Alcoholics Anonymous
An Interpretation of
the Twelve Steps
The Detroit/Washington D.C.
pamphlet
commonly known in early A.A. as
THE TABLEMATE
This edition prepared January 2002 by Glenn F. Chesnut,
History Department,
Indiana University South Bend. It may be downloaded from the
Hindsfoot Foundation
website, hindsfoot.org, from the
section on A.A. Historical Materials.
Preface
The
following pages contain the basic material for the discussion meetings for
alcoholics only. These meetings are held for the purpose of acquainting both
old and new members with the twelve steps on which our program is based.
So that all twelve steps may be covered in a minimum of
time they are divided into four classifications and one evening each week will
be devoted to each of the four subdivisions. Thus, in one month, a new man can
get the basis of our twelve suggested steps.
- We
admitted we were powerless over alcohol - -that our lives had become
unmanageable.
- Came
to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- Made
a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we
understood Him.
- Made
a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Admitted
to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our
wrongs.
- Were
entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- Humbly
asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
- Made
a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to
them all.
- Made
direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would
injure them or others.
- Continued
to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
- 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.
- 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.
These steps are divided as follows:
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Discussion
No. 1 The Admission
Discussion No. 2 The Spiritual
Phase
Discussion No. 3 The Inventory
and Restitution
Discussion No. 4 The Active
Work
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Step No. 1.
Steps 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 11.
Steps No. 4, 8, 9 and 10.
which is Step No. 12.
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DISCUSSION No. 1
THE ADMISSION
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The material contained
herein is merely an outline of the admission phase of the program and is not
intended to replace or supplant:
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a. The
careful reading and re-reading of the Big Book.
b. Regular attendance at weekly group meetings.
c. Study of the program.
d. Daily practice of the program.
e. Reading of approved printed material on alcoholism.
f. Informal discussion with other members.
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Step No. 1. We
admitted we were powerless over alcohol - - that our lives had become
unmanageable.
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This instruction is not a short-cut to A.A. It is an
introduction - - a help - - a brief course in the fundamentals.
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In
order to determine whether or not a person had drifted from "social
drinking" into pathological drinking it is well to check over a list of
test questions, which each member may ask himself and answer for himself. We must
answer once and for all these three puzzling questions :
What
is an alcoholic? Who is an alcoholic? Am I an alcoholic?
To get the right answer the prospective member must start
this course of instruction with:
- A willingness to
learn. We must not have the attitude that "you've got to show
me."
- An open mind. Forget
any and all notions we already have. Set our opinions aside.
- Complete honesty. It
is possible - - not at all probable - - that we may fool somebody else.
But we must be honest with ourselves, and it is a good time to start being
honest with others.
Suggested Test Questions
- Do you require a drink the
next morning?
- Do you prefer a drink alone?
- Do you lose time from work
due to drinking?
- Is your drinking harming
your family in any way?
- Do you crave a drink at a
definite time daily?
- Do you get the inner shakes
unless you continue drinking?
- Has drinking made you
irritable?
- Does drinking make you
careless of your family's welfare?
- Have you harmed your husband
or wife since drinking?
- Has drinking changed your
personality?
- Does drinking cause you
bodily complaints?
- Does drinking make you
restless?
- Does drinking cause you to
have difficulty in sleeping?
- Has drinking made you more
impulsive?
- Have you less self-control
since drinking?
- Has your initiative
decreased since drinking?
- Has your ambition decreased
since drinking?
- Do you lack perseverance in
pursuing a goal since drinking?
- Do you drink to obtain
social ease?
(In shy, timid, self-conscious individuals.)
- Do you drink for
self-encouragement?
(In persons with feelings of inferiority.)
- Do you drink to relieve
marked feelings of inadequacy?
- Has your sexual potency
suffered since drinking?
- Do you show marked dislikes
and hatreds since drinking?
- Has your jealousy, in
general, increased since drinking?
