Chapter five how it works 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 disclosed 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 lengths
to get it then you are ready to take certain steps and some of these we booked 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
three made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood
him four made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves five admitted to God to
ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs six were entirely ready
to have God remove all these defects of character seven humbly asked him to remove our shortcomings
eight made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all
nine 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 eleven
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 twelve 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 at the chapter 2 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 be that probably no human power could have relieved
our alcoholism see 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 just
what do we mean by that and just what do we do the first requirement is that we be convinced that any
life run on self will can hardly be a success on that basis we are almost always in collision with
something or somebody even though our motives are good most people try to live by self-propulsion
each person is like an actor who wants to run the whole show is forever trying to arrange the
lights the ballet the scenery and the rest of the players in his own way if this arrangements
would only stay put if only people would do as he wished the show would be great everybody including
himself would be pleased life would be wonderful in trying to make these arrangements our actor
may sometimes be quite virtuous he may be kind considerate patient generous even modest and
self-sacrificing on the other hand he may be mean egotistical selfish and dishonest but as with most
humans he is more likely to have varied traits what usually happens the show doesn't come off
very well he begins to think life doesn't treat him right he decides to exert himself more he
becomes on the next occasion still more demanding or gracious as the case may be still the play does
not suit him admitting he may be somewhat at fault he is sure that other people are more to
blame he becomes angry indignant self-pitying what is his basic trouble is he not really a
self seeker even when trying to be kind is he not a victim of the delusion that he can rest
satisfaction and happiness out of this world if he only managed as well is it not evident to all
the rest of the players that these are the things he wants and do not his actions make each of them
wish to retaliate snatching all they can get out of the show is he not even in his best moments a
producer of confusion rather than harmony our actor is self-centered egocentric as people
like to call it nowadays he is like the retired businessman who lols in the Florida Sun Shine in
the winter complaining of the sad state of the nation the minister whose size over the sins of
the 20th century politicians and reformers who are sure all would be utopia if the rest of the
world would only behave the outlaw safecracker who thinks society has wronged him and the alcoholic
who was lost all and is locked up whatever our protestations are not most of us concerned with
ourselves our resentments or our self-pity selfishness self-centeredness that we think
is the root of our troubles driven by a hundred forms of fear self delusion self seeking and
self-pity we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate sometimes they hurt us seemingly
without provocation but we invariably find that as sometime in the past we have made decisions
based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt so our troubles we think are basically
of our own making they arise out of ourselves and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self
we'll run riot though he usually doesn't think so above everything we alcoholics must be rid of this
selfishness we must or it kills us God makes that possible and there often seems no way of entirely
getting rid of self without his aid many of us had moral and philosophical convictions galore
but we could not live up to them even though we would have liked to neither could we reduce
our self-centeredness much by wishing or trying on our own power we had to have God's help this
is the how and why of it first of all we had to quit playing God it didn't work next we decided
that hereafter in this drama of life God was going to be our director he is the principal we are his
agents he is the father and we are his children most good ideas are simple and this concept
was the keystone of the new and triumphant arch through which we passed to freedom when
we sincerely took such a position all sorts of remarkable things followed we had a new employer
being all-powerful he provided what we needed if we kept close to him and performed his work
well established on such a footing we became less and less interested in ourselves our little plans
and designs more and more we became interested in seeing what we could contribute to life as we felt
new power flow in as we enjoyed peace of mind as we discovered we could face life successfully as
we became conscious of his presence we began to lose our fear of today tomorrow or the hereafter
we were reborn we were now at Step three many of us said to our maker as we understood him god I
offer myself to thee to build with me and to do with me as thou wilt relieve me of the bondage
of self that I may better do thy will take away my difficulties that victory over them
may bear witness to those I would help of thy power by love and by way of life may I do thy
will always we thought well before taking this step making sure we were ready that we could at
last abandon ourselves utterly to him we found it very desirable to take the spiritual step with an
understanding person such as our wife best friend or spiritual adviser but it is better to meet God
alone than with one who might misunderstand the wording was of course quite optional so long as
we express the idea voicing it without reservation this was only a beginning though if honestly and
humbly made an effect sometimes a very great one was felt at once next we launched out on
a course of vigorous action the first step of which is a personal housecleaning which many of
us had never attempted though our decision was a vital and crucial step it could have little
permanent effect unless at once followed by a strenuous effort to face and to be rid of the
things in ourselves which had been blocking us our our liquor was but a symptom so we had to
get down to causes and conditions therefore we started upon a personal inventory this was step
4 a business which takes no regular inventory usually goes broke taking a commercial inventory
is a fact-finding and a fact facing process it is an effort to discover the truth about the stock
and trade one object is to disclose damaged or unsalable goods to get rid of them promptly and
without regret if the owner of the business is to be successful he cannot fool himself about values
we did exactly the same thing with our lives we took stock honestly first we searched out
the flaws in our makeup which caused our failure being convinced that self manifested in various
ways was what had defeated us we considered its common manifestations resentment is the number
one offender it destroys more alcoholics than anything else from it stem all forms of spiritual
disease for we have been not only mentally and physically ill we have been spiritually
sick when the spiritual malady has overcome we straighten out mentally and physically in dealing
with resentments we set them on paper we listed people institutions or principles with whom we
were angry we asked ourselves why we were angry in most cases it was found that our self-esteem
our pocketbooks our ambitions our personal relationships including sex or hurt or threatened