From the books ... Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book) and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (12 & 12)
Click
to display the full page from the Big Book1.
... human accomplishments,
a creative energy that deeply ...
12&12 p.117,
Step Twelve
This mighty urge is the root of great human accomplishments, a
creative energy that deeply influences our lives.
2.
... human affairs.
12&12 p.105,
Step Eleven
The moment we catch even a glimpse of God's will, the moment we begin to see truth, justice, and love as the real and eternal things in life, we are no longer deeply disturbed by all
the seeming evidence to
the contrary that surrounds us in purely
human affairs.
3.
... human affairs
from top to bottom.
12&12 p.94,
Step Ten
This odd trait of mind and emotion, this perverse wish to hide a bad motive underneath a good one, permeates human affairs from top to bottom.
4.
... human affairs
was negligible, the Brotherhood of ...
BB p.11,
Bill's Story
Judging from what I had seen in Europe and since, the
power of God in human affairs was negligible, the Brotherhood of Man a grim jest.
5.
... human aid.
BB p.128,
The Family Afterward
6.
... human aid,
and unless locked up, may ...
BB p.24,
There Is A Solution
When this sort of thinking
is fully established
in an individual with alcoholic tendencies,
he has probably placed
himself beyond human aid, and unless locked up, may die or go permanently insane.
7.
... human aid,
we had but two alternatives: ...
BB p.25,
There Is A Solution
We were in a position where life was becoming impossible, and if we had passed into the region from
which there is no return through human aid, we had but two alternatives: One was to
go on to the bitter end, blotting out the consciousness of
our intolerable situation as best we could;
and the other, to accept spiritual help.
8.
... human aspirations,
we believe that each of ...
12&12 p.187,
Tradition Twelve
As we lay aside these very human aspirations, we believe
that each of us takes part in the weaving of a protective mantle which
covers our whole Society and under which we
may grow and work in unity.
9.
... human being.
12&12 p.53,
Step Four
The primary fact that we fail to recognize is our total inability to form a true partnership with another human being.
10.
... human being.
12&12 p.59,
Step Five
We'd have to have outside help if we were surely to know and admit the truth about ourselves --
the help of God and another human being.
11.
... human being.
12&12 p.79,
Step Eight
It had been embarrassing enough when in confidence
we had admitted these things to God, to ourselves, and to another
human being.
12.
... human being.
12&12 p.108,
Step Twelve
We knew we would have to quit
the deadly business of
living alone with our conflicts, and in honesty
confide these to God and another human being.
13.
... human being
all his natural drives.
12&12 p.65,
Step Six
So far as we know, it is nowhere on the record that
God has completely removed from any human being all his natural drives.
14.
... human being
becomes a battleground for the ...
12&12 p.44,
Step Four
15.
... human being
can provide such a defense.
BB p.43,
More About Alcoholism
16.
... human being
could seem to do the ...
12&12 p.63,
Step Six
17.
... human being
determined to depend completely upon ...
12&12 p.43,
Step Four
How frequently we see a
frightened human being determined to depend completely upon a stronger person for guidance and protection.
18.
... human being
experiences, at some time in ...
12&12 p.117,
Step Twelve
Nearly every sound human being experiences, at
some time in life, a compelling desire to find a mate of the opposite sex with whom the fullest possible union can be made -- spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical.
19.
... human being
has for practical insight and ...
12&12 p.56,
Step Five
Psychiatrists and psychologists point out the deep need every human being has for practical insight and knowledge of his own personality flaws and for
a discussion of them with an understanding and trustworthy person.
20.
... human being
he could.
12&12 p.101,
Step Eleven
Then he asked for the grace
to bring love, forgiveness, harmony,
truth, faith, hope, light, and joy to every human being he could.
21.
... human being,
however good, is exempt from ...
12&12 p.42,
Step Four
22.
... human being
in the world.
12&12 p.121,
Step Twelve
We forgot that most alcoholics in A.A. have an earning power considerably above average; we forgot the immense goodwill of our brother A.A.'s who were only too
eager to help us to better jobs when we deserved them; we forgot
the actual or potential
financial insecurity of every human being in the world.
23.
... human being
is humility -- a word often ...
12&12 p.58,
Step Five
Another great dividend we may expect from
confiding our defects
to another human being is humility -- a word often misunderstood.
24.