- Do you show marked moodiness
as a result of drinking?
- Has your efficiency
decreased since drinking?
- Has your drinking made you
more sensitive?
- Are you harder to get along
with since drinking?
- Do you turn to an inferior
environment since drinking?
- Is drinking endangering your
health?
- Is drinking affecting your
peace of mind?
- Is drinking making your home
life unhappy?
- Is drinking jeopardizing
your business?
- Is drinking clouding your
reputation?
- Is drinking disturbing the
harmony of your life?
If you have answered yes
to any one of the Test Questions, there is a definite warning that you may
be alcoholic.
If you answered yes to any two of the Test Questions, the chances
are that you are an alcoholic.
If you answer yes to three or more of the Test Questions you are definitely
an alcoholic.
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NOTE: The Test Questions are not A.A.
questions but are the guide used by Johns Hopkins University Hospital in
deciding whether a patient is alcoholic or not.
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In addition to the Test Questions, we in A.A. would ask even more questions. Here
are a few:
- Have you ever had a complete
loss of memory while, or after, drinking?
- Have you ever felt, when or
after drinking, an inability to concentrate?
- Have you ever felt remorse
after drinking?
- Has a physician ever treated
you for drinking?
- Have you ever been
hospitalized for drinking?
Many other questions could be
asked, but the foregoing are sufficient for the purpose of this instruction.
Why Does An Alcoholic Drink?
Having decided that we are alcoholics, it is well to
consider what competent mental doctors consider as the reasons why an alcoholic
drinks:
- As an escape from situations
of life which he cannot face.
- As evidence of a maladjusted
personality (including sexual maladjustments).
- As a development from social
drinking to pathological drinking.
- As a symptom of a major
abnormal mental state.
- As an escape from incurable
physical pain.
- As a symptom of
constitutional inferiority - - a psychopathic personality.
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For
example, an individual who drinks because he likes alcohol, knows he cannot
handle it, but does not care.
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- Many times one cannot
determine any great and glaring mechanism as the basis of why the drinker
drinks, but the revealing fact may be elicited:
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That
alcohol is taken to relieve a certain vague restlessness in the individual,
incident to friction between his biological and emotional makeup and the
ordinary strains of life.
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The above reasons are general reasons. Where the individuality or personality
of the alcoholic is concerned these reasons may be divided as follows:
- A self-pampering tendency
which manifests itself in refusal to tolerate, even temporarily,
unpleasant states of mind such as boredom, sorrow, anger, disappointment,
worry, depression, dissatisfaction, and feelings of inferiority and
inadequacy.
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"I
want what I want when I want it" seems to express the attitude of many
alcoholics toward life.
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- An instinctive urge for
self-expression, unaccompanied by determination to translate the urge into
creative action.
- An abnormal craving for
emotional experience which calls for removal of intellectual restraint.
- Powerful hidden ambitions,
without the necessary resolve to take practical steps to attain them, and
with resultant discontent, irritability, depression, disgruntledness, and
general restlessness.
- A tendency to flinch from
the worries of life and to seek escape from reality by the easiest means
available.
- An unreasonable demand for
continuous happiness or excitement.
- An insistent craving for the
feeling of self-confidence, calm, and poise that some obtain temporarily
from alcohol.
We Admit
If after carefully considering the foregoing, we admit
we are alcoholics, we must realize that, once a person becomes a
pathological drinker, he can never again become a controlled drinker, and
from that point on, is limited to just two alternatives:
- Total permanent abstinence.
- Chronic alcoholism with all
of the handicaps and penalties it implies.
In other words, we have gone
past the point where we had a choice. All we have left is a decision
to make.
We Resolve to Do Something About It
- We must change our way
of thinking. (This is such an important matter that it will have to be
discussed more fully in a later discussion).
- We must realize that each
morning when we wake, we are potential drunkards for that day.
