Rarely have we seen a person fail who has throughly followed our path. Those
who do not recover are people who cannot or will not 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. There chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer frome grave emetional and mental disorders,
but many of them do recover if they have the capicity 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 that you want what we have, and are ready to go to any legnth 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 that 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 such ammends 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 concious concact with God, praying only for knowledge
of His will for us, and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other 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 adherance to these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing
to grow along spiritual lines. The guides 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 probally no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.
C. That God could and would if He were sought.
