Concept Twelve

CONCEPT TWELVE AND THE PRINCIPLE OF “SUBSTANTIAL UNANIMITY”

“General Warranties of the Conference: In all its proceedings, the General Service Conference shall observe the spirit of the AA Tradition, taking great care that the Conference never becomes the seat of perilous wealth or power; that sufficient operating funds, plus an ample reserve, be its prudent financial principle; that none of the Conference members shall ever be placed in a position of unqualified authority over any of the others; that all important decisions be reached by discussion, vote, and, wherever possible, by substantial unanimity; that no Conference action ever be personally punitive or an incitement to public controversy; that, though the Conference may act for the service of Alcoholics Anonymous, it shall never perform any acts of government; and that, like the Society of Alcoholics Anonymous which it serves, the Conference itself will always remain democratic in thought and action.”

“One of the most remarkable documents I’ve ever read”.  So said Nell Wing, who worked hand-in-glove with our co-founder Bill W. as his assistant for his final twenty years. What was she talking about? the Big Book? the Twelve and Twelve? Neither, as it happens.  She was talking about the Twelve Concepts, and specifically about the Twelfth, which summarises the ground rules for our spiritual democracy.  For us AAs, it’s right up there with the Magna Carta or the American Bill of Rights. 

Sometimes I have sat in a business meeting or group conscience session thinking, I really didn’t get sober for this.  As my eyes wander the room searching for the emergency exit, they alight on the scroll with the Traditions and particularly those words in Tradition Two, “a loving God as he may express himself in our group conscience.”  That really doesn’t seem to square with what I’m witnessing: lots of people talking at once, sharing opinions rather than experience, bad decisions being made in a hurry on a majority vote.  Then I look again at Tradition Two and I notice something afresh: the word is MAY, not will.  A loving |God as he may express himself.  So what does it take to turn may into will?  How can we ever be confident that the conscience of our group is in tune with the spirit of the universe?

Back in the 1940s, our other co-founder, Dr Bob, once found himself in a business meeting in Akron, so the story goes.  It resembled nothing so much as a bar-room brawl, and according to another of those present, Dr Bob got up and put up his hands as if to say – enough, STOP! And then he spoke, “Gentlemen, please. We are still members of Alcoholics Anonymous. Let's carry the principles of AA into these business meetings. … Let one man talk at a time, and let us conduct this business meeting as a service to the Lord and a service to our fellow members of Alcoholics Anonymous.”

After Dr Bob died in 1950, Bill gave a lot of thought to the problem over the years that remained to him.  The Twelve Concepts for World Service, which came out in 1962, were devised first and foremost as guidelines for the conscience of the Fellowship as a whole - for its General Service Conference.  But they contain principles and spiritual truths which can be applied at every level of the service structure, in groups and even by members in our daily affairs.

One thing that particularly concerned Bill was what he called the “tyranny of the majority” - the risk that groups would take decisions that were uniformed, misinformed, hasty or angry.  The best defence against this, he thought, was to pay really close attention to the minority opinion, which not infrequently turns out to have been right all along.  So in our business or conscience meetings today we could think about devoting less time and attention to those who agree, and their reasons, and turn the spotlight more onto those who disagree, and why.

This is all well explained in Concept Five.

“Throughout our world service structure, a traditional “Right of Appeal” ought to prevail, thus assuring us that minority opinion will be heard and that petitions for the redress of personal grievances will be carefully considered.” (AA Structure Handbook GB 2020)”

What this means in practice is set out in Concept Twelve, where it says that all major decisions should be made through a process of discussion, vote, and substantial unanimity.  So ideally, we keep on talking until complete agreement has been reached; unresolved dissension is maybe the sign we need from above that everyone should be working their Eleventh Step a bit harder. It has been well said that there are no emergencies in AA, but if the need for a decision is really pressing then a two-thirds majority will sometimes suffice.  But even then, Bill gave examples of where early conferences had continued to talk though to consensus, even though a two-to-one majority was clearly available.  This, he said, was evidence of real prudence and courteous deference to minority views. 

Why is any of this relevant to our primary purpose? Well, over many years now, I’ve witnessed conduct in business and conscience meetings which could have been calculated to put newcomers off - unless the idea has been to stage some sort of showcase of character defects.  If the principles behind Concept Twelve were better known, still better practiced, I feel confident that everything would run a lot more quietly and smoothly, and more newcomers would keep coming back. 

ANONYMOUS