- We resolve that we will
practice A.A. for the 24 hours of that day.
- We must study the other
eleven steps of the program and practice each and every one.
- Attend the regular group
meeting each week without fail.
- Firmly believe that by
practicing A.A. faithfully each day, we will achieve sobriety.
- Believe that we can be free
from alcohol as a problem.
- Contact another member before
taking a drink, not after. Tell him what bothers you - - talk it
over with him freely.
- Work the program for
ourselves alone - - not for our wife, children, friends, or for our
job.
- Be absolutely honest and
sincere.
- Be fully openminded - - no
mental reservations.
- Be fully willing to work
the program. Nothing good in life comes without work.
Conclusion
- Alcoholics are suffering
from a threefold disease, not only a physical illness. Fortunately, we in
A.A. have learned how it may be controlled. (This will be shown in the
next eleven steps of the program.)
- We can also learn to be free
from alcohol as a problem.
- We can achieve a full and
happy life without recourse to alcohol.
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ASK QUESTIONS
No question pertaining
to drinking, or stopping drinking, is silly or irelevant. The matter is too
serious. Any questions we ask may help someone else. This is not a
shortcut to A.A., it is an introduction, a help, a brief course in
fundamentals. In A.A. we learn by question and answer; we learn by exchanging
our thought and our experience with each other. Any question you ask may help
someone else. To cover as many questions as possible in the short time
available, all answers must be limited to three minutes.
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I know that if this program works for me and I am able to
maintain a sober, peaceful life, it will not be through any strength of mine,
but rather, the Man Upstairs has reached down and given me a helping hand. Strange
as it may seem - - it works.
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DISCUSSION No. 2
THE SPIRITUAL PHASE
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The material contained
herein is merely an outline of the spiritual phase of the program and is not
intended to replace or supplant:
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a. The careful
reading and re-reading of the Big Book.
b. Regular attendance at weekly group meetings.
c. Study of the program.
d. Daily practice of the program.
e. Reading of approved printed material on alcoholism.
f. Informal discussion with other members.
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This instruction is not a short-cut to A.A. It is an introduction - -
a help - - a brief course in fundamentals.
This meeting covers Steps 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 11. We will take them in order.
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Step No.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore
us to sanity.
Our drinking experience has shown:
- That as we strayed away
from the normal social side of life, our minds became confused and
we strayed away from the normal mental side of life.
- An abnormal mental
condition is certainly not sanity in the accepted sense of the
word. We have acquired or developed a mental disease. Our study of
A.A. shows that:
- In the mental
or tangible side of life we have lost touch with, or ignored, or have
forgotten the spiritual values that give us the dignity of man
as differentiated from the animal. We have fallen back upon the material
things of life and these have failed us. We have been groping in the
dark.
- No human
agency, no science or art has been able to solve the
alcoholic problem, so we turn to the spiritual for guidance.
Therefore we "came to
believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." We
must believe with a great FAITH.
Step No.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care
of God as we understood Him.
In the first step we learned that we had lost the power of choice and
had to make a decision.
- What decision could
we make better than to
- turn our very will
over to God, realizing that our own use of our own will had
resulted in trouble.
- As in the Lord's
Prayer, you must believe and practice thy will be done.
- God as we understand Him.
- Religion is a word
we do not use in A.A. We refer to a member's relation to God as the
spiritual. A religion is a form of worship - - not the worship
itself.
- If a man cannot believe in
God he can certainly believe in something greater than himself. If he
cannot believe in a power greater than himself he is a rather hopeless
egotist.
Step No. 5.
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of
our wrongs.
- There is nothing new in this
step. There are many sound reasons for "talking over our troubles out
loud with others."
- The Catholic already has
this medium readily available to him in the confessional. But - - the Catholic
is at a disadvantage if he thinks his familiarity with confession permits
him to think his part of A.A. is thereby automatically taken care of. He
must, in confession, seriously consider his problems in relation to his
alcoholic thinking.
