in the collection. After “Beginnings,” the text is divided into three more sections, each of which begins with an assortment of quotes from our members. In “Coming Home” section, members share about finding NA, or in some cases starting NA in their part of the world. Our readings tell us that anyone can find a home in NA “regardless of age, race, sexual identity, creed, religion, or lack of religion.” In the “Regardless of:” section members talk about their journey to find acceptance in NA, and to make NA a place where all of us can feel safe and welcome. The final section, “Life on Life’s Terms,” focuses on practicing the principals in the face of all that life offers; fully awake and alive, we confront joy and tragedy and the simple pleasures of day-to-day life. You may not relate to everything you read here –just as you may not identify with everyone who shares in an NA meeting—but we hope that at least some of these voices will touch and inspire you. In NA we learn that as addicts we are not unique, but as people we individuals, and our experience matters. Collectively we are so much more than the sum of our parts. Each of us, regardless of our clean time or where we came from has something to contribute by sharing openly and honestly, and something to gain when we listen with an open heart. *Add our gratitude speaks when we share and care with others the NA way.
GENERAL FEELINGS ABOUT PART TWO
Discussion of WHY do we share our experience ensued
Main points
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