The only requirement for AA membership
Membership does not equal sobriety
“The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.”
-Tradition Three (short form)
“At a certain point in the drinking of every alcoholic, he passes into a state where the most powerful desire to stop drinking is of absolutely no avail.”
-Alcoholics Anonymous p. 24
Membership does not equal sobriety. In fact, these ideas are on different sides of the triangle. Tradition Three guarantees my membership to the fellowship of AA. The fellowship of AA—the meetings, the other alcoholics—is all part of the unity of Alcoholics Anonymous. We do this together, as a group and as a whole world of AA. The fellowship is powerful.
But the fellowship is not recovery. Recovery exists on a different leg of the triangle. And recovery means sobriety for the still-suffering alcoholic. And sobriety is the goal. It has to be the goal because I have lost the power of choice when it comes to drinking. My mind tells me I can drink—and my body assures me that once I do take a drink, all bets are off.
Tradition Three is better and more fully described in the Long Form of the Twelve Traditions. It states: “Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism. Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover.” The long form, as originally written by Bill W., states that membership in AA implies that one will work the program of recovery. Membership is about recovery.
Just for today, I want to be living the full triangle—the unity, the service, and certainly the program of recovery. I will stay sober and sane while working the Twelve Steps with a sponsor who knows the book and can guide me through the process. I don’t even have to believe it will work. I just have to be willing. Willingness has been the key to recovery since my first days of sobriety and continues all of these 24 hours later.
To all alcoholics who are worried you are not really members of AA because you don’t always have the desire to stop drinking—let me assure you that you are. If you are suffering from alcoholism, AA is for you. The AA fellowship is one side, but the recovery you seek is there as well. God as you understand God will give you the willingness.
"To all alcoholics who are worried you are not really members of AA because you don’t always have the desire to stop drinking..." I think that we have moments when we lose our desire to Do Recovery. No one wants to admit he's an alcoholic. No one wants to take an immoral, excuse me, a moral inventory. No one wants recovery. We're willing to do what we don't want to do because we're desperate. In so doing, we face our fears, take responsibility. We learn to love recovery.