Guidelines Were Not a Creed

Key takeaway

The Traditions are guidelines, not a creed you have to recite before you sit down. Bill W. offered those suggestions neither as one man's dictum nor as a creed of any kind. You can hear a group read them and keep your mouth closed. Membership asks for a desire to stop drinking. Go to a meeting and take a chair.

Last updated: Tue Oct 06 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

They read something aloud, and then someone told you those lines are a creed. You are supposed to know them. You are supposed to say them. You sat there with your mouth shut and felt dishonest, as if silence were a refusal of the faith of the room.

You can sit down without reciting anything. The Traditions were not offered as a creed.

The heat in that moment is familiar if you have ever been handed words and told you had to repeat them in order to stay. Your chest gets tight. You start rehearsing on the way home and lose the thread by the second line. That rehearsal is fear. It is not membership.

What he actually offered

Bill W. wrote, in the April 1946 Grapevine article, "I offer these suggestions neither as one man's dictum nor as a creed of any kind." A dictum would be one man's order, handed down for you to obey. A creed would be a statement you repeat in order to belong. He was refusing both. The beginnings page keeps that sentence, and it says the Traditions are guidelines, not rules.

They came from a need for guidance as A.A. grew. Guidance is for groups trying to stay together. It is not a script taped to your mouth. You can hear every word of a reading and add none of your own.

You do not have to perform the list to take a chair. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. The long form says membership ought never depend on money or conformity. A recited creed would be conformity. Failing to memorize one is not a violation of anything you were asked to join.

The traditions resource can hold the lines when you want them in front of you. The Twelve and Twelve guide is for the night a meeting is actually reading that book and you want to know where people are. The history guide is a short story of the Fellowship for another day. None of those pages turns a guideline into something you chant before you sit.

You can keep your mouth closed

Many meetings read a short passage at the start. Let other people carry it. You need not join a prayer if a prayer is part of the hour. Introducing yourself is not mandatory. Afterward, talk is optional, which means the parking lot is not an oral exam. If someone presses you to repeat a line, you can say you are just listening.

Membership is voluntary. A.A. cannot predict who recovers and has no authority to decide how recovery should be sought. A person in the room does not get to add a recitation the membership line forgot. There are no dues or fees while you figure out what you just heard.

What to expect is the ordinary map of the hour, including the parts you can skip with your voice. Open and closed meetings tell you who the door is for. A closed meeting is for members, or people with a drinking problem and a desire to stop. It is not for people who have passed a memory test. Beginner meetings are a fair place if the reading made you feel like you enrolled in the wrong class.

You can return next week holding one sentence, or none. The sentence that protects you is the desire to stop drinking. Hold that one loosely. You do not even have to say it out loud for it to be true.

Sit down

Find a meeting and take a chair. Let the guidelines be guidelines. Leave the creed story with the person who told it.

aa.org is not a meeting finder. Local A.A. has the lists, and there is a pointer for online meetings. The meetings search is here if you want a place to start. Listings on this site are not verified, so confirm the time. How to find a meeting is the practical version. In person, online, or by phone, you can arrive without a speech prepared.

If your body is in trouble, that outranks anyone's reading. Call 911 if you are sick, confused, or cannot breathe. Call or text 988 if you are in a mental health crisis. A meeting cannot detox you. NIAAA says alcohol withdrawal can be life-threatening when a person who drinks heavily over time stops suddenly. NIDA describes mutual-help groups such as A.A. as peer-led, not led by healthcare professionals, and not a substitute for treatment. A meeting is peer support. It is not detox. Programs are on FindTreatment.gov. The SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) is free, confidential, and available 24/7 in English and Spanish.

If you need treatment, call or text (800) 653-9376, the call is free to you, treatment providers pay for the referral, the line is not an intergroup, and the line is not A.A., and it is not SMART Recovery.

Go sit down. You do not have to recite a word to be allowed there.

Additional Resources

Sources cited on this page:

Common Questions

Are the Traditions a creed I have to recite?

No. Bill W. offered them neither as one man's dictum nor as a creed of any kind. A dictum would be one person's order. A creed would be a statement you have to recite to belong. He was refusing both. They are guidelines, not rules. You can hear a group read them and keep your mouth closed. You need not join a prayer either. Sitting down is allowed.

What if everyone else seems to know the words?

Let them know the words. You are new, or you are scared, and memory is a bad test on a night like this. They are guidelines, not rules. They are not a script you perform to earn a chair. You can sit and listen. After the meeting, talk is optional, so you can leave without a quiz in the parking lot. If someone presses you to repeat a line, you can say you are just listening. There are no dues or fees while you figure the hour out.

Do I have to say them out loud to sit down?

You do not have to say them at all. You can take a chair in silence. Introducing yourself is not mandatory. Many meetings read a short passage at the start, and you can let other voices carry it. Membership is voluntary. A.A. has no authority to decide how recovery should be sought, which means a person in the room does not get to add a recitation. If the reading includes a prayer, you need not join it. Your quiet is not disrespect. It is a way to stay.

What does guideline mean on a night like this?

It means the Traditions are there to guide groups, not to police your mouth. They came from a need for guidance as A.A. grew. They are not rules you break by failing to memorize them. You can return next week having held one sentence, or none. The sentence about membership is the one that protects you: a desire to stop drinking is the only requirement. The long form says membership ought never depend on money or conformity. A recited creed would be conformity.

What if I freeze and also feel physically awful?

Tend to your body before you tend to anyone's reading. Call 911 if you are sick, confused, or cannot breathe. Call or text 988 if this is a mental health crisis. A meeting cannot detox you. If heavy drinking stops suddenly, withdrawal can be life-threatening. Mutual-help groups such as A.A. are peer-led, not a substitute for treatment. Programs are listed on FindTreatment.gov. When you are safe, use a local meeting list or the meetings search and go sit down without performing anything.