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."