"Recently I attended an Overeater Anonymous meeting, which is registered as an official meeting. I was rather surprised and disappointed to find them reading a book that is not conference approved literature. The newcomer I brought to meeting was very confused." L.
Dear L.,
Thanks for writing to the WSO. My name is Margie and I am the Region One Trustee Liaison. I live in Dundee, OR which is about 25 miles southwest of Portland.
It is generally considered good policy for OA meetings to use only OA material in their meetings. Tradition 4 states “Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or OA as a whole.” I always encourage meetings with practices which are different from many other OA groups to include a statement in their format which explains that they do something different and lets others know that this not a general OA practice. You can always ask the leaders of the meeting if there was a group conscience taken on this issue.
I believe that a Tradition is higher value than an OA Policy, the autonomy of the group is a Tradition. If it were a meeting which I attended I would call for a group conscience and argue against use of outside literature.
There are times when one is out-voted. The last time this happened for me (I was out-voted on an issue where I was sure I was right and they were wrong). When I realized that everything I said made the others more determined to do it their way and less interested in my way, I stopped talking and then got up and left the meeting for fifteen minutes while I cooled down. Then I went back. The vote had been taken and they went on with the meeting. I choose to go along with the group conscience. This is how I learn humility.
I hope that this information is helpful to you.
In love and service,
Margie G. - R1Trustee@oa.org
Dear L.,
Thanks for writing to the WSO. My name is Margie and I am the Region One Trustee Liaison. I live in Dundee, OR which is about 25 miles southwest of Portland.
It is generally considered good policy for OA meetings to use only OA material in their meetings. Tradition 4 states “Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or OA as a whole.” I always encourage meetings with practices which are different from many other OA groups to include a statement in their format which explains that they do something different and lets others know that this not a general OA practice. You can always ask the leaders of the meeting if there was a group conscience taken on this issue.
I believe that a Tradition is higher value than an OA Policy, the autonomy of the group is a Tradition. If it were a meeting which I attended I would call for a group conscience and argue against use of outside literature.
There are times when one is out-voted. The last time this happened for me (I was out-voted on an issue where I was sure I was right and they were wrong). When I realized that everything I said made the others more determined to do it their way and less interested in my way, I stopped talking and then got up and left the meeting for fifteen minutes while I cooled down. Then I went back. The vote had been taken and they went on with the meeting. I choose to go along with the group conscience. This is how I learn humility.
I hope that this information is helpful to you.
In love and service,
Margie G. - R1Trustee@oa.org