Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their
experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their
common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.
The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking.
There are no dues or fees for AA membership; we are self-supporting
through our own contributions.
AA is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or
institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy, neither endorses
nor opposes any causes.
Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve
sobriety.
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 disclose 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 length to get it - then you are ready to
take certain steps.
At some of these we balked. 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.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as
we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact
nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all all these defects of
character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make
amends to them all.
9. 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.
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.
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.
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, the chapter to 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.
(b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.
(c) That God could and would if He were sought.
PROMISES
If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be
amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new
freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut
the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know
peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how
our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self
pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest
in our fellows. Self - seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook
upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave
us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle
us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do
for ourselves. Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are
being fulfilled among us sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will
always materialize if we work for them.