- The non-Catholic has the way
open to work this step by going to his minister, his doctor, or his
friend.
- Under this step it is not
even necessary to go to a priest or minister. Any understanding human
being, friend or stranger, will serve the purpose.
- The purpose and intent of
this step is so plain and definite that it needs little explanation. The
point is that we must do exactly what the fifth step says,
sooner or later. We must not be in rush to get this step off our chest.
Consider it carefully and calmly. Then get about it and do it.
- "Wrongs" do not
necessarily mean crime. It can well be wrong thinking - -
selfishness - - false pride - - egotism - - or any one of a hundred such
negative faults.
Step No.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of
character.
- After admitting our
wrong thinking and wrong actions in step five we now do something more
than "admit" or "confess."
- We now become ready
and willing to have God remove the defects in our character.
- Remember it is our
character we are working on. Not the other fellow's. Here is a good place
to drop the critical attitude toward others - - the superior
attitude toward others.
- We must clean our mind of
wrong thinking - - petty jealousy - - envy - - self pity - - remorse, etc.
- Here is the place to drop resentments,
one of the biggest hurdles the alcoholic had to get over.
- What concerns us here is
that we drop all thoughts of resentment: anger, hatred, revenge.
- We turn our will
over to God and let his will direct us how to patiently remove, one
by one, all defects in our character.
Step No.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
The meaning of this step is clear: prayer, humility.
- Prayer No
man can tell another how to pray. Each one has, or works out for
himself, his own method.
- If we cannot pray, we
just talk to God and tell him our troubles. Meditate (think clearly and
cleanly) and ask God to direct our thoughts.
- Christ said,
"ask and ye shall receive." What method is simpler? - - merely ask.
- If you cannot pray,
ask God to teach you to pray.
- Humility This
simply is the virtue of being ourselves and realizing how small we are in
a big world full of its own trouble.
- Drop all pretense.
- We must not be Mr.
Big Shot - - bragging, boasting.
- Shed false pride.
- Tell the simple, plain,
unvarnished truth.
- Act, walk, and talk
simply.
- See the little bit of
good that exists in an evil man; forget the little bit of evil that
exists in a good man.
- We must not look down
on the very lowest of God's creations or man's mistakes.
- Think clearly,
honestly, fairly, generously.
- The shortcomings we ask God
to remove are the very defects in character that make us drink - - the
same defects we drink to hide or get away from.
Step No.
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.
- We pray each night - - every
night - - a prayer of thanks.
- We pray each morning - - every
morning - - for help and guidance.
- When we are lonely,
confused, uncertain - - we pray.
Most of us find it well to - -
- Choose, for each day, a
"quiet time" to meditate on the program, on our progress in it.
- Keep conscious contact with
God and pray to make that contact closer.
- Pray that our will be laid
aside and that God's will direct us.
- Pray for calmness - - quiet
- - relaxation - - rest.
- Pray for strength and
courage to enable us to do today's work today.
- Pray for forgiveness for
yesterday's errors.
- Ask for hope for
better things tomorrow.
- Pray for what we feel we
need. We will not get what we want - - we will get what we need,
what is good for us.
Conclusion
We find that no one need have difficulty with the spiritual side of the
program. Willingness, Honesty, and Open-Mindedness are the
essentials of recovery. But these are indispensable.
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ASK QUESTIONS
No question pertaining
to drinking, or stopping drinking, is silly or irrelevant. The matter is too
serious. In A.A. we learn by question and answer. We learn by exchanging
our thoughts and our experience with each other. Any question you ask may
help someone else. To cover as many questions as possible in the short time
available, all answers must be limited to three minutes.
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God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.
