What the Big Book says about Step 10

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Bill W. begins the Tenth Step 13:15

I was to test my thinking by the new God-consciousness within.

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Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

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This thought brings us to Step Ten, which suggests we continue to take personal inventory and continue to set right any new mistakes as we go along. We vigorously commenced this way of living as we cleaned up the past. We have entered the world of Spirit. Our next function is to grow in understanding and effectiveness. This is not an overnight matter. Is should continue for our life time. Continue to watch for selfishness, dishonesty, resentment, and fear. When these crop us, we ask God at once to remove them. We discuss them with someone immediately and make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone. Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. Love and tolerance of others is our code.

And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone even alcohol. For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and will find that this has happened automatically. We see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality---safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky, nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.

It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do so for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into all of our activities. “How can I best serve Thee----They will (not mine) be done.” These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will.

Much has already been said about receiving strength, inspiration, and direction for Him who has all knowledge and power. If we have carefully followed directions, we have begun to sense the flow of His Spirit into us. To some extent we have become God-conscious. We have begun to develop this vital sixth sense. But we must go further and that means more action.

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This thought brings us to Step Ten, which suggests we continue to take personal inventory and continue to set right any new mistakes as we go along.

To continue, we must first begin. We learn how to take inventory in Steps Four and Five. We learn how to address our character defects in Steps Six and Seven. We learn how to make amends for the harm we cause in Steps Eight and Nine. We practice these techniques until we master them. Then we are at Step 10.

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We vigorously commenced this way of living as we cleaned up the past

We enter the world of the spirit when we have cleared away all of the obstacles that stand in our way. To maintain our conscious contact with our Higher Power we must continue to practice the principles of the program. Should we revert back to self-sufficiency we become separated from God.

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We have entered the world of Spirit.

We grow by study and practice. Bill W. adopted spiritual ideas and practices that brought about a spiritual awakening while in Town’s Hospital. He reflected upon his experience so that he could transmit this experience to others. The result was the Twelve Steps of AA. By studying this program of action and practicing the principles described in this book, we become more effective at carrying this solution to others.

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This is not an overnight matter

The steps of this program are not magic tricks to be performed once so that they might solve all our problems. Rather, the steps are a discipline, a body of theory and technique that must be studied and practiced if we are able to apply this program to our lives. We continue with the techniques we have begun to practice in the earlier steps. We continue to write our inventory. We continue to admit our shortcomings. We continue to ask God for relief from our shortcomings and we continue to make amends when we are wrong.

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Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. Love and tolerance of others is our code.

Being freed from the chains of selfishness we are able to follow a path that leads to happiness, joy and fulfillment. Our very lives depend upon this change of motivation (20:1). While we are in the grip of selfishness we are dead to the Spirit. Our work helping others brings our faith to life so that we may truly live.

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For by this time sanity will have returned

As a result of these steps, the ability to differentiate the true from the false returns. We have become convinced of the truth of the ABC’s (60:11-13). The truth is that we have built our lives on a false foundation of selfishness and self-centeredness and it has caused our lives to come tumbling down around our ears. We re-found our lives based on faith in God and helpfulness to others. This new way of life brings us happiness and a sense of purpose.

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We see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality---safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky, nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in fit spiritual condition.

Our spiritual malady must be overcome before we straighten our mentally and physically (64:18). The obsession to drink leaves many of us as we admit to ourselves, to God and to another person, the exact nature of our wrongs (75:140. Though all our human resources have failed to overcome our alcoholism, we find that God can and will.

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It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels.

Stopping drinking and finding God does not make us spiritual giants. Many of us come crawling in with our lives shattered, willing to do anything for a hope of escape from alcoholic torture. Soon the pain and suffering is forgotten and our egos begin to resurface. We begin to feel a conscious separation from God. The insanity returns. We feel that we are capable of managing our own lives and God is relegated to the role of bush league pinch hitter. Yesterday’s conscious contact will not keep us sober today. We must continue the practices we have learned in the steps.

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What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition

Our spiritual condition is one of humility developed through our admission of powerlessness and confession of our character defects. God’s help is available to us only when we are humble enough to acknowledge our need for it. Should the illusion of self-sufficiency return in sufficient strength to block us from God, our own human resources will be all we have at our disposal when confronted with temptation or uncertainty. Continuing the practices that help to humble keeps us in fit spiritual condition.

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Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into all of our activities. “How can I best serve Thee----They will (not mine) be done.” These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will.

The realignment of our motivations, thinking and actions brings about miraculous changes in our lives. Casting aside our selfishness, we fill our thoughts and lives with the search for ways to be useful to God and our fellows. We thus gain access to the infinite power of God. The authors suggest several techniques throughout this book that we may use to direct our thinking towards God’s will.

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If we have carefully followed directions, we have begun to sense the flow of His Spirit into us

Taking what we want from this program of action and leaving the rest will not bring about the spiritual awakening that we must experience if we are to overcome alcoholism. Picking and choosing those parts that are most appealing to us will not allow us to undergo the entire psychic change that results in our restoration to sanity. The authors give clear-cut directions (29:1) for us to follow if we desire to have victory over alcohol (76:19) and find a spiritual experience (79:5).

By admitting to ourselves our need for God, confessing our shortcomings, and attempting to clean up the wreckage of our past, we open ourselves to the entry of God. The abandonment of our old ways of thinking and acting creates a cavity in us that the Spirit quickly fills.

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When we retire at night, we constructively review our day. Were we resentful, selfish, dishonest, or afraid? Do we owe an apology? Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once? Were we kind and loving toward all? What could we have done better? Were we thinking of ourselves most of the time? Or were we thinking of what we could do for others, of what we could pack into the stream of life? But we must be careful not to drift into worry, remorse, or morbid reflections, for that would diminish our usefulness to others. After making our review we ask God’s forgiveness and inquire what corrective measures should be taken.

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When we retire at night, we constructively review our day.

We are to constructively, rather than destructively review our day. We are attempting to learn and grow from our experiences. If we never look again at our mistakes and successes, we will not learn from them.

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Were we resentful, selfish, dishonest, or afraid

We learn how harmful our resentments, selfishness, dishonesty and fears are by taking our Fourth Step inventory. We should be quite skilled at recognizing these shortcomings in ourselves by now. Praying to God to save us from being angry and to remove our shortcomings worked when we took the earlier steps, so we have learned to rely on prayer to work now.

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Do we owe an apology?

We have learned that making amends works so well at lightening the load we carry in life that we know just what to do when our mistakes cause harm to others.

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Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once?

Our admission of character defects dismantles the wall that separates us from others. Few techniques we have learned have been so successful at allowing the Spirit of God to flow into us as this one. Of course it will continue to work for us as long as we continue to apply this principle to our lives.

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Were we kind and loving toward all? What could we have done better? Were we thinking of ourselves most of the time? Or were we thinking of what we could do for others, of what we could pack into the stream of life?

Having been restored to sanity, we can plainly see where our thinking is off the bearm. We know now how to handle situations that used to baffle us. When we feel remorseful, we know it is due to our selfishness and self-seeking. Constant thought of others and how we might help to meet their needs is the answer we have found (20:1)