The Importance of the Steps

Big Book p xiii
In the Foreword to the First Edition of the big book, it says, We, of Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than 100 men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body. It goes on to say, To show other alcoholics Precisely how we have recovered is the main purpose of this book.
So, wouldn’t it make sense that to have what they had (recovery),
we do as they did?
What did they do? Steps.

Big Book p 52
We were having trouble with personal relationships, we couldn’t control our emotional natures, we were a prey to misery and depression, we couldn’t make a living, we had a feeling of uselessness, we were full of fear, we were unhappy, we couldn’t seem to be of real help to other people.
Is this how you feel?




Big Book p 75
We are delighted. We can look the world in the eye. We can be alone at perfect peace and ease. Our fears fall from us. We begin to feel the nearness of our Creator. We may have had certain spiritual beliefs, but now we begin to have a spiritual experience. The feeling that the drink problem has disappeared will often come strongly.
Is this what you want?
Freedom is found in the Steps.

Big Book p 24
The fact is that alcoholics, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called will power becomes practically nonexistent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink. The Big Book is telling us we cannot Not drink.


Big Book p 84
And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone- even alcohol. For, by this time, sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame.
How do we get from p 24 to p 84? Steps.
The Big Book is telling us we Can recover.


Description of Alcoholism (as I have come to understand it) -


Alcoholism is not a bad habit or a lack in moral values, it is a three- fold illness of mind, body, and spirit. Alcoholism is a fatal disease, and it will kill you if not treated. First, we have an obsession to drink beyond our mental control, this is why we drink even when we don’t want to. Secondly, we have a physical allergy to alcohol. Once we give into the obsession to take the first drink, our bodies experience a physical craving for More. Thirdly, we have a spiritual malady, we are spiritually sick, separated from God. In AA, we address the spiritual malady thru the steps of the program, and our minds and bodies will follow. Keep in mind, we alcoholics are not bad people trying to get good, but sick people trying to get well, and there is no shame in trying to recover from a fatal illness. God removed my obsession to drink, and millions of other's. Would he not do it for you, too? He would, yes, and Will, if only you humbly ask it of him. Our Big Book tells us that "God could and would if he were sought," and "Faith must work in and through us 24/7 or we perish [spiritually]." Below is a link to the Online Big Book. It is a great reference, until you can get a hard copy, and Do get one. There is simply something about holding that book in my hands, flipping back and forth between the written pages, that brings me peace when reading it.


Online Big Book


(Big Book, p. 60) "...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. Being convinced, we were at Step Three, which is that we decided to turn our will and our life over to God as we understood Him."

A Little Help from My Friends

12 Steppers(OIAA)

 

Do you want to stop drinking, and find you cannot, or only for a short time?
Do you have little or no control over when you drink,
or the amount you take?
We understand.

Get Help Now

A.A. Preamble

*1940 AA Preamble* 

We are gathered here because we are faced with the fact that we are powerless over alcohol and unable to do anything about it without the help of a Power greater than ourselves. We feel that each person's religious views, if any, are his own affair. The simple purpose of the program of Alcoholics Anonymous is to show what may be done to enlist the aid of a Power greater than ourselves regardless of what our individual conception of that Power may be. In order to form a habit of depending upon and referring all we do to that Power, we must at first apply ourselves with some diligence. By often repeating these acts, they become habitual and the help rendered becomes natural to us. We have all come to know that as alcoholics we are suffering from a serious illness for which medicine has no cure. Our condition may be the result of an allergy which makes us different from other people. It has never been by any treatment with which we are familiar, permanently cured. The only relief we have to offer is absolute abstinence, the second meaning of A.A. There are no dues or fees. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. Each member squares his debt by helping others to recover. An Alcoholics Anonymous is an alcoholic who through application and adherence to the A.A. program has forsworn the use of any and all alcoholic beverage in any form. The moment he takes so much as one drop of beer, wine, spirits or any other alcoholic beverage he automatically loses all status as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. A.A. is not interested in sobering up drunks who are not sincere in their desire to remain sober for all time. Not being reformers, we offer our experience only to those who want it.
We have a way out on which we can absolutely agree and on which we can join in harmonious action. Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our program. Those who do not recover are people who will not or simply cannot give themselves to this simple program. Now you may like this program or you may not, but the fact remains, it works. It is our only chance to recover. There is a vast amount of fun in the A.A. fellowship. Some people might be shocked at our seeming worldliness and levity but just underneath there lies a deadly earnestness and a full realization that we must put first things first and with each of us the first thing is our alcoholic problem. To drink is to die. Faith must work twenty-four hours a day in and through us or we perish. In order to set our tone for this meeting I ask that we bow our heads in a few moments of silent prayer and meditation. I wish to remind you that whatever is said at this meeting expresses our own individual opinion as of today and as of up to this moment. We do not speak for A.A. as a whole and you are free to agree or disagree as you see fit, in fact, it is suggested that you pay no attention to anything which might not be reconciled with what is in the A.A. Big Book. If you don't have a Big Book, it's time you bought you one. Read it, study it, live with it, loan it, scatter it, and then learn from it what it means to be an A.A.

The AA Preamble - Today (2018)

Copyright © The A.A. Grapevine, Inc.

   Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.

    The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for A.A. membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. A.A. is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.