... human being
the exact nature of our ...
12&12 p.55,
Step Five
25.
... human being
the exact nature of our ...
BB p.59,
How It Works
26.
... human being,
the exact nature of our ...
BB p.72,
Into Action
This requires action on
our part, which, when completed, will mean that we have admitted to
God, to ourselves, and to
another human being, the exact nature of our defects.
27.
... human being
we could not stay sober.
12&12 p.56,
Step Five
Most of us would declare that without a fearless admission of our defects
to another human being we could not stay sober.
28.
... human being
we know.
12&12 p.77,
Step Eight
First, we take a look backward and try to discover where we have
been at fault; next we make a vigorous attempt to repair the damage we have done; and third, having thus cleaned away the debris of the past, we consider how, with our newfound knowledge of ourselves, we may develop
the best possible relations with every human being we know.
29.
... human being
without any demand for reward.
12&12 p.32,
Step Two
In no deep or meaningful sense had we ever taken stock of ourselves, made amends to those we had harmed, or freely given to any other human being without any demand for reward.
30.
... human beings.
12&12 p.42,
Step Four
31.
... human beings.
12&12 p.97,
Step Eleven
32.
... human beings.
12&12 p.172,
Tradition Nine
Therefore, every nation, in fact every form of society, has to be a government administered by human beings.
33.
... human beings
are important, the proof that ...
12&12 p.124,
Step Twelve
Service, gladly rendered, obligations
squarely met, troubles well accepted or solved with God's help, the knowledge that at home or in
the world outside we are
partners in a common effort, the well-understood fact that in God's sight all human beings are important, the proof that
love freely given surely brings a full return, the certainty that
we are no longer isolated and alone in self-constructed prisons, the surety that we
need no longer be square pegs in round holes but can fit and belong in God's scheme of things -- these are
the permanent and legitimate satisfactions of right
living for which no amount of pomp and circumstance, no heap of material possessions, could possibly be substitutes.
34.
Human beings
are never quite alike, so ...
12&12 p.48,
Step Four
Human beings are never quite alike, so each of us, when making an inventory, will need to determine what his individual character
defects are.
35.
... human beings
don't suffer these defects at ...
12&12 p.66,
Step Six
36.
... human beings
have nearly always been the ...
12&12 p.80,
Step Eight
Since defective relations with other human beings have nearly always been the immediate cause of our woes, including our alcoholism, no field of investigation
could yield more satisfying and valuable
rewards than this one.
37.
Human beings
that we are, we squabble.
12&12 p.177,
Tradition Ten
38.
... human beings,
we had taken these satisfactions ...
12&12 p.71,
Step Seven
Instead of regarding
the satisfaction of our material desires as the means by which we could live and
function as human beings, we had taken these satisfactions to be the final end and aim of life.
39.
... human concerns
is complete.
12&12 p.21,
Step One
40.
... human defects
of these people, and sometimes ...
BB p.50,
We Agnostics
Instead, we looked at the
human defects of these people, and sometimes used their shortcomings
as a basis of wholesale
condemnation.
41.
... human difficulties,
the chief block to true ...
12&12 p.49,
Step Four
For pride, leading to self-justification, and
always spurred by conscious or unconscious fears, is the
basic breeder of most
human difficulties,
the chief block to true progress.
42.
... human emotion
-- jealousy.
BB p.82,
Into Action
43.
... human failings
-- the Seven Deadly Sins of ...
12&12 p.48,
Step Four
To avoid falling into confusion over the names these defects should be
called, let's take a universally recognized list of major human failings -- the Seven Deadly Sins of pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth.
44.
... human frailties
of various faiths may be, ...
BB p.49,
We Agnostics
We have learned that whatever the human frailties of various faiths may be, those faiths have given purpose and direction to
millions.
45.
... human health
measures.
BB p.133,
The Family Afterward
46.
... human heart
which had done the impossible.
BB p.11,
Bill's Story
47.
... human if
we didn't.
BB p.69,
How It Works
We'd hardly be human if we
didn't.
48.
... human ills.
BB p.171,
Doctor Bob's Nightmare
Without this proof the expectant purchaser
would be forced to depart
empty handed with none of what I later came to believe was the great panacea for all human ills.
49.
... human intelligence
was the last word, the ...
