STEP SIX:
"Were entirely ready to have God remove all these
defects of character."
"This is the Step that separates
the men from the boys (or the women from the
girls [sic])." So declares a
well-loved clergyman who happens to be on of A.A.'s greatest friends. He goes
on to explain that any person capable of enough willingness and honesty to try
repeatedly Step Six on all his faults --- without any reservations whatever
--- has indeed come a long way spiritually, and is therefore entitled to be
called a man who is willing to grow in the image and likeness of his own
Creator.
TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS (p. 63)
An
Honest and Open Willingness is the How of this Step. Willingness is not to be
mistaken for willfulness… most of us have already tried willpower. I tried with
repeated failure to will myself sober for a so many compelling reasons..; family,
friends, employers, police and judges. I can admit too that there are many who
can do this on their own. They decide to stop drinking, doing drugs, smoking or
several other vices, applying only a sheer determination of will. Those without
the disease will find people like me to be weak… that we need an imaginary
friend like God or a fellowship of addicts/ex-drinkers to weep with. This is the
chief reason so many uninformed refuse to see alcoholism to be a disease. It is
hard for them to grasp that there are those among us whose willpower can move
mountains but can do nothing… absolutely nothing!... against our addictions.
Ironically, I have erroneously thought I could overcome my alcoholism by will
power alone too. I have also mistakenly imagined that my character
defects were disposed of in the same manner I had failed at so many times with
my drinking. Only after failing to do anything about even minor dependencies
have I been able to surrender them to a Power greater than myself. Letting go and
letting God simply lets them slip away.
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