The A.A. Preamble
Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) is a fellowship of people 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 A.A. membership, we are self-supporting through our own contributions. A.A. 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 to help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.
The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
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 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 a 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.
A.A. works, starting with me…
Click here to view an an A.A. Introductory Video.
The “promises” of Alcoholics Anonymous
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.
Reprinted from The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, with the permission of A.A. World Services
The importance of anonymity
Traditionally, A.A. members have always taken care to preserve their anonymity at the “public” level: press, radio, television, and films.
In the early days of A.A., when more stigma was attached to the term “alcoholic” than is the case today, this reluctance to be identified – and publicized – was easy to understand. As the Fellowship of A.A. grew, the positive values of anonymity soon became apparent.
First, we know from experience that many problem drinkers might hesitate to turn to A.A. for help if they thought their problem might be discussed publicly, even inadvertently, by others. Newcomers should be able to seek help with complete assurance that their identities will not be disclosed to anyone outside the Fellowship.
Then, too, we believe that the concept of personal anonymity has a spiritual significance for us – that it discourages the drives for personal recognition, power, prestige, or profit that have caused difficulties in some societies. Much of our relative effectiveness in working with alcoholics might be impaired if we sought or accepted public recognition.
While each member of A.A. is free to make his or her own interpretations of A.A. tradition, no individual is ever recognized as a spokesperson for the Fellowship locally, nationally, or internationally. Each member speaks only for himself or herself.
A.A. is indebted to all media for their assistance in strengthening the Tradition of anonymity over the years. From time to time, the General Service Office contacts all major media in the United States and Canada, describing the Tradition and asking for cooperation in its observance.
An A.A. member may, for various reasons, “break anonymity” deliberately at the public level. Since this is a matter of individual choice and conscience, the Fellowship as a whole obviously has no control over such deviations from tradition. It is clear, however, that such individuals do not have the approval of the overwhelming majority of members.
Reprinted from The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, with the permission of A.A. World Services
The 12 Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous
During its first decade, A.A. as a fellowship accumulated substantial experience which indicated that certain group attitudes and principles were particularly valuable in assuring survival of the informal structure of the Fellowship.
In 1946, in the Fellowship’s international journal, the A.A. Grapevine, these principles were reduced to writing by the founders and early members as the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous. They were accepted and endorsed by the membership as a whole at the International Convention of A.A., at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1950. They are…
1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.
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. The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.
4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose – to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
6. An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
7. Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting declining outside contributions.
8. Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
9. A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
10. Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
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 films.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.
While the Twelve Traditions are not specifically binding on any group or groups, an overwhelming majority of members have adopted them as the basis for A.A.’s expanding “internal” and public relationships.
Reprinted from The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, with the permission of A.A. World Services
A vision for you
Our book is meant to be suggestive only. We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us.
Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick. The answers will come, if your own house is in order. But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven’t got. See to it that your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others.
This is the Great Fact for us. Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give freely of what you find and join us.
We shall be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the Road of Happy Destiny.
May God Bless and Keep You – Until Then.
Quotes reprinted from The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, with the permission of A.A. World Services