Alcoholics Anonymous

by Alcoholics Anonymous

If what we have learned and felt and seen means anything at all, it means that all of us, whatever our race, creed, or color are the children of a living Creator

with whom we may form a relationship upon simple and understandable terms as soon as we are willing and honest enough to try.

Further on, clear-cut directions are given showing how we recovered.

Step 1 Instructions

By every form of self-deception and experimentation, they will try to prove themselves exceptions to the rule, therefore nonalcoholic.

It will not take long for you to decide, if you are honest with yourself about it.

“Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic.” Commencing to drink after a period of

sobriety, we are in a short time as bad as ever. If we are planning to stop drinking, there must be no reservation of any kind, nor any lurking notion that someday we will be immune to alcohol.

To be gravely affected, one does not necessarily have to drink a long time nor take the quantities some of us have.

we shall describe some of the mental states that precede a relapse into drinking, for obviously this is the crux of the problem.

failed to enlarge his spiritual life.

“Suddenly the thought crossed my mind that if I were to put an ounce of whiskey in my milk it couldn’t hurt me on a full stomach. I ordered a whiskey and poured it into the milk. I vaguely sensed I was not being any too smart, but felt reassured as I was taking the

whiskey on a full stomach.

He had much knowledge about himself as an alcoholic.

all reasons for not drinking were easily pushed aside in favor of the foolish idea that he could take whiskey if only he mixed it with milk!

we call this plain ...

lack of proportion, of the ability to t...

for this kind of thinking has been

characteristic of every single one of us.

Our sound reasoning failed to hold us in check. The insane idea won out.

absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge. This is a point we wish to emphasize and re-emphasize, to smash home upon our alcoholic readers as it has been revealed to us out of bitter experience.

As I crossed the threshold of the dining room, the thought came to mind that it would be nice to have a couple of cocktails with dinner. That was all. Nothing more.

Not only had I been off guard, I had made no fight whatever against the first drink. This time I had not thought of the consequences at all.

I saw that will power and self-knowledge would not help in those strange

mental blank spots.

But the program of action, though entirely sensible, was pretty drastic. It meant I would have to throw several lifelong conceptions out of the window. That was not easy. But the moment I made up my mind to go through with the process, I had the curious feeling that my alcoholic condition was relieved, as in fact it proved to be. “Quite as important was the discovery that spiritual principles would solve all

my problems. I have since been brought into a way of living infinitely more satisfying and, I hope, more useful than the life I lived before. My old manner of life was by no means a bad one, but I would not exchange its best moments for the worst I have now. I would not go back to it even if I could.”

Once more: The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink.

Except in a few rare cases, neither he nor any other human being can provide such a defense. His defense must come from a Higher Power.

If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you have little

control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic. If that be the case, you may be suffering from an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer.

To be doomed to an alcoholic death or to live on a spiritual basis are not always easy alternatives to

face.

we had to face the fact that we must find a spiritual basis of life—or else.

Our human resources, as marshaled by the will, were

not sufficient; they failed utterly. Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves. Obviously.

Its main object is to enable you to find a Power greater than yourself which will solve your problem.

Perhaps we rejected this particular conception because it seemed inadequate.

There was a feeling of awe and wonder, but it was fleeting and soon lost.

As soon as we admitted the possible existence of a Creative Intelligence, a Spirit of the Universe underlying the totality of things, we began

to be possessed of a new sense of power and direction, provided we took other simple steps.

We found that God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him. To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who ear...

Do not let any prejudice you may have against spiritual terms deter you from honestly asking yourself what they mean to you. At the start, this was all we needed to commence spiritual growth, to effect our first conscious relation with God as we understood Him.

found ourselves accepting many things which then seemed entirely out of reach.

We needed to ask ourselves but one short question. “Do I now believe, or am I even willing to believe, that there is a Power greater than myself?” As soon as a man can say that he does believe, or is willing to believe, we emphatically assure him that he is on his way. It has been repeatedly proven among us that upon this simple cornerstone a wonderfully effective spiritual structure can be built.

Step 2 Instructions

Besides a seeming inability to accept much on faith, we often found ourselves handicapped by obstinacy, sensitiveness, and unreasoning prejudice.

Faced with alcoholic destruction, we soon became as open minded on spiritual matters as we had tried to be on other questions.

alcohol was a great persuader. It finally beat us into a state of reasonableness.

Simply because it is impossible to explain what we see, feel, direct, and use, without a

reasonable assumption as a starting point.