The Spiritual Foundation
The 12 Steps, first outlined in 1939 in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, provide a design for living that has saved millions. As the text states in "How It Works," "Half measures availed us nothing." This suggests that a partial effort yields zero results, not partial results. In the Inland Empire recovery community, this totality of commitment is emphasized in every meeting.
Step One: The Paradox of Power
Both the AA Big Book and the Narcotics Anonymous Basic Text agree: surrender is the only path to victory. The Basic Text asks, "Who is an addict?" and answers that we are people "in the grip of a continuing and progressive illness whose ends are always the same: jails, institutions, and death."
Admitting powerlessness (Step 1) seems counterintuitive to the modern mind, which prizes control. Yet, as the Doctor's Opinion in the Big Book explains, the addict has an "allergy" of the body and an "obsession" of the mind. Once we take the first drink or drug, the phenomenon of craving sets in, and we cannot stop. Realizing this biological fact relieves the guilt: we are not bad people trying to get good; we are sick people trying to get well.
Steps 4-9: Cleaning House
The "action steps" are where the personality change occurs.
- Inventory (Step 4): The Big Book suggests we look at our resentments, fears, and sexual conduct. We list "people, institutions, or principles" with whom we were angry.
- Amends (Step 9): This is not just saying sorry. It is "restoring" what we broke. The promises of Step 9 (pages 83-84 of the Big Book) guarantee that "We will know a new freedom and a new happiness."
Steps 10-12: Maintenance
Recovery is not a cure; it is a daily reprieve.
- Step 10: "Continued to take personal inventory." This is our daily spot-check.
- Step 11: Prayer and meditation. Improving our "conscious contact" with a Higher Power.
- Step 12: Service. The Twelfth Step states, "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message..." In NA, this is often expressed as "We keep what we have only by giving it away."
Whether you are at a CMA meeting in Palm Springs or an AA hall in Chino, the message is the same: The Steps work if you work them.