What is Rule 62 ?

[GrouchoTheCat]

Hi Folks,

What is rule 62 and where did it originate.

I have so far heard 2 versions and no-one seems to know where it came from.

Read pg 62 of BB, no help there...

Thanks

[historyteach]

Hiya, Groucho!
Welcome to SR!

Rule 62 means don't take yourself too seriously -- or anything else for that matter! Lighten up; remember to have fun.
It's origens are in AA but, I can't tell you were.
I only know I asked the same question years ago!

Shalom!

[GrouchoTheCat]

Thanks,

I was told - Dont take yourself so seriously, by someone with over 10 years.

My sponsor told me Dont take things personally (over 20 years).

Guess they are both similar but I am curious about the beginnings.

[best]

If you ever have to jump out of a broken airplane with a parachute on.....

............It is _ SUGGESTED _ that you pull the rip cord.................

I would say you have a good understanding of it *LOL*

Love the quote.

[GrouchoTheCat]

The parachute saying is one of my sponsor's favorites!

[markishmark]

Rule 62 was created by a founding member of AA who scoffed at the idea of an Alcoholics Anonymous with rules. When a rules committee was formed to discuss a huge list of rules the founding members had come up with, this man suggested that no rules were necessary for AA, because Alcoholics never follow rules anyways!

After much discussion, he suggested that there may be just one rule AAs should follow; and that would be Rule 62, which states: "Do not take yourselves so damn seriously!"

The committee abandoned the idea of an AA with rules, and today this is the only one that remains - but it is not really a rule, because alkies don't like rules!

[dgillz]

Actually this is in the 12x12, I do not know the page #. Before the traditions were developed, an AAer with a lot of energy and drive started a group that tried literally to be all things to all people - AA, job training center, social club, gym, bank - and I mean this literally. They drafted up 61 rules to make everything work.

When the whole house of cards came tumbling down, the AAer sent Bill Wilson his new rule, rule 62: Don't take yourself too seriously.

Here is a link:

Alcoholics Anonymous: Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Tradition Four - Nashville Recovery

[IO Storm]

I think I get the airplane joke..(scratches head again...)

[mtbiker62]

Read the 12X12, pages 148, 149.

bob

[anvilhead]

i was thinking of that other rule from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.........oh but wait that the was ANSWER to Life the Universe and Everything, 42!!!! sorry, my bad!

[Rusty Zipper]

Rule 62, "Don't take yourself too damn seriously,"

is found on Page 148 of the book Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions published by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

In discussing Tradition Four

"Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole"

Bill W.'s essay spoke of an example where a group had grandiose ideas, partly because an enthusiastic promoter got them all excited about building "a great big alcoholic center" using other people's money.

The deal went sour and the experience became a lesson in humility.


for me, it also means geting out of the self-centeredness...

i'm not that important, and its not my business how others see me...

i just am...

[CAPTAINZING2000]

Old AA Preamble

This is the text of an old preamble that used to be used at AA Meetings. It was found floating around USENET. From what we can tell it was never "official" AA literature.

We are gathered here because we are faced with the fact that we are powerless over alcohol and unable to do anything about it without the help of a Power greater than ourselves. We feel that each person's religious views, if any, are his own affair. The simple purpose of the program of Alcoholics Anonymous is to show what may be done to enlist the aid of a Power greater than ourselves regardless of what our individual conception of that Power may be.

In order to form a habit of depending upon and referring all we do to that Power, we must at first apply ourselves with some diligence. By often repeating these acts, they become habitual and the help rendered becomes natural to us.

We have all come to know that as alcoholics we are suffering from a serious illness for which medicine has no cure. Our condition may be the result of an allergy which makes us different from other people. It has never been by any treatment with which we are familiar, permanently cured. The only relief we have to offer is absolute abstinence, the second meaning of A.A.

There are no dues or fees. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. Each member squares his debt by helping others to recover.

An Alcoholics Anonymous is an alcoholic who through application and adherence to the A.A. program has forsworn the use of any and all alcoholic beverage in any form. The moment he takes so much as one drop of beer, wine, spirits or any other alcoholic beverage he automatically loses all status as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. A.A. is not interested in sobering up drunks who are not sincere in their desire to remain sober for all time. Not being reformers, we offer our experience only to those who want it.

We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree and on which we can join in harmonious action. Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our program. Those who do not recover are people who will not or simply cannot give themselves to this simple program. Now you may like this program or you may not, but the fact remains, it works. It is our only chance to recover.

There is a vast amount of fun in the A.A. fellowship. Some people might be shocked at our seeming worldliness and levity but just underneath there lies a deadly earnestness and a full realization that we must put first things first and with each of us the first thing is our alcoholic problem. To drink is to die. Faith must work twenty-four hours a day in and through us or we perish.

In order to set our tone for this meeting I ask that we bow our heads in a few moments of silent prayer and meditation.

I wish to remind you that whatever is said at this meeting expresses our own individual opinion as of today and as of up to this moment. We do not speak for A.A. as a whole and you are free to agree or disagree as you see fit, in fact, it is suggested that you pay no attention to anything which might not be reconciled with what is in the A.A. Big Book.

If you don't have a Big Book, it's time you bought you one. Read it, study it, live with it, loan it, scatter it, and then learn from it what it means to be an A.A.


Original AA Preamble


I'm glad, they came up with rule 62

[least]

I am glad I can (again) laugh at myself.

[johndelko408]

Are there other rules other than rule 62?

[dgillz]

John,

There were 61 rules in place to run the whole "AA is everything to everyone" AA club, which was an ambitious experiment in early AA. Rule 62 was basically an admission that anything that took 61 rules to administer is too damn complicated.

I have never seen a list of those 61 rules.

It was from this misadventure - and others - that affected the writing of AA's 4th tradition. This thread covers it pretty well but it is a 2 year old thread and some of the links are bad.

[least]

I forget who said it, but I've read the quote that states: don't take life so seriously, after all, no one gets out of it alive.

[Rusty Zipper]

408

Are there other rules other than rule 62?

dont drink! hic!

[MaryAnn100]

Loved the Hitchhikers Guide, I only found out earlier what rule 62 meant and I love it...........I have my own guide now and it's rule 62! The answer to everything must be 62!

[passionfruit]

what is the hitchhikers guide rule?

Lol

[PamelaGeeWhizz]

Rule 62 is actually in AA Comes of Age, page 104. Wrong book, right page! Thanks for the lead. I had googled rule 62 for our group consous meeting tonight (ugg) and stumbled upon this site, which looks good. Look forward to seeing you folks again soon!

[dgillz]

Pamela,

Rule 62 first appeared in the 12 steps and 12 traditions, which was written in 1952, on pages 147-149. AA Comes of Age was written in 1957. I have never read the latter book.