Tradition 10 · October 29

Our Sole Aim

Daily Traditions · October 29

How a group breaks it

Saying plainly what A.A. is has never been an outside issue; it is the one thing A.A. must say. Tradition 10 keeps A.A. out of other people's fights, not out of its own name. Bill W. drew the line in 1947 (A.A. pamphlet P-17, p. 24): "we cannot link the A.A. name to other enterprises in the alcohol field to the extent that the public gets the impression we have abandoned our sole aim." Sole aim means only purpose. An enterprise is a business or a program. The pamphlet P-43 says it in a caption: "Ours is not a secret society" — "we carry the message anywhere we can". Saying out loud that an A.A. group charges nothing and answers to no program is not taking A.A. into a fight. It keeps A.A.'s name its own. The drinker who thinks A.A. is a program he can't afford, or a place he'll be reported from, never finds the free room down the street. Today the confusion sits on intake forms, billing sheets and websites that list twelve-step meetings as a paid service, which an A.A. group never is. Test it tonight: ask whether your meeting answers to anyone but the alcoholics in it, and say so out loud when someone asks.

Sit with

Tradition 10 keeps A.A. out of other people's fights; it never asks A.A. to let others say what it is. Could a drinker tell, from what my room says about itself, that it is free and answers to no one?

Grounded in: P-17, p. 24 (Bill W., 1947); P-43, The Twelve Traditions Illustrated.

Tradition 10

"Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy."

Read the Long Form (pp. 563–566). The short form on pp. 561–562 is the one everybody quotes — but the Long Form is where the Traditions actually say what they mean. Tradition 3's "no other affiliation" clause, for instance, exists only in the Long Form. That single clause is why no treatment centre can own an A.A. group. Most of what circulates online skips it.

And a distinction worth keeping straight: the Traditions are governance, not theology. They bind A.A. groups and the Fellowship — not individuals, and not outside businesses. They were adopted in 1950 to keep A.A. from being owned or co-opted. They are not a rulebook for your personal life.

What the Traditions actually say → The Long Form, p. 563 → Search the Big Book → Every day this month →

Ask Recovery Einstein about Tradition 10 → Get the app →

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Daily Traditions is an independent educational resource from Recovery Starts — not official A.A. literature, not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, and not medical advice. The Twelve Traditions are the property of A.A. Page references are to Alcoholics Anonymous (the Big Book), 4th Edition: short form 561–562, long form 563–566. If you're in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).