Saphie in the early days of AA there were people that did take the 12 steps without the guidance of a sponsor and stayed sober, many of those who did so used snail mail to do it though.
I could have never done the steps without the guidance of a sponsor, you see in early sobriety I was still looking for "outs", the easier way, a short cut, etc.
The one thing I had going in my favor was a full realization that I did not have a clue how to stay sober long or short term & I sure did not have a clue how to take the 12 steps, especially alone. Left to my own devices I know that one day I would drink again, I needed guidance.
I had to admit that I needed the experience, strength, & hope of another man who had not only taken the steps, but also had experience in applying those steps in his daily life.
Tossing working with a sponsor to take the steps aside, read step 5, this is the real beginnning of recovery, this is the one that begins to truly set us free of many things, fear, guilt & shame to name a few.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
One can not do a step 5 alone, most folks in AA do step 5 with thier sponsor which is someone they trust with thier lifes & thier secrets as well, however there are members of the clergy that are used by some people doing thier 5th step, these are members of the clergy usually who have experience in taking some ones 5th step or they may be recovering alcoholics as well.