My Writing
My writing sometimes reflected the confusion I felt. At the time, I was not really clear in my mind about the truths and I was still in the grip of the Cult of NAWS. I attracted new contacts and found support to continue writing with each article. Each conversation, and each person who took time to help me became a cherished member of my support group. I was fortunate to develop a new support group of compassionate, generous, and loving individuals. I have found it difficult to separate myself from my resentments sometimes. I tried communicating my viewpoints in articles without making them come across like I was the voice of Narcotics Anonymous. I was not always pleased with the results of my writing. Effective communications skills have been one of the benefits of this writing experience these last few years and my personal recovery has benefited from being connected to a global Fellowship. I have found it so odd to be denied the opportunity to distribute meeting lists and worse, criticized for printing them at my own cost. Now I see the cult mentality of some members. The transition from a cult mentality to a Fellowship mentality was difficult for me but I persisted in attending meetings regularly. I feel very grateful to have experienced the cult mentality of some members. The Merriam/Webster Dictionary online offers one definition of cult.
“a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator”
[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cult]
I had to look up promulgator as well.
“(law) one who promulgates laws (announces a law as a way of putting it into execution)”
“law, jurisprudence – the collection of rules imposed by authority; ‘civilization presupposes respect for the law’; ‘the great problem for jurisprudence to allow freedom while enforcing order’”
“lawgiver, lawmaker – a maker of laws; someone who gives a code of laws”
[https://www.thefreedictionary.com/promulgator]
I cringed when I read this because of my own behaviors. Some days I feel terrible about myself because I was caught up in ego and no longer sharing my experience, strength, and hope. I often become a promulgator. My humility opened the door to empathy to others who suffered in a similar way.
Having an opinion is different than sharing your experience. I can try to communicate ‘my experience is that attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings regularly has helped me a great deal’. Unfortunately, my experiences often come out as opinions. I still say that you should attend ninety meetings in ninety days before you have an idea of what NA is about. That’s an opinion and other members might share that same opinion. We start to chant this dogma as if it is a law. Narcotics Anonymous literature suggests we attend a meeting daily for ninety days. Anyone who shares different ideas about this or tries different ways than this can become open to criticism, contempt, and exclusion from the cult.
I immersed myself in Narcotics Anonymous for more than a decade in the beginning. I was fully engulfed in the cult of NAWS. Many cult members are promulgators. I attended a lot of meetings both online and in person the first year. Online or virtual meetings existed early on but have never been recognized by the NAWS corporation. This added to my confusion about what is and is not Narcotics Anonymous. A virtual group has never been able to register and be recognized by the NAWS corporation. I did become involved in service, attended events, and looked to the Fellowship for friendships and support with mixed results in my first decade.
Facts and Opinions
Separation of opinions, facts and experiences is very difficult when anyone is communicating. I can see early in the development of the service structures how members would weave their ideas using all three of these mechanisms for communication. In the 1980 World Service Conference minutes, Jimmy Kinnon, a respected member of NA and one of the founders from that first meeting in 1953, was responding to a question from those in attendance by stating that;
“page 22 of the Service Manual states what WSO is – a non-profit corporation. Most questions are answered in this section of Service Manual. Stated that WSO is more of a business than it is part of the Fellowship. WSO is separate from N.A. but works with N.A. WSO, Inc. functions as a non-profit corporation with Managers, administrators, Departments, paid employees (not at present but hopefully in the future), subsidiaries ·and the like.”
[NA History Tree website, World Service Conference Minutes, 1980, page 11] [https://nahistorytree.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/1980-wsc-minutes.pdf]
He was expressing facts and opinions. He quoted guidelines from the current service manual. Likely he was referencing the 1979 3rd Edition of the Service Manual. See – [http://www.nauca.us/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/1979-3rd-Edition-Service-Manual.pdf]
In the same minutes, Chuck Skinner, Chairman of the Board of Trustees was asked a question.
“what course of action on groups not following suggested 12 Step of N A. and more importantly, the 12 Traditions of N.A. ( ie . ,dissention ,non-participation at Area Service, inter-relations with outside interest groups ). “
Chuck stated that.
“any area where there is a violation of the Traditions, the 1st step would be for the Region that is dealing with that organization that is violating the Traditions be informed that they are to cease and desist. If they refuse, notify WSO who will in turn send the cease and desist information. If that fails, notification to the Board of Trustees who, with the WSO , will take any necessary legal action. Question from the floor re : this issue in which an issue such as this was brought to a Region’s attention and that things would be left as is until the Conference . Chuck stated that if a Tradition is being violated, it should be taken care of immediately . Question was what does the Region do in terms of meeting directories. Chuck stated that no assistance should be offered to any breakings of the Traditions. Remove these meetings from the directories forthwith. That would be the first action. Notifying the people as such in front. “
[WSC Minutes, 1980, page 15]
[WSC Minutes, 1980, page 15]
Leadership is highly valued but often abused
Chuck’s comments are purely opinion and had no basis in fact. None of his recommendations were backed by any policies or procedures. His opinions had some weight given his position and time in Narcotics Anonymous. As a ‘trusted servant’ his duty is to serve the groups and not his own personal agenda or falsely represent ideas as fact. Unfortunately, it is a common problem and one I experience daily in attending meetings. The ability to include or exclude any Group simply did not exist and has never existed. This idea of exclusion has become a strong dividing point in the development of the cult of NAWS service structures. Shunning and excluding is normal practice within the cult of NAWS Inc. It is of little surprise how few groups now support area, region and world services when this is put into practice.
The internal problems with defining service structures got worse over the next ten years. By 1990, the Fifth edition of the Basic Text was in print and had been altered by the WSO and the Board of Trustees to reflect the opinions of a select few rather than the original Basic Text that was approved by groups in 1981. Many early supporters of the WSC had fled in disgust. What was left was a minority who embraced this imposing service structure and sought to increase the power and control of this fledgling cult. This article highlighted my early ideas about the Cult of NAWS.