We trust – and use reason. Living in a society with other addicts, we learn to discern.
The Principles That Guide Us, Tradition Two, Original Text
The spiritual principle of discernment—the exercise of good judgment—is a key element in the application of the Second Tradition. In our personal recovery, we seek to develop a guiding conscience for our decisions, one that helps us decode what is healthy for us and what is not. Many of us have described this conscience as a voice in our head that tells us what is right and what is wrong. Others say it is the higher power that cares for us and operates in our lives.
We carry this consciousness into groups and try to use it there, along with others. Discernment is group consciousness in action—to use it we need some common sense, experience, and, hopefully, a clarity about what our opinion is, what the facts are, and what is really important. Some of our groups develop trust and collective consciousness over time, but we must remain open-minded as our members evolve. To support the Second Tradition in action, we need unity, faith, goodwill, and even more trust.
Speaking of trust, discernment helps us choose our trusted servants and guides us in our efforts to be trustworthy as we serve. We create guidelines that outline the desired competencies for specific roles on our teams. These can help the process, but they are not everything.
Other factors that are not written on paper but that meet our service needs can play a role in our decisions. We listen to others tell us how they are qualified for a position, we learn about each other’s abilities to lead effectively, and then we use the discernment expressed through our team conscience to connect talent to purpose.
As trusted servants, we are trusted to serve the needs of our group and NA as a whole, not ourselves, our personal opinions, and our desired outcomes. To keep our leaders in check, we are each other’s eyes and ears, illuminating each other’s blind spots and turning up the volume when they are not being listened to carefully.
I am committed to serving the greater good. I intend to do this by exercising good judgment, inviting my own conscience to contribute to the group, and not trying to control the outcome.
