Anonymity. What a word. To me it’s so powerful. Not just keeping my head down from being discovered by the public that I’m and alcoholic. Like Bill W. tells us, the fear of discovery went away early on. Then what’s it all about?
When I look at the Twelve Traditions I see what it is that holds this program together and helps me to stay sober. And that Twelfth Tradition tells us. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.
Anonymity therefore teaches me what I’m supposed to do. Ego deflation in depth. It’s not about me. When I go to that First Tradition, it’s about unity. It’s about WE not me. I have to learn to get out of my own way and become part of. To learn about and then gain some humility. I can’t do that, if I think I’m in charge and trying to run the show. The Second Tradition certainly tells me all about that. To get out of the driver’s seat and move to the back of the bus.
This all ties in with the Twelve Steps, not just the action I had to take with myself in the First Step, my becoming willing to surrender and accept, but the next two Steps. Second and Third. Finding and then accepting a Power greater than myself and then letting go and letting the God of my understanding have my life and my problems. Getting out of the way and stop trying to run things. Letting others into my life and becoming part of. We.
None of this was easy for a self centered egotistical “star” of my own making, who wants to control and run everything. I’ve often expressed my gratitude for my sponsor and a lot of those old timers. Like I’ve often said they knew exactly how to deflate this overwhelming ego of mine. They could cut me down to size in a matter of seconds. How desperately I needed them and I never even knew that until I came into this program and wanted to get sober. They made me aware of how this program really works. They knew about anonymity, the humility required to become part of the WE and not me.
Anyway I had to take a few moments out of my day to think about and meditate on what the word anonymity means to me and the program as a whole. How it affects and supports my sobriety.