BB p.49,
We Agnostics
Instead of regarding
ourselves as intelligent agents, spearheads of God's ever advancing Creation, we agnostics
and atheists chose to believe that our human intelligence was the last
word, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and end of all.
50.
... human lives,
are facts as old as ...
BB p.55,
We Agnostics
For faith in a Power greater than ourselves,
and miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.
51.
... human need.
12&12 p.181,
Tradition Eleven
52.
... human opinions
running to extremes -- absurd extremes, ...
BB p.68,
How It Works
53.
... human power
could have relieved our alcoholism.
BB p.60,
How It Works
54.
... human power
is needed to produce the ...
BB xxix(xxvii),
The Doctor's Opinion
55.
... human problems
this same readiness to change ...
BB p.52,
We Agnostics
We had to ask ourselves why we shouldn't apply to our
human problems this same readiness to change our point of view.
56.
... human protection
and care.
12&12 p.116,
Step Twelve
If we really depended upon God, we couldn't very well play God to our fellows nor would we feel the urge wholly to rely on human protection and care.
57.
... human relations,
and having decided exactly what ...
12&12 p.81,
Step Eight
Having carefully surveyed this whole area of human relations, and having decided exactly what personality traits in us
injured and disturbed
others, we can now commence to ransack memory for the people to whom
we have given offense.
58.
... human relations
are beginning to wonder how ...
12&12 p.16,
Foreword
59.
... human resources,
as marshalled by the will, ...
BB p.45,
We Agnostics
60.
... human resources,
they found that a new ...
BB p.50,
We Agnostics
In the face of collapse
and despair, in the face of
the total failure of their
human resources, they found that a new power, peace, happiness, and sense of direction flowed into
them.
61.
... human sickness
can.
BB p.18,
There Is A Solution
An illness of this sort --
and we have come to believe
it an illness -- involves those about us in a
way no other human sickness can.
62.
... human side,
the founder and his friends ...
12&12 p.133,
Tradition Two
63.
... human spirit,
to be willing to work ...
12&12 p.73,
Step Seven
To get completely away from our aversion to the
idea of being humble, to gain a vision of humility as the
avenue to true freedom of the human spirit, to be willing to work for humility as something to be desired
for itself, takes most of
us a long, long time.
64.
... human tendency
to rationalize have distorted his ...
12&12 p.104,
Step Eleven
He may have forgotten the possibility that his own wishful thinking and the
human tendency to rationalize have distorted his so-called guidance.
65.
... human, their
problems pile up on them ...
BB xxviii(xxvi),
The Doctor's Opinion
These allergic types can
never safely use alcohol in any form at all; and once having formed the habit and found they cannot break it, once having lost their self-confidence, their reliance upon things human, their problems pile up on them and become astonishingly difficult to solve.
66.
... human, too,
and cannot possibly meet our ...
12&12 p.53,
Step Four
If we lean too heavily on
people, they will sooner or later fail us, for they are human, too,
and cannot possibly meet
our incessant demands.
67.
... human understanding,
you have perhaps made a ...
BB p.94,
Working With Others
68.
... human will
had failed.
BB p.11,
Bill's Story
69.
... human will
is of no value whatever.
12&12 p.40,
Step Three
This statement may surprise newcomers who
have experienced nothing but constant deflation and a growing
conviction that human will is of no value whatever.
70.
... human willpower
could break it.
12&12 p.22,
Step One
Our sponsors declared
that we were the victims of a mental obsession so subtly powerful that no amount of human willpower could break it.
71.
... human with
whom I had ever talked, ...
BB p.180,
Doctor Bob's Nightmare
Of far more importance was the fact
that he was the first living human with whom I had ever talked, who knew what he was talking about
in regard to alcoholism from actual experience.
72.
... human wreckage
he has left in his ...
12&12 p.77,
Step Eight
Every A.A. has found that he can make little headway in this new adventure of living until he first backtracks and really makes an accurate and unsparing
survey of the human wreckage he has left in his
wake.
Passages from the Big Book Alcoholics Anonymous
and the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
are reprinted with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.
The A.A. Preamble, copyright ©
The A.A. Grapevine, Inc., is reprinted with permission.
Permission to reprint does not in any way imply affiliation with or
endorsement by either Alcoholics Anonymous or The A.A. Grapevine, Inc.
Copyright © 2005-2012, Recovery Press LLC; All Rights Reserved.