How It
Works
Pages 58 through 60, from the
book "Alcoholics Anonymous"
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 and the result was nil until we let go
absolutely. Remember that we deal with alcohol-cunning, baffling,
powerful! Without help it is too 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 to 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
the 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 probably
no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.
(c) That God could
and would if He were sought.
Reprinted from the book, "Alcoholics Anonymous," pages
58 through 60, with permission of A.A. World Services,
Inc.
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