DISCUSSION No. 5 - THE CONSTRUCTION PHASE, Steps 10, 11 and 12
We have been reviewing (taking) the steps as they were taken back in the 40's. Our teacher has been the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, which is our text book for recovery. We learned earlier that we are suffering from an illness which only a Spiritual Solution will conquer. We are well on our way to that spiritual awakening, which will produce the personality change that will bring about our recovery from alcoholism.
In Discussion No. 1, we admitted 1) That we were alcoholic and 2) That we could not manage our lives. And we learned that we have a physical allergy and mental obsession, an illness called alcoholism and the only relief is entire abstinence.
In the second discussion we answered two questions. 1) Were we willing to believe in a power greater than ourselves? Even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend That power, which is God.
2) Were we willing to surrender ourselves to whatever concept we had of God? We learned that God was within us and we needed to make contact with him. Also, we discovered the things that were blocking us off from God and we explored the paramount importance of sitting in counsel with God and another, sharing our life story.
In the third and fourth discussions, we learned that the work begins here! We had to have God's help and all of his loving advisors through the rest of the steps if we were going to change for the better. Also, we learned we must make restitution for harms done, to do our part in eliminating our defects of character and short comings.
In this discussion, we learn:
Step 10 - We are going to learn about personal inventory.
Step 11 - We are going to learn about contact with God.
Step 12 - We are going to explore the exact, precise result of the twelve steps.
The early AA's told us to take Steps 1 - 9 once and to take Steps 10, 11, & 12 daily for the rest of our lifetime. Steps 1-9 bring us into recovery and get us sober, they do not keep us sober.
Steps 10, 11 & 12 keep us sober through:
Step 10 - The spiritual principle of PERSEVERANCE...
Step 11 - The spiritual principles of AWARENESS and BELIEF...
Step 12 - The spiritual principles of LOVE and SERVICE.
If we look closely at the 12 steps displayed on pages 59 and 60 in the Big Book (or on page ii in this guide), we will find some interesting facts. Notice the words; continued, sought and improve, carry and practice. These key actions in Steps 10, 11, & 12, our daily reprieve as the book calls it, are the actions that we do in the "NOW" time frame.
According to the Big Book, we do Steps 1 through 9 once,
and then do Steps 10, 11, & 12 for the rest of our lifetime.
Step No. 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
In coming into A.A. we usually will have a pretty big inventory to work on, as in Steps Four, Eight, and Nine. But even after that, we will not be perfect. We have a long way to go. We will continue to make mistakes and will be inclined to do some more wrong thinking and wrong doing.
So at intervals, we CONTINUE to take inventory. Here the purpose is to check on our progress. We certainly cannot be perfect, so the need for regular inventory is apparent.
These inventories are PERSONAL. We confine the inventory to ourselves. We are the ones who need it. Never mind the other fellow! He too is probably troubled and will have to make his own inventory.
When we make these inventories, probably the best way to start is to go over (one by one) each of the twelve steps, and try to discover just what (in these steps) we are not following.
The businessman HAS to make a physical inventory from time to time. We have to make a personal inventory of ourselves from time to time if we want to recover from a serious mental illness.
Step No. 11. 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.
Let's consider these three points.
We pray each night - - every night - - a prayer of thanks.
We pray each morning - - every morning - - for help and guidance.
When we are lonely, confused, uncertain - - we pray.
Most of us find it well to - -
Choose, for each day, a "quiet time" to meditate on the program, on our progress in it.
Keep conscious contact with God and pray to make that contact closer.
Pray that our will be laid aside and that God's will direct us.
Pray for calmness - - quiet - - relaxation - - rest.
Pray for strength and courage to enable us to do today's work today.
Pray for forgiveness for yesterday's errors.
Ask for hope for better things tomorrow.
Pray for what we feel we need. We will not get what we want - - we will get what we need, what is good for us.
Step No. 12. 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.
This step logically separates into three parts:
1. The SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE
The terms "spiritual experience" and "spiritual awakening" used here and in the book ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS mean (upon careful reading) that the personality change sufficient to bring about recovery from alcoholism has manifested itself among us in many forms.
Do NOT get the impression that these personality changes or spiritual experiences must be in the nature of sudden and spectacular upheavals. Happily for everyone, this conclusion is erroneous.
Among our rapidly growing membership of thousands of alcoholics such transformations, though frequent, are by no means the rule. Most of our experiences are what psychologist William James calls "the educational variety" because they develop slowly over a period of time. Quite often friends of the newcomer are aware of the difference long before he is himself.
The new man gradually realizes that he has undergone a profound alteration in his reaction to life - - that such a change could hardly have been brought about by himself alone. What often takes place in a few months could seldom have been accomplished by years of self-discipline. With few exceptions our members find that they have tapped an unsuspected inner resource which they presently identify with their own conception of a Power greater than ourselves.
Most emphatically we wish to say that any alcoholic capable of honestly facing his problem in the light of our experience can recover provided he does not close his mind to all spiritual concepts. He can only be defeated by an attitude of intolerance or belligerent denial.
We find that no one need have difficulty with the spiritual principles. Willingness, Honesty, and Open-Mindedness are the essentials of recovery. But these are indispensable.
2. CARRY THE MESSAGE TO OTHERS
This means exactly what it says. Carry the message actively. Bring it to the man who needs it. We do it in many ways. And here we have eleven requirements to follow:
By attending every meeting of our own group.
By making calls when asked.
By speaking at group meetings when asked.
By supporting our group financially to make group meetings possible.
By assisting at meetings when asked.
By setting a good example of complete sobriety.
By owning, and loaning to new men, our own copy of the Big A.A. Book.
By encouraging those who find the way difficult.
By serving as an officer or on group committees or special assignments when asked.
By doing all of the foregoing cheerfully and willingly.
We do any or all of the foregoing at some sacrifice to OURSELVES WITH DEFINITE THOUGHT OF DEVELOPING UNSELFISHNESS IN OUR OWN CHARACTER.
3. WE PRACTICE THESE PRINCIPLES IN ALL OUR AFFAIRS
This last part of the Twelfth Step is the real purpose that all of the twelve steps lead to - - a new way of life, a design for living. It shows how to live rightly, think rightly and to achieve happiness.
HOW DO WE GO ABOUT IT?
We resolve to live our life one day at a time - - just twenty-four hours.
We pray each day for guidance that day.
We pray each night - - thanks for that day.
We resolve to keep our heads and to forego any anger, no matter what situation arises.
We are patient.
We keep calm, relaxed.
Now and most important: whatever LITTLE ordinary situations as well as BIG situations arise, we look at them calmly and fairly, with an open mind, then act on them in exact accordance with the simple true principles that A.A. has taught and will teach us.
In other words, our SOBRIETY is only a correction of our worst and most evident faults. Our living each day according to the principles of A.A. will also correct all of our other lesser faults and will gradually eliminate, one by one, all of the defects in our character that cause frictions, discontents, and unhappy rebellious moods that lead right back to our very chief fault of drinking.