AA

Step 4. "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves"

How instincts can exceed their proper function. Step four is an effort to discover our liabilities. Basic problem of extremes in instinctive drives. Misguided moral inventory can result in guilt, grandiosity, or blaming others. Assets can be noted with liabilities. Self-justification is dangerous. Willingness to take inventory brings light and new confidence. Step four is beginning of lifetime practice. Common symptoms of emotional insecurity are worry, anger, self-pity and depression. Inventory reviews relationships. Importance of thoroughness.

Step 3. "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him."

Step three is like opening of a locked door. How shall we let God into our lives? Willingness is the key. Dependence as a means to independence. Dangers of self-sufficiency. Turning our will over to a higher power. Misuse of willpower. Sustained and personal exertion necessary to conform to God's will.

Step 5. "Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs."

Twelve steps deflate ego. Step five is difficult but necessary to sobriety and piece of mind. Confession is an ancient discipline. Without fearless admission of defects, few could stay sober. What do we receive from step five? Beginning of true kinship with man and God. Lose sense of isolation, receive forgiveness an give it; learn humility; gain honesty and realism about ourselves. Necessity for complete honesty. Danger of rationalization

Step 2. " Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."

What can we believe in? A.A. does not demand belief; Twelve steps are only a suggestion. Importance of a n open mind. Variety of ways to faith. Substitution of A.A. as Higher Power. Plight of the disillusioned. Roadblocks of indifference and prejudice. Lost faith found in A.A. Problems of intellectuality and self-sufficiency. Negative and positive thinking. Self-righteousness. Defiance is an outstanding characteristics of alcoholics. Step two is a rallying point to sanity. Right relation to God.

Step 1. "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol- that our lives had become unmanageable."

Who cares to admit complete defeat? Admission of powerlessness is the first step in liberation. Relation of humility to sobriety. Mental obsession plus physical allergy. Why must every A.A. hit bottom?