Rarely
have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those
who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give
themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally
incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates.
They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They
are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living
which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average.
There are those too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders,
but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.
Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what
happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what
we have and are willing to go to any length to get it - then you are
ready to take certain steps.
At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier, softer
way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we
beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of
us have tried to hold on to our old ideas but the result was nil until
we let go absolutely.
Remember that we deal with alcohol - cunning, baffling, powerful!
Without help it is to much for us. But there is One who has all power-
that One is God. May you find him now!
Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We
asked His protection and care with complete abandon.
Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had
become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore
us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care
of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and another human being the exact
nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to
make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when
to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly
admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious
contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge
of His will for us and power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps,
we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these
principles in all our affairs.
Many of us exclaimed, "What an order! I can't go through with
it." Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to
maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are
not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual
lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We
claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.
Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and
our personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent
ideas:
(a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives.
(b) That no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.
(c) That God could and would if He were sought.
Reprinted from "Alcoholics Anonymous", pgs.
58-60, with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.