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DISCUSSION No. 3
INVENTORY & RESTITUTION
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The material contained
herein is merely an outline of the inventory and restitution steps and is not
intended to replace or supplant:
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a. The
careful reading and re-reading of the Big Book.
b. Regular attendance at weekly group meetings.
c. Study of the program.
d. Daily practice of the program.
e. Reading of approved printed matter on alcoholism.
f. Informal discussion with other members.
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This instruction is not a short-cut to A.A. It is an introduction - -
a help - - a brief course in fundamentals.
This meeting covers Steps 4, 8, 9, 10. We will take them in order.
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Step No.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
The intent and purpose of this step
is plain. All alcoholics have a definite need for a good self-analysis - - a
sort of self-appraisal. Other people have certainly analyzed us, appraised us,
criticized us and even judged us. It might be a good idea to judge ourselves,
calmly and honestly. We need inventory because:
- Either our faults,
weaknesses, defects of character, are the cause of our drinking,
- or our drinking has
weakened our character and led us into all kinds of wrong action, wrong
attitudes, wrong viewpoints.
In either event we obviously need an inventory and the only
kind of inventory to make is a good one. Moreover, the job is up to us.
We created or we let develop all the anti-social actions that got
us in the wrong. So we have got to work it out. We must
make out a list of our faults and then we must do something about it.
The inventory must be four things:
- It must be honest.
Why waste time fooling ourselves with a phony list? We have fooled
ourselves for years, we tried to fool others, and now is a good time to
look ourselves squarely in the eye.
- It must be searching.
Why skip over a vital matter lightly and quickly? Our trouble is a grave
mental disease, confused by screwy thinking. Therefore, we must search
diligently and fearlessly to get at the truth of what is wrong with us - -
just dig in and search.
- It must be fearless.
We must not be afraid we might find things in our heart, mind and soul
that we will hate to discover. If we do find such things they may be the
root of our trouble.
- It must be a moral
inventory.
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Some, in
error, think the inventory is a lot of unpaid debts, plus a list of unmade
apologies. Our trouble lies much deeper.
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We will find the root of our trouble lies in Resentments, False Pride, Envy,
Jealousy, Selfishness and many other things. Laziness is an
important one. In other words we are making an inventory of our character: our
attitude toward others, our very way of living.
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We are
not preparing a financial statement. We will pay our bills all right, because
we cannot even begin to practice A.A. without honesty.
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Step No.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to
make amends to them all.
Under this step we will make a written* list of those
we have harmed. We ask God to let his will be done, not our will,
and ask for the strength and courage to become willing to forget resentments
and false pride and make amends to those we have harmed. We must not do this
step grudgingly, or as an unpleasant task to be rid of quickly. We must do it willingly,
fairly, and humbly - - without condescension.
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*The original Detroit pamphlet said
"a list (mental or written)," but the Twelve Steps and Twelve
Traditions later made it clear that it needed to be written.
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Step No.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when
to do so would injure them or others.
This is where we make peace with ourselves by making
peace with those we have hurt. The amends we make must be direct. We
must pay in kind for the hurt we have done them.
- If we have cheated we must
make restitution.
- If we have hurt their
feelings we must ask forgiveness from them.
The list of harms done may be
long but the list of amends is equally long. For every wrong we have
done, there is a right we may do to compensate.
There is only one exception. We must develop a
sense of justice, a spirit of fairness, an attitude of common sense. If our
effort to make amends would create further harm or cause a scandal, we will
have to skip the direct amends and clean the matter up under Step Five.
Step No.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong
promptly admitted it.
In coming into A.A. we usually will have a pretty big
inventory to work on, as in Steps Four, Eight, and Nine. But even after that,
we will not be perfect. We have a long way to go. We will continue to make
mistakes and will be inclined to do some more wrong thinking and wrong doing.
So at intervals, we continue to take inventory. Here the purpose is to
check on our progress. We certainly cannot be perfect, so the need for regular
inventory is apparent.
These inventories are personal. We confine the
inventory to ourselves. We are the ones who need it. Never mind the other fellow!
