"This vital Step was also the means by which we began to get the feeling that we could be forgiven, no matter what we had thought or done. Often it was while...
"So Step Six--'Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character'--is AA's way of stating the best possible attitude one can take in order...
"So it is that we first see humility as a necessity. But this is the barest beginning. To get completely away from our aversion to the idea of being humble, to...
"We might next ask ourselves what we mean when we say that we have 'harmed' other people. What kinds of 'harm' do people do one another, anyway? To define the...
"Many a razor-edged question can arise in other departments of life where this same principle is involved. Suppose, for instance, that we have drunk up a good...
"In all these situations we need self-restraint, honest analysis of what is involved, a willingness to admit when the fault is ours, and an equal willingness...
"So, practicing these Steps, we had a spiritual awakening about which finally there was no question. Looking at those who were only beginning and still doubted...
"The elder statesman is the one who sees the wisdom of the group's decision, who holds no resentment over his reduced status, whose judgment, fortified by...
"A newcomer appeared at one of these groups, knocked on the door and asked to be let in. He talked frankly with that group's oldest member. He soon proved that...
"It was a beehive of activity, all right, but unlike a beehive, it was confusion compounded. An AA group, as such, simply couldn't handle this sort of project....
"'Okay,' he said. 'Give me the business.' 'Well,' said I, 'I think you're just a conceited Irishman who thinks he can run the whole show.' This really rocked...
"Soon they'd spotted their man, an AA with the necessary experience. Straightway he appeared at New York's AA headquarters, asking, 'Is there anything in our...
"Then I woke up. I who had boasted my generosity that morning was treating my own club worse than the distant alcoholics who had forgotten to send the...
"Perhaps the fear will always lurk in every AA heart that one day our name will be exploited by somebody for real cash. Even the suggestion of such a thing...
"AA has to function, but at the same time it must avoid those dangers of great wealth, prestige, and entrenched power which necessarily tempt other societies....
"As this tide offering top public approval swept in, we realized that it could do us incalculable good or great harm. Everything would depend upon how it was...
"Under the lash of alcoholism, we are driven to AA, and there we discover the fatal nature of our situation. Then, and only then, do we become as open-minded...
"Sometimes AA comes harder to those who have lost or rejected faith than to those who never had any faith at all, for they think they have tried faith and...
"Therefore, we who are alcoholics can consider ourselves fortunate indeed. Each of us has had his own near-fatal encounter with the juggernaut of self-will,...
"If, however, our natural disposition is inclined to self- righteousness or grandiosity, our reaction will be just the opposite. We will be offended at AA's...
"Another great dividend we may expect from confiding our defects to another human being is humility...a word often misunderstood. To those who have made...
"How many of us have this degree of readiness? In an absolute sense practically nobody has it. The best we can do, with all the honesty that we can summon, is...
"When we have finally admitted without reservation that we are powerless over alcohol, we are apt to breathe a great sigh of relief, saying, 'Well, thank God...
"Such gross misbehavior is not by any means a full catalogue of the harms we do. Let us think of some of the subtler ones which can sometimes be quite as...
"Above all, we should try to be absolutely sure that we are not delaying because we are afraid. For the readiness to take full consequences of our past acts,...
"Our first objective will be the development of self-restraint. This carries a top priority rating. When we speak or act hastily or rashly, the ability to be...
"Now, what about the rest of the Twelfth Step? The wonderful energy it releases and the eager action by which it carries our message to the next suffering...
"At times the AA landscape seems to be littered with bleeding forms. Nearly every oldtimer in our Society has gone through this process in some degree....
"There was the dilemma. What should the group do? The oldest member summoned two others, and in confidence laid the explosive facts in their laps. Said he,...
"When that lifted, a wonderful thing had happened. The head promoter wrote the Foundation office. He said he wished he'd paid some attention to AA experience....
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