It Was Never Complicated

Tradition 8 says A.A. stays "forever nonprofessional" (Big Book, p. 561). Two words, and both mean exactly what they mean everywhere else. Nonprofessional: not a job. Not a career, not a practice, not a billing code, not a program fee. Nobody in A.A. is ever paid to help you, and nobody who is paid to help you is doing A.A. Forever: not until the field matures, not until licensing improves, not until somebody builds a respectful business model. Forever. That is the whole Tradition, and a newcomer can hold it after one reading. So notice how much work has gone into making it confusing — the essays, the seminars, the professionals explaining that it is more nuanced than it looks. It is not. A line this simple only gets complicated by people standing on the wrong side of it, because a clear rule leaves nothing to hide behind and a muddy one pays. Here is the pocket test, free forever: is anyone being paid for this conversation about my drinking? If yes, whatever this is, it is not A.A. It may be fine. It may even be medicine. But it is not us — and no one may tell you it is.