He too is probably troubled and will have to make his own inventory.
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When we
make these inventories, probably the best way to start is to go over (one by
one) each of the twelve steps, and try to discover just what (in these steps)
we are not following.
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The businessman has to make a physical inventory from time to time. We
have to make a personal inventory of ourselves from time to time if we want to
recover from a serious mental illness.
Character Defects and Vices
So much for the inventory steps - - now look at some of the things
we would do well to cover in an inventory:
- Selfishness - - the common
vice of all alcoholics.
- Egotism - - who is without
some of it? Self-Importance, Mr. Big.
- False Pride - - too big to
admit a fault or an error.
- Impatience - - the spoiled
child in a grown man.
- Resentments - - an
alcoholic usually is sore at the whole world. Everybody is wrong!
- Lack of common honesty - -
usually fooling ourselves and trying to fool others. False
pretense, sham.
- Deceit.
- Hate - - the outgrowth of
anger and resentment.
- Jealousy - - just wanting
what the other fellow worked to get.
- Envy - - a sure-fire cause
of discontent and unhappiness.
- Laziness - - just plain
laziness.
And so on through a long list.
Conversely Our Inventory Could
Show a List of Virtues
which we very definitely lack and should go to work on to develop such as:
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Honesty
Simple Justice
Fairness
Generosity
Truthfulness
Modesty
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Humility
Honest Pride in work well done
Simplicity
Patience
Industry (go to work and really work)
And so on through a long list.
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Then Consider a Few
MAJOR Virtues
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FAITH
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If we have lost faith we must work desperately hard to get
it back. Ask God to give us faith in him, our fellow man, and ourselves.
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HOPE
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If we have lost hope we are dead pigeons. Only those who
have been cruelly hurt and in desperate need can know the wonderful sense of
security that lies in hope for better things.
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TRUST
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Since our own self-sufficient conduct of our own life has
failed us, we must put our trust in God, who has never failed.
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ASK QUESTIONS
No question pertaining
to drinking, or stopping drinking, is silly or irrelevant. The matter is too
serious. In A.A. we learn by question and answer. We learn by exchanging
our thought and our experience with each other. Any question we ask may help
someone else. To cover as many questions as possible in the short time
available, all answers must be limited to three minutes.
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HUMILITY
A state of humility is very difficult to attain, but the
goal is well worth the effort, considering the serenity that is achieved.
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DISCUSSION No. 4
ACTIVE WORK
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The material contained
herein is merely an outline of the active working step of the program and is
not intended to replace or supplant:
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a. The
careful reading and re-reading of the Big Book.
b. Regular attendance at weekly group meetings.
c. Study of the program.
d. Daily practice of the program.
e. Reading of approved printed matter on alcoholism.
f. Informal discussion with other members.
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This instruction is not a short-cut to A.A. It is an introduction - -
a help - - a brief course in fundamentals.
This meeting covers the Twelfth Step.
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Step No.
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.
This step logically separates into three parts:
1. The Spiritual Experience
The terms "spiritual experience" and
"spiritual awakening" used here and in the book Alcoholics
Anonymous mean (upon careful reading)
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that the
personality change sufficient to bring about recovery from alcoholism has
manifested itself among us in many forms.
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Do NOT get the impression that these personality changes or spiritual
experiences must be in the nature of sudden and spectacular upheavals. Happily
for everyone, this conclusion is erroneous. Among our rapidly growing
membership of thousands of alcoholics such transformations, though frequent,
are by no means the rule.
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Most of
our experiences are what psychologist William James calls "the
educational variety" because they develop slowly over a period of time.
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Quite often friends of the newcomer are aware of the difference long before he
is himself. The new man gradually realizes that he has undergone a profound
alteration in his reaction to life - - that such a change could hardly have
been brought about by himself alone. What often takes place in a few
months could seldom have been accomplished by years of self-discipline. With
few exceptions our members find that they have tapped an unsuspected inner
resource which they presently identify with their own conception of a Power
greater than themselves.
