|
The 12 Steps |
|
The 12 Traditions |
| 1 |
We admitted we were powerless over alcohol, and that our lives had become unmanageable. |
1 |
Our common welfare should come first, personal recovery depends upon AA unity. |
| 2 |
Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. |
2 |
For our group purpose, there is but one ultimate authority, a loving God as he may express himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants, they do not govern. |
| 3 |
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. |
3 |
The only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking. |
| 4 |
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. |
4 |
Each group should remain autonomous, except in matters affecting other groups or AA as a whole. |
| 5 |
Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. |
5 |
Each group has but one primary purpose, to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers. |
| 6 |
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. |
6 |
An AA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the AA name to any outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose. |
| 7 |
Humbly asked him to remove our shortcomings. |
7 |
Every AA group ought to be fully self supporting, declining outside contributions. |
| 8 |
Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. |
8 |
AA should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers. |
| 9 |
Made direct amends to such people, whenever possible, except when to do so when injure them or others. |
9 |
AA as such, ought never be organized, but we may create service boards directly responsible to those they serve. |
| 10 |
Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it. |
10 |
AA has no opinion on outside issues, hence the AA name ought never be drawn into public controversy. |
| 11 |
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understand Him, praying only for knowledge of his will and the power to carry that out. |
11 |
Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion. We need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and film. |
| 12 |
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and practice these principles in all of our affairs. |
12 |
Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities. |