The Circle & Triangle
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"When the
spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically." -
Big Book page 64 (When it says "physically", please keep in mind that
this includes the physical world around us.)
For me, the circle &
triangle represents the Alcoholics Anonymous solution to alcoholism. It is a
perfect overview of our three-part answer (unity, recovery, & service) to
our three-part disease (physical, mental & spiritual).
The
foundation of this triangle (which the rest of the solution is built upon)
is recovery. The set of 12 spiritual principles associated with recovery are
contained in the 12 Steps (which are located in the Big Book, pages i - 164; and
then talked about in the 12 & 12, pages 15 - 125). The part of the disease
that it treats is the mental.
The
left side of this triangle is unity, which can be found in fellowship with other
AA's. The set of 12 spiritual principles associated with unity are contained in
the 12 Traditions (which are located in the 12 & 12, pages 129 - 192). The
part of the disease that it treats is the physical.
And
the right side of this triangle is service, which can be found in carrying the
message and, with unselfishness & love, contributing inside and outside of
AA. The set of 12 spiritual principles associated with service are contained in
the 12 Concepts (which are located in the booklet "Twelve Concepts for
World Service"). The part of the disease that it treats is the spiritual
(remember that the Big Book says on pages 14 - 15 that "we perfect and
enlarge our spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others", and
on pages 14, 76, 88 & 93 it says, "Faith without works is dead").
Also,
notice that the sides of the triangle are all equal in size, which means that
not only do I need to be living in all three areas but that I need to
incorporate all three proportionately. I
have seen many people go back out who were using LESS THAN all three parts, but
I have NEVER seen ANYONE return to drinking who was living in ALL THREE. I’ve
heard people refer to it as a three-legged stool.
If all three legs are there then the structure is solid, but if one or
two legs are missing then what is supporting me is shaky and I am sure to fall.
If
actions in these three areas are taken, I can be whole in body, mind and spirit;
together as one.
There
are times when these principles spill into each other because the lines between
them are blurred (like, it could be said that all of the Steps lead to our
awakening to the awareness of spirit, or service sounds a lot like our Step 12,
or there are aspects of the Traditions that can be used in all of our affairs).
But if we want to stay on the "Road of Happy Destiny" we need to be
familiar with the whole package that leads to freedom, recovery, peace of mind,
joy, usefulness and "a way of life that is incredibly more wonderful as
time passes".
It
doesn't matter how long it's been since our last drink. What matters MORE is how
close we are to our next one. How can we tell if we are closer to the next drink
then we would like to be? We can get a good indication every few months (as part
of taking personal inventory) by asking ourselves, "Am I participating
equally in all three branches of the AA solution?" If our answer is,
"YES!", we will know as best we can if we are still on the beam in
AA's design for living.
At
the 20th Anniversary Convention of AA in St. Louis, MO. on July 1 - 3, 1955;
Bill Wilson said the following: "Above us we see a banner and that banner
shows a circle which is AA circumscribing the world. Within it is a triangle.
The base of the triangle is the foundation of recovery on which we stand. The
left of the triangle symbolizes our unity, and the right of the triangle our arm
of service. Such is the symbol of AA. I first saw it in Norway in 1950, but this
symbol is not new with us. We have attributed a particular significance to it
but in actuality its significance is very old. Students of ancient days tell
that centuries ago it was regarded by priests and witch doctors alike as the
symbol by which evil spirits could be kept away, and may that symbol ever stand
guard over the society of Alcoholics Anonymous."
This
symbol is also an ancient spiritual symbol for wholeness of body, mind and
spirit; or "Oneness".
On
May 21, 1993, AA World Service released an unsigned document titled:
"Follow-up Statement Regarding Use of the Circle/ Triangle Symbol." In
it, AAWS stated that "Alcoholics Anonymous will phase out the 'official'
use of the circle and triangle symbol in and on its literature, letterheads and
other material." That action has generated a considerable amount of
discussion because it was taken without a conference action or a "group
conscience".
I
hope you can see the significance of the Circle and Triangle and please let
others know (especially people you work with) about its representation of the 36
spiritual principles in AA's solution to alcoholism that leads to integrity on
the personal, group, and service level.
Barefoot Bill
Metaphysics
and copyrights aside, anyone can still use the circle and triangle logo! It's
just not the "official" trade mark for Alcoholics Anonymous
anymore...Since 1993, lawyers advised the General Service Board that the
copyright on the logo was unenforceable. I remember the reports generating out
of the Board and an Ad Hoc Committee meeting in January 1993 (two months before
the General Service Conference). The Ad Hoc committee of Delegates and Trustees
(chosen from a cross-section of AA
Regions)
came to the conclusion that recommended a simple phrase replacing it in all the
AAWS printing and publications from the Conference forward "This is A.A.
General Service Conference-approved literature." The Conference also agreed
with this idea, and by the beginning of May 1993 a notice was sent out by the
General Service Board that AAWS, Inc. would discontinue the use of the Circle
and Triangle logo in its then-existing formats (1) blank, 2) with "AA"
in the center of the triangle, 3) with "AA" and General Service
Conference on the outside of the triangle, and 4) "AA" and Recovery,
Unity, Service outside the triangle - those were accepted uses by AA through
that 1993 announcement). The logo had been used officially from 1957 to 1993,
and that's thirty-six years of uncontested usage - until the General Service
Board thought to ask the medallion and coin makers to "cease and
desist" using it. For a time in 1991-92 the coin manufacturers complied (to
this member, with unsightly results...), but somewhere in 1992 decided to
re-negotiate and contest the Board's position. Not that the case ever went to
trial as a violation of copyright law; advise to the Board was that the
copyright was either not renewed (in 1976, the Big Book copyright was
unfortunately not renewed by an oversight error of omission in legal advice to
the GSB, too!) or completely unenforceable, perhaps due to the compliance of the
coin makers not using it (some who claimed or threatened to claim their own
copyright in the coin formats, etc.). To remedy a pretty bad legal situation,
the Conference heard the recommendation of simply using the
'conference-approved' phrase on literature. Where much discussion for a few
years centered on AA going into the business of minting its own coins
(definitely an outside issue), and suing the coin makers (against the 'spirit
and letter' of the 12 Concepts for World Service--avoiding lawsuits whenever
possible), the "catch-22" choices were evident, and the Conference
recommendation was a workable solution. I have a friend and past Delegate who is
also a lawyer, and he shared with me, that if anyone can put together a terrible
process of lawsuits, it's us...no wonder we are advised against litigation,
especially on outside issues. Did you know that upside down, the blank logo is
the symbol for an air raid
shelter?
We had even found the same circle and triangle on manhole covers in Illinois
(old ones from the Elgin City Water Dept.). You can imagine the view that any
copyright court might take on this if we had followed through with long
litigation - it would almost be the question asked "are you joking?"
Today we can have a bit of fun discussing our use and its current
"unofficial" status. The official logo was a beautiful part of our
past, when the 1993 Conference also allowed that many AAs, AA events, etc. would
still be using our circle and triangle logo, and there would be no interference
in that. Of course, now we don't "own" the logo, but as far as I know,
no one does... Perhaps you'll use it in the same spirit used in our past years,
but don't worry about infringing on another's copyright. Use your own judgment,
seek an informal consensus, but lightly take the above ideas into consideration.
The circle and triangle is not "banned by A.A.," just discontinued
since 1993 as a trademark.
Rick T., Area 20 Archivist, Illinois.