Most emphatically we wish to say that any alcoholic
capable of honestly facing his problem in the light of our experience can
recover provided he does not close his mind to all spiritual concepts. He can
only be defeated by an attitude of intolerance or belligerent denial.
We find that no one need have difficulty with the
spiritual side of the program. Willingness, Honesty, and Open-Mindedness are
the essentials of recovery. But these are indispensable.
2. Carry the Message to Others
This means exactly what it says. Carry the message actively. Bring it to the
man who needs it. We do it in many ways:
- By attending every
meeting of our own group.
- By making calls when asked.
- By speaking at group
meetings when asked.
- By supporting our group
financially to make group meetings possible.
- By assisting at meetings
when asked.
- By setting a good example of
complete sobriety.
- By owning, and loaning to
new men, our own copy of the Big A.A. Book.
- By encouraging those who
find the way difficult.
- By serving as an officer or
on group committees or special assignments when asked.
- By doing all of the
foregoing cheerfully and willingly.
- We do any or all of the
foregoing at some sacrifice to ourselves with definite thought
of developing unselfishness in our own character.
3. We Practice These Principles
in All Our Affairs
This last part of the Twelfth Step is the real
purpose that all of the twelve steps lead to - - a new way of life, a design
for living. It shows how to live rightly, think rightly and to achieve
happiness. How do we go about it?
- We resolve to live our life one
day at a time - - just twenty-four hours.
- We pray each day for
guidance that day.
- We pray each night -
- thanks for that day.
- We resolve to keep our heads
and to forego any anger, no matter what situation arises.
- We are patient.
- We keep calm, relaxed.
- Now and most important:
whatever little ordinary situations as well as big
situations arise, we look at them calmly and fairly, with an open mind,
then act on them in exact accordance with the simple true principles that
A.A. has taught and will teach us.
In other words, our sobriety
is only a correction of our worst and most evident faults. Our living each day
according to the principles of A.A. will also correct all of our other lesser
faults and will gradually eliminate, one by one, all of the defects in our
character that cause frictions, discontents, and unhappy rebellious moods that
lead right back to our very chief fault of drinking.
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ASK QUESTIONS
No question pertaining
to drinking, or stopping drinking, is silly or irrelevant. The matter is too
serious. In A.A. we learn by question and answer. We learn by exchanging
our thought and experience with each other. Any question we ask may help
someone else. To cover as many questions as possible in the short time
available, all answers must be limited to three minutes.
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Staying on
the Beam
Today most commercial flying is
done on a radio beam. A directional beam is produced to guide the pilot to
his destination, and as long as he keeps on this beam he knows that he is
safe, even if he cannot see around him for fog, or get his bearings in any
other way.
As soon as he gets off the beam in any direction he
is in danger, and he immediately tries to get back on to the beam once more.
Those who believe in the All-ness of God, have a
spiritual beam upon which to navigate on the voyage of life. As long as you
have peace of mind and some sense of the Presence of God you are on the beam,
and you are safe, even if outer things seem to be confused or even very dark;
but as soon as you get off the beam you are in danger.
You are off the beam the moment you are angry or
resentful or jealous or frightened or depressed; and when such a condition
arises you should immediately get back on the beam by turning quietly to God
in thought, claiming His Presence, claiming that His Love and Intelligence
are with you, and that the promises in the Bible are true today.
If you do this you are back on the beam, even if
outer conditions and your own feelings do not change immediately. You are
back on the beam and you will reach port in safety.
Keep on the beam and nothing shall by any means hurt
you.
- - Emmet Fox
Lest We
Forget
I shall pass through this world
but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do, or any kindness I can show to
any human being, let me do it NOW. Let me not defer it, or neglect it, for I
shall not pass this way again.
- - Stephen Grellet
(1773-